Sony has announced that it will stop manufacturing some of its older products due to problems with its supply chain as a result of the global chip shortage.
Writing on its Japanese website, Sony announced that a lack of semiconductors had led to its decision to cease production on the a7 II, black versions of the a6100, all a6400 cameras, the ECM-B1M shotgun microphone, and the PXW-Z190 camcorder. Customers will have noticed that a lot of camera products have already experienced limited availability or are taking a while to appear on shelves, and while the announcement from Sony will likely take some time before it impacts on availability at major retailers, it is set to compound existing stock shortages. For example, the PXW-Z190 is currently backordered on B&H Photo, as is the ECM-B1M, along with a few purchasing options of the A6100.
Halting production on a couple of cameras from 2018 (PXW-Z190) and 2019 (a6100 and a6400) is a logical move as the company seeks to protect its more recent products, such as the newly announced a7 IV, which are likely dominating its production lines. Sony is a huge corporation that relies on vast numbers of semiconductors across thousands of products, and it is no surprise that it is making moves to try to limit the impact of the global shortage, though it seems unlikely that it was producing significant numbers of any of the products mentioned in this announcement — the a7 II from 2014 in particular.
It's not going to get better any time soon. The whole system is terribly fragile.
There will be new fabs coming online, but they'll take time.
The a6100 & a6400 were selling well (I think) but perhaps they needed to ensure they had sufficient parts for their ZV-E10 camera which was launched only a few months ago and is their current APSC big seller.
I want to see an updated a6600 next year, SONY hear my prayers!
One with an updated chipset, so they can change the bones of that menu.
I gather they could learn something from Leica and Hassellblad in that respect.
I consider myself fortunate I set my camera (A6000) how I like it, and don't need to access the menu, except for format and viewfinder/monitor; even then I still have to search.
I also feel like the A6600, at $2,200 in Australia, it's just too expensive by comparison to the competition.
The above notwithstanding, I wouldn't mind an A6600 with a Tamron 11-20 f/2.8. Maybe I'll pick up an A6300 with that lens - currently wanting to sort out weather sealing, the A6000 really doesn't like water.
I don't know, that menu irritates me to no end, maybe I should look at Fuji, and they have a lot of glass.
Yes I hear you on the cost of the A6600 being too high! its almost full frame money!
Re: Tamron 11-20, if its anything like the 17-70 (I have one) in terms of brightness and excellent build quality, then its worth it man!
Re: swapping to Fuji... Do what fits your needs, but I will say there has never been so much choice for E-mount lenses as there is now.
As per our previous conversation, the Z5 is around $1,500; can get the Z6 for about $2,500