While I am still deciding what kind of third party lens I should buy for my NEX-7 I found two crazy adapters I never saw before. One is the [shoplink 10924 ebay]Wallimex Tilt-shift adapter for Nikon lenses (Click here to see on eBay)[/shoplink] and the other one is the [shoplink 10925 ebay]Kipon EOS adapter with built-in manual aperture ring (Click here to see on eBay)[/shoplink]. I have no use for both but maybe you could be interested to get those.

By the way, thanks for all emails you sent me with your third party lens suggestions. I will sum them and post your findings on SAR soon. I really learned a lot form you and I will try to help SAR readers to figure out which lens works best on Sony NEX cameras.

In Japan (and in Japan only) you can get detailed reports about the camera sales. Bcnranking (via 1001noisyc) posted the top 20 of the most sold cameras between January 1st and December 20th. Four cameras are listed on it. The Sony NEX-5 (Pos 6), the Sony A55 (Pos 13), the Sony NEX-C3 (Pos 17) and the Sony NEX-3 (Pos 17). A wonder how that ranking would have looked if the NEX-7 and A77 wouldn’t have been stopped by the terrible Thai flood.

It’s still a mystery for me why we cannot have such detailed sales reports in other countries too. As you already know the only place I can check to see if a camera is popular or not is the very fluctuating Amazon ranking:
Amazon US ranking (Click here), Amazon DE ranking (Click here), Amazon UK ranking (Click here), Amazon FR ranking (Click here), Amazon IT ranking (Click here), Amazon ES ranking (Click here).

Overall it looks like European and American markets are more “conservative” and less subject to adopt new technologies. The mirrorless and SLT cameras aren’t popular as in Japan. But I think cameras like the NEX-7 and the future A99 can slowly change this in “western” countries too. It’s time to get rid of that Canon-Nikon duopoly!

Hurray! I got my NEX-7! As you see I got the body only and I am still figuring out what kind of lens I should use on it. And I have a request to you readers. I want to spend my money on lenses I can use on different systems. That’s why I am looking to get M-mount lenses that can fit via adapter on any current ASP-C NEX or future full frame NEX (or hybrid mount) camera. I usually don’t spend a lot of money on digital cameras, but I am willing to invest in good lenses because a good lens lasts forever!

But it’s not an easy task as you might think. Some lenses do have rear nodal points that do not match perfectly on cameras. If that happens then you get huge vignetting and what’s worse color shifting on the corners. Most M-mount lenses have been designed for film cameras like the [shoplink 10898 ebay]Leica M7[/shoplink] or [shoplink 10899 ebay]Zeiss Ikon[/shoplink]. That’s why I would like to collect your stories with those lenses to see which one fits better on NEX cameras. There are many Leica M-mount lens which are very beautiful but far to expensive for me. As I often shot for work in “dangerous” situation I am not willing to risk to get robbed of a $6.000 lens! Here is the list of M-mount lenses I am looking for:

Zeiss ZM
[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].

Minolta
[shoplink 10876 ebay]28mm f/2.8 M-Rokkor (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 10877 ebay]40mm f/2 M-Rokkor (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 10878 ebay]90mm f/4 M-Rokkor (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].

Konica
[shoplink 10879 ebay]21mm f/3.4 Hexanon (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 10880 ebay]28mm f/2.8 Hexanon (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 10881 ebay]35mm f/2.0 Hexanon (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 10882 ebay]50mm f/2.0 Hexanon (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 10883 ebay]50mm f/1.2 Hexanon (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 10884 ebay]90mm f/2.8 Hexanon (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].

Voigtländer
[shoplink 10885 ebay]12mm f/5.6 Ultra Wide Heliar Aspherical II (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink]
[shoplink 10886 ebay]15mm f/4.5 Super Wide Heliar II (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink]
[shoplink 10887 ebay]21mm f/4 Color-Skopar P type (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink]
[shoplink 10888 ebay]25mm f/4 Color-Skopar P type (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink]
[shoplink 10889 ebay]28mm f/2.0 Ultron (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink]
[shoplink 10890 ebay]35mm f/1.2 Aspherical Nokton (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink]
[shoplink 10891 ebay]35mm f/1.4 Nokton classic (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink]
[shoplink 10892 ebay]35mm f/2.5 Color-Skopar P type II (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink]
[shoplink 10893 ebay]40mm f/1.4 Nokton classic (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink]
[shoplink 10894 ebay]50mm f/2.0 collapsible Heliar (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink]
[shoplink 10895 ebay]50mm f/1.1 Nokton (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink]
[shoplink 10896 ebay]75mm f/1.8 Heliar (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink]

Send me your stories at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com and I will post them! Thanks!

