Digital cameras are pretty mature right now. 35mm film is mostly dead until the hipsters inevitably revive it. I have a Sony A7iii (2018 release), and really not much has changed. Better focusing, more megapickles, more video modes, better menus... but it's not like the Minolta 7000 just came out with the first decent autofocus system. Or the Nikon E series was released and everyone's scrambling to catch up with digital. Or the Minolta A1 came out with IBIS. The next step for digital is to have pro-grade cameras inherit some of the computational photography and AI techniques that phones have had for years.
Interesting video. I used to work for Sony in their 5th Ave showroom in the early 70's as they came into the US as Sony Corp of America. Big item was the Trinitron which was far and away a superior TV. I met Morita on a couple of occasions - really a cool guy.
In my view a few things missing: 2006: Sony a100, first Sony branded SLR using the Minolta a-mount. 2008: a900 Sony's first full frame camera 2010: Sony a33/a55 first SLT cameras, their last traditional dSLRs released that day 2012: Sony rx100, first compact camera using a 1-inch sensor 2013: Sony rx-1 compact camera with a full frame sensor
Another incredibly enjoyable episode guys! I know these episodes are a lot of work to research and structure, but as someone constantly bombarded with photo industry talk, these history lessons are such a breath of fresh air. Thanks again! Jordan @ TCSTV
You obviously put a lot of time and effort into this. As a Minolta shooter, going back to the 2005 Maxxum 7000 (and current A99 Mark II shooter still getting great use from the Minolta 400/4.5 & 600/4 lenses), I really appreciate the refresher on the history -- and I learned a few things. Great job -- thanks!
There are a number of substantial bits missing from the Minolta to Sony shift. Once Sony buys the Minolta tech they quickly released the A100 DSLR with in-body Sensor stabilisation, this is followed by numerous A-mount releases over the next few years. Including the A900 fullframe with in-body image stabilization, you then get the E-mount system with the Nex-3/5 in 2010 along with the SLT A-mount cameras still with in-body image stabilization.
Yes, they missed a lot. They were also wondering why Sony is not using the Minolta brand for their cameras, and that's because Sony only bought the Minolta camera part of the business (manufacturing and perhaps patents), but the company Minolta continued to exist, kept the brand name and continues to produce its other products. Similar to how Microsoft bought Nokia's mobile phone business (the actual handset manufacturing business with 27000 employees, machinery, etc), but without the brand name. They could only briefly use it on the products released at the time.
Cannot get enough of these video, very inspirational too. So glad you mentioned the walkman brand, growing up, music was and is my life. I had 20+ different models of cassette walkmans. Some because they had innovative features or because some just looked beautiful by design, especiall the anniversay models (vertical loading cassette!). Later invested into 6 discmans and then later the not so popular mini disc, where I went through 5 models. The Sony Walkman ride was a thrill and so important in my life, and arguablbly no one has don it like that ever again. Even if later in years the Ipod was hugely popualr (Whic I never brought), they all looked the same and when you look at the multitude of styles walkmans that were made..unique. Incidently, my father used either minolta or yashica cameras, so japanse family technology being used lol. Now I'm a nikon shooter. Perhaps back to Sony one day, If they stick a walkman badge on..it may persuade me ha. Keep up the great work Tony & Chelsea Team :)
One of my favorite things about you guys is that you give all camera companies a chance and you don't let brand loyalty hold you back from trying new things to improve your craft! Keep it up
A-mount Sony DSLR/DSLT totally died (May 2021). Canon EF/EF-S mount DSLRs still no. 1 E-mount Sony "mirrorless" Camera sales defeated by Canon RF "mirrorless" camera sales in 2022.
Thank you for the research. I'm a Minolta lifer starting from my parents. Around the 1980's or so. Mine started on my Navy deployment in 1991. Kept with my 3 film cameras as long as I could get it developed because digital sensors just didn't do it for me until not long ago. Just bought a barely used a99 and love it. My a77 will be jealous of it. Got the a77 a few years back, but the cropped sensor irked me a lot. I never got a wide field of view I liked, and decided to put money in a full frame versus a pricey wide angle lens (which would always be 50% zoomed in). I've been cleaning up on Minolta lenses online from as old as the 1980's that work good enough for very little cost. I have come back to photography with the a99! My daughter is starting photography in school as well, so I'm glad I'm up and running. I'm finding some uses for a77 like shooting the full moon, with the bonus 50% zoom, and the same pixel count. Sony better not drop the ball on Alpha like Minolta did. I am looking for my next phone to have a Sony camera, as well. SONY, NO BALOGNA!
Great Video Tony and Chelsea. I grew up using Minolta cameras and still own an X700 film camera - this video is close to my heart. My first digital camera was the Sony Minolta DiMAGE 7i. I'm surprised you didn't talk about it. I loved that camera. No interchangeable lens but it offered RAW format and wonderful quality pictures. One comment you made towards the end though: I don't think it's fair to say Canon haven't been innovating. I believe the reason they don't put 4K in their DSLR and mirrorless cameras is because they're protecting their popular cinema line of video cameras. Also, The EVF in the M5 is every bit on a par with other manufacturers. I use an M5 and find it's EVF far superior to the Fuji X-T10 I used previously. In addition, Canon duel-pixel focusing just simply smokes all Sony's (except for the a99 ii which has phase detect) and all other mirrorless cameras for that matter (though I have not tried the X-T2). Finally, let's talk UI (which is also innovation). The touch-screen and menu system on Canon cameras is streets ahead of Sony. Canon have always had well organized menu's and adding a super responsive touchscreen with drag-to-focus functionality is really nice. I do think Canon have been innovating albeit conservatively. I think it's Nikon we've seen a lack of innovation from.
I was totally into all of that stuff... Recorded live concerts on a cassette "Walkman", recorded stereo PCM digital tapes of bands I was in with BETA, had the first "Diskman" for CD's, etc.. (always shot Nikon cameras though) Nice to see Chelsea back! :)
My first Sony was the a700 which I still have today. Been a Sony shooter since then too. I think you guys got your A-mount history incorrect. Sony's first full frame a-mount was the a850 & 900 which was replaced by the a99. Also, the a-mount was not introduced in 2010 but rather when they bought Minolta. 2010 was the first semi translucent mirror technology introduced in the a65 for example. Sorry to nitpick.
The first Sony DSLR (still a traditional dslr) was the a100 in 2006. In 2008 the a900 and a850 came out as the first full frame dslrs. Both had whopping 24Mpx at that time. In 2010 Sony introduced the first SLT cameras and in 2012 they released the a99, the first full frame SLT camera.
