* Sony Lens Factory damaged from Earthquake – Effects Availability of 18x Lenses and Cameras

On June 14, 2008 Japan was struck by a 7.2 magnitude quake followed by more than 270 smaller aftershocks in the prefectures of Miyagi and Iwate, a region around 300 km (190 miles) north of Tokyo and home to several major semiconductor and auto factories.

Large companies including Fujitsu and Sony Corp had halted production lines for semiconductors and other electronics products at factories in the region to check equipment.

By the next day, Sony said it had restarted production at four of six factories in the region where output was halted while equipment was checked. Sony had halted production at a handful of factories in the region including sites making semiconductor lasers, magnetic tape, lenses and IC cards, but did not suffer any damage to people or equipment.

Among the temporary “distribution casualties” of the earthquake was the 18x lens that is found in many Sony Industrial Cameras including;

EVID70/P – Sony PTZ camera
FCBEX480C/CP – Sony block camera
FCBPV480 – Sony progressive scan block camera
FCBIX45C/CP – Sony smallest block camera
FCBIX47C/CP – Sony block camera
FCBEX490D/DP – Sony block camera
FCBEX48C/CP – Sony block camera
FCBEX45MC/MCC Sony black/white block camera

Since production and distribution of the lenses had to be temporarily stopped, deliveries on cameras started to be effected in July and allocations were even more difficult during the month of August. Recent updates from Sony VIP indicate that distribution and availability should be returning back to normal within the next 6 weeks as the factory continues to works towards getting back to operating at full capacity.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *