Sony information and a brief history
Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation and is one of the world's largest producer of electronics products, among which digital cameras, lenses and flashes. Current name "Sony" was given in 1958, 12 years after its foundation as an electronic shop with 8 employees.
In 1959 Sony produced the first all-transitor television; in 1971 it introduced the world's first videocassette format (U-matic), that did not become popular for its high price but 4 years later the Betamax format that had more adoption though it was superseded by VHS proposed by JVC.
In 2015 Sony purchased image sensor business of Toshiba and as 2020 it is the biggest worldwide producer of such sensors.
It managed to launch full-frame mirrorless cameras before its competitor Canon and Nikon.
Sony lens abbreviations
- E: lenses for digital APS-C sized sensor cameras.
- FE: lenses for digital full-frame cameras.
- G: Gold, higher quality lenses.
- GM: Gold Master, the highest quality / professional lenses.
- OSS: Optical SteadyShot, i.e. with built-in image stabilization.
- PZ: Power Zoom, i.e. with a motor to move the zoom to change focal length.
- SAL: Sony Autofocus Lens, the old line for A-mount cameras, currently abandoned - E-mount is the only supported mount.
- SEL: Sony autofocus Lens for E-mount, the standard mount.
- SAM: Smooth Autofocus Motor, old mechanism for auto-focus (previous to SSM).
- SSM: SuperSonic Motor for auto-focus, faster than SAM.
- STF: Smooth Transition Focus, lenses with special elements to enhance smoothness of out-of-focus areas, while letting less light enter the sensor compared to standard lenses with same aperture.