The Ruminator

I haven't been posting much recently. This isn't because of the festivities, it's because I don't have much to post at present. Not that I haven't been making images, but I've been unable to get excited enough about any of them to post. Its rare that I can go through a whole memory-card's worth of images and find nothing that's usable, but that's happened to me a couple of times recently. Whatever the reason for this, I'm reduced to posting some of my ruminations about the future of A-mount. Enjoy.

Earlier this year I took the plunge and bought an RX100. But where does that leave me vis-à-vis my DSLT camera?

My A77 is three and a half years old, but the updated A77II – which is itself over a year old – doesn't offer substantial upgrades, and to be honest I’m not feeling any real pressure to change. The mega-pixel wars are over, for the time being at least, with APS-C sensors stabilised at around 24 mega-pixels at the top end and my current camera does everything I need it to do.

However, there is still the lurking problem of the future of A-mount.

To recap: Sony bought Konica-Minolta to get into the digital camera market (this was in January 2006, so the tenth anniversary is coming up soon). This purchase brought with it an existing lens mount with third party support and a substantial stock of legacy glass, which was re-designated Alpha or A-Mount. At the time it looked like a good move.

Having done this Sony then turned its attention to the then-nascent mirrorless market with its NEX branded cameras, which used a different lens mount – E-mount.

There are sound technical reasons for this. SLR lens mounts – including Canon and Nikon – have too great a flange length to allow the small form factors that are a selling point of mirrorless cameras.

Anyway, Sony cleaned up – and continues to do so - in the mirrorless market, whilst its DSLR and DSLT offerings failed to attract professional support and languish way behind Canikon in terms of market share. With hindsight, the wisdom of the Konica-Minolta acquisition now looks much more debatable.

In response, Sony re-badged all its of interchangeable lens cameras under the Alpha brand, dropping the NEX name and mixing A and E-mount in what might look to the unwary like a single range. Last year, when they launched the A7 series of full frame cameras as their new top of the range offering, they had an E-mount*. By contrast, the top of the A-mount range – the A99 – has been quietly withdrawn, with no mention of its long promised replacement. We’re due an update to the A77 in early 2016 – it will be interesting to see if that happens on time, or at all.

In the meantime, SAR has reported that the sale of A-mount cameras has been discontinued in certain territories.

The smell of death, which has been lingering around A-mount for a few years now, continues to get stronger.

But if I have a camera that I'm happy with, what’s the problem?

Well, all of this uncertainty still has a disabling effect. Without it, I might have bought a new A-mount lens rather than the RX100. But I don’t want to spend more money on A-mount lenses when I may eventually have to go E-mount – or abandon Sony altogether.

Sony is innovating in the imaging sector in a way that none of the other incumbents seem prepared to do. The A7 series makes a full frame camera available at a much lower price point – and in a much smaller form factor - than in their competitors’ ranges. Whilst this is great in general, it does mean that their cameras often feel like a work in progress rather than the finished article. Sometimes – just sometimes – I find myself wondering if a Canikon would be a safe, sensible choice.

* Just to add more complexity to the Sony range, prior to the introduction of the A7 series, E-mount lenses had been designed for cropped sensors. So a new range of lenses for the A7 series, designated ‘FE’ (Full-frame E-mount), were introduced, and are generally bloody expensive. Non-FE E-mount lenses will cause image cropping on an A7 series body. Thank you for your attention.

I, Phone

I've recently upgraded my phone. Having lived with a Nokia Lumia 800 for two years, I've now bought a Lumia 1020 – the one with the 42 mega-pixel camera. I used it to make the above image during a recent visit to Margam Park in South Wales. I've done a bit of post processing, but I think that the camera has done a great job in difficult lighting conditions.

Anyway, I can sense some of you shaking your heads at my bizarre decision to buy another Lumia, but I've enjoyed owning the 800 – I've certainly stood out from the zombie hoards of the Android/iOS duopoly.

In any case, I actually like Windows Phone. It’s very simple and intuitive to use and it compares well with Android in that the phone comes with the latest version installed and will get regular updates for the rest of its life. And the desktop sync on my wife’s Sammie SIII is appallingly bad, whereas the 800 has always worked like a charm.

Then there’s the iPhone. Some of my friends and acquaintances think that I'm a Microsoft zealot, railing against Apple in the face of all the available evidence. This is not true – I own an iPod Touch, for God’s sake, the 64Gb top of the range model no less, which I really like and use every day.

My beef isn't with Apple in general or any of their products in particular. It’s with their fanbois, who insist on berating me and everyone else about the superiority of Apple products, both in person and through the media. And I'm afraid that they’re just plain wrong.

So, let’s get one thing straight. The fundamental difference between Microsoft and Apple isn't about one of them being being design led, or having superior corporate ethics, or anything so intangible. It’s all about business models – pure and simple.

