New features:
Facial Recognition, new panorama, new brushes for graduated and radial filters, more slideshow options, HDR (high dynamic range), as well as significant speedups (up to 1000% faster!). Also the mobile APP of Lightroom got improved with segmented view, easier rating method, improved crop and copy and paste modus. Lightroom CC will be available as part of the Adobe Creative Cloud Photography subscription ($9.99 per month) or as a standalone for $149.
Jerry: “I have now owned both a Sony a7 and an a7II. One of the very few shortcomings, as noted in practically all reviews on these cameras though, is the fact that if you want to use its LCD finder on the back, and hold the camera down at waist level, which in many cases shades the camera’s eyepiece sensor heavily, the sensor within the EVF’s rubber hood thinks the camera is being held to your eye and turns the LCD completely off in favor of the EVF only. Of course, there’s the menu setting on the camera to set one or the other SOLELY, but this is a hassle when you need to switch back and forth frequently . I finally discovered a simple fix to remedy this very aggravating situation using a product called Light Dims, which are little inexpensive, stick-on pre-cot pieces of a neutral gray shading material actually made for putting over glaring, bright LED’s that are overly bright and irritate you at night or in dark places. By simply cutting a 3mm X 5mm piece of this material and applying it over the left half of the EVF sensor window, the sensor functions perfectly and the LCD remains on even in very low light, plus the EVF still switches on again automatically when the camera is held up to your eye! This is an incredibly simple fix that many Sony a7 users have wrestled with for months and have hoped and hoped that Sony would correct via a firmware update! It seems to work for all the Sony a7 models including the a7, a7R, a7II and a7S. These little gadgets are available on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/LightDims-Original-Strength%C2%AE-Minimal-Packaging/dp/B00CLVEQCO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1428490110&sr=8-1&keywords=lightdims) or directly from the company at: www.lightdims.com I am in no way affiliated with the company and have no vested interest. I just discovered this from another post on a Sony a7 forum, tried it and was super impressed.”
Sony a7R as a sports camera at NBA games (SonyAlphaForum).
Getting The Best From Your Camera Sony RX100 III (Bretthigginsphotography).
Exaltación de Bandas Semana Santa Almudévar 2015 Olympus E-M5 Mark II (Youtube).
Lensbaby Velvet 56mm f/1.6 real-world sample gallery posted (Dpreview).
5MM 1.4 ZEISS alla mano: prime impressioni! (MSCfoto).
Lucky octopus finds photography job at a New Zealand aquarium (Engadget).
Sony 55mm f/1.8 review by Michael Comeau.
Zeiss OTUS 85/1.4 & Sony A7r review at DearSusans.
Jason: “Thought I’d share a Teaser video produced for Alpine Electronics for their new Navigation Solution for the Jeep Wrangler! Was shot on the A7s with Atomos Shogun in 4K. Here it is: https://vimeo.com/124259341”
Jason: “Its funny because I own an a7s and hated the monitor shut off problem because the sensor was too sensitive. A customer emailed me about this below showing how my invention LightDims solves the problem. http://www.dyxum.com/dforum/topic112228_post1352754.html#1352754“
It’s big rumor time and some of you reading the website may have “heard” some info they would like to share. There are two ways you can do it anonymously:
1) Use the “orange” contact form button you see on the right top of this site. You can avoid to share any info like name or email address and no IP info gets stored. If you like to become a “trusted” source just share a nickname so that I can recognize you in future. And if your rumor will become true I will know how to rank the rumors in future (SR1 til SR5).
2) You can send me an email directly at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com. You can create a fake gmail account to write me. And I usually delete those emails after a couple of days just to keep a clean record.
Here is the contact form embedded for this occasion in this post:
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And for SAR readers this is the rumor recap so far:
SR5: New camera announcement on April 23
SR4: New E-mount camera announcement will follow in May
SR4: Either A-mount or/and RX announcement on April 23
SR4: A6000 successor is coming
SR4: RX100m4 with Four Thirds sensor
SR4: A7rII is in production
SR3: High Megapixel A-mount camera in development
SR5: Definitely a PRO E-mount camera in the works (release date unclear)
The Mitakon 85mm f/1.2 A and E-mount lens has been announced. It will cost $799 and ship in May for E-mount. The A-mouny version will ship later. Sample fotos can be seen at zyoptics.net. Full press release here:
Shenyang China, Apr 16, 2015 – The Mitakon Speedmaster 85mm f/1.2 is a ultra-fast portrait lens that delivers unbelievable optical performance. A maximum aperture of f/1.2 makes it extremely convenient for shooting without flash in low light conditions. Designed for the use of full frame cameras, the large aperture also provides fine control over depth of field for fascinating portrait photography. The truly circular aperture creates a shallow depth-of-field that brings attention to the subject and blurs the background, which is critical for portraits. The lens incorporates 9 elements in 6 groups with 2 pieces of Extra-low Dispersion elements & 4 pieces of High Refractive Index elements. This helps reducing aberrations and maintain excellent sharpness even at f/1.2. . Manual focus design and a click-less, silent aperture ring promote smooth handling and are especially well-suited to video applications. The lens is built of metallic enclosure with additional protective processing, which gives extra durability and aesthetic.
Pricing & Availability
Mitakon Speedmaster 85mm f/1.2 , ‘the Dream’ will be available in May at ZY Optics authorized resellers and at the official website (http://www.zyoptics.net/). Pre-order starts from 16th Apr in our official website. The Recommended Retail price is USD 799. Free shipping & Stocks priority will be offered to those pre-ordered in our website.
Apparently improves low light focusing in some instances. Can’t say that I see any difference but the update using Win7 went smoothly.
Our reader David says:
I updated my A7r recently to 1.21 from 1.20 and noticed much better low light AF with the 28/2. Haven’t checked other lenses yet. It’s been available in Japan for about five days. Weird that it’s not on other Sony sites yet
And Flavio said:
On the website says the 1.21 replaces 1.20 because was found a bug on the 1.20 where the camera don’t start.
I have no info yet if that’s a mistake on Sony side or if the firmware will be released within days for all other countries too.
