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Two months ago Meike released the new MK-A7II battery grip for the new Sony A7II. And it’s now finally available via European and USA stores too:
Plenty of Asia/European stores are shipping it through [shoplink 36072 ebay]eBay (Click here to see the list)[/shoplink].
In USA it’s available at Amazon US (Click here).

Also the A7II Gariz case is in Store via European and US sellers:
In Asia/Europe/USA it’s available through [shoplink 36075 ebay]eBay (Click here to see the list)[/shoplink].
In USA it’s also available at Amazon US (Click here).

Official product description:

Focus Tracking Differences between Sony’s E-Mount and A-Mount Cameras by Gary Friedmann

Gary (video on top): “As I mention in my blog (friedmanarchives.com where this video first appeared), there are a lot of people for whom this situation may never come up. My purpose with the video is to let people better understand how the cameras evolved, and to touch on the strengths and weaknesses of each platform. It’s always useful to know under which circumstances your equipment will hit its limits, even if you never push it that far.”

For Germans: Gold Box on the RX1R (via DL) and A6000 (via DL).
Zeiss Loxia 35mm lens random thoughts by Sony Artisan Michael Wayne Plant.
State of the Camera Market (Diglloyd).
Sony Alpha A7 Family – Which One To Choose? (Verybiglobo).
Sony FE 24-240 tested at Dutch Pixelmania.
New kind of QX lens mount patent (Egami).
My review of the B-Grip Camera Holster for CSC’s and DSLM with my A6000 and A7R (Richardfoxphotography).
The Mighty Fifties – Zeiss 55mm f/1.8 vs Loxia 50mm f/2 vs Sigma 50mm f/1.4 (Ilovehatephoto).

Bernhard: “I started a little blog about my recent switch from my Canon 5DMKiii to a Sony A7s: http://www.wimair.at/WP/?page_id=3760. It’s written a little “personal”, to tech charts – only real life experiences. And it’s german only, so it may not be interesting for you.  As you sometimes post blogs of readers I thought you may like it.“

Sony just released their new Q1 financial report (files can be seen here). There are many good news:

1) Sony is recovering quickly from the big crisis and is making money again
2) Despite the collapse of the fixed lens compact camera market Sony is still doing money with the Imaging Segment
3) Sony is selling less fixed lens cameras and less video cameras. And the forecast is that it will sell less cameras the next months. But it’s shifting the focus on high value models and the strategy seems to work. Therefore they still expect to keep making profit with the business.

And this is what Sony writes

More graphs (Click on it to enlarge)

There is no info about a particular digital camera strategy or future products. But it’s good to hear Sony is one of the few companies still making money with cameras :)

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The eccentric Japanese Lens designer Mr. Miyazaki just released the new [shoplink 36037 ebay]MS-Optical Perar 21 mm f/4,5 MC Super Wide Triplet lens[/shoplink]. And the extraordinary thing of the lens is that it is only 5,2mm thick and weights 42g! It’s smaller than the [shoplink 34266 ebay]M to E-mount adapter[/shoplink] you will have to use on your E-mount camera. This makes it likely the smallest and lightest third-party Full Frame(!) lens you can use on your A7 cameras. Instead of using a cap on your camera you can simply put that lens on it and the camera will be always “ready” for a quick shot.

You can see the very first image samples and buy the lens at [shoplink 36037 ebay]BreguetCamera on eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

This is the third Perar lens from Mr. Miyazaki. The other two are the slightly thicker [shoplink 36038 ebay]24mm (here on eBay)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 36039 ebay]28mm (here on eBay)[/shoplink] lenses.