Apple provide cheap or free software on over-priced hardware. Microsoft make over-priced software to run on commodity hardware. That’s it in a nutshell. The rest is all marketing.

I suspect that the TCO of either company’s comparable products over, say, five years is about the same, although my 1020 is a damn site cheaper than an iPhone. [Let’s quietly draw a veil over the Surface and the long forgotten and unloved Zune, shall we?]

And that neatly brings us back to Windows Phone and its one main downside, which is the lack of native apps. A couple of years down the line from the first real tranche of Windows Phones, very few businesses have ported their apps over or are looking likely to. But then, I mainly use my phone as a communications device – text, email, voice (remember that?) – which it’s really very good at.

As to the future, I think that the continued dominance of Android and iOS is less certain than some might imagine.

The installed Android base is fragmented and that will only get worse as newer versions are released and manufacturers continue to ignore the need to update older handsets. It remains to be seen at what point developers will find it impossible to make apps that will run across enough of the installed base to make it worth their while.

Add to that the fact that the market for Android handsets is a manufacturer’s bloodbath. Only Samsung are able to make a profit off the back of a mind-boggling marketing spend required to shore up their position as an aspirational brand running an OS more associated with the budget end of the market. The likes of Sony have to scrabble with the other also-rans attempting to differentiate their product, which drives further fragmentation of the OS.

Android may eventually turn out to be the real life example of the Tragedy of the Commons that economists have been looking for.

As for the iPhone, it may be huge in Europe and the States, but not elsewhere – Apple have completely failed to crack China, for example. Like many other innovators, Apple may well see its lead eroded and finally overhauled by commodity manufacturers offering a Good Enough^tm product at a fraction of the price. Its only way out of that bind is to innovate some more, something that it still has to prove it can do without Steve Jobs.

It also amazes me that we haven’t seen an OS developed in China or Africa on the world stage yet.

[Mobile phones are a big deal in Africa, where landline networks are generally lacking. However, the smart-phone has yet to really penetrate that market, which is still dominated by cheap and robust feature phones. Whilst the major players are still focusing on Western and Asian markets, Africa is likely to make or break them in the next few years.]

That might just be a matter of time. In any case, I wouldn't bet against Windows Phone finally emerging from all of this as the dominant mobile platform, not just yet anyway.

What's NEXt for Sony?

An interesting post on Sony Alpha Rumours regarding Sony market share in Japan, here.

In summary: Sony gained market share in mirrorless cameras, whilst losing it in the DSLR/DSLT and compact camera markets.

This generally reinforces the point that I made in my posts last year about Sony’s imaging strategy, that Sony finds itself in a unique place amongst the major camera manufacturers. Unfortunately, unique does not equate to good in this case, especially for existing Sony customers.

To reiterate – Sony is the only major manufacturer to find itself with a significant user base which is split between two lens mounts. Canikon have produced mirrorless offerings which have failed to set the world alight, but this failure may ultimately prove to be an advantage as the vast majority of their respective user bases remain on single, long standing lens mounts. This gives them access to an enormous range of third party and legacy lenses, which Sony just can’t match, on A or E mount.

In other news, Sony is dropping the NEX brand. This seems like a weak attempt to hide this problem by uniting all their interchangeable lens cameras under the Alpha badge and hoping that the casual observer won’t notice the different specs. Sony’s Mark Weir is quoted as explaining the move by saying:

“…there was concern that consumers could easily misunderstand there to be a lack of compatibility between the two.”

Even the normally upbeat Andrea had to comment:

“Well there is a lack of compatibility between the two! Or can you use the FE lenses bought for the A7-A7r on the A77-A99? Nope ”

You will note that there are protestations of commitment to A mount from Sony, but I think that they protest too much. A more likely scenario is that A mount will now be allowed to quietly wither and die, slowly - or perhaps not so slowly? - disappearing from the Alpha range. 

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.

I Speak My Brains II

In the past I've been deliberately obtuse about the reasons why Sony have had to develop a new lens mount for their mirror-less cameras – but I do understand, really. It’s because the flange distance on the a-mount lenses is prohibitively large and would have driven up the size of the camera bodies, thus negating one of the main benefits of a mirror-less design.

[Canikon have this problem as well, which is why their mirror-less offerings eschew their long established standard lens mounts.]

The A7s are currently the world’s smallest full frame cameras, smaller even than the Olympus OM-D, as Sony are keen to point out. However, the current drive for smaller and lighter bodies can only take them and their competitors so far – what then?

I guess that I'm looking to Sony to start innovating in terms of form factor. Despite all the advances of the past few years, cameras are still basically a box with a lens on the front, a screen on the back and some buttons on the top; surely, with the mirror and the OVF gone, we can do something different?

