Sony NEX-5R review

Time for me to catch up with some news I didn’t post last week. Here is the roundup:
New 1/1.7 inch sensor press text at Sony.
Photoscala (translation here) met the Italian designer that made the Hasselblad Lunar.
Engagdet posted a short review of the new Action camera.
Sony Action Cam HD Slow Mo test: Shirtless dude gets hit with paintballs (Sony Blog).
A99 at Ctec.
What to do with an “old” broken A900 camera (Sonolta).
Matteo: “Sony NEX video with the  SmartSlider Pro 560 on youtube.”
New A77 test at stealthmodephoto.
Best Underwater Compact Camera roundup at Backscatter (There is the RX100)

NEX-5R Reminder:
The Sony NEX-5R body and different bundles are in Stock at Adorama (Click here). Also Amazon US (Click here) is shipping the first preorders although they are not in Stock if you buy it now. And the camera is now in the top 10 of the most sold mirrorless camera (click here to see the ranking). Plenty of cameras are also in Stock on eBay at [shoplink 14846 ebay]ElectroElectro[/shoplink] and [shoplink 14847 ebay]Beachcamera[/shoplink].
The camera is in Stock at Amazon Germany and on top of the mirrorless ranking (Click here to see). Also in Stock at Amazon UK, Jessops and Amazon FR but not selling as well as in Germany for now.

Engadget reports that “Sony will close its Minokamo site, which currently produces camera lenses for DSLRs and smartphones, with production being moved to factories in Kohida and Kisarazu, 840 staff will lose their jobs.”

What I don’t know yet is if this will influence and reduce the lens production capability. The latest I heard from my trusted sources was that Sony was trying to find third party companies capable of producing more of their E-mount lenses. An example: Sony still has some issues to produce more of the superb Zeiss 24mm lenses. Amazon, the largest online store of the world has only two of them in Stock (Click here).

You can finally get your hands on the A99 handbook:
English: http://pdf.crse.com/manuals/4438654111.pdf
Spanish: http://pdf.crse.com/manuals/4436247311.pdf
German: http://www.sony.de/support/de/product/SLT-A99

Preorder of the A99 are now back at Amazon (Click here) and in Australia at Sony AU (Click here).

New A99 hands-on report at Rodkar.

Here you can find all the link to the new firmwares:

NEX-7 Firmware v1.01
Windows OS  Download 
Mac OS  Download

SLT-a77V Firmware v1.06
Windows OS Download
Mac OS Download

SLT-a65V Firmware v1.06
Windows OS Download
Mac OS Download

ST-a57 Firmware v1.03
Windows OS Download
Mac OS Download

SLT-a37 Firmware v1.03
Windows OS Download
Mac OS Download

NEX-5R/NEX-6 (lens firmware for SEL24F18Z)
Windows OS Download
Mac OS Download

NEX-5R/NEX-6 (lens firmware for SEL1855)
Windows OS Download
 Mac OS Download

NEX-5R/NEX-6 (lens firmware for SEL18200)
Windows OS Download
Mac OS Download

NEX-5R/NEX-6 (lens firmware for SEL55210)
Windows OS Download
Mac OS Download

We really have to shout Hallelujah! Not only the A77 but also the NEX-7 firmware update has been released!

The NEX-7 firmware update has been spotted at Sony UK: http://www.sony.co.uk/support/en/product/NEX-7/updates. This update brings following new features:

• Addition of capability to enable or disable the MOVIE button
• Addition of exposure settings of bracket shooting (three frames /1.0EV,2.0EV, 3.0EV)
• Improvement of response for showing auto review image.
• Improvement of image quality when using a wide angle lens
• Improvement of indication when setting “Flexible Spot”.

And the A77 firmware update has been spotted at Sony UK: http://www.sony.co.uk/support/en/product/SLT-A77/updates. These are the updates:

• Addition of capability to enable or disable MOVIE button
• Expanded the number of automatic compensation compliant lenses: SAL30M28，SAL50F14，SAL2470Z，SAL2875，SAL70400G，SAL70200G，SAL35F14G，SAL1635Z

Same updates fo the A65 at http://www.sony.co.uk/support/en/product/SLT-A65/updates

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For US readers. You save $100 on the A77 open box deal at [shoplink 14756 ebay]Beachcamera (Click here)[/shoplink]. And also on the NEX-7 again at [shoplink 14819 ebay]Beachcamera (Click here)[/shoplink]!

SAR reader “Tony” was ready to preorder the A99 when he discovered that Amazon US (Click here) just removed the preorder options. You can still preorder it at Adorama, BHphoto and more links at Alphacameradeals. But it’s not good news when the largest online store removes the preorder option. Some of you may know why this is happening?

More tests:
Meantime SLRlounge posted a new A99 ISO studio test. And ThePhoBlographer posted a new NEX-6 test.

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Sony preorder list:
A99 body Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Jessops, Wex UK, Wex Germany, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH and more links at Alphacameradeals.
A99 with kit lens links Alphacameradeals.
NEX-6 body Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Wex UK, Wex Germany Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH and more links at Alphacameradeals.
NEX-6 with kit lens Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Jessops, Wex Uk ,Wex Germany and more links at Alphacameradeals.

A couple of weeks ago I posted the video (you can see again here on top) showing a new Canon EF to NEX E-Mount adapter. It supports full electronic aperture and focus control on Canon EF lens! And finally you can find that adapter for sale on [shoplink 14759 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. The makers of the adapter now contacted me and I am posting their message here:

“We saw our product and video in your website! We are so happy about that!! We are now developing the Contax G to Sony NEX adapter with AF function and it is almost finish. We will update the information to you very soon.Some people email us about Nikon G to NEX (AF support) adapter. We will start this project around November(after Contax G to NEX AF adapter) and we think we will finish it before April 2013.”

It’s nice to have a direct contact with those guys. Usually we all have a bit of fear when buying expensive stuff from unknown Asian stores :)

Here are the contacts of the producer in case you want to get some more info:
Lau
MXcamera
eBay Store: [shoplink 14759 ebay]zhuomingcamera[/shoplink].
YH Store : http://hk.user.auctions.yahoo.com/hk/booth/mxcamera_hk
Web Site : http://mxcamera.com/
face book: https://www.facebook.com/mxcamera