Sony NEX-7 Camera Hits Buyers Before Year's End

Sony's NEX 7 was supposed to start shipping quickly after its launch a few months ago, but problems interfered and it had to be pushed back, although things aren't so dire anymore if a recent statement is to be believed.

The NEX-7 was sighted at the IFA 2011 trade show, back in September, when we were on the site and got a close look at it.

Sometime after, the floods in Thailand happened, and it is now clear that hard drives weren't the only ones affected.

Though the supply problems caused to the hard disk drive market were among the issues to receive the most media coverage, other fields have to cope with consequences as well.

In Sony's case, its camera production, among other things, was crippled, which led to the NEX-7 being delayed.

Until now, it was believed that the item wouldn't ship before January, 2012.

Fortunately for some of the people who placed pre-orders, a few of them will get theirs before the end of the year, due to the lessening of the product shortage caused by the natural disaster.

“Sony USA is happy to announce that limited quantities of the new NEX-7 camera will begin shipping to pre-order customers this month,” says a Sony official statement.

“Overall production capacity remains restrained as a result of the recent floods in Thailand, but we’ve made significant progress recovering our manufacturing capabilities and supply chain. We’re continuing to aggressively pursue all efforts to restore full production capability of the NEX-7 and other affected models.”

NEX-7 is a mirrorless, interchangeable lens camera (ILC) with a 1,024 x 768 pixels OLED viewfinder, a 24.3-megapixel sensor and the ability to shoot AVCHD video at 1080p / 60 Hz quality.

Its price is a big and solid $1,349, which is the same as 1,008 Euro, give or take.