This image comes from a return visit that we made to the National Botanic Garden of Wales in September to see the IGPOTY exhibition that was running at the time. I found this mushroom on one of the nature walks. Without my tripod or remote release, I had to put the camera on the ground and use the self timer to make the image. I should also say that I was using my Tamron super-zoom as my macro lens was being repaired. Despite all these factors, I think that the resulting image is passable. 

I Speak My Brains

Over the next few posts, I'll record some of my thoughts about the direction that Sony Imaging is taking, then we can determine the level of my prognosticative powers. To start with, some reflections on the designation of the new full frame cameras announced last week.

First, a quick recap of my understanding of Sony’s naming conventions. 

A + 3 digits = DSLR; 

A + 2 digits = DSLT; 

A + 1 digit = full frame(?) mirror-less(?); 

The higher the number, the higher the spec of the camera, with A9** being the top of any particular range.

Confusingly, the same number doesn't designate cameras at the same price point in different ranges. And I don't get why two very different cameras - the A7 and A7r - are given similar designations. And how are upgrades to be designated? With the three and two digit nomenclature, this was easy, but with a single digit you have to go to mark numbers, which would be a new departure for Sony.

Whatever, designating the new cameras as A7s leaves room in the range for a higher spec A9 - and an A9r? -  model. What would that be like? A full frame, 48 mega-pixel mirror-less model, perhaps?

Anyway, the image above is the final one from the last batch that I made prior to my Sigma lens breaking. Its another of a rose from our garden - I was experimenting with black backgrounds at this point, which I've get to return to.

Sony Day

Yesterday was a big day for Sony's Imaging division. They announced three new cameras, amongst them not one, but two full frame e-mount models - the third being the RX10, which amounts to a £1,000 bridge camera with a big sensor.

Anyway, back to the e-mount cameras, the A7 and the A7r. The two share the same body, although the internals are quite different. The first has a 24 mega-pixel sensor with a hybrid autofocus system, but the second is a 36 mega-pixel monster, optimised  - if you believe Sony - for image quality, without a low-pass optical filter to improve resolution further.

Along with the cameras, five full frame - designated FE - Zeiss (aka expensive) lenses were announced, with more to come next year.

Its interesting to note that, despite the fact that the A7s are effectively NEX cameras, they attract an Alpha designation. Apparently, Sony are bringing the two brands together. Now, I find the Sony camera range confusing enough as it is and I'm a fairly assiduous Sony watcher. In my view the whole range is likely become a hotchpotch of a-mount and e-mount cameras that will be incomprehensible to a disinterested observer.

Despite all this and my previous ranting on the subject, I find myself really wanting an A7r. Body only, one of these babies comes in around £1,700. And I'd need a new lens kit, so the whole lot would set me back the better part of four grand. So, that's not going to happen then.

Above is another image of a rose that I made with my now rather sorry looking Alpha 77. Enjoy, if you can bear to be without the additional twelve mega-pixels.

Sony and Swear

When I bought my first DSLR, back in 2006, my instinct – and I base all my technology purchasing decisions on instinct - was to go with the entry level Nikon – the D1000 or whatever it was at the time. However I let my father persuade me to buy a Sony Alpha 100. To be fair, he was picking up some of the bill as a birthday present.

Recently, I've begun to doubt the wisdom of that choice. This is unfortunate, as the cost of changing camera brands is high. In my case, I have three a-mount bodies, one kit lens and two third party lenses, plus various accessories such as remote releases and the like. This may not be a vast amount of kit, but I don’t have that much in the way of cash (or time, for that matter) to devote to photography which is, when all’s said and done, a hobby.

So, what’s the problem? I'm not unhappy with the cameras – far from it.

The problem is Sony’s strategy around their two lens mounts, a-mount and e-mount. When e-mount was first introduced, it was exclusively on the mirrorless NEX cameras. At the time, I tended to see these cameras as a bit of a distraction, as I was already bought into a-mount, and I've never been good at seeing which way the wind is blowing with regards to technology or anything else. I couldn't understand why Sony would go to the expense of buying Konica-Minolta and then developing their own lens mount anyway.

However, the mirrorless camera market has boomed over the past few years, although slowing slightly at the moment, and the NEX brand has been one of the best-selling in this space. At the same time Sony has failed to make an impression in the professional market with its high end Alpha cameras.

Sony has therefore put a lot of effort into developing its NEX range – whilst, some might argue, neglecting the Alpha range. Numerous NEX models, with increasingly high specs have been introduced, until this reached its logical conclusion. When the Alpha 77 was released, alongside it was a mirrorless version – the NEX7 – essentially the same camera, at the same price point, in a different form factor. Meanwhile, the top of the range Alpha 9* series has seen only three models since the brand launched several years ago.

