First I want to say that I wish all our Thai readers and friends all the best to recover from the huge flood that hit their country. What’s coming next is just a technical informative report about the consequences of the flood on Nikon and Sony’s industry. As you see from the image on top (Source: Nationalmultimedia) the Nikon and Sony factories have been submerged by water. I talked with my sources about the current situation in the area and they told me there will be a production stop of at least one-two months! Nikon will probably delay the D800 announcement and Sony will delay the [shoplink 8454]Sony NEX-7[/shoplink] shipment. Also Amazon.com (Click here) is not taking any NEX-7 preorders anymore with the following reason: “Due to manufacturing concerns”. And the surprising thing is that they invite buyers to buy m43 cameras because “These sleek new cameras with lens versatility are available today” (again, click here to read).
What does it mean for m43? The NEX-7 gained a lot of attention from the press and photographers. If the NEX-7 will be delayed until January or even February than this could be a big chance for the upcoming Panasonic GX1 camera. It’s not “Schadensfreude” (malicious joy). It’s a matter of fact that if the GX1 will be similar to the NEX-7 than some of buyers may will get that camera instead of the Sony. Anyway, it’s up to Panasonic now to not disappoint us!