Sony NEX Launch – detailed transcription

E-mount to A-mount adaptor
We’ve already got a line-up of over thirty lenses in Alpha, the A-mount, and we have an adaptor which will fit between the two. If you do wish toy use one of these Alpha lenses on the face of the NEX camera you can do, you just need this lens adaptor to make that possible. Here’s a good example, the new or recently introduced DT 30mm 2.8 macro. We are not launching the NEX camera with a bespoke E-mount macro lens, but if you want to do macro photography you can go about it this way. Just a couple of things to point out here, E-mount is all electronic coupling. There is no mechanical aperture as there is with Apha, so it is probably closer to the EOS system. There is no mechanical coupling at all so we have to transfer what is an electronic signal in the front of this camera to a mechanical closure within the lens, the aperture, and this does that. It provides that interface.
However – and our technicians have been battling with this night and day – they are unable to offer reassured autofocus with Alpha lenses so that feature is disabled. You will only be able to use manual focus with any Alpha lens with an adaptor on NEX.
There is also a tripod attachment which fits to the underside and comes with the mount adaptor to spread the load because the weight of some of our Alpha lenses is very high; they were designed for a different system originally, and the weight is all of the way forwards. Rather than place the tripod mount on the camera and take the load from there, instead we’ve placed it on the mount adaptor. OK, so there is some incompatibility and some compatibility in the way that you use Alpha lenses on NEX cameras. But it does mean that the potential is there for people who are already in the Alpha system, who have invested in some good quality lenses and want to get the maximisation of that with a smaller more portable system.
E-mount lenses
Right, E-mount lenses: our launch lenses are 16mm ƒ2.8; 18-55mm ƒ3.5-5.6; 18-200mm ƒ3.5-6.3. The subtle differences between these, all three have circular apertures so you do get that beautiful defocus effect without the shape of the aperture forming in the highlights in the background. These are the first Alpha cameras to not have in-body stabilisation. To go with the miniaturisation as much as possible, it wasn’t possible to incorporate the sensor shift technology that our Alpha cameras are known for, instead we’re opting for the optical in-lens stabilisation which we’ve used for the Cybershot and for Handicam for many, many years. It’s great that we’ve got both technologies within the Sony family because we can now adapt the right technology for the purpose and what delivers the best consumer experience.
So, bearing in mind we are primarily trying to attract DSC users to this category, optical stabilisation is something they have probably already experienced in their use of the Cybershot cameras. There is also is slight difference between the performance of optical steady shot in the 18-55 and in the 18-200. The 18-200 is equipped with active mode. Now if you’re familiar with our handicam line-up of products, the active technology is there for when recording video. It’s also in our Cybershot HX5 because that’s equipped with AVCHD video. Active mode provides up to 10 times more stable a viewing on video recording. It can actually move the optics better, and in a greater range, to combat camera shake. That will be in the 18-200.
We’re particularly proud of the fact that we’ve brought down the distance between the mount and the sensor to 18mm. It’s 44 and half mm in our traditional DSLR styled product and simply by taking out the mirror box and the mirror and everything and bringing that back we’ve made the camera ever so thin. That has also obviously meant that the focusing of lenses has changed and that’s where the issue exists with the mount adaptor trying to provide assured focusing.
Actually if you look at the diameter of the mount they’re not that different. There’s only about 4mm in it, so for such a small camera, the large part of the front of it is the open aperture, the mount where you attach your lens. It’s dominated by this great big ring. That’s just how small it is. So when you come to think, this is like the Tardis. This side of the camera is hollow. This side of the camera is the battery, where’s all the rest of it? Where’s all the electronics? It’s a marvel.