Lunar camera with the new Distagon E-mount Zeiss! (Image courtesy: Alexander Radojski)

A Hasselblad spokesperson today Amateur Photographer that ‘The Hasselblad Lunar will be officially launched in April 2013“. And “We will, within a short time, launch a new and dedicated website section for the Lunar with all the information.”

The Lunar will have the same specs as the current Sony NEX-7 and cost above $5,000. And guess what, Sony may launch the new NEX-7n in April too and the Hasselblad may not even be “Up To Date” with the Sony NEX range.

news found via Photorumors.

The impossible has been made possible. Camera MX transformed a [shoplink 17307 ebay]Leica Summicron 35mm f/2.0[/shoplink] manual focusing M-mount lens in a sort of E-mount version with full autofocus support! You may argue how the heck that can be done…so here is the text I got form the “inventor” of this solution (from Chinese companies MX Camera):

“We put a [shoplink 17307 ebay]Leica M 35mm f/2[/shoplink] into a [shoplink 17308 ebay]Contax G Biogon 28mm f/2.8[/shoplink]. When use with our Contax G – NEX AF adapter, it will come a NEX-AF lens!! And the result is quite good! We will make a video for it very soon. We try so many different Leica rangefinder lens and the result, the best match is [shoplink 17307 ebay]35mm[/shoplink] and [shoplink 17309 ebay]50mm f/2[/shoplink] or small aperture lens with Biogon 28mm lens body.”

And they are now going to test the same “technique” with the [shoplink 17310 ebay]35mm f/3.5 (here on eBay)[/shoplink], [shoplink 17307 ebay]Summicron 35mm f/2 (here on eBay)[/shoplink], [shoplink 17309 ebay]Summicron 50mm f/2 (here on eBay)[/shoplink], [shoplink 17311 ebay]Elmar 90mm f/4 (here on eBay)[/shoplink].  There is no plan yet to commercialize that kind of lenses.

Right now US readers should check out the Gold Box deal on the Rokinon and Sigma lenses (Click here).

The Sigma lens is actually form the “old” generation but de facto has the same quality of the new Sigma E-mount lenses. And today Sigma officially confirmed that those will ship within March. Preorders here:
Black Sigma 19mm f/2.8 lens at Bhphoto (Click here).
Silver Sigma 19mm f/2.8 lens at Bhphoto (Click here).
Black Sigma 30mm f/2.8 lens at Bhphoto (Click here).
Silver Sigma 30mm f/2.8 lens at Bhphoto (Click here).
Black Sigma 60mm f/2.8 lens at Bhphoto (Click here).
Silver Sigma 60mm f/2.8 lens at Bhphoto (Click here).

Rhino Cam (Click here) created a sort of medium format adapter that uses a Sony NEX camera to make a scan of the image created through a classic medium format camera. In short, you put the adapter between the NEX camera and the [shoplink 17280 ebay]Pentax 645[/shoplink] or [shoplink 17281 ebay]Mamiya 645[/shoplink] or [shoplink 17282 ebay]Hasselblad V[/shoplink] medium format lens. The NEX camera moves to take multiple shots from the medium format area (62,4 x 46,8mm). Than you just have to stick the images together to have your 140+ megapixel photo. It’s a sort of “panoramic mode” for medium format cameras :)

Yep, it’s a bit like having a digital back but of course this solution works on still objects only! It’s priced at $499 and you can order it here: Fotodioxpro.com.

And here are the medium format lenses you can use with it:
Pentax 645 lenses on [shoplink 17280 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
Mamiya 645 lenses on [shoplink 17281 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
Hasselblad V lenses on [shoplink 17282 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

found via PetaPixel.

They are not even for sale and the new Zeiss E-mount prime lenses won the IFA design award! Zeiss (Click here) celebrated this by posting new pics of the lenses. As you know they come in Sony E and Fuji X mount. As you know they will be released soon. We will have a 12mm f/2.8, 32mm f/1.8 and the 50mm f/2.8 macro. The first two may be my favorite two! Price is rumored to be in between $1,000 and $1,400. Basically in the price range of the [shoplink 8450]24mm f/1.8 E-mount Zeiss[/shoplink]. That lens had been low in Stock for over one year because of the unexpected high orders. And it never got any price drop because of that (you only find some kind of superkits offers like [shoplink 17275 ebay]that one on eBay US[/shoplink]).

Click on those thumbnails to see the large version of the new images:

Yesterdays post about the future FF-NEX set a new record with 475 comments (Click here to read them all). I am sure Sony managers read them all and it’s also clear that the high price of the FF-NEX may be a hurdle for the final success of the system. From the over 6.000 voters only 13% said they would buy the NEX-FF. And only 13% said they may or may not buy it.

So let’s imagine another solution. A cheap very basic and simple FF-NEX, with no viewfinder, no fancy tech but with a top sensor and decent AF speed. If Sony would manage it to keep costs low and sell the camera for $2500 (body only)….

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This is my last poll about the NEX-FF. After that I will ask for feedback from my sources to hear what they think. Let’s go back and post some new NEX-7n rumors soon :)

P.S.: Reminder of what we know about the NEX-FF:
– 24 Megapixel FF sensor (there is a second prototype with 32 Megapixel sensor)
– Similar NEX-7 form factor
– More expensive than the current RX1
– Release in 2014
– Three new FF Zeiss lenses coming in June 2014 along the first FF NEX

Specs of the Zeiss lenses are unknown but Zeiss has a great history of FF lenses made for the “Full Frame” ZM analog camera:
[shoplink 10875 ebay]Distagon T* 2,8/15 ZM (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 9803 ebay]Distagon T* 4/18 ZM (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 9804 ebay]Biogon T* 2,8/21 ZM (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 9804 ebay]C Biogon T* 4,5/21 ZM (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 9805 ebay]Biogon T* 2,8/25 ZM (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 9806 ebay]Biogon T* 2,8/28 ZM (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 9808 ebay]Biogon T* 2/35 ZM (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 9808 ebay]C Biogon T* 2,8/35 ZM (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 9809 ebay]C Sonnar T* 1,5/50 ZM (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 9809 ebay]Planar T* 2/50 ZM (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 9810 ebay]Sonnar T* 2/85 ZM (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 9810 ebay]Tele-Tessar T* 4/85 ZM (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].

Tonight the Japanese company Thanko (Click here) announced a new 25mm f/1.4 Toy lens with E-mount. With a Toy Lens you get a kind of blurry effects on your pictures. The lens price is 5,480 yen (45 Euro or $60).

Specifications:

• Dimensions: 54 x 55 x 90mm
• Weight: 120g
• Focal length: 25mm
• Greatest aperture ratio: 1:1.4
• Focus: Manual

via Akihabaranews.com

This is not the first toy lens for the NEX system. SLR Magic offers the [shoplink 11186 ebay]SLR Magic Toy Lens 28mm Bokehmorphic lens (here on eBay)[/shoplink].

P.S. Current SLRmagic lenses for the E-mount system:
[shoplink 11187 ebay]SLR Magic 35mm f/1.7 MC (here on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 11186 ebay]SLR Magic Toy Lens 28mm Bokehmorphic lens (here on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 11185 ebay]SLR Magic HyperPrime 50mm f/0.95 (here on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 11186 ebay]SLR Magic 28mm f/2.8 lens (here on eBay)[/shoplink].