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Cheap DSLR Camera
- Thread starter rs7
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nothing wrong with them, really, i just don't think there's much reason to buy one. Canon and Nikon bodies have better noise-handling (well, not Nikon until recently) and much larger lens selections. Pentax is right behind them, and better in some aspects, when it comes to bodies (i can't speak for lenses). Olympus has crappy noise-handling but tiny bodies, for those who like that. Sony has crappy noise-handling...and not much to offer over Pentax. Other than a more well-known name.
Sony has very good ergonomics and beautiful screens. They also have a larger selection of bodies over pentax therefore allowing you more choice and also allow you to move up. Sony has some really nice high end glass. Zeiss 24-70, Zeiss 135 and 85 Prime.
Accessories are very nice. Sony has a nice flash that allows you to rotate the aspect so you have the same aspect when shooting vertical as horizontal. The vertical grip is also really nice replication the buttons.
I must say that my Sony does a good job of keeping up with noise reduction of my Canon. I still can't make a fair comparison between the two as my Sony is low-end and my Canon high.
Ditto on the accessories, though not yet as numerous as say Canon or Nikon. They are good though, a bit higher price on the grip from what I can find. Do you use a grip on your a200, TechGuy? I have one on my Canon but haven't got around to a Sony one yet.
Both Nikon and Canon are not doing very well in 2009. Canon makes more money than Nikon because it's a much larger company, but both are in bad shape at the moment (compared to profits from 2007 to December 2009). Also, since the market is worst in the first quarter of 2009 compared to the last quarter of 2008, both companies are projecting job and revenue loses. Sony is in the same boat, too, and I imagine that so are all the other camera manufacturers.
http://www.dentonimages.com/page.php?id=n020509070909_Nikon_Cut_Sales_and_Profit_Forecasts
http://www.dentonimages.com/page.php?id=n020509070909_Nikon_Cut_Sales_and_Profit_Forecasts
Aye, nothing is looking too good right now. But I think no matter what, Nikon and Canon will be around for awhile
No, But I'm probably getting one around the middle march i'd say. They look really nice!
But if they're losing enough money, they may close down or reduce services. Sony's in year three or so of closing lots and lots of divisions, product lines and service centers. I prefer to get my equipment from companies who understand their market enough to be turning profits in it, and who have enough strategy to grow smartly, not just launch and kill products seemingly willy-nilly- because then they have to do less dumping, bailing and shutting down. Starting next year, you won't be able to get a Sony Bravia TV serviced in the United States- being able to get service without clearing customs twice seems like an important thing for a high-dollar piece of equipment- but then as you said, that's the difference between you and I- I want to know my manufacturer isn't starting to close critical things in my market- if I were looking for a high-dollar TV, that'd certainly be "crap" I'd care about.
In an economy where some investors are making money on a product line from a company they've invested in and others are losing money, the shutting down tends to happen more quickly. How tolerant Sony, Olympus and Hoya investors are going to be is something I can't predict- but I can say for sure that Canon and Nikon investors are going to be much, much more tolerant- because decreased profitability is still profitability. Hoya investors get to see Nikon Imaging make 4B Yen in their worst quarter in a down year while Pentax bleeds 1.4B Yen a quarter- at some point you have to cut out the losing entity if there's no long-term profit strategy.
It's not just a bad economy, it's a bad economy coupled with bad management decisions (Oly lost ~45B Yen in investments and the like,) and an inability to get to consumers with wide ranges of products coupled with an over-saturated retail sector that's going down in flames coupled with a strong Yen. Since Nikon's got a long way to go until they lose money, I'm guessing your imagination isn't based upon anything any more solid than "My favorite brand isn't looking good!" Here's a hint: Nikon's Imaging Division isn't where the red ink was last quarter- and even in the losing units, the nubmers trend about the same as last year, just with the down economy (IOW, their business is as strong as it can be in these economic conditions and they're probably not losing market share despite the bad economy.)
Sony's a huge company, they can afford to lose money in some segments. However, I'd question the logic of buying into a system that's not good enough in the market to be profitable, no matter if it's for technical, marketing, political or business reasons. A successful company with a successful product line attracts the best talent and R&D. Not many people would rather work on the product that's always in a bind because the budget is leaking money. At lest Sony's making a profit fabbing sensors for Nikon.
There is a point at which losses become too high- we don't know what that point is at the moment, but with the big reorg coming, everything will be examined. While I don't think Sony will close down the still camera business in the short term, you have to wonder at what point the stills from video stuff becomes more interesting to a company who's making a lot more on video cameras than they are on still cameras.
Your lack of understanding of the digital camera market shows. The sensor is the single-most expensive component in a DSLR. AFAIR from past annual reports, internal chip sales are booked by the semiconductor division as if they were coming from an external party- that's been true of the PS2 and PS3 businesses (I'm pretty sure) and I don't know why it would change for Alpha.
Well, the last annual report I recall reading said they were still losing money. They've picked up some market share though, but I doubt they're break-even on the purchase yet.
No, I'm pretty sure that ten-fifteen years ago, people who "worried about that crap" knew GM wasn't doing well- here's what Business Week said in 1996:
No, losing sales doesn't *automatically* lose you money- it loses you profit to start with-- but (and this has been my recurring point) if you don't *start* with profitability, then losing sales does *automatically* lose you money. From what I can tell, Canon and Nikon are losing some sales but not money. Hoya and Sony seem to be losing money and Olympus was just pulling out of a camera losing scenario when they had to restate due to overall business losses.