14 DAY TRIAL // Since the introduction of the Sony A3000 and now the A5000 mirrorless camera at CES 2014, many Sony fans have been wondering why the company won't be using the NEX prefix for its future interchangeable lens cameras.
If you too are curious about how this change will affect the future of Sony's E-mount cameras, ImagingResource has recently interviewed Mark Weir, senior technology manager at Sony Digital Imaging, to find out what the reason behind this change was and what the implications for the future of the E-mount digital cameras are.
When asked why the company had decided to drop the NEX brand, Mark said, “I think that the primary motivation here is to unify all of Sony's Alpha interchangeable-lens cameras under the Alpha brand.”
“We've always used the Alpha brand for our interchangeable-lens cameras, from the very first models, the NEX-5 and NEX-3. The Alpha logo is prominently featured on each model.”
“However, the NEX model name prefix seems to have grown in prominence, such that the general public refer to them as NEX cameras instead of Alpha cameras. And therefore there was some concern on our part that they might not be perceived as Alpha cameras,” he added.
This makes sense in a way, but why did Sony start the NEX brand in the first place if the company wanted to keep all its cameras under the Alpha brand? Moreover, a segregation between E-mount and A-mount was normal to happen, since they serve different categories, despite the fact that both are Alpha cameras.
“There was also confusion about compatibility. The model name prefix had grown to take on all kinds of significance, and there was concern that consumers could easily misunderstand there to be a lack of compatibility between the two. Our A-mount cameras and E-mount cameras share many cross-compatibility characteristics, yet there was a perception that NEX and Alpha were somehow quite different,” said Mark.
Well, they might share a few characteristics, but the two models surely are different since they use different mounts and come with brand-specific lenses.
When asked about the future of A-mount DSLRs, Mark answered, “We remain committed to the A-mount system, and I'm sure that that commitment will be very clear.” This means we'll find out soon if Z-focus, hybrid A-E mount, or mirrorless A-mount will hit the market anytime soon.