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Cotton Coulson used the Sony A77 and NEX VG-20 to shot the video you see here on top: “Both of these cameras are wonderful to work with, each in their own way. For straight video shooting I prefer the ergonomics of the NEX VG-20, but if your primary mission is to shoot stills and at the same time shoot some video clips, the A77 is the way to go. In a perfect world you might own both. I have shot video with the SONY professional model EX-3, and these two cameras (along with the NEX-7) offer tremendous advantage, light, portable, and high quality for in the field documentary work, which is what we do.”

Tamron 18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 Di III VC NEX Lens Review at ePhotozine (Click here): “Those looking for a convenient lens that covers a wide range of focal lengths for their Sony NEX camera should be pleased with the performance from this Tamron optic. Sharpness levels are good for a lens of this type and with a price set almost £100 less expensive than the Sony equivalent it represents pretty good value too.”

Sony NEX-7 video samples with the new Tamron and Rokinon lenses at SonyAlphaLab (Click here).

Sample test crops from the Tamron NEX 18-200mm and Sony NEX 55-210mm (Photojottings).

Sony NEX-5n review at Trustedreviews (Click here).

What’s In the Bag? Sony Artisan Brian Smith at ThePhoBlographer (Click here).

Sony booth CP+ report at Ctec3 (Click here).

Click on the image to see the full size version!

After Samyang, Sigma and Tamron also Yasuhara announced a new lens for the NEX system. It is the Madoka 180, a fisheye lens with 180 degrees. Yasuhara is a small japanese company that has a long history of making Leica clones (click here to see the Yasuhara Type 1 M-mount camera). What follows is the official press release text (via Yasuhara.eu)

“Yasuhara announced a new fisheye lens for Mirrorless cameras Sony, Olympus and Panasonic with Sony NEX (E-mount) and micro 4/3 mount. It will be called “Madoka 180” (180 degrees). Links below direct to two image samples you can find on Yasuhara.eu page in full size version.
Madoka 180 image sample No. 1
Madoka 180 image sample No. 2

Here are the basic specs of the Sony E-mount version:

• The lens will have f/4 aperture
• Compact  size
• Length: about 40mm
• Diameter: about 60mm
• Weight: about 200g

The first Yasuhara Madoka will be released for Sony E mount this spring. Madoka will be available for sale on Yasuhara.eu page at the end of March – begining of April 2012. The company is planning to release also a special software for the images taken with Madoka lenses.“

Thanks Leo

That isn’t a surprise yet. Sony UK officially marked all three entry level SLT cameras as “previous model“.

I already reported about a new A35 successor here: http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/sr3-also-a-new-a38-is-coming-soon/
and about the A55 successor here: http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/sr5-more-a57-specs-almost-same-body-as-the-a65/

There is a fair chance the new models will be announced on March 13th. There are also rumor about a possible Sony A580 and Sony NEX-C3 successors.I hope to get more details about that soon.

Via Photorumors

The Canon G1 X you see here will soon get a new competition from Sony!

That “news” came as a BIG surprise for me. According to some of my very trusted sources Sony is almost ready to launch a completely new product, a compact camera with fixed lens and…APS-C sensor! In 2005 Sony announced the DSC-R1 (here on eBay) which had a large 5x zoom. But the new camera has a compact zoom lens. Currently only the Canon G1 X (pictured on top) has a similar product with 4X zoom, while the Sigma DP series the Fuji X100 and Leica X1 do use a fixed prime lens.

The sources explicitly told me that the very interesting thing is the new compact zoom pancake lens that will come along the new camera. It will allow an extremely compact size and in short future “could” be offered as “separate lens” for the NEX system too! Can’t wait to see this!

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 most expensive of all Sony lenses will be available on April 23th at BHphoto (Click here). Don’t know how many of our SAR readers will buy that $12,999.99 lens! I will certainly save that money for something else

UDPATE: A reader showed us a much cheaper alternative: The Sigma 500mm f/4.5 EX APO (Click here).