New Sony A7II hands-on video by Mark Galer shows how effective 5 axis is with the Nikkor 180mm lens.


Note: Also our Australian readers can now preorder the A7II at Sony Store Australia (Click here).

Mark Galer Alpha Ambassador from Sony Australia shot this A7II hands-on video. From minute 5 you can hear his robotic voice (LOL) and the interesting 5 axis stabilization test with the [shoplink 31410 ebay]Nikkor 180mm f/2.8 lens[/shoplink]. The difference between having and not having stabilization is quite impressive!

Thanks Marc for sharing this!

USA preorders:
Sony Alpha a7II (Body Only) for $1,698 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore.
Sony Alpha a7II with FE 28-70mm OSS Lens for $1,998 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore.
Sony 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G SSM II Lens for $1,148 at BHphoto.

EU preorders:
Sony Alpha a7II (Body Only) for 1.799 Euro at Sony Germany, Sony UK, Sony France, Sony Italy, Sony Spain, Sony Austria, Sony Switzerland, Sony Netherland, Sony Belgium, Sony Portugal, Sony Sweden, Sony Finland, Sony Norway.
Sony Alpha a7II with FE 28-70mm OSS Lens for 2.099 Euro at Amazon Germany and at Wex UK. In Finland at Verkkokauppa.

Note: Also Australian readers can now preorder the new Sony A7II at Sony Store Australia (Click here). The first A7II cameras will ship tomorrow in Japan according to Amazon.co.jp.

Bildschirmfoto 2014-12-03 um 16.22.45

Zeiss Loxia 50mm no more in Stock in almost any worldwide store. New review by Varietyoflight.

Bildschirmfoto 2014-12-01 um 11.14.14
This is very strange: For many weeks now the Zeiss Loxia 50mm lens is out of Stock in almost any US-EU-Japan store!
It’s not in Stock at BHphoto or Adorama. It’s not in Stock in Germany. Only Store having a small Stock of lenses left in-house is Digitalrev (Click here). Don’t know if the first production run has been sold out or if there is some issue on the production line. One of the dealers I am in contact with asked Zeiss many times about when they wills end them a Stock. And Zeiss answered that they still cannot say when. Strange!

In the meantime check out the Loxia 50mm lens review at Varietyoflight:

The image quality is very good. This lens indeed eliminates some of the typical flaws of older M-mount lenses adopted on E-mount (full-frame) and as a result sharpness wide open can not only be seen in the very center of the image but also to the sides. Overall it seems that a very balanced image quality has been achieved where none of the artifacts like CA or vignetting sticks out. The only artifact which appears a little bit more prominent is distortion which might be rather annoying when shooting architecture/geometry but which can be easily corrected in post production.

And Mirrorlessons posted a set of Sony A7s & Zeiss Loxia gallery pictures.

Sigma (finally!) is seriously considering to make lenses for the Sony FE system.

Sigma CEO Kazuto Yamaki has been interviewed at Imaging Resource. And he finally hints that the making lenses for E-mount system is possible because “there aren’t so many lenses”  in the system and “we get lots of requests” to make lenses for E-mount. He also said that taking current Sigma FF lenses and make them E-mount “would be very helpful“.

Still, Kazuto Yamaki also recently stated that “E-mount diameter is small and makes it difficult to design high quality Full Frame lenses” (Full SAR article here). So let’s ee if Sigma will take the final step and really make those FE lenses…

found via MirrorlessRumors.

Technical note: How to see all SAR posts on homepage (caching issue)

On November 27 our rumor site server had a small issue on the caching software. Since then some of you may have not seen new articles on the main SAR homepage. This happens because your browser memorized the issue and doesn’t get rid of it. To clear the issue please just reload the SAR homepage (not the single post view site!) by hitting your “control + F5” button to reload the site. Or  clear the browser’s cache manually. That will get rid of the issue. Of course you have to do it for every browser you use on any device.

Thanks a lot!

Newsshooter additional info on the Sony A7II (On few Sony lenses “only” 3 axis stabilization works).

sonya7II

Note: Amazon (Click here) is again taking preorders on the A7II!! Europe too at Sony Germany, Sony UK, Sony France, Sony Italy, Sony Spain, Sony Austria, Sony Switzerland, Sony Netherland, Sony Belgium, Sony Portugal, Sony Sweden, Sony Finland, Sony Norway.

