Sony Celebrates No.1 Overall Position in U.S. Full-frame Cameras with Launch of Historic “Be Alpha” Campaign
(From Steve: This means that yes, Sony officially sells more full frame cameras than Nikon or Canon does with their full frame DSLR’s)
SAN DIEGO, Aug. 15, 2018 – Sony Electronics, Inc. – a worldwide leader in digital imaging and the world’s largest image sensor manufacturer – today announced that it has overtaken and held the No. 1 overall position in the United States full-frame interchangeable lens camera market in the first half of 2018, in both dollars and units1. In fact, four out of every 10 full-frame cameras sold during this time period have come from the Sony brand1.
Additionally, Sony has announced that within the overall mirrorless market, it has held the No. 1 position in both dollars and units for more than six years2. These strong results can be attributed to the company’s leadership in transitioning the market from older DSLR technology to next-generation mirrorless cameras.
Much of Sony’s recent success has been driven by sales of the acclaimed α7R III and α7 III models, as well as the rapid adoption of the α9 camera amongst professional sports photographers and photojournalists. The brand’s extremely active community has played a major part as well, as evidenced by the strong engagement on key social platforms like Instagram.
As a celebration of these historic achievements, Sony has announced the launch of its extensive “Be Alpha” campaign that will connect creators of all types with the brand and its ever-growing roster of talented photographers and videographers.
“We’re extremely proud of achieving No. 1 overall share in Full-frame cameras in the US market, as well as holding a strong No. 1 share in the mirrorless market for six years running” said Neal Manowitz, vice president of Digital Imaging at Sony Electronics. “More than anything, we owe this to our community. It is our pleasure to create for you, the true creators. You pushed us to innovate, to change, to continually adapt, and your voice remains core to everything we do.”
Manowitz added, “To ‘Be Alpha’ is to be a leader, to be an innovator, to stand out amongst the crowd. It represents everything we stand for as a brand. Our campaign will celebrate the extended Sony community, while also shining a light on the topics that that we are most passionate about – diversity, conservation, equality and much more.”
Sony’s “Be Alpha” movement will be headlined by a series of community events in major markets throughout North America in 2018 and beyond, beginning with the official launch event on August 19th, World Photography Day, in New York City. The campaign will encourage all creators to get involved by sharing their own “Be Alpha” content on all relevant social platforms while tagging #BeAlpha.
The “Be Alpha” campaign will also feature programs that are designed to foster growth in both the current and next generations of imaging professionals, the most notable of which being the flagship “Alpha Female” program. This multi-tiered, female exclusive program is Sony’s thoughtful response to the imaging industry’s well-documented diversity challenges. It will include a variety of grants and mentorship opportunities for female photographers and videographers, as well as the production of several large-scale industry events. Additional details to be released soon.
A variety of additional stories and exciting new content shot with Sony products can be found at www.alphauniverse.com , Sony’s community site built to educate, inspire and showcase all fans and customers of the Sony α brand.
A chart summarizing Sony’s rapid growth in Full-frame market is included below:
Sony may win on the technology, but eventually will lose on ergonomics, when other manufactures jump in the market and catch up. If modern high quality (zoom) lenses have to be big, the diameter of the mount and the camera body are better to be big as well. Sony’s lenses are huge (so are other’s), but their diameter of the mount is hardly cover the full frame. Sony camera bodies are too small compare to their lenses, and they can not change that due to the small diameter of the mount. Nikon’s leaked mount and body size make much more sense to go along with pro large lenses. Fuji’s relative smaller bodies, lenses, diameter of the mount, and the sensor size all well designed as a system. When everyone has a good enough system, who want buy an ugly system.
I hear ya. Nikon seems to have made a wise decision with the mount and Nikon ergonomics will always beat Sony. Sony is fantastic with tech and features and IQ/Video but I do agree the design of the cameras are lackluster. Ive told them on a few occasions that they need to create something special… a special design, minimalist, sleek menu. They do not seem to be interested of course. I think Canon will have something special as well, not so much in design but in features. We shall see where all of this goes very soon!
Hi
This is about recent 2018 purchases. Sure we can have more Nikons and Canons at events or places but are they purchased recently within a few months to a year? If not, then the statistics can be correct and rightly so. I use m43 btw.
And their lenses?
Sony has the technical specs, but the feel in your hand is not as good as others, and the menu system sucks. However, once you’ve gone down the path, the investment in glass makes switching to something else unlikely. Fact is, they’re all good enough to take great photographs.
What you see at events with lots of photographers reflects sales over at least the last five years. Here, we’re talking about what’s been moving out the door recently. Amazon ranks their digital camera sales. First in full frame is the A7III at 23rd. The next full frame is the Nikon D750 at 53rd.
Sony deserves the crown. I hope they keep going. Personally I prefer the Fuji system to the A7/9 or the SL, but I have much respect for the Sony cameras.
Well done Sony.
Having invested a lot into Sony A7R2 and lenses a little while back, I just wish I enjoyed using it more.
Something about the Sony’s seems to crush my mojo. I don’t find myself picking it up when I leave the house.
I much prefer my Fuji X-T2 to use as a daily camera, just because of the controls and UI. The Fuji reminds me of my old Nikon FM. The Sony, somehow, just feels inert. I am not getting any joy from it.
I am hoping maybe the Nikon Mirrorless will nail it as I still own Nikon glass.
+1
I do the same thing with mine. Even if I find something interesting to shoot (and I have my camera with me), often times I just keep moving on without stopping to get it out of the bag. I almost passed on photographing a storm the other night. Glad I didn’t because the images I got were amazing. But, like you say, the user experience isn’t there. I never feel connected to it so it rarely peaks my artistic side. But it works like a champ when I go into a stroboscopic shooting session. And… it never lets me down. Doesn’t freeze up or anything. It just…works. I guess that’s a plus, yes?
I’m skeptical of this claim.
Sony cites data from NPD. While NPD is a large and respected aggregator of sales data across many categories, they are just one source using one methodology (which they do not disclose for competitive reasons). Also, there is no way to dig deeper into this claim unless you want to pay many tens of thousands of dollars to subscribe to NPD reports.
Also, when one travels about (during this past month I have been in New York City, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Atlanta and Tennessee) the ratio of Sony to Canon or Nikon cameras at well attended locations is anecdotally about 1 Sony for every 20-25 Canons or 1 Sony for every 10-15 Nikons. The ratio narrows a bit when comparing Sony A7 series cameras to Canon 6D or Nikon D750, but Sony is still at best 1:4 among these cameras.
Well, this will end next week, Aug. 23…
Maybe! But I honestly do not see N&C overtaking Sony at the point, for full frame mirrorless for a slew of reasons. But we will see, I may be wrong. I am excited to see the Nikon in the flesh actually. Also the Canon as I feel Canon may have something up their sleeve (as in, being able to use current EF lenses natively without an adapter as Nikon will need).
People who were waiting already purchased the A7III not many people left to get the Nikon