Great video as always. I'm a bit surprised you didn't mention the fact that some time in the 1980-90s, catapulted by the innovation of autofocus, Minolta did reach Nr1 in market share, ahead of Canon and Nikon. The problem is that Canon and Nikon went ahead of Minolta in transitioning to digital and Minolta never quite survived the digital revolution. As for the reason the Minolta name wasn't retained for the camera line, that's because Konica-Minolta still exists today. Minolta is still in the imaging business, just not in the commercial camera making part of it. So Minolta sold just the intellectual property rights from their camera business to Sony. Also I think that Sony have taken a major gamble in investing a lot of R&D in developing next generation DSLR/DSLT technology. The problem was that the a99 Mark I flopped in the market, and they reputedly lost a lot of money from it. You almost never see them around, although it appeared at the same time as the Canon 5DIII. You see 5DIIIs everywhere, but not a99 Mark Is. I think part of the problem was that Sony was too far ahead of its time. Innovations such as a DSLR/DSLT with EVF, focus peaking/zebras, and IBIS in the a99 Mark I never really caught on. Then they put the same features in a mirrorless and suddenly people thought they were the best thing since sliced bread to the point that fanboys believed they were innovations unique to mirrorless cameras. The other problem with the a99 Mark I was that it had the same frame rate as the 5DIII. Wasn't the point of removing the mechanical reflex mirror to make the camera shoot faster? All the a99 Mark I did was give you 2012 era EVF lag instead. Worse still, the idea of DSLT was to eliminate blackout, yet the a99 Mark I had worse blackout times than rival Canikon DSLRs. It was all too soon and too ambitious. The a99II represents the maturation of DSLT technology in that the LSI chip allows the coordination of off-focal plane phase detection autofocus with on-focal plane phase detection autofocus. That means that DSLRs now have a two step autofocus system, yet with both steps being PDAF, which requires a large scale integration (LSI) processor because of the processing power needed for high powered two-stage PDAF. The dedicated off-focal plane PDAF sensor is fast, but there can be a discrepancy between what it sees and the focal plane of the imaging sensor-that means focussing inaccuracy. By having a secondary confirm step that is on-focal plane you remove that discrepancy. I've noticed that even my oldish Minolta 70-200mm f/2.8 SSM (late model) has a new lease of life, and I think that is partly because of the superior hybrid autofocus system. This is radical next generation DSLR technology. And unless Canon can make a digital pellicle mirror "Pellix" camera, they are in deep trouble when it comes to making a 1DX Mark III. It's far more innovative than anything in the mirrorless world. It is really quite remarkable. Imagine if Sony made an a99S with a low light 15.4MP sensor that could shoot at 24-30 fps, at about the same price point as the a99II? Hence, I agree that my a99II is a better camera than my 5DsR. The a99II can't replace the Canon because of the wider range of quality EF mount lenses, but perhaps it is is only a matter of time before we see some A mount GM lenses to rival them in that department.
A-mount Sony DSLR/DSLT totally died (May 2021). Canon EF/EF-S mount DSLRs still no. 1 E-mount Sony "mirrorless" Camera sales defeated by Canon RF "mirrorless" camera sales in 2022.
@@set3777 No, that's Canon mirrorless, and most of it is in EF-M mount, meaning the m50 and m6 mark ii. Even counting that, Sony sales exceeded Canon mirrorless in 2022, and Sony's is all E mount. R7 and R10 won't sell well, just watch. LOL, some people are walking around claiming Canon is over Sony in mirrorless, only the data and science challenged ones would think it's the RF mount. Furthermore, when I look at secondary market data, Sony aps-c cameras (a6400/a6600) are still selling basically at release prices or $100 discounts from 3-4 years ago, while EF-M cameras are selling at significant discounts. That also does not bode well for Canon's EF-M cameras. Add on top of that Sony's lineup is on average higher priced than Canon's, it paints a very clear picture Sony is not only leading in units, and in $ revenue will also be significantly higher in mirrorless. Canon will make up the volume, however, in DSLRs, but that segment, is much less profitable. Maybe that's why Canon's counting on lens sale so much to make money now.
this was the reason,i was bashing u guys for not using slt cameras like a77 mark 2 in comparison videos,but finally you got to know the strength of slt cameras now.
Hi, Excellent article on the Minolta/Sony history. I note that no matter how much info' you give there will always be someone who complains that you did not cover their Kodak, Brownie Box or some Titmouse point and shoot. Great stuff you two.
Sony's first mobile video revolution was the black & white, reel-to-reel Porta Pak camera in the late 1960s, used by news crews and also video artists. Then came their U-Matic cassette system, used by industry and commercial broadcast; these both preceded Beta and VHS.
I just have to add some detail that's a bit lacking in this video that I've seen so far, mainly that both Minolta and Sony made Professional equipment and weren't just consumer companies. Minolta did actually have a number of Professional-targeted cameras and at one point was even taken more seriously in the market than Canon was(70's). Cameras such as the XK (a well made Nikon F2 clone) and XK Motor, X-700(1981 European Camera of the Year), Maxxum 9000 (the first Pro body with Autofocus), Maxxum 9xi (with it's 1/12000s shutter speed) and the venerable Maxxum 9. (Also worth mentioning, while not a "Pro" camera, the XD-11 was the first Multimode SLR with shutter and aperture priority, released in 1977, which coincidentally also formed the basis of the Leica R4). They had run-ins with the Law however in the late 80's as their Autofocus technology (sourced from Honeywell instead of Leica) was used without proper licensing and led to a large lawsuit. Minolta lost the multi-billion dollar lawsuit with Honeywell, which affected their bottom line, at around the same time Canon was hitting their stride with the EOS system. Minolta would never be a serious competitor again, though 1998's Maxxum 9 was a very nice swan song. Later, Minolta (now Konica Minolta after the 2004 Merger) co-developed their first and only Digital SLR's with Sony in 2004, but proved to be too little/too late for them, and wound up selling their camera division to Sony in 2006, exiting the camera market. Meanwhile, Sony did indeed manufacture and was mostly known to the general public for their consumer electronics, they were also known for professional video and audio equipment that were well used in Broadcast Studios dating back to the 70's. An example being that while Sony lost the VHS vs Betamax war, their Betacam equipment was in standard use throughout the television broadcast industry from the mid-70's up until a few years ago during the transition to HD broadcasting. So while Sony is relatively new to the Professional Still Camera market, they're no stranger to making Professional Equipment in general. Now if only they'd have an actual In-House Professional Camera repair service, that would be nice.
In the 90s I worked in a CASIO brand shop and I had access to other brand devices too. When @Tony Northrup said that floppy discs and CDs were the only available media to transfer images to PCs I had to disagree. Even in the early 90s there were solid state discs already, mostly proprietary. Later in the mid-90s the Compact Flash cards got available for the consumer level, too. CASIO brought their first consumer digital camera to the market in 1995 model year (I tested one in December 1994 but unfortunately the files are broken now) and this QV-10A was the first one with built-in LCD screen (according to CASIO and camerawiki.com). One or two years later they brought the first cameras with CF cards and Microdrive I and I am sure that they weren't the first with that. So when SONY brought the floppy and CD spinning cameras, they were already a step back in tech-but a huge bravado on costs side. In those times a CF card could cost half as much as the whole camera meanwhile floppies were widely available "for peanuts" and even CDs weren't budget breakers. (I still have CF cards that were boundled to my CASIO and Nikon cameras-CASIO provided 8MB cards while Nikon did 16MBs. CASIO could write TIFF format images and four of them filled the whole card. :D )
It's a huge, massive shame Minolta pulled out of the camera business in 2006. Minolta made some insanely good lenses in the 60s/70s/80s, and they were one of the few companies who did absolutely everything themselves, they did not outsource the production of their glass, ( until about the mid 80s ). The Minolta CLE is considered by many to be better than any Leica... Minolta even made lenses for Leica! Forever and ever my favorite camera maker!
I had the Mavica CD 1000 and at its time it was amazing! even though it saved to a CD it was pretty quick and had steadycam and a very long zoom.. and saving to a CD was great because you had your backup right there and it had lots more space than other way more expensive camera media's at the time.
TWO INACCURACIES: 1. The Sony A900 was actually their first full frame camera (and it came out in 2008). 2. Their first DSLR was actually the A100 and it came out in 2006. Peace, y'all...
Thank you, I was going to point that out. They also brushed over how revolutionary the SLT tech was. My old A65 is still relevant today with only the A6500 and A7ii finally able to out do it’s feature set. They also missed that Sony made sensors in tons of point and shoot cameras including Nikon and Canon for many, many years.
