it is blatantly obvious that nikon exists only at the whim of sony; nikon would be d.o.a. without sony sensors, if these were american companies it would have happened years ago... beyond that, the best that nikon will ever get from sony is old technology, so there is no chance that nikon will ever be "caught up to sony".
I disagree with this. At this time Sony is the source of sensors that makes the most business sens for Nikon. But be aware that there are other sources that in the absence of Sony as Nikon's supplier would develop very capable sensors. There was a hybrid sensor being tested for the Z8 that had a Sony analog layer and Tower digital layers. I am still not 100% sure the result of that. maybe it is being used in the Z8. Who knows?
It seems to me that the Z9 and Z8 bring Nikon up to mostly functional parity with Sony's current offerings. Sony still maintains a huge lead over it much broader camera product lines. Nikon will likely never compete on this level. But in the more narrow market that appeals to readers of FM, Nikon is capable of parity, and even leading in some areas particularly when it comes to long lenses.
The magnitude of the edge in technology that Sony's new AI processor represents is still unclear. It does have potential to be huge. Sony is unlikely to share this technology in a processor. They may if the find a way to integrate it into the sensor stack however.
May 05, 2023 at 01:48 PM
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