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Images via Japancamerahunter. Found via Mirrorlessrumors.

a7/a7R/a7S/a7 II Overview Training Tutorial

For German readers: A7 kit Gold Box at 12.00 (via DL).
Portraits with the 90mm Macro Lens (SonyAlphaForum).
Loxia 35mm review by Louis Berk.
Sony FE 2/28 – Rolling Review (Phillipreeve.net).
FE 55mm lens review by Mikeonthestreet.
Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 Distagon: Quality Control Issues, Right Side Blur at f/1.4 (Diglloyd).
Sony A7II + Zeiss FE 35 mm 2.8 (SonyAlphaForum).
FE 28mm test at Kasyapa.
One more curved sensor patent spotted by Egami.

Magnus: “I just saw the post about using the A7R as a sports camera and would like to share my experiences. I think it works great and regularly use my A7R with Sigma 70-200/2,8 and LA-EA4 adapter shooting floor hockey. It’s really not the fastest camera regarding auto focus and continous shooting but it works! For close up action I have my old A580 with Sony 16-50/2,8.
Here is a sample folder with pictures scaled to 4k (2160p height), most of them are ISO3200-6400:
https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=5EB650FD44E6A38A&id=5eb650fd44e6a38a%217736
…or if you prefer facebook but these are scaled to 1280 pixels width:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.767273960016818.1073741853.157736730970547&type=3
This might be interesting too, It’s the same floor hockey team at the same arena shot with Tamron 150-600 and LA-EA4 adapter on my A7R. This combo sure gets waaay to close indoors but although its ISO6400 I think it works great:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.764185910325623.1073741852.157736730970547&type=”

Christian: “I got the opportunity to test my Sony NEX-5T in extreme conditions. I went for a 2:30 hour walk through the city and next to the Charles River. The temperatures were -24F (-31C) degrees with the windchill! I had to face a lot of wind when next to the Charles River, changing lenses was a challenge and quite risky for the sensor. The camera performed really well during this hike, I did not notice any change working in these temperatures. The screen, AF and battery worked perfectly well. Even if the grip is very small, I could still use it with my gloves but I must admit that it wasn’t very convenient. Against all odds, this little camera passed the extreme weather test!
http://ilovehatephoto.com/2015/03/02/photographing-2015-boston-blizzard-part-1-the-ghost-city/
http://ilovehatephoto.com/2015/03/11/photographing-2015-boston-blizzard-part-2-the-artisticmacro-approach/“

a7S vs GH4 vs NX1: 4k UltraHD Video Camera Comparison

Tearing Down the Sony 24-70 f/4 ZA OSS Vario Tessar (Lensrentals).
Fotopraxis mit Zeiss Loxia-Objektiven und Sony A7-Kameras (Traumflieger).
Cheap tilt lens Olympus OM alternative for landscape use (SonyAlphaForum).
Sony to Boost Image Sensor Production to 87K 12-inch Wafers per Month (Image Sensor World).
Sony Licenses Bonding Technology from Ziptronix (Eetimes).
What’s in my Camera Bag – Caroline Jensen (Sony Blog).
Spanish Diston Zm lens test on the A7r at DSLRmagazine.
SONY a6000 + Hoya 28mm revers (Facebook).

On Facebook Zeiss answered many questions from their followers:

1) Yes, the Batis 1.8/85 has optical image stabilization
2) The displays are not limited in their lifetime. After many years of intensive use, they will become darker. If sometime they might be difficult to read, they can be easily exchanged by our ZEISS service.
3) Batis lenses use different components than Sony or Sony/ZEISS lenses.
4) Our Batis lenses are primarily made of high-quality plastics, aluminum and optical glass.
5) ZEISS Batis lenses are made in Japan.
6) MTF charts will be available in June.

Both lenses are now available for preorder at BH and Adorama:
Zeiss Batis 85mm f/1.8 lens in US at Adorama, Bhphoto. In Eu at WexUK. In Asia at Digitalrev.
Zeiss Batis 25mm f/2.0 lens at Adorama, Bhphoto. In EU at WexUK. In Asia at Digitalrev.
Lens shade for 85mm at Adorama, Bhphoto.
Lens shade for 25mm at Adorama, Bhphoto.