BetaMax was the absolute BEST tape recording system ever made. My daughter found my BetaMax when she was in high school and taped over all of my saved tapes with her TV programs. She loved that sucker, in the year 1999.
I've had the a7rii for over a year now and have loved everything about it. I don't mess much with the video (only from time to time), but the only thing that I don't like about it is the very poor battery life and the lack of a two-card slot. Other than that, I'm so happy I went from Canon to Sony. I do hope the release a medium format digital camera sometime in the next year. Would love to have my hands on a larger sensor for some of the work I do.
Minolta Dynax 5D my first DSLR, loved it and another A mount one Sony A700 my fav digital camera of all time. Since then got 10 analoge Minolta cameras and love them all.
The Asahi Pentax ME F in 1981 was the first autofocus SLR but in 1985 Minolta was the first major camera manufacturer who offered SLR cameras with autofocus without external or special mechanisms. At the same time it introduced the new α-mount which is still active in Market. In 1987 Canon followed with EOS cameras and the new EF mount. Nikon followed a little later and decided to not change its mount. That was a initial advantage but later proved to be a mistake.
No, the first AF-SLR that reached production (!!!) was the Polaroid SX70 Sonar One Step from 1978. The Pentax ME-F was only the first AF-SLR for 35mm film (!!!) that reached production. The very first 35mm SLR-Camera with AF was the Leica Correfot, which was shown at Photokina in 1976 - but it never reached production ;)
39:30 On Tamron's stock information page it says in the top 10 shareholders as of 31st Dec 2016 Sony is second with around 3,129,000 shares equaling a 12.06% stake.
I love you two! Keep going! MORE HISTORY VIDS!!! These have been quite interesting (I've seen all of them now). It's great to see Chelsea's lovely face and hear her sweet voice. You two are a great couple! I love Tony's technical knowledge too!
Tony, Chelsea; maybe add a financial comparison once. Sony is much bigger than Nikon or Canon, so they can invest more means into technology. They also make huge numbers of industrial camera sensors, these are used in product sorting, like finding bad apples, missing caps on bottles, etc.
39:57 they did have alpha cameras between 2006 and 2010. They bought Konica/Minolta's tech in 2005 released the sony a100 in 2006. 2010 was their first e-mount mirrorless camera/lens release. The new tech they introduced in 2010 in the Alpha series was their first SLT camera though.
Steve Jobs is known to have been a big fan of Akio Morita and took some of the ideas like the one you talked about from him so the link you made makes perfect sense. This is also why some of the early sony-apple intermixing happened Steve was not a big fan of other CEO's it seems but Akio Morita was a big exception in his mind. In many ways apple is now like sony. In the 80's there where probably very few homes without at least 2 or 3 sony devices same is now true for apple..
Excellent presentation, yet missing a few key points that ought to have been included. One thing seriously missing is the inclusion of at least a brief overview of Konica, with whom Minolta had merged before Sony acquired their combined intellectual property. The XG series of Minolta cameras were capable of auto-exposure (AE) in shutter (time) priority mode, introducing the MD variants of the SR mount lenses, but none of them were capable of auto-focus. There is a curiosity, the Tamron SP 47A that facilitates auto-focus (presumably off film/sensor prism-based) that is XG compatible, yet that in itself does not support the claim that XG class Minolta SLR cameras are capable of auto-focus. The Exakta bayonet was established in 1936, which patently pre-dates the existence of a Minolta-branded SLR. It is the basis for most modern lens bayonet-mounts for still cameras, including Topcon (all completely compatible), Mamiya (the Prismat series is directly compatible, others are derivative), and Nikon's F mount (with reversed chirality), along with Praktica and many medium format bayonet mounts. You briefly touched on this next point, yet I think it is very significant. Nikon leads the perception as a professional's choice because of its commitment to professional level support. The corollary to this is that Olympus is not perceived as a professional choice because of technical reasons, but rather for logistic reasons. There are so many examples of how computational photography is "superior" (more agile and cost effective) to mere optical photography, that any argument concerning sensor size is not particularly compelling without a great deal of context and evidence. There is a reason why scientific nerds like NASA have preferred well-defined small sensors with appropriate software over the alleged superiority of "full-frame". In a similar direction, I would like to point out how Fujifilm has leapt over the full-frame fray with its mirrorless 33mm X 44mm system cameras and their remarkably astute prime lenses for this format. I doubt very much you shall see them at La Vuelta de España, but I have a feeling they are fated to play a significant role in the emergence of a viable digital medium format market.
One thing I'll say from my own experience, I got into Sony cameras not because they're new with new technologies, but because with the adapters that are available it opened the door for me to shoot with all that vintage glass. I've been shooting Nikon since the early 2000s, and the Sony A7II is the first camera body I've owned that isn't a Nikon. However I don't own a single Sony lens, but I have a growing collection of vintage glass that feels great (and nostalgic) to shoot with.
I really enjoyed this podcast learning about the history of how it all came together. However I would have loved to learn about the partnership of sony and Zeiss as well.
great work, I can't think of one other channel that really goes this far to give informative great info on all aspects of camera matters, or products and its history. Its good that it's not always so serious and the odd joke is injected into the balance. Greta people, thanks for the efforts and time.
First non manual SLR was a Minolta Dynax 3xi. The autofocus was pants - continually hunting, especially on longer lens. Additionally the manual focus on longer zoom was also bad. Still better than my previous camera - Zenith E :)
I don't know if this would help, but the Japanese wikipedia says that Minolta comes from Mechanismus Optikund Linsen von TAshima, citing an old Japanese book 『クラシックカメラ専科No.12、ミノルタカメラのすべて』p.6。(Classic camera encyclopedia No. 12 - Everything about the Minolta cameras)
Seiko too was part of Japan's successful rebranding especially with the '79 introduction of their automatic chronograph to sync exactly with the 100 yr old Swiss consortiums working on the same holy grail.
The A100 (10MP - updated Minolta 5D) was Sony's first DSLR after the takeover of Minolta, followed closely by the A700 (12MP - updated Minolta 7D) and then the full-frame A900 (and A850). How could you jump from 2006 to 2010 and not mention their first actual DSLR's???!!!! The A-mount Minolta legacy was a master stroke for getting them into the DSLR world, but you ignored it until the E-mount came out. ;-( Other than that, excellent presentation, thank you. (A100 was my first DSLR, and then the A700, now A77ii. All great, except A100 above about ISO200. Probably a bit of a Sony fanboy here I guess...)
The thing about being number one in the pro market is that the shine from pro endorsement helps out in marketing everything you sell. Sony also is smart at covering all the bases within the camera market by continuing to produce older models. For example in crop frame A6000 - A6500 and in full frame A7 - A7Rii.
Thanks, Ira! We had a great time shooting with you in Thailand. I think our viewers would love to see how you work. Would you ever be interested in making a video with us? ~Chelsea
Hey Tony, big fan of you. Just saw Ur video about 'low light king', and I might see the point here: SNR and Dynamic Range. You see SNR is representing the noise and DR is for EV tolerance. DxO says a7s the king according to DR and they might mean a7s can recover more low/hi-lights. Meanwhile, DxO shows SNR of D810 is lower than a7s, means D810 more noise free at high iso. Simply put: higher noise doesn't necessary mean low Dynamic Range. And DxO considers only at recovering(DR) when considering low light capability, while common sense might look at the noise level(SNR) more. PS: I use d810, and I'm your guy's fanboy, not Sony's. Hope this will help.
