Canon vs. Sony: 5 billion more for better ultra-zoom with CMOS sensor

I was gratified by Canon’s success SLR-like and HD cams (look at my previous post: Canon PowerShot with CMOS sensor: SLR-like vs. SLR or instead?) only for a day because now I know that Sony corp. will invest in CMOS sensors 5 billion Yen more than Canon. For more look through Sony’s press release at the end of the post. It is ridiculous that this news from June 06 came to light only after Reuter’s report about new Canon’s CMOS factory. Beyond dispute, Canon’s SLR and compacts cameras and HD camcorders are well-known, but Sony’s sensors are used in many digital cameras, such as Nikon D200, D80, D40, Pentax SLRs etc. Therefore, appearance of new CMOS sensors by Sony can contribute more to the modern digital market. And maybe we can get new Sony’s SLR-like cameras such as DSC-H7, H9 etc. with large CMOS sensors as well as new great Nikon’s (or other mfrs.’) Coolpix. In any case, this new Battle of Giants (look through my Battle of the Giants. Sony’s ‘company’ Alpha tries to extort a piece of DSLR-market from Canon and Nikon) can cause an appearance of new SLR, SLR-like and compact cameras and HD camcorders (Sony has a lot of them, look at: 7 new 1CCD HD camcorders from Sony – any reasons to buy some or to wait for 3CCD cams and Groovy news from Sony: five new HD-camcorders with hard disk drive! It’s time to die for our old video devices?) and maybe some price reduction.
Press release June 06, 2007
Sony Semiconductor Kyushu Corporation, Kumamoto Technology Center to Reinforce Image Sensor Production Facility
Tokyo, Japan - Sony Corporation today announced that it would invest approximately 60 billion JPY in Sony Semiconductor Kyushu Corporation's Kumamoto Technology Center (Kumamoto TEC) Fab 2 facility, to extend clean room facilities by 5,000m² and reinforce image sensor fabrication capacity. This investment will take place from fiscal year 2007 to fiscal 2009.
Sony is positioning image sensors as a key focus area of its semiconductor business. Through the reinforcement of this facility, Sony will strengthen supply and provide the platform for further image sensor business growth.
Kumamoto TEC has continued to expand its operations as Sony's principle facility for the fabrication of imaging devices, such as the CCDs, CMOS sensors and micro-display devices that are Sony's strengths. In particular, demand for CMOS sensors has demonstrated rapid growth in recent years. In view of this, Sony is enhancing production operations for this market, with mass production having already commenced at Fab 2's existing 5,000m² facility in Spring this year.
Over the next three years, Sony will continue to strengthen its CMOS sensor manufacturing operations to provide growth markets such as mobile phones and digital still cameras with CMOS sensors that combine high image quality with advanced processing speeds.
I’m publish those short-cut (real size is 3888 x 2592 and abt. 3.9 Mb) photos from Sony DSC-R1 with CMOS sensor for showing this SLR-like camera abilities. Of course I remember what I have said about this huge (995g / 35.1oz) SLR-like camera: Better means to get back at neighbors! Look through The summary table of the best SLR-like camera specifications. However this ultra-zoom has not only 10 megapixels APS-C CMOS sensor. It has an excellent but huge Carl Zeiss lens. And I look forward to Sony in the hope of having a small size and cool feature set new SLR-like cameras with CMOS sensors. For more pictures look through my other blogs: The Thai Tramp and Banya vs. Sauna or Spa.