Sony may stop selling sensors

Maybe they think they can sell more cameras if other companies don't use the same sensors.
 
Silly, they make waaaaaay more money from selling sensors than selling camera bodys.
 
twist said:
Silly, they make waaaaaay more money from selling sensors than selling camera bodys.
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Of course none of this may actually be true...

But, the Japanese don't always do the sensible thing. I do some work for a Japanese company and you wouldn't believe some of the decisions they make, or maybe you would.
 
Looks like it could be sensor and lens modules for camera phones
 
sk66 said:
I don't think nikon has in-house sensor manufacturing capability... They do "design" some of their sensors, but that's not quite the same thing.
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Well they don't make the rubber for the grips either - Renesas made the sensor for the pedant. Well they put it together, they probably didn't make the glass
 
Thing is that assuming Nikon use Sony sensors in the majority of their DSLRs (Consumer, Prosumer and Professional Range) that easily outsells any volume of camera's that Sony are ever likely to sell on their own, then throw Fuji into the mix and it would look like an incredibly stupid business decision (if true), I'd be less surprised if Sony did the opposite, stopped making cameras and sold only sensors.
 
No real loss, it will open up the market for better products.
 
Blank_Canvas said:
How will that work in reality then ?
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It won't it's just a silly rely looking for a reaction the market is already open for anyone to bring a sensor to market and all of the major players will buy if it suits even canon have given in and put a Sony sensor in a high end compact. If someone was out there with better offerings the market would lap them up even if only to push sony's prices down!
 
Blank_Canvas said:
How will that work in reality then ?
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In a free market situation, if one source dries up and the demand is still there or growing even, there will be new suppliers to that market, and as tech advances, the products become more capable.
Therefore, if Sony stops supplying sensors to the market, others will take that market over and the products will advance and become better than the current tech. New eyes on the problem mean new solutions and new advances.
That's how it has always worked in the past. There are a lot of auto makers that stopped making cars, and today there is no shortage of cars and the auto tech is far better than it was then. Just one example, there are thousands.
 
It is generally acknowledged that Sony make the best sensors and of course Nikon use them in their DSLR's which reviewers say have the edge on those used by Canon
 
It's barely two months since Ricoh signed a deal have Sony supply the sensor for their next 645 camera so I suspect that the report above is mere speculation.

Bob
 
a1ex2001 said:
It won't it's just a silly rely looking for a reaction the market is already open for anyone to bring a sensor to market and all of the major players will buy if it suits even canon have given in and put a Sony sensor in a high end compact. If someone was out there with better offerings the market would lap them up even if only to push sony's prices down!
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That's my thoughts exactly, but I thought I would ask for an explanation anyway !
 
GT von said:
In a free market situation, if one source dries up and the demand is still there or growing even, there will be new suppliers to that market, and as tech advances, the products become more capable.
Therefore, if Sony stops supplying sensors to the market, others will take that market over and the products will advance and become better than the current tech. New eyes on the problem mean new solutions and new advances.
That's how it has always worked in the past. There are a lot of auto makers that stopped making cars, and today there is no shortage of cars and the auto tech is far better than it was then. Just one example, there are thousands.
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The market is always open for innovation at anytime even with a saturated market entry can be harder but not impossible. New innovation, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. You mentioned cars. The Sinclair C5 failed because there was no demand for it and it wasn't really required.
 
Blank_Canvas said:
The market is always open for innovation at anytime even with a saturated market entry can be harder but not impossible. New innovation, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. You mentioned cars. The Sinclair C5 failed because there was no demand for it and it wasn't really required.
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Fantastic, but if Sony which control 40% of the market leave the market, there will definitely be others taking their place. Some of the players already there are Omnivision, Samsung, Canon, Aptina Imaging, Toshiba, STMicroelectronics, Nikon, GalaxyCore, SiliconFile, ON Semi, SK Hynix, Melexis, EM Microelectronics and Sharp, among others.
 
Right, what is your point? That tech cannot be adapted to other products and markets? I don't buy that for a second.
Many of those manufacturers are producing high end 4k CMOS sensors for use in video surveillance equipment.
 
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Leica (digital M), moved from Kodak to a French/German manufacturer ........ obviously cost is an important aspect but how much of a major camera manufacturer's product is actually manufactured by them

a camera is a digital machine
 
Of course, Sony is the cheapest solution presently and camera makers want cheap. Any way you can cut costs adds to the bottom line and that's what the shareholders demand. Nikon uses Sony (sensors) in most of their cameras knowing that they can make up the shortcomings of the sensor with the software and hardware that interprets and interpolates that data into an NEF file and with the processor that turns that NEF file into a .jpg file and not spend as much and still get good results. They put far more money into the development of the lenses than the other parts of a camera because the lenses have a much wider audience to sell to. When they want to push for every bit of extra quality in the top of the line cameras, they put in their own sensors though because they have more control over the whole package that way and can produce more tightly integrated and higher quality image production from the light in the glass to the final file(s).
 
GT von said:
Of course, Sony is the cheapest solution presently...
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Do you have some inside knowledge on Sony's pricing to other manufacturers?

Sony make a wide range of sensors, but certainly in the range they make for more 'serious' digital cameras - those they use in their own cameras, supply to Nikon, etc, and in the medium format sector, their sensors are used because they are some of the best available.
 
GT von said:
Right, what is your point? That tech cannot be adapted to other products and markets? I don't buy that for a second.
Many of those manufacturers are producing high end 4k CMOS sensors for use in video surveillance equipment.
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My point was that Sony are not going to stop making sensors for DSLRs, they are already making a handsome profit from them. They are stopping micro camera technology for mobile / video products because they were loosing money in that market which makes obvious business sense. Any company can diversify and adapt but that's going off on another tangent.
 
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