Perhaps I should have seen the next step coming, but as noted above, I've always been poor at predicting tech trends. Anyway, it now appears that Sony are going to introduce e-mount entry level DSLRs – in fact the A3000 has already been announced - and that these will probably replace the a-mount models at the low-to-medium end of the range. Alpha mount will become Sony’s high end, pro spec format.

That’s great, but I won’t have pro-spec money to spend when I come to replace my Alpha 77.

In contrast, Nikon and Canon have the same lens mount for all their DSLR cameras, from entry level through to the flagship pro models. So the upgrade path is relatively painless – and for that matter, so is the downgrade path.

[To be fair both Canon and Nikon have introduced mirrorless models with lens mounts that are incompatible with their DSLR ranges. But these have been me too offerings which have failed to challenge NEX and micro four thirds cameras in this space. And there is no suggestion that Canikon are going to replace the lens mounts on their entry level models with ones that are incompatible with their pro-spec cameras.]

To further confuse the issue, there are rumours of a full frame NEX camera to be announced shortly – this will leave the a-mount looking increasingly like a minority interest for the well-heeled. This appears to be another case of a company chasing new customers whilst forgetting their existing ones.

So, what do I do? Stick with a-mount and hope that it doesn't die too soon? Give up on it and go e-mount (bearing in mind that I find the NEX cameras pig-ugly)? Or abandon Sony altogether in a fit of disgust at the way that they treat their existing customers? In theory, the decision point is a few years away, but I'm thinking of buying a new macro lens and my instincts say that an a-mount lens may be a waste of money…

There Where The Snowdrops, So Drop I...

Finally, finally, the Windows version of UFRaw has been updated to version 0.19. But all is not well, still. For some bizarre reason best know to the developer, they've decided to remove the GiMP integration.

Doh! Well done guys, you've managed to remove UFRaw's USP.

It's unclear to me if this odd choice has been inflicted on users of other operating systems, but given that the developers have real issues with Windows, I wouldn't be surprised if this is an MS only affair.

Whatever. At least I have a RAW converter that works on my antediluvian laptop. The image above is one that I converted using the new version of UFRaw and it is so much better than the Sony offering.

This image is intended to be a companion piece to a colourised image of a hyacinth that I posted back in October. This one is of a snowdrop, again from our garden. All the spring flowers - apart from the daffodils - are over now, so on to another subject for my next post, I guess.

Our Broken Workflow - Update

UFRaw has finally been updated to version 0.19! But a Windows build hasn't been posted yet, so my workflow remains broken. Its now a race against time as I'm about to buy myself a new laptop and abandon UFRaw for RAWTherapee.

Its frustrating. So come on guys, give us a Windows distribution!

Cameraphone Capers

Wells Cathedral, 7th April 2012

Several months ago, I was agonising about buying a compact camera. I tend to find that a DSLR is just too big, noisy and downright intrusive in certain situations, so I was seriously considering the purchase of something more discrete. However, I'm really attached to using a viewfinder, which very few compacts have. And to add to my indecision, I was tempted by the various mirrorless systems that are around at the moment, especially the Olympus Pen.

[Despite the fact that my all DSLRs are Sony, I didn't like the look of the NEX system cameras, which shows you just how much of a fashion victim I can be when it comes to technology. To be fair, if Sony had decided to use the A-mount on its NEX cameras, that might have swung things back in their favour with me. However, I'm sure that there are good, technical reasons for going with E-mount. But I digress.]

Anyway, when I changed jobs recently, I had to return my company mobile phone. So, after many years of pay-and-go making do and a few years without any phone of my own, I went out and bought a contract. Again, I used my heart rather than my head when making a purchasing decision and came back with a Nokia Lumia 800.

The Lumia has a fairly decent 8 mega-pixel camera built in and I've found myself using it quite a lot for happy snaps of my family. Controls are limited and the shutter lag is horrendous, but it does the job and I always have it with me. It has, in fact, filled the need that was driving me to consider a compact camera. I've tried presenting this to my wife as an overall cost saving, but I don't think she's convinced.

Over the Easter holiday, we went to the Bishop's Palace in Wells and I managed to leave my camera bag at home. Wandering about after our son, who was absorbed in the Easter egg hunt, it occurred to me to try my camera phone on other subjects. Whilst he was busy with the dragon's nest in the orchard, I made the image above.

I'm not going to pretend that this is how it came off the phone. I colourised the image and adjusted the brightness of the sky in GIMP. But the phone made a good job of the exposure without any help from me. The finished result isn't the best photo I've ever made, but I find it quite pleasing.

This tends to support the hypothesis that the compact camera market will be eroded by camera phones until, in a few years time, we will be left with a three tier market: camera phones at the low end; mirrorless systems in the mid range; and full frame DSLRs and medium format at the top end.

Actually, my view is that the DSLR is a dead end in design terms which will be obsolete in a few years time, but that's a subject for another post.