Dedicated action cam companies like GoPro, Contour and Drift are about to get some big competition from major electronics manufacturers. We've already seen JVC's take on the action cam, and Sony has now teased its own upcoming model.
Action sports blogs, video websites and outdoor forums are now flooded with short POV clips filmed on the latest action cam hardware. And manufacturers are all too happy to provide the tools. We've seen so many new action cam models and updates in recent years, we've all but lost track – we're talking Liquid Image, CamOne, ION, and on and on.
Now it looks like some of the big boys want to play ball. And who better to take the plate than Sony, an electronics giant that helped pioneer the personal camcorder market back in the 1980s.
It's too early for specs (or even a model name), but Sony promises the camera will be "tiny and lightweight" via a sneak preview on its official blog that ran late last month. The camera uses a long, rectangular form that's similar to the Drift Innovation. It will include features like Sony SteadyShot image stabilization, a Carl Zeiss Tessar ultra-wide-angle lens and an Exmor R CMOS image sensor. The camera is described as HD, and there'd be no point in entering the market with anything less than 1080p.
Sony shows its camera mounted to a helmet and a pair of goggles in its blog post. It will undoubtedly offer other mounting hardware options when it begins selling the camera. It also mentions separate waterproof and ruggedized housings for the "most extreme environments."
Sony doesn't give any hint as to its development time frame, stating simply that it will post updates on its blog. Now that the cat's out of the bag, we expect some iteration of the action cam to show up at the Consumer Electronics Show next January.
Source: Sony
