When I lived in Japan a few years ago, some of my local friends told me that they have something called the "Sony life." At first, I thought they were referring to the Sony Life Insurance Company operates in Japan. I then realized that the term was actually referring to the limited life expectancy of Sony's products. Once any Sony brand electronic products past the warranty period, it is likely to fail or Sony will find a way to obsolete the old models, e.g., stop supplying the parts/accessories or new but incompatible batteries, etc. At least, that's the perception among some of the Japanese.
On the paper, the new A7rII looks great. Sony even claims that the shutter vibration will be reduced by 50%. As the shutter sound and vibration of the current line-up have been stopping me from jumping on the bandwagon, the new shutter mechanism alone should be enough for me. However, as soon as I think of the phase "Sony life" confirmed by the whereabouts of my previous purchase of all kinds of electronic made by Sony, my GAS goes away.
Would the mirrorless cameras of Sony be an exception to the long standing company's philosophy of Sony? How good is the 500,000 actuation count, if there would not be a replacement battery for the camera 7 years later when I reach 300,000 actuation. I probably would need a brand new state-of-the-art computer to process the huge RAW files too.
Just like Steve Huff, Sony wants us to buy new cameras every so often so they can generate revenue. Like Gary, I am probably not the type of buyers that Sony targets.
John
