What you see here on top is the teaser launched by Samyang Europe on Facebook. Most rumor sites write they will annnounce their first autofocus lenses. But the truth is that this will NOT happen any time soon. And in an interview from Samyang with Dicahub they said they are having issues with Sony to add autofocus on E-mount lenses. This is the inetresting part of the interview:

Q(=DicaHub): are you working on AF lenses?
A(=Samyang Optics rep.): we aren’t working on AF lenses.

Q: Is it difficult to work on AF lenses of open mounts like Micro Four-thirds or E mounts?
A: Open mounts like E mount also open only basic informations, so we need more discussion to develop AF lenses. In this case such issues weren’t solved also.

Q: What lenses will you announce on April 28th?
A: We are preparing cine lenses and other stuff also. (note: I don’t remember whether he said other stuff or stuffs.)

In summary:
– It is true Samyang Optics had discussed with Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Micro Four-Thirds.
– They aren’t working on AF lenses because there are some issues like licensing, even about open mounts.
– They want to support A contact.

Following lenses are expected to be announced at April 28th:
– Cine lenses(not lens!) → 2 or more. The cine version of 7.5mm F3.5 Fish-eye MFT lenses could be announced.
– Other stuff or stuffs → 1 or more. The lens supporting A contact for Canon could be announced.

As usual we don’t know if that price is final or not but in Sweden you can preorder the Sony A7s for 2200 Euro (Click here).

A7s Preorder or pure notification store links:
USA: Sony US,  Amazon and BHphoto.
Europe:  Sony DE, UK, ES, FR, IT, NL, SE, FI, PL.
Asia: Digitalrev

DxOmark tested the Sigma 50mm ART lens on a Canon camera and it performs almost as good as the Zeiss Otus! And this is a very good news for us because it’s rumored that also the new 85mm and 35mm f/1.4 Zeiss Otus lenses will NOT(!) be available in A-mount (although E-mount owners will be able to use it via adapter). So let’s go with the Sigmas!!! :)

The Sigma ART 50mm lens is now available for preorder at Amazon US too (Click here). Other US preorder options at BHphoto (Click here) and Adorama (Click here).

—

Current US deals:
1) The Sony A7r now sells as low as $1849 via [shoplink 25951 ebay]6ave on eBay US (Click here)[/shoplink].
2) Up to $650 off A7-A7r bundle deal at Amazon (Click here), BHphoto (Click here) and Sony Store (Click bere).
3) A99 with a free(!) grip for $2299 at Amazon (Click here), BHphoto (Click here) and Sony Store (Click bere).
4) Save up to $200 on the Sony 55-210mm Lens with a Qualifying Sony Interchangeable Lens Camera Purchase at Amazon US (Click here).
5) Save $100 on the Sony NEX5T Compact System Camera Series at Amazon US (Click here).

I got word from store owners that the Sony 20mm f/2.8 lens has been marked by Sony as “On clearance”. They haven’t been told by Sony why it has been marked so. But it’s easy to guess that Sony will probably offer a new updated version soon.

Image on top shows the silhoutte of the current Sony A77.

The A-mount A77II will be announced around May 1-2 and so far we know it has an updated 24 MP sensor and that everything on the camera has been trimmed for speed. A trusted source told me that he saw the camera and he confirmed there is no revolutionary feature on it. He said that what Sony did is to improve every single aspect of the camera. I have to say I like that :)

Stay tuned on SAR!

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Message to sources: You can send me more info anonymously by using the contact form you see on the very right of your browser. You can also contact me directly at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com.
For readers: Subscribe the RSS feed (Click here) and Twitter (Click here) stream and the Facebook fan page (Click here) in order to not miss any news!
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Reminder (SR = Sonyrumor):
SR1=probably fake rumor
SR2=rumor from unknown sources
SR3=50% chance it is correct
SR4=rumor from known sources
SR5=almost certainly correct!

The official Sony FE lens roadmap.

Well, a trusted source told me that Sony is really pushing the FE lens development and we will soon get a new announcement. While I still have no SR5 ranked rumor to give you about the possible lens specs I got some tidbits from an anonymous source: He said a total of 14 FE lenses will be available by end 2014. This includes the manual focusing Zeiss lenses that will be announced at Photokina. In short these could be all FE lenses we could have by end 2014 (ordered by focal length):

wide angle Zeiss zoom (to be announced soon in Spring)
24-70mm FE Zeiss (Available now at [shopcountry 24939])
28-70mm FE Sony (Available now at [shopcountry 24940])
28-135mm f/4.0 Powerzoom lens.
35mm FE Zeiss (Available now at [shopcountry 24941])
55mm FE Zeiss (Available now at [shopcountry 24942])
70-200mm FE Sony (Available now at [shopcountry 24943])
fast prime FE Zeiss (portrait lens? to be announced soon in Spring)
macro Sony prime lens (to be announced before Photokina)
+ five manual focusing Zeiss primes. High Quality, Pricey and compact (not all of them).

Note that Zeiss itself already confirmed they will make such manual focusing lenses for the FE system.A nd they will be announced at Photokina! They said they will launch five such lenses but it’s possible one of them may be announced later in 2015.

Anyway, if by end of 2014 we will really have these lenses I will be happy. All I am concerned now is….the price of such lenses. Have mercy on us Sony and Zeiss!

For reference only: These are the Zeiss manual focusing lenses for the “Full Frame” ZM camera (some of them would be nice to have for the FE system!):
[shoplink 10875 ebay]Distagon T* 2,8/15 ZM (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 9803 ebay]Distagon T* 4/18 ZM (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 9804 ebay]Biogon T* 2,8/21 ZM (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 9804 ebay]C Biogon T* 4,5/21 ZM (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 9805 ebay]Biogon T* 2,8/25 ZM (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 9806 ebay]Biogon T* 2,8/28 ZM (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 9808 ebay]Biogon T* 2/35 ZM (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 9808 ebay]C Biogon T* 2,8/35 ZM (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 9809 ebay]C Sonnar T* 1,5/50 ZM (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 9809 ebay]Planar T* 2/50 ZM (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 9810 ebay]Sonnar T* 2/85 ZM (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 9810 ebay]Tele-Tessar T* 4/85 ZM (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].

I praised many times Sigma for the quality of their lately announced ART lenses. But I also have to express my disappointment for this: Back in June 2013(!) Sigma released the 18-35mm f/1.8 A-mount lens accepting preorders at Amazon US (Click here), BHphoto (Click here) and Adorama (Click here) and expected availability in late July 2013 (see screenshot on top). Since then Sigma never shipped any A-mount lens and also didn’t release any official note. That’s quite a let down :(

Lately one of our SAR readers got an official response from Sigma France saying the lens would ship in May. Now let’s hope this promise will be fulfilled! Here is the original french message:

“Message de votre service clients Miss Numerique
Bonjour,
Nous vous remercions d’avoir commandé chez Miss Numerique.
Le constructeur du produit SIGMA objectif photo ART 18-35 mm f/1.8 DC HSM monture SONY éprouve malheureusement des difficultés à produire cette référence en quantité suffisante, ceci se traduit par des difficultés d’approvisionnement de leur réseau de distributeurs.
Devant notre insistance, notre fournisseur nous a annoncé un approvisionnement dans un délai de 4 semaines.
Votre commande sera alors expédiée dès réception.”

P.S.: And please do not repeat the story with your newly announced 50mm ART lens Neither :) Preorders are up at BHphoto (Click here) and Adorama (Click here).