The Sony sensor of iPhone 5 is very very good during daylight. During lowlight isn't good but far better than other smartphones of its time. I was really impressed. Especially when I was using third party camera apps which were saving Tiff photos instead of the default JPEG. I remember well the Minolta Dynax series, I didn't know that it was named alpha in Japan. Something lesser known is that the Sony LA-EA4 full frame e-mount adapter for a-mount lens isn't only good for legacy Minolta a lenses or newer sony a-mount lens. It can't support much better than Metabones the a-mount lenses of Tamron and Sigma.
36:36 Tony says there was no standard for getting media into your computer and while he is correct if he's only referring to physical media, he is forgetting about serial. Most all digital consumer cameras used serial connections to connect to the computer and some even used smart media cards and the early compact flash cards. You could connect your camera directly to your PC via serial cable or you could purchase a card reader that connected via serial and move pictures from your camera to your computer via the memory card. And it wasn't very well standardized as far as what memory cards would become successful but the serial bus and serial connector goes back to the early eighties as a standardized port on PC.
Japan is still one of the best places to do physics, they have one of the best particle accelerators, and are building another gravitational wave detector. Sony built the sensors in the huge telescope they have as well / a physicist. Love the podcast
One little correction Tony when Sony bought Minolta, almost immediately they released the A-mount Alpha 100 on the year 2006, no on 2010 as you said, by 2010 there were several models of the A-mount out under the Sony badge, on 2010 the Emount was born in the form of the NEX, Great video by the way., and the first full frame was the A900 released on 2008
Great video but no mention at their pro attempts at the alpha mount.The a900 was their first "pro" body and it soon had a 70-200mm f/2.8, 24-70mm f/2.8, 300 f/2.8, and eventually a 500 f/2.8 and some primes. It was also the first body to hit 24mpx for under $2500. (The second behind the Nikon D3x). It is just nobody noticed until they started making "pro" gear for their E mount mirriorless. I believe Minolta pioneered Autofocus as well. No mention of that.
Good video, but most people aren't aware that Sony has been a major force in broadcast TV and audio for quite a long time. They had huge rackmount 1" reel tape VTR's back in the early 80's that were being used for NFL video instant replay. I know they had pro video monitors (probably ever since the Trinitron TV sets came out) and I'm pretty sure they had pro video cameras (and lenses) since the 80's at least. Sony probably has more technical chops than any company in Japan, but current management seems to be keeping it in reserve or something. All Sony really needed was Minolta's camera making knowledge and mount knowledge, etc. to get them into the camera business, they already had the lens making and electronics knowledge.
It maybe too late to mention, but the name "Minolta" was named after "Machinery and INstruments OpticaL by TAshima". Also the name has meaning of "good rice field" in Japanese.
I guess for me the pivotal moment with respect to Sony cameras was when they came out with the NEX 3 and NEX5. Tiny cameras with comparatively large (for compact size cameras) sensors and interchangeable lenses all at an affordable price ! For someone just stepping up from point and shoots in order to take better travel, dance and casual pictures this concept was ideal. I still have my NEX5 and, to be honest, in many cases one would be hard pressed without extensive pixel peeping to distinguish between a JPEG from it vs one from the a6000 or a6300 when using the same lens (I have all three cameras now and still use all three). I really hope that Sony does not abandon the affordable APSC eMount line in favour of only professional grade cameras and lenses. For those of us who are hobbyists or who simply want a significant step up from phone cameras but who do not need, or cannot afford, full frame professional equipment the a5xxx and a6xxx lines are ideal.
great this is the best history so far. Would have been great if you covered the smart phone briefly in this first 4k first waterproof and 20mp in a smartphone not to mention sound quality
David Salazar that was my fault. I pointed out the source he was using against dxomark. senscore still said a7s and a7sii are their low light king via ISO ratings being # 1 and 2 on on senscore.org. It happens. I've got a lot more respect for them because they pulled it off RUclips
Tony & Chelsea Northrup i wasnt mad at you and others wouldn't be either. you're a great resource. just this time your source didn't match what you were saying. Btw I like the noise pattern of Sony and Fuji cameras over Nikon and Canon. beyond that keep it up
36:18 they still sell usb floppy drives for under $15. 3.5 inch floppy often used fat format too, unless you were on mac, still fat ones aren't hard to read today. 8 inch or 5 1/4 inch floppies would be more difficult to read. And some Mavica also had the option for Sony's memory stick.
Man I cannot believe you didn't mention that Sony was one of the first companies to integrate a usable digital camera in a phone with the w800 and the w810 it was amazing for the time, it was the real first hybrid of the phones and cameras and they began a lot of their parternship with zeiss
Based upon this video you could make a few more videos on either companies history like comercial history, focusing on a particular decade like the 1940's-1950's transition, advertizing of cameras, the transition to digital. It was obvious you only hit the highlights but there is obviously more history.
Maybe it's not relevant for the overall History of Sony (image) that you tell us but Phase One 100 megapixels and Hasselblad mid format cameras both top expensive brands also use Sony sensors. People at Sony are doing a really great job for the industry in that area.
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You should address the missing cameras in this video guys :). A100 was Sony's first, A900 first full frame, etc...
Just listened to this 6 years later because I got a cheap a6000 and I’m impressed on the many features it has that are still relevant in 2024
Digital cameras are pretty mature right now. 35mm film is mostly dead until the hipsters inevitably revive it. I have a Sony A7iii (2018 release), and really not much has changed. Better focusing, more megapickles, more video modes, better menus... but it's not like the Minolta 7000 just came out with the first decent autofocus system. Or the Nikon E series was released and everyone's scrambling to catch up with digital. Or the Minolta A1 came out with IBIS. The next step for digital is to have pro-grade cameras inherit some of the computational photography and AI techniques that phones have had for years.
Interesting video. I used to work for Sony in their 5th Ave showroom in the early 70's as they came into the US as Sony Corp of America. Big item was the Trinitron which was far and away a superior TV. I met Morita on a couple of occasions - really a cool guy.
brilliant, timeless content
Had no intention to watch past 2 minutes of this but I'm hooked...
In my view a few things missing:
2006: Sony a100, first Sony branded SLR using the Minolta a-mount.
2008: a900 Sony's first full frame camera
2010: Sony a33/a55 first SLT cameras, their last traditional dSLRs released that day
2012: Sony rx100, first compact camera using a 1-inch sensor
2013: Sony rx-1 compact camera with a full frame sensor
Another incredibly enjoyable episode guys! I know these episodes are a lot of work to research and structure, but as someone constantly bombarded with photo industry talk, these history lessons are such a breath of fresh air.
Thanks again!
Jordan @ TCSTV
You obviously put a lot of time and effort into this. As a Minolta shooter, going back to the 2005 Maxxum 7000 (and current A99 Mark II shooter still getting great use from the Minolta 400/4.5 & 600/4 lenses), I really appreciate the refresher on the history -- and I learned a few things. Great job -- thanks!
There are a number of substantial bits missing from the Minolta to Sony shift. Once Sony buys the Minolta tech they quickly released the A100 DSLR with in-body Sensor stabilisation, this is followed by numerous A-mount releases over the next few years. Including the A900 fullframe with in-body image stabilization, you then get the E-mount system with the Nex-3/5 in 2010 along with the SLT A-mount cameras still with in-body image stabilization.
Yes, they missed a lot.
They were also wondering why Sony is not using the Minolta brand for their cameras, and that's because Sony only bought the Minolta camera part of the business (manufacturing and perhaps patents), but the company Minolta continued to exist, kept the brand name and continues to produce its other products.
Similar to how Microsoft bought Nokia's mobile phone business (the actual handset manufacturing business with 27000 employees, machinery, etc), but without the brand name. They could only briefly use it on the products released at the time.
