Tokina preorder at BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon FR, Amazon IT, Amazon ES.

As you know Tokina just announced the new ATX-M 85mm f/1.8 FE autofocus lens. But the suspect is that this $499 lens might share the same design of the $399 Viltrox version (here on Amazon). Just compare the lens construction:

Now it might be that the Tokina offers some kind of “extras” like better construction or whats so ever…still if the optical quality is the same you might be better of saving $100.

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via Shoten

Tamron 24mm 2.8 & 35mm 2.8 Sony FE unboxing and live focus test

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Today Tamron  informed the new 20mm FE prime lens will start shipping out on January 30. Still no info about the 70-180mm f/2.8 FE shipment start but I guess we will have to wait a couple of months more before we get that one too :(

All links to the new Tamron FE primes:
Tamron 20mm  f/2.8 at Adorama, FocusCamera and BHphoto.
Tamron 24mm  f/2.8 at Adorama, FocusCamera and BHphoto.
Tamron 35mm  f/2.8 at Adorama, FocusCamera and BHphoto.

You can preorder it now at BHphoto and Adorama. In Europe at Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon FR, Amazon IT, Amazon ES.

Press Text:

Kenko Tokina announces release of the NEW atx-m 85mm f/1.8 FE
New Series, New optics, New look – The atx-m 85mm f/1.8 FE lens for full-frame Sony E-mount mirrorless cameras.

Huntington Beach, CA, January 17, 2020: Kenko Tokina, Japan’s leading manufacturer of premium camera accessories, is releasing the Tokina atx-m 85mm f/1.8 FE lens for full-frame Sony E-mount mirrorless cameras. It is the debut lens for Tokina’s atx-m series of mirrorless lenses that will include lenses for multiple mounts and sensor formats.

The atx-m 85mm f1.8 FE lens features a clean design with high quality optics housed in a beautifully anodized, semi-satin black metal lens barrel. The fast f/1.8 aperture is perfect for portraits, low light shooting and produces beautiful bokeh.

The optical design has 10 glass elements in 7 groups including 1 SD (Low Dispersion) lens that offers excellent resolution, sharp edge-to-edge results, and well controlled chromatic aberrations. Tokina’s exclusive Super Low Reflection Multi-coating provides natural color and excellent contrast along with superior water, oil, and dust repellant properties.

The new ST-M auto-focus motor is quiet, fast, and accurate in still and video modes and thanks to an all-metal focus unit and high-quality lubricants; manual focus is tactile, smooth and precise.

The atx-m 85mm FE is developed and manufactured in accordance with Sony-licensed specifications and communicates all required data to the camera to take full advantage of the latest Sony features including 5-axis image stabilization, Face/Eye Priority AF, Real-time Eye AF, MF assist, and electronic distance scale.

“This is a very exciting new lens series for Tokina” says Yuji Matsumoto, President at Kenko Tokina USA. “The mirrorless camera market continues to expand and the atx-m series will address the needs of photographers using different camera mounts and sensor sizes.”

Worldwide sales of the Tokina atx-m 85mm f/1.8 FE lens will begin on February 7, 2020 with authorized Tokina USA retailers taking pre-orders January 17, 2020. Estimated USA Street Price of $499.00

Today Sony released firmware updates on three E-mount products:

Sony A9II (download fw 1.01 here). Benefits and improvements:

• FTP transfer can be started earlier after shooting pictures
• Improves the overall stability and performance of the camera:
  • Corrects a specific condition where the camera can sometimes turn off when playing back RAW images
  • JPEG Image quality is more consistent when shooting under specific conditions

Sony 24mm f/1.8 GM (download fw 02 here). Benefits and improvements:

• Improved aperture response when the lens is attached to the ILCE-9, ILCE-9M2 and ILCE-7RM4 camera models.
• “Focus Priority” can be selected from the “Aperture Drive in AF” menu when the lens is attached to an ILCE-9 camera (with firmware version 6.00 or later).

Notes:

• It is not possible to execute the lens firmware procedure with the following E-mount cameras: NEX-5, NEX-3, NEX-C3, NEX-VG10, PXW-FS7.
• When using the PXW-FS7M2, follow the steps as specified in the instruction manual.

Sony 135mm f/1.4 GM (download fw 02 here). Benefits and improvements:

• Improved aperture response when the lens is attached to the ILCE-9, ILCE-9M2 and ILCE-7RM4 camera models.
• “Focus Priority” can be selected from the “Aperture Drive in AF” menu when the lens is attached to an ILCE-9 camera (with firmware version 6.00 or later).

Notes:

• It is not possible to execute the lens firmware procedure with the following E-mount cameras: NEX-5, NEX-3, NEX-C3, NEX-VG10, PXW-FS7.
• When using the PXW-FS7M2, follow the steps as specified in the instruction manual.

BCN ranking shared the full market share analysis for 2019. As you can se Sony claimed the second spot in the mirrorless segment and increased their share by 3,2% compared to 2018.

Here are all other rankings in the digital photography business:

Here are the rankings for the accessories:

A couple of conclusions we can learn from this:

– Sony is steadily increasing their market share in the mirrorless segment
– Sony still has a noticeable 5% gap with Canon in the mirrorless segment
– Sony is only on the third spot in the fixed lens camera segment despite their excellent RX range.
– Sony sells more lenses than Nikon and that’s a big surprise considering the large Nikon DSLR+mirrorless basis

via Digicameinfo

Today Sony announced the new Sony GP-VPT2BT Wireless Shooting Grip you can preorder now for $139 at BHphoto. The grip works with the Sony a9 II, a9, a7R IV, a7R III, a7 III, a6600, a6400, a6100 and RX10 VII.

And now to an interesting tidbits: Just last week I posted the rumor from a source who told me Sony will launch a new camera and new handle soon. Well…we got the handle today…now bring on the camera Sony :)