Sony Blows My Mind

Canon better pull some serious shit out of its ass very soon.

A number of images of Sony's upcoming lineup has appeared online, and it looks very impressive. Their NEX cameras appear to be coming into their own, with some finally-adequate lenses available. That was, aside from the horrible interface, the biggest issue with the NEX lineup: the lenses. As in, there were none.

I still don't think that I will go to an APS-C super-compact system. The lenses will still be as large as would be on a standard APS-C SLR, it's just a necessity of optics. But I've been very underwhelmed by Canon recently. They completely reinvented the camera, unintentionally, with the 5D MkII, and have done NOTHING since. Sony took Canon's video innovation and ran with it. The SLT system is the first serious innovation for some time, although I still wish there was some way to put it aside and receive 100% of the light.

Beyond Sony, Olympus and Panasonic have shown how viable mirrorless cameras are, and created the first new system in twenty years. They also made a system where a completely serviceable 600mm-equivalent lens is the size of a large bottle of Advil. Major innovation even in the medium format industry took place! What with Pentax showing everyone how its done with their $10-thousand 645d.

But back to Sony, the A77 looks like the APS-C camera to own, and it seems targeted at pro-sumers, which is right where I like my cameras. Many of Sony's lenses are unimpressive, but since I'm not a pro in need of a massive, super-flexible lens collection, the limitations are not as much of a consideration. One really has to wonder why the hell Sony hasn't more fully mined its lineup of Minolta designs.

I look forward to Canon's new designs, but these new cameras, beyond what they are, evince a philosophy at Sony that is much more in line with what I want from a company.