Cannot get enough of these video, very inspirational too. So glad you mentioned the walkman brand, growing up, music was and is my life. I had 20+ different models of cassette walkmans. Some because they had innovative features or because some just looked beautiful by design, especiall the anniversay models (vertical loading cassette!). Later invested into 6 discmans and then later the not so popular mini disc, where I went through 5 models.
The Sony Walkman ride was a thrill and so important in my life, and arguablbly no one has don it like that ever again. Even if later in years the Ipod was hugely popualr (Whic I never brought), they all looked the same and when you look at the multitude of styles walkmans that were made..unique. Incidently, my father used either minolta or yashica cameras, so japanse family technology being used lol. Now I'm a nikon shooter. Perhaps back to Sony one day, If they stick a walkman badge on..it may persuade me ha.
Keep up the great work Tony & Chelsea Team :)
One of my favorite things about you guys is that you give all camera companies a chance and you don't let brand loyalty hold you back from trying new things to improve your craft! Keep it up
A-mount Sony DSLR/DSLT totally died (May 2021).
Canon EF/EF-S mount DSLRs still no. 1
E-mount Sony "mirrorless" Camera sales defeated by Canon RF "mirrorless" camera sales in 2022.
Thank you for the research. I'm a Minolta lifer starting from my parents. Around the 1980's or so. Mine started on my Navy deployment in 1991. Kept with my 3 film cameras as long as I could get it developed because digital sensors just didn't do it for me until not long ago. Just bought a barely used a99 and love it. My a77 will be jealous of it. Got the a77 a few years back, but the cropped sensor irked me a lot. I never got a wide field of view I liked, and decided to put money in a full frame versus a pricey wide angle lens (which would always be 50% zoomed in). I've been cleaning up on Minolta lenses online from as old as the 1980's that work good enough for very little cost. I have come back to photography with the a99! My daughter is starting photography in school as well, so I'm glad I'm up and running. I'm finding some uses for a77 like shooting the full moon, with the bonus 50% zoom, and the same pixel count. Sony better not drop the ball on Alpha like Minolta did. I am looking for my next phone to have a Sony camera, as well. SONY, NO BALOGNA!
Great Video Tony and Chelsea. I grew up using Minolta cameras and still own an X700 film camera - this video is close to my heart. My first digital camera was the Sony Minolta DiMAGE 7i. I'm surprised you didn't talk about it. I loved that camera. No interchangeable lens but it offered RAW format and wonderful quality pictures.
One comment you made towards the end though: I don't think it's fair to say Canon haven't been innovating. I believe the reason they don't put 4K in their DSLR and mirrorless cameras is because they're protecting their popular cinema line of video cameras. Also, The EVF in the M5 is every bit on a par with other manufacturers. I use an M5 and find it's EVF far superior to the Fuji X-T10 I used previously. In addition, Canon duel-pixel focusing just simply smokes all Sony's (except for the a99 ii which has phase detect) and all other mirrorless cameras for that matter (though I have not tried the X-T2). Finally, let's talk UI (which is also innovation). The touch-screen and menu system on Canon cameras is streets ahead of Sony. Canon have always had well organized menu's and adding a super responsive touchscreen with drag-to-focus functionality is really nice. I do think Canon have been innovating albeit conservatively. I think it's Nikon we've seen a lack of innovation from.
I was totally into all of that stuff... Recorded live concerts on a cassette "Walkman", recorded stereo PCM digital tapes of bands I was in with BETA, had the first "Diskman" for CD's, etc.. (always shot Nikon cameras though) Nice to see Chelsea back! :)
41:17 The a900,that was released back in 2009 was Sony's first full frame camera, not the a99.
My first Sony was the a700 which I still have today. Been a Sony shooter since then too. I think you guys got your A-mount history incorrect. Sony's first full frame a-mount was the a850 & 900 which was replaced by the a99. Also, the a-mount was not introduced in 2010 but rather when they bought Minolta. 2010 was the first semi translucent mirror technology introduced in the a65 for example. Sorry to nitpick.
+Jonathan Mitchell you're right, my mistake.
Jonathan Mitchell actually the SLT was introduced with the a33 & a55 cameras in 2010, a65 was introduced in 2011.
I also still have my a700, now have the a6000 and A7II
The first Sony DSLR (still a traditional dslr) was the a100 in 2006.
In 2008 the a900 and a850 came out as the first full frame dslrs. Both had whopping 24Mpx at that time.
In 2010 Sony introduced the first SLT cameras and in 2012 they released the a99, the first full frame SLT camera.
I still have my A300, it's very good for it's age. I just roll it with a 35/1.8.
Supurb! A full hour of chill. Grab the chips and crack a beer! Love these episodes!
Haha. I swear I thought you said shill.
I LOVE these History lessons.
Keep 'em coming.
I had the Sony Digital Mavica, floppy drive. I think you could fit like 8 photos on a disk. At the time it was AMAZING to me.
Great video as always. I'm a bit surprised you didn't mention the fact that some time in the 1980-90s, catapulted by the innovation of autofocus, Minolta did reach Nr1 in market share, ahead of Canon and Nikon. The problem is that Canon and Nikon went ahead of Minolta in transitioning to digital and Minolta never quite survived the digital revolution.
As for the reason the Minolta name wasn't retained for the camera line, that's because Konica-Minolta still exists today. Minolta is still in the imaging business, just not in the commercial camera making part of it. So Minolta sold just the intellectual property rights from their camera business to Sony.
Also I think that Sony have taken a major gamble in investing a lot of R&D in developing next generation DSLR/DSLT technology. The problem was that the a99 Mark I flopped in the market, and they reputedly lost a lot of money from it. You almost never see them around, although it appeared at the same time as the Canon 5DIII. You see 5DIIIs everywhere, but not a99 Mark Is. I think part of the problem was that Sony was too far ahead of its time. Innovations such as a DSLR/DSLT with EVF, focus peaking/zebras, and IBIS in the a99 Mark I never really caught on. Then they put the same features in a mirrorless and suddenly people thought they were the best thing since sliced bread to the point that fanboys believed they were innovations unique to mirrorless cameras.
The other problem with the a99 Mark I was that it had the same frame rate as the 5DIII. Wasn't the point of removing the mechanical reflex mirror to make the camera shoot faster? All the a99 Mark I did was give you 2012 era EVF lag instead. Worse still, the idea of DSLT was to eliminate blackout, yet the a99 Mark I had worse blackout times than rival Canikon DSLRs. It was all too soon and too ambitious. The a99II represents the maturation of DSLT technology in that the LSI chip allows the coordination of off-focal plane phase detection autofocus with on-focal plane phase detection autofocus. That means that DSLRs now have a two step autofocus system, yet with both steps being PDAF, which requires a large scale integration (LSI) processor because of the processing power needed for high powered two-stage PDAF. The dedicated off-focal plane PDAF sensor is fast, but there can be a discrepancy between what it sees and the focal plane of the imaging sensor-that means focussing inaccuracy. By having a secondary confirm step that is on-focal plane you remove that discrepancy. I've noticed that even my oldish Minolta 70-200mm f/2.8 SSM (late model) has a new lease of life, and I think that is partly because of the superior hybrid autofocus system.
This is radical next generation DSLR technology. And unless Canon can make a digital pellicle mirror "Pellix" camera, they are in deep trouble when it comes to making a 1DX Mark III. It's far more innovative than anything in the mirrorless world. It is really quite remarkable. Imagine if Sony made an a99S with a low light 15.4MP sensor that could shoot at 24-30 fps, at about the same price point as the a99II? Hence, I agree that my a99II is a better camera than my 5DsR. The a99II can't replace the Canon because of the wider range of quality EF mount lenses, but perhaps it is is only a matter of time before we see some A mount GM lenses to rival them in that department.