Newsshooter spoke with Sony Europe at length about the new Sony A7II. And this is ome of the key info they got:

1) the A-mount 16mm f2.8 fisheye, 20mm f2.8, 28mm f2.8 and 500mm f8 AF mirror lens when used with a Sony A-mount to E-mount adapter only offer three axis stabilisation.
2) With third party lenses without electronic communication on the a7 II you can program the focal length into the menu for optimal operation. I was told you set the focal length closest to the one you are using – although I don’t know what you are supposed to do when using a manual zoom that doesn’t communicate with the camera.
3) Changing of the programmed focal length can be assigned to a custom button to make changes quicker. Sony say the stabilisation system will likely perform well with third party lenses, but there are no guarantees.
4) They were keen to point out that the roll axis stabilisation is likely to aid video shooters the most. When running-and-gunning this is often the hardest motion to stabilise.
5) One added bonus of the sensor shift system is that is also improves the sensor cleaning as the camera is now able to physically shake dust off the sensor.
6) I was told the a7 II uses the same sensor as the original a7, but has some improvements in the way it processes that data which may improve image quality.
7) Interestingly the lowest ISO setting for S-log 2 in video mode seems to be ISO 1600 as opposed to 3200 on the a7S.

Thansk Newsshooter for prividing that additional info!

SAR reader Michael had the chance to play with the A7II in UK and told me that:

I played with it extensively in the past two days and it is a nice upgrade. The focusing is much much better and I like the implementation of the tracking more along the lines of the a7S, The stabilisation works on just about any lens, The Camera is definitely a little heavier which is a good thing as it feels more solid less plasticy and the way the camera sis in ones hand makes it a pleasure to use.

And Ilovehatephoto wrote the Reasons why A7 Owners Should and Shouldn’t Upgrade to the Sony A7II.

USA preorders:
Sony Alpha a7II (Body Only) for $1,698 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore.
Sony Alpha a7II with FE 28-70mm OSS Lens for $1,998 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore.
Sony 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G SSM II Lens for $1,148 at BHphoto.

EU preorders:
Sony Alpha a7II (Body Only) for 1.799 Euro at Sony Germany, Sony UK, Sony France, Sony Italy, Sony Spain, Sony Austria, Sony Switzerland, Sony Netherland, Sony Belgium, Sony Portugal, Sony Sweden, Sony Finland, Sony Norway.
Sony Alpha a7II with FE 28-70mm OSS Lens for 2.099 Euro at Amazon Germany and at Wex UK. In Finland at Verkkokauppa.

Sony Tidbits…


Eagle flies over Paris with Sony Action Cam Mini

QX1 test at Dime, DC.watch and Nikkei.
Zeiss 16-35mm test at PChome.
Expensive vs Cheap Camera – What is the difference in real life situations? (Youtube).
Nebula 4000 Lite with Sony A7s test (Youtube).
Year of the Alpha – 52 Weeks of Sony Alpha Photography’
Best lenses for the Sony A6000: Primes and Zooms (DxOmark)
E 50mm F1.8 OSS and 60mm F2.8 tested on the A6000 (DC.watch).
Tutorial I wrote about levitation photography (ilovehatephoto).
Voigtlander Nokton 35mm lens review on the A7R (Martinirwinphotography).
Chinese companies copying the QX idea (c.dx.com)
HVL-F32 is shipping (Imageshack).
A5100 test at Optyczne.pl.
Just How Good Is The Sony FE 16-35mm F/4 ZA OSS Vario-Tessar T* Lens? (Soundimagesplus).

Patrick:these are my A6000 CF settings for shooting sports action after 4 months of testing: https://vimeo.com/112324657

Ralf:here is a link of my photo series Why I Love Tattoos on a nice blog. All images are taken with the A900 and A99 and a CZ 85 / 1.4 lens. Feel free to share the link:
http://www.boredpanda.com/why-i-love-tattoos-the-book/”

Sokira:I would like to share my images from the new Zhongyi/Mitakon 24mm f/1.7 mouonted on my Sony NEX-7. So people who are interested in this lense can see what is like. You can find my album on flickr via: https://www.flickr.com/photos/34167069@N08/sets/72157649489877472/

This week SAR readers photos selection (with new like record on photo)


Beboy photographies‎
https://www.facebook.com/beboy.photographies
“Here is a photo of Sathorn, the Bangkok business district. I took this photo with my Sony A7R + Canon prime 14 mm lens mounted via a Metabones adapter. I’m amazed how this combo works great to catch insane details” Beboy photographies — in Bangkok, Thailand.

Note: The photo o top got a record of 153 likes on SAR’s facebook page. That’s a new record…congratulations Beboy!

1) Submit your picture with a message and picture here: facebook.com/sonyalpharumors or on the SonyAlphaForum image section.
2) Like and comment the pictures from other readers here: facebook.com/sonyalpharumors/photos_stream?tab=photos and on SonyAlphaForum.
3) A selection of most liked pictures by the community and by me SAR admin will be posted weekly on SAR.

Note: When sending a pic feel free to also add a link to your site to promote yourself!

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