I Speak My Brains III

So, why are there no a-mount announcements? It’s been a while. The fact is that Sony is making a roaring success of its other cameras. The NEX range is one of the best-selling in the mirror-less space and the recent CyberShot RX models – the RX1 and the RX100 - have been very well received (I don’t get the need for the new RX10, but I’m sure it will sell well).

However, all of these are consumer cameras - the pro market has remained largely indifferent to Sony, sticking with Canikon and leaving a-mount looking increasingly like an encumbrance. Sony has quietly shrunk the a-mount line-up down to four models – the A58, A65, A77 and A99 – removing the entry level models as that market has been cannibalised by NEX. This does rather call into question Sony’s decision to purchase Konica-Minolta as a route into the market as the business they now have owes little to this now-defunct brand.

There is one fly in the e-mount ointment, though. I don’t see the third party lens support for it. All of the major players make a-mount versions of most, if not all, of their lenses, but the choice for e-mount looks somewhat less extensive.

Okay, I know that Zeiss make e-mount lenses, which is fine if you have deep pockets, but my Sigma macro lens is good enough for me and a fraction of the price of its Sony or Zeiss counterparts.

Assuming I have the choice, I’d want to see much more third party support for e-mount before I adopt it.

The image above comes from our return visit to the National Botanic Gardens of Wales. I'm not sure what type of flower it is. Again, my Tamron super-zoom was pressed into service in the absence of my Sigma macro lens.