A-mount Sony DSLR/DSLT totally died (May 2021).
Canon EF/EF-S mount DSLRs still no. 1
E-mount Sony "mirrorless" Camera sales defeated by Canon RF "mirrorless" camera sales in 2022.
@@set3777 you wish, E mount will kick RF mounted behind by 50-100% in 2022
@@CO8848_2 NOT my wish. Check real Data.
Canon RF camera sales was higher than Sony from Nov 2021 to Jun 2022 - even before the release of R7 and R10
@@set3777 No, that's Canon mirrorless, and most of it is in EF-M mount, meaning the m50 and m6 mark ii. Even counting that, Sony sales exceeded Canon mirrorless in 2022, and Sony's is all E mount. R7 and R10 won't sell well, just watch. LOL, some people are walking around claiming Canon is over Sony in mirrorless, only the data and science challenged ones would think it's the RF mount. Furthermore, when I look at secondary market data, Sony aps-c cameras (a6400/a6600) are still selling basically at release prices or $100 discounts from 3-4 years ago, while EF-M cameras are selling at significant discounts. That also does not bode well for Canon's EF-M cameras. Add on top of that Sony's lineup is on average higher priced than Canon's, it paints a very clear picture Sony is not only leading in units, and in $ revenue will also be significantly higher in mirrorless. Canon will make up the volume, however, in DSLRs, but that segment, is much less profitable. Maybe that's why Canon's counting on lens sale so much to make money now.
@@CO8848_2 just googled: Sony Cameras Australia - Up to 20% off Sony Gear
YOU are a liar and/or just "self gratifying".
WOW!! I was dying to hear something about MINOLTA and SONY!! You guys rock!! I love my MAXXUM 7 and 9!!
this was the reason,i was bashing u guys for not using slt cameras like a77 mark 2 in comparison videos,but finally you got to know the strength of slt cameras now.
Hi, Excellent article on the Minolta/Sony history. I note that no matter how much info' you give there will always be someone who complains that you did not cover their Kodak, Brownie Box or some Titmouse point and shoot. Great stuff you two.
Sony's first mobile video revolution was the black & white, reel-to-reel Porta Pak camera in the late 1960s, used by news crews and also video artists. Then came their U-Matic cassette system, used by industry and commercial broadcast; these both preceded Beta and VHS.
I just have to add some detail that's a bit lacking in this video that I've seen so far, mainly that both Minolta and Sony made Professional equipment and weren't just consumer companies.
Minolta did actually have a number of Professional-targeted cameras and at one point was even taken more seriously in the market than Canon was(70's). Cameras such as the XK (a well made Nikon F2 clone) and XK Motor, X-700(1981 European Camera of the Year), Maxxum 9000 (the first Pro body with Autofocus), Maxxum 9xi (with it's 1/12000s shutter speed) and the venerable Maxxum 9. (Also worth mentioning, while not a "Pro" camera, the XD-11 was the first Multimode SLR with shutter and aperture priority, released in 1977, which coincidentally also formed the basis of the Leica R4). They had run-ins with the Law however in the late 80's as their Autofocus technology (sourced from Honeywell instead of Leica) was used without proper licensing and led to a large lawsuit. Minolta lost the multi-billion dollar lawsuit with Honeywell, which affected their bottom line, at around the same time Canon was hitting their stride with the EOS system. Minolta would never be a serious competitor again, though 1998's Maxxum 9 was a very nice swan song. Later, Minolta (now Konica Minolta after the 2004 Merger) co-developed their first and only Digital SLR's with Sony in 2004, but proved to be too little/too late for them, and wound up selling their camera division to Sony in 2006, exiting the camera market. Meanwhile, Sony did indeed manufacture and was mostly known to the general public for their consumer electronics, they were also known for professional video and audio equipment that were well used in Broadcast Studios dating back to the 70's. An example being that while Sony lost the VHS vs Betamax war, their Betacam equipment was in standard use throughout the television broadcast industry from the mid-70's up until a few years ago during the transition to HD broadcasting. So while Sony is relatively new to the Professional Still Camera market, they're no stranger to making Professional Equipment in general. Now if only they'd have an actual In-House Professional Camera repair service, that would be nice.
In the 90s I worked in a CASIO brand shop and I had access to other brand devices too. When @Tony Northrup said that floppy discs and CDs were the only available media to transfer images to PCs I had to disagree. Even in the early 90s there were solid state discs already, mostly proprietary. Later in the mid-90s the Compact Flash cards got available for the consumer level, too. CASIO brought their first consumer digital camera to the market in 1995 model year (I tested one in December 1994 but unfortunately the files are broken now) and this QV-10A was the first one with built-in LCD screen (according to CASIO and camerawiki.com). One or two years later they brought the first cameras with CF cards and Microdrive I and I am sure that they weren't the first with that. So when SONY brought the floppy and CD spinning cameras, they were already a step back in tech-but a huge bravado on costs side. In those times a CF card could cost half as much as the whole camera meanwhile floppies were widely available "for peanuts" and even CDs weren't budget breakers.
(I still have CF cards that were boundled to my CASIO and Nikon cameras-CASIO provided 8MB cards while Nikon did 16MBs. CASIO could write TIFF format images and four of them filled the whole card. :D )
It's a huge, massive shame Minolta pulled out of the camera business in 2006.
Minolta made some insanely good lenses in the 60s/70s/80s, and they were one of the few companies who did absolutely everything themselves, they did not outsource the production of their glass, ( until about the mid 80s ).
The Minolta CLE is considered by many to be better than any Leica...
Minolta even made lenses for Leica!
Forever and ever my favorite camera maker!
I still have 6 or 7 ´old´ minolta lenses on my a99 and they still are great. Not as clinically sharp as my CZ lenses but they render beautiful pics.
I had the Mavica CD 1000 and at its time it was amazing! even though it saved to a CD it was pretty quick and had steadycam and a very long zoom.. and saving to a CD was great because you had your backup right there and it had lots more space than other way more expensive camera media's at the time.
TWO INACCURACIES:
1. The Sony A900 was actually their first full frame camera (and it came out in 2008).
2. Their first DSLR was actually the A100 and it came out in 2006.
Peace, y'all...
Sony also had the A850 at that time.
Thank you, I was going to point that out. They also brushed over how revolutionary the SLT tech was. My old A65 is still relevant today with only the A6500 and A7ii finally able to out do it’s feature set. They also missed that Sony made sensors in tons of point and shoot cameras including Nikon and Canon for many, many years.
What a fascinating review of Sony history ! ! Thank you 🙏🏽
BetaMax was the absolute BEST tape recording system ever made. My daughter found my BetaMax when she was in high school and taped over all of my saved tapes with her TV programs. She loved that sucker, in the year 1999.
I've had the a7rii for over a year now and have loved everything about it. I don't mess much with the video (only from time to time), but the only thing that I don't like about it is the very poor battery life and the lack of a two-card slot. Other than that, I'm so happy I went from Canon to Sony.
I do hope the release a medium format digital camera sometime in the next year. Would love to have my hands on a larger sensor for some of the work I do.
Minolta Dynax 5D my first DSLR, loved it and another A mount one Sony A700 my fav digital camera of all time. Since then got 10 analoge Minolta cameras and love them all.
The Asahi Pentax ME F in 1981 was the first autofocus SLR but in 1985 Minolta was the first major camera manufacturer who offered SLR cameras with autofocus without external or special mechanisms. At the same time it introduced the new α-mount which is still active in Market. In 1987 Canon followed with EOS cameras and the new EF mount. Nikon followed a little later and decided to not change its mount. That was a initial advantage but later proved to be a mistake.