A note for all current “classic” Alpha camera user. I am not going to buy the A77 for one simple reason, because I want the A99 ;)

Dario just sent me this incredible story:

“Hi, I just want to let you know that yesterday after accidentally damaging the mirror of my A55 with the Eclipse cleaning fluid, I took out the mirror and tried other materials to replace it while I’m waiting for a new mirror. Long story short, food wrap (!) works just almost like the Sony’s mirror: sometimes the AF guesses a little, but most of the time is perfect, and It’s a lot more transparent, so I really don’t get what sony tries to sell us with their 70€ Hi-Tech mirror…
However, food wrap it’s a bit opaque, so the pictures have a slightly soft-focus effect when a bright light hits it. In the next days I’ll try other transparent films: expecially I want to try the plastic protective film for cellphones, I think it’s gonna be a perfect alternative for those who don’t need 100% AF accuracy (although I think it’s almost the same) and improved ISO performance.
Here you can see some pictures of the conversion.

damaged mirror: http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/6361/dsc4616l.jpg

removed mirror: http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/7586/dsc4619z.jpg

food wrap: http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/8836/dsc4621l.jpg (this picture was taken with AF, with the “wrap mirror” already in place, notice the glowing effect on the reflections)

the wrapped mirror: http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/7899/dsc4654.jpg

and: http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/1484/dsc4655m.jpg

mirror mounted: http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/8425/1003321v.jpg

Tell me if you are interested, so I will continue to inform you about this experiment.”

Damn, that sounds interesting!

Sony Japan (Click here) released a new Android application for the NEX-7. The text is in japanese and as usual google translation tool isn’t really helping me out. I guess it’s a sort of NEX-7 guide. I hope our japanese readers can explain us a bit more. Thanks!

NEX-7 with Voigtländer 35mm f/1.4 lens at Getdpi (Click here).

The NEX-7 is the mostdesirable camera on the planet according to TheOnlinePhotographer (Click here): “A small camera, with a potentially outstanding sensor (again, we really have to wait and see), and a potentially outstanding made-for-the-camera lens of perfect specification? This won’t get the pull from the hoi polloi, the mass market, or the mainstream media that some cameras-of-the-moment get, but for real camera buffs, there’s just nothing we desire right now more than this little beauty”

Sonystore USA informed that they will sip the next stock of NEX-7 cameras in mid-late January.

NEX-7 store search links to preorder the camera: [shopcountry 8454].

And here is a list of Sony NEX-7 cameras available on eBay:
[shoplink 10855 ebay]eBay Austria (Linz)[/shoplink]
[shoplink 10856 ebay]eBay Germany (Ingbert)[/shoplink]
[shoplink 10857 ebay]eBay USA (four bodies)[/shoplink]

Dear SAR readers,

I am ready to spend my time with my family, and I want to share some very few words here. I am not going to stop to work on SAR in these days. Quite the opposite, I have some time off from my work and I am planning to think on a whole redesign of the website. If you want you can send me your suggestions to sonyalpharumors@gmail.com. I will also write a full 2012 Sony camera and lens prediction list. It will be a mix of rumors and speculation. And if there is no new Tsunami, Flood or Nucelar catastrophe like we had in that year I am sure Sony will be able to announce ALL the much expected FF cameras and lenses.

That said I wish all of you a peaceful Christmas, and a nice time with all the person you love! Thanks for all the great time you shared here on SAR this year!

—

P.S.: I hope most of you got the Sony NEX-7/A77/A65 camera in time to take pictures of the Christmas dinner (my NEX-7 didn’t arrive yet). Last check of  in Stock status:
A77 in Stock at BHphoto (Click here), Amazon Germany (Click here).
NEX-7 auctions on [shoplink 10814 ebay]eBay US (Click here to see the seven auctions)[/shoplink], [shoplink 10834 ebay]eBay Germany (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 10833 ebay]eBay Austria (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 10835 ebay]eBay France (Click here)[/shoplink].

Sony Japan (Click here) posted the full English translation of the interview made with the Sony NEX-7 designers. I didn’t know that “All we had decided initially was that three dials would be used….It was essentially our only beacon in design“. Would love to know who had the idea…quite a genius that guy ;)

Meanwhile the first “european” NEX-7 is on auction on [shoplink 10814 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. Fotomundus had five in Stock, but they are now sold out (one is mine…LOL). USA readers are far more lucky. There are now eleven(!) NEX-7 bodies for auction on [shoplink 10813 ebay]eBay (Click here to see them all)[/shoplink]. This means the price will finally go down.

Photographybanzai (Click here) wrote a first NEX-7 impression review.

—-
The Tamron lenses are now in Stock at Adorama (Click on the links to see the product page):
Tamron 18mm-200mm f/3.5-6.3 XR DI-III VC (B011) AF Zoom Lens with Macro, for the Sony NEX eMount – Silver
Tamron 18mm-200mm f/3.5-6.3 XR DI-III VC (B011) AF Zoom Lens with Macro, for the Sony NEX eMount – Black