In case someone from Sony is reading this - things like this result in lost sales. I research my buying options extensively and usually make a ranking of alternatives. The following sony products were at the top of their respective lists but I chose to not to buy them
a) Camera - Sony Nex-5N (Bought a Canon S90 instead)
b) Laptop - Sony Vaio Z with the 1920x1080 screen (Bought an HP Elitebook instead)
c) Camcorder - HDR-CX700V (Bought a Panasonic TM900 instead)
d) Noise cancelling headphones - MDR-NC100D (Bought Sennheiser ones instead, dont remember the model number)
I don't know about that; at this point anyone who cares about high standards has been boycotting Sony since the rootkit fiasco. Of course, this makes things worse, but that's not saying much.
When I said things like this, I definitely meant to include the rootkit fiasco. The last couple of years I do try my best to not buy from companies that I think have an antipathy to the hacker ethic.
I have refused to buy any Sony products for a good number of years now and have no intention of ever buying any of their products in the future. Their actions have lost me as a customer[1] and they will never get me back.
Sadly, I am currently using a Sony Ericsson phone, though somebody gave it to me - I did not buy it.
[1] I have owned many Sony products in the past, including (but not limited to) the Playstation and Playstation 2 (and many many games for both of these), so I am definitely a lost customer and not someone who claims to be one but who never bought their products to begin with.
Yes I know the S90 is a compact camera. Rather than go one down in the category, I decided to go one category down and buy the top camera in that category. fwiw here is a picture from the S90 and one from the Olympus E-P1
Looks like the s90 has some barrel distortion, but you expect that with a wider zoom lens. Otherwise, there's not much to differentiate them. But the picture was taken in good light.
The E-P1 has a much much larger sensor, and should be much better than the s90 in bad light. Also, you can get a nice 10mm prime for the E-P1 (20mm full frame equivalent, compared to the s90's 28 mm FFE at its widest), or a fast portrait lens, or a telephoto.
On the other hand, u4/3 lenses are often insanely overpriced (at the moment), and the s90 fits in your pocket.
