Opticallimits

I agree with popo, that frankly any forecast about the success of the mirrorless world is premature. For what concerns the DP article about Sony growth, we have to wait and see whether it's a spike or a trend. I suspect, anyway, that the inbound chinese crisis will have a heavy impact even in this area, making things hard to understand - even though one could assume that the impact is in all the area and can still compare segments.

 

While I'd be the last to try a prediction, I think there are enough data to express a worry. There's one certainty so far: that smartphones are eroding the entry level segment and this makes sense, because to make a selfie or taking a shot of your kids at the school play a smartphone is enough - of course I don't call that casual shooting "photography", but unfortunately most people do. The net result is that the segment of people doing "serious photography", no matter if still amateurs, is going to dramatically shrink. Now, given that the remaining "upgraded" entry level doesn't give great margins, I suspect that manufacturers will concentrate on pretentious products packed with stuff, needing a lot of research, and costing a lot. This is the way I'm interpreting Sony's strategy of focusing on FF.

Quote:But I'm not talking only about Sony: I mentioned Tamron and Sigma. They could just propose versions of their lenses with an updated mount, without changing the optical design. They'd perform on par with their current lenses + A/E-mount converter. After all, it's what Samyang does.

 

BTW, Sigma has even retracted the A-mount version of their latest 150-600mm...

 

Tamron has filed a few FE lens patents recently.

http://www.cameraegg.org/tag/tamron-lenses/

 

Also, Zeiss is making Batis & Loxia lenses for FE mount that are not available for Canikon

Tamron is partly owned by Sony. And of course Zeiss lenses for FE are not available for DLSRs

I didn't notice the Tamron patent, and it's a good sign... let's wait and see.