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 [shoplink 11531 ebay]Sigma 500mm f/4.5 EX APO (Click here)[/shoplink].

The new 55-210mm Sony lens for the NEX system is right now in Stock at Amazon (Click here). But I don’t think the deal will be available for a long time as at the time of writing only a few lenses are in Stock. And don’t forget that the hottest NEX lens will be in Stock next week at BHphoto (Click here).

One more thing: Searching for a fast lens I found that [shoplink 11511 ebay]SLR Magic HyperPrime 50mm f/0.95 on eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. I never read of one of my readers having that lens. That’s why I ask you if you have some image samples to show me! Thanks!

Sony didn’t please us with any new NEX lens so we can be glad that Sigma announced two new lenses. One of them (the 30mm f/2.8) is now available for preorder at BHphoto (Click here) and Amazon Germany (Click here). The lens has no spectacular specs but it doesn’t cost a lot (199 Euro). A far more appealing lens is the new 50mm for NEX which is (now was) in Stock at Amazon Germany (Click here). And it will be in Stock next week at Sonystore US (Click here) and Bhphoto (Click here). Announced back in late August 2011 that lens is finally being shipped to worldwide stores.

One more thing: The A77 is now almost regularly in Stock at Amazon (Click here) and Adorama (Click here). I hope all that means that the SOny factory in Thailand is now back to 100% full production. Time to announce new stuff Sony! :)

Sony US just launched a new Alpha lens rebate:

$50 off on Sony DT 11-18mm f/4.5-5.6 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
$50 off on Zeiss 16-80mm f/3.5-4.5 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
$50 off on Sony DT 18-250mm f/3.5-6.5 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
$25 off on Sony 30mm f/2.8 DT AF at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
$25 off on Sony DT 35mm f/1.8 SAM at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
$25 off on Sony 50mm f/1.4 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
$25 off on Sony 50mm f/1.8 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
$25 off on Sony 50mm f/2.8 Macro at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
$50 off on Sony 70-300mm f/2.8 macro at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
$50 off on Sony 100mm f/2.8 macro at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).

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Sony A77 with 16-50mm lens in Stock at Amazon (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here). The 50mm f/1.8 for NEX will ship on Feb 25 at BHphoto (Click here) and one week later the NEX-7+Black 18-55mm kit lens (Click here).

You still remember that nice 50mm f/1.8 NEX lens? Yeah, it has been announced six months ago and is still not in Stock anywhere! But at least in USA you can preorder the lens at BHphoto (Click here) and it will ship from February 25th! And they are now also accepting preorders on the NEX-7+Black 18-55mm kit lens (Click here). That will ship on March 1st. The NEX-7 is already in Stock in Germany at Amazon (Click here).

Meanwhile Amazon (Click here) had to remove the preorder option from the Sony sensor powered Nikon D800. The reason? Too many preorders!!!
Sony…why not start to seriously compete against the big ones? Instead of giving Nikon the exclusivity on the sensor they should release such a camera first and than give it to Nikon a couple of months after. I do not need a 36 megapixel sensor but it sounds a bit pity that Sony will have to wait at least one year before they can use the same D800 sensor inside their own camera :(

Trusted sources told me that Sony is in full A77 and NEX-7 production status and is holding back the production of the other cameras (like the NEX-5n).

The A77 body is in Stock in:
USA at Amazon and BHphoto

The A77 + lens kit is in Stock in:
USA at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto
Europe at Amazon Germany, Amazon UK, Jessops, Sony DE, Sony FR and Sony NL.
Asia at Amazon Japan, Amazon Cina,

The Sony NEX-7 body is again in Stock in many european stores!
Amazon Germany (Click here)
Sony Germany (Click here)
Sony France (Click here)
Sony Italy (Click here)
Sony Netherland (Click here)
Sony Sweden (Click here)
Sony Switzerland (Click here)

NEX-7 vs. GH2 side-by-side video comparison (FullHD 1080p25 version) from Hacky on Vimeo.

Came back from a day of work and just found a dozen email from USA readers. Sonystore (Click here) is now shipping preorders from December and early January. So be prepared to get a package :)

There are also some new NEX-7 tests:
A NEX-7 vs. GH2 side-by-side video comparison by 3Dkraft (Click here). A new review has been posted by Expertreviews (Click here). A test with the huge 18-200mm lens has been posted on SonyAlphaLab (Click here). And here are the new 400mm E-mount Kenko lens specs at Kenko Japan (Click here).Huge lens!

As I told you I epxect soem major SLT news soon and new NEX products by April. The CP+ show in Japan starts in mid February and maybe Sony will show some prototypes too….but don’t hope too much for the A99 :)

More Sony NEX-7 preorder links: [shopcountry 8454].