No, the first AF-SLR that reached production (!!!) was the Polaroid SX70 Sonar One Step from 1978. The Pentax ME-F was only the first AF-SLR for 35mm film (!!!) that reached production. The very first 35mm SLR-Camera with AF was the Leica Correfot, which was shown at Photokina in 1976 - but it never reached production ;)
I'm late for work now. What a fascinating video. I really love your enthusiasm. Keep it up guys
39:30 On Tamron's stock information page it says in the top 10 shareholders as of 31st Dec 2016 Sony is second with around 3,129,000 shares equaling a 12.06% stake.
I love you two! Keep going! MORE HISTORY VIDS!!! These have been quite interesting (I've seen all of them now). It's great to see Chelsea's lovely face and hear her sweet voice. You two are a great couple! I love Tony's technical knowledge too!
Tony, Chelsea; maybe add a financial comparison once. Sony is much bigger than Nikon or Canon, so they can invest more means into technology. They also make huge numbers of industrial camera sensors, these are used in product sorting, like finding bad apples, missing caps on bottles, etc.
As always, love the show of Tony and Chelsea❤️
39:57 they did have alpha cameras between 2006 and 2010. They bought Konica/Minolta's tech in 2005 released the sony a100 in 2006. 2010 was their first e-mount mirrorless camera/lens release. The new tech they introduced in 2010 in the Alpha series was their first SLT camera though.
Steve Jobs is known to have been a big fan of Akio Morita and took some of the ideas like the one you talked about from him so the link you made makes perfect sense. This is also why some of the early sony-apple intermixing happened Steve was not a big fan of other CEO's it seems but Akio Morita was a big exception in his mind. In many ways apple is now like sony. In the 80's there where probably very few homes without at least 2 or 3 sony devices same is now true for apple..
Thx for this video. My first SLR was a Minolta. Btw I really like your channel. Greetings from Berlin.
Excellent presentation, yet missing a few key points that ought to have been included.
One thing seriously missing is the inclusion of at least a brief overview of Konica, with whom Minolta had merged before Sony acquired their combined intellectual property.
The XG series of Minolta cameras were capable of auto-exposure (AE) in shutter (time) priority mode, introducing the MD variants of the SR mount lenses, but none of them were capable of auto-focus. There is a curiosity, the Tamron SP 47A that facilitates auto-focus (presumably off film/sensor prism-based) that is XG compatible, yet that in itself does not support the claim that XG class Minolta SLR cameras are capable of auto-focus.
The Exakta bayonet was established in 1936, which patently pre-dates the existence of a Minolta-branded SLR. It is the basis for most modern lens bayonet-mounts for still cameras, including Topcon (all completely compatible), Mamiya (the Prismat series is directly compatible, others are derivative), and Nikon's F mount (with reversed chirality), along with Praktica and many medium format bayonet mounts.
You briefly touched on this next point, yet I think it is very significant. Nikon leads the perception as a professional's choice because of its commitment to professional level support. The corollary to this is that Olympus is not perceived as a professional choice because of technical reasons, but rather for logistic reasons. There are so many examples of how computational photography is "superior" (more agile and cost effective) to mere optical photography, that any argument concerning sensor size is not particularly compelling without a great deal of context and evidence. There is a reason why scientific nerds like NASA have preferred well-defined small sensors with appropriate software over the alleged superiority of "full-frame".
In a similar direction, I would like to point out how Fujifilm has leapt over the full-frame fray with its mirrorless 33mm X 44mm system cameras and their remarkably astute prime lenses for this format. I doubt very much you shall see them at La Vuelta de España, but I have a feeling they are fated to play a significant role in the emergence of a viable digital medium format market.
Great video T&C. Always informative and entertaining. As a micro 4/3 shooter, I'd love to see a history of Olympus video at some point ; )
One thing I'll say from my own experience, I got into Sony cameras not because they're new with new technologies, but because with the adapters that are available it opened the door for me to shoot with all that vintage glass.
I've been shooting Nikon since the early 2000s, and the Sony A7II is the first camera body I've owned that isn't a Nikon.
However I don't own a single Sony lens, but I have a growing collection of vintage glass that feels great (and nostalgic) to shoot with.
I have the A99II & 5DS R also. Completely agree - I like my A99II way better.
M Allred Sony sensor vs Canon sensor... Not really comparable. Canons are not ISO invariant at all.
I love it when you guys do these kinds of videos.
This was great, as someone somewhat new to photography, it's crazy to see that Sony was such a new face only 5 years ago. Freaking crazy!
Wow, this video makes me proud to be a Sony camera system owner.
I really enjoyed this podcast learning about the history of how it all came together. However I would have loved to learn about the partnership of sony and Zeiss as well.
great work, I can't think of one other channel that really goes this far to give informative great info on all aspects of camera matters, or products and its history. Its good that it's not always so serious and the odd joke is injected into the balance. Greta people, thanks for the efforts and time.
Loved the early 80's ads and Tony's geek history.
My first camera was a Minolta XG7. A lot of great memories captured on that.
Enjoyed this SO much. Thanks
Nice show! And thanks for highlighting the A99II at the end. This great camera has been a bit overlooked.
First non manual SLR was a Minolta Dynax 3xi. The autofocus was pants - continually hunting, especially on longer lens. Additionally the manual focus on longer zoom was also bad. Still better than my previous camera - Zenith E :)
What about the a100, a700, and a900 - wasn't the a900 the first Sony branded FF a-mount camera? Not the a99...
Eoghan Hennessy correct.
Yes it was, I was disappointed to see them jump from Uber detailed past about some yhings, although they jump past the A100. Shame on you
The A900 was the first full frame DSLR from Sony... 2008. A99 came way later.
Eoghan Hennessy Sony a850 was the first Sony a mount full frame camera
A850 came 2 years after the A900, in 2010
I don't know if this would help, but the Japanese wikipedia says that Minolta comes from Mechanismus Optikund Linsen von TAshima, citing an old Japanese book 『クラシックカメラ専科No.12、ミノルタカメラのすべて』p.6。(Classic camera encyclopedia No. 12 - Everything about the Minolta cameras)
Seiko too was part of Japan's successful rebranding especially with the '79 introduction
of their automatic chronograph to sync exactly with the 100 yr old Swiss consortiums
working on the same holy grail.
The A100 (10MP - updated Minolta 5D) was Sony's first DSLR after the takeover of Minolta, followed closely by the A700 (12MP - updated Minolta 7D) and then the full-frame A900 (and A850). How could you jump from 2006 to 2010 and not mention their first actual DSLR's???!!!! The A-mount Minolta legacy was a master stroke for getting them into the DSLR world, but you ignored it until the E-mount came out. ;-( Other than that, excellent presentation, thank you. (A100 was my first DSLR, and then the A700, now A77ii. All great, except A100 above about ISO200. Probably a bit of a Sony fanboy here I guess...)
I liked this history and the other histories you produced. I think they're a great storyline.
The thing about being number one in the pro market is that the shine from pro endorsement helps out in marketing everything you sell. Sony also is smart at covering all the bases within the camera market by continuing to produce older models. For example in crop frame A6000 - A6500 and in full frame A7 - A7Rii.
日独写真機商店＝Nichi Doku Shashinki Shouten＝Japan Germany Camera Shop
→千代田光学精工株式会社＝Chiyoda Kougaku Seikou Kabushiki-Gaisha＝Chiyoda Optical Precision Company
→ミノルタ＝Minolta
Arigatou.
Great look at the history of Japanese photography!! Great to meet you guys in Thailand - keep up the great work!!
