According to Wikipedia, the sony a7 came out in October 2013. I remember it well. What if Sony then decided to follow The Great Panasonic Strategy, and really follow through on delivering one full frame mega-hit after the other?
In 2014 Sony then released the first a7s, a hybrid-focused filmmaking full frame camera. Let’s call it the Sony S1H for short.
Luckily that was not all and photographers had something fun to play with as well… The Sony S1R with that thing photographers love above everything else… megapixels.
So having established the basic model, the video model and the megapixels model – Sony were off to a flying start. Only one problem, all their customers were using incompatible lenses, and none of the cameras could autofocus properly.
So consulting once more The Great Panasonic Strategy for success, Sony decided to sit it out for 7 years and do nothing. No more flagship cameras for you!
(OK that isn’t strictly true… We did get the fantastic Sony a5, a cut price entry level camera which also couldn’t autofocus).
So fast forward 7 years on from 2013, and the world is having a terrible time.
There’s a deadly plague, and fascism is on the rise even in Sweden.
At this point Sony decides to come back… Finally that Sony s1R is going to get a long-awaited update after 7 years in the wilderness. But not yet.
First Sony must invite everyone who is expecting a Sony a7s successor to Tokyo, to see a camera aimed at Chinese Instagrammers.
The Sony S9 is born! Finally the camera can autofocus, which is very important as the main purpose of it is to be pointed at your own head or to be stuck on a tripod pointed at a desk. The camera operator no longer sits behind the camera but in front of it!
For that reason, suddenly the screens all start to pivot and swivel in all manner of ways, none of them very elegant or very good.
By this time, Sony looks over their shoulder expecting to see Canon, only to release that the only company in the rearview is Pentax.
Finally Panasonic (I mean Sony) can hike their prices.
Instead of ÂŁ2000, the Sony a7 II… sorry s1 II… can be ÂŁ3500, but fear not we’ll release the old camera again for ÂŁ2800 with a kit lens that bumps it up to ÂŁ3800. Makes sense to me.
What letter designation should this worse product have? It shouldn’t be S, as that stands for…
Speed! It has an 8 year old sensor design so that doesn’t fit.
Maybe X? Nope, as that’s reserved for cameras where you want the customer to pay Apple for a codec.
How about H? Well they’ve used that before, and although it is a Hybrid camera, it’s not High End.
So that only leaves us with one option… It has to be E!
What does the Grand Panasonic Strategy manual say about E? Does it stand for extra? Expensive? End-game? Or eeeeek, I haven’t a clue!
Apparently the E doesn’t stand for anything, much like Panasonic’s brand.