Thanks, Ira! We had a great time shooting with you in Thailand. I think our viewers would love to see how you work. Would you ever be interested in making a video with us? ~Chelsea
Sure, it would be fun to do something together. Email as I don't check this you tube feed to often. Enjoy the spring - i hope it lasts a few weeks.
I'm just amazed by the breadth & quality of electrical products that sony made & still make
Hey Tony, big fan of you. Just saw Ur video about 'low light king', and I might see the point here: SNR and Dynamic Range. You see SNR is representing the noise and DR is for EV tolerance. DxO says a7s the king according to DR and they might mean a7s can recover more low/hi-lights. Meanwhile, DxO shows SNR of D810 is lower than a7s, means D810 more noise free at high iso. Simply put: higher noise doesn't necessary mean low Dynamic Range. And DxO considers only at recovering(DR) when considering low light capability, while common sense might look at the noise level(SNR) more. PS: I use d810, and I'm your guy's fanboy, not Sony's. Hope this will help.
Could you possibly insert the links of the commercials in the description?
The Sony sensor of iPhone 5 is very very good during daylight. During lowlight isn't good but far better than other smartphones of its time. I was really impressed. Especially when I was using third party camera apps which were saving Tiff photos instead of the default JPEG.
I remember well the Minolta Dynax series, I didn't know that it was named alpha in Japan.
Something lesser known is that the Sony LA-EA4 full frame e-mount adapter for a-mount lens isn't only good for legacy Minolta a lenses or newer sony a-mount lens. It can't support much better than Metabones the a-mount lenses of Tamron and Sigma.
#MinoltaGang!
Love the Minolta 7S! I also have one of those. Superb little camera.
Great video as always.
Although...You skipped right over cameras like the Minolta XG-1 and the X-700.My first SLR was a Minlta XG-1.
I love these history videos/pod casts....
Please consider doing one for Pentax! I did my internship at their R&D in Tokyo 28 years ago.
Mark Kimura yes please
36:36 Tony says there was no standard for getting media into your computer and while he is correct if he's only referring to physical media, he is forgetting about serial. Most all digital consumer cameras used serial connections to connect to the computer and some even used smart media cards and the early compact flash cards. You could connect your camera directly to your PC via serial cable or you could purchase a card reader that connected via serial and move pictures from your camera to your computer via the memory card. And it wasn't very well standardized as far as what memory cards would become successful but the serial bus and serial connector goes back to the early eighties as a standardized port on PC.
Minolta HiMatic was also the 1st camera in space with John Glen in 1962.
Great video guys 👍
Thanks!
Japan is still one of the best places to do physics, they have one of the best particle accelerators, and are building another gravitational wave detector. Sony built the sensors in the huge telescope they have as well / a physicist. Love the podcast
One little correction Tony when Sony bought Minolta, almost immediately they released the A-mount Alpha 100 on the year 2006, no on 2010 as you said, by 2010 there were several models of the A-mount out under the Sony badge, on 2010 the Emount was born in the form of the NEX, Great video by the way., and the first full frame was the A900 released on 2008
Tony drinking beer while on air? You are a legend.
Zeiss Ikon Contax had bayonet mount from 1932 - two bayonet mounts actually, one external and one internal.
My first serious camera was the Minolta SRT 101. Fond memories.
been waiting for this . great video
Great video but no mention at their pro attempts at the alpha mount.The a900 was their first "pro" body and it soon had a 70-200mm f/2.8, 24-70mm f/2.8, 300 f/2.8, and eventually a 500 f/2.8 and some primes. It was also the first body to hit 24mpx for under $2500. (The second behind the Nikon D3x). It is just nobody noticed until they started making "pro" gear for their E mount mirriorless. I believe Minolta pioneered Autofocus as well. No mention of that.
Tony, I also inherited a Minolta Hi-Matic 7s from my grandfather... my first 'real' camera
I really enjoyed this whole series. Peace from Australia
Good video, but most people aren't aware that Sony has been a major force in broadcast TV and audio for quite a long time. They had huge rackmount 1" reel tape VTR's back in the early 80's that were being used for NFL video instant replay. I know they had pro video monitors (probably ever since the Trinitron TV sets came out) and I'm pretty sure they had pro video cameras (and lenses) since the 80's at least. Sony probably has more technical chops than any company in Japan, but current management seems to be keeping it in reserve or something. All Sony really needed was Minolta's camera making knowledge and mount knowledge, etc. to get them into the camera business, they already had the lens making and electronics knowledge.
It maybe too late to mention, but the name "Minolta" was named after "Machinery and INstruments OpticaL by TAshima". Also the name has meaning of "good rice field" in Japanese.
Sugoi!
I guess for me the pivotal moment with respect to Sony cameras was when they came out with the NEX 3 and NEX5. Tiny cameras with comparatively large (for compact size cameras) sensors and interchangeable lenses all at an affordable price ! For someone just stepping up from point and shoots in order to take better travel, dance and casual pictures this concept was ideal. I still have my NEX5 and, to be honest, in many cases one would be hard pressed without extensive pixel peeping to distinguish between a JPEG from it vs one from the a6000 or a6300 when using the same lens (I have all three cameras now and still use all three). I really hope that Sony does not abandon the affordable APSC eMount line in favour of only professional grade cameras and lenses. For those of us who are hobbyists or who simply want a significant step up from phone cameras but who do not need, or cannot afford, full frame professional equipment the a5xxx and a6xxx lines are ideal.
great this is the best history so far. Would have been great if you covered the smart phone briefly in this first 4k first waterproof and 20mp in a smartphone not to mention sound quality
25:25 Haha :) I can't believe that guy in the ad was changing lenses while skydiving!
I have waited so long for this video on history of camera
This is wonderful! Is there a 2020 update?
Why'd you remove the A7S lowlight video?
Yeah I noticed that too, I can hear the conspiracies now about tony being paid off by sony to shut up lol.
Who knows really. I'm not sure but I would like to hear Tony speak on this matter.
+AOTD I.didnt want to deal with all the angry comments. I'm going to repost it with a new introduction.
David Salazar that was my fault. I pointed out the source he was using against dxomark. senscore still said a7s and a7sii are their low light king via ISO ratings being # 1 and 2 on on senscore.org. It happens. I've got a lot more respect for them because they pulled it off RUclips
Tony & Chelsea Northrup i wasnt mad at you and others wouldn't be either. you're a great resource. just this time your source didn't match what you were saying.
Btw I like the noise pattern of Sony and Fuji cameras over Nikon and Canon.
beyond that keep it up
I loved this episode! Great stuff!
36:18 they still sell usb floppy drives for under $15. 3.5 inch floppy often used fat format too, unless you were on mac, still fat ones aren't hard to read today. 8 inch or 5 1/4 inch floppies would be more difficult to read. And some Mavica also had the option for Sony's memory stick.
Man I cannot believe you didn't mention that Sony was one of the first companies to integrate a usable digital camera in a phone with the w800 and the w810 it was amazing for the time, it was the real first hybrid of the phones and cameras and they began a lot of their parternship with zeiss
Based upon this video you could make a few more videos on either companies history like comercial history, focusing on a particular decade like the 1940's-1950's transition, advertizing of cameras, the transition to digital. It was obvious you only hit the highlights but there is obviously more history.
Maybe it's not relevant for the overall History of Sony (image) that you tell us but Phase One 100 megapixels and Hasselblad mid format cameras both top expensive brands also use Sony sensors. People at Sony are doing a really great job for the industry in that area.
Another Great Video Guys!!! Keep Them Coming!!!
I know that Zeiss Icon was part of the Sony- Minolta partnership.... I'm surprised that they were not mentioned in this History segment