Sony Tidbits…


Sony A7RIII eye autofocus with Sigma Art series lenses. Is it as good as the Metabones?

Trey Ratcliff switches from Hasselblad back to Sony…(Stuckincustoms).
LanParte RF Remote For Sony Cameras (Lenstip).
YI Horizon VR180 Camera from YI Technologies (Personal View).
Announcement: Peak Design Updates its Camera Straps and Clips (Explora).
Samyang 135mm F2 (Marc Alhadeff).

Personal photos and tests from SAR Admin Andrea on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and 500px.

Darrell: “Wanted to point out that a number of us have found our samples of the Sony FE 24-105 G exhibit focus shift which results in consistent focus errors with the lens. It is a great zoom, but this is rendering the lens unusable for the copies exhibiting focus shift.
You can see a bunch of documentation of the problem at in a couple of threads over at Fredmiranda.com in the Sony Forum (take a look at this thread, this particular page http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1517297/31. Earlier in the thread are some other examples with photos documenting focus shift).
In brief, my testing on the A7RIII showed the following behavior and resulting AF errors… similar errors were exhibited at other focal lengths but it seems worst at the long end at 105mm.

In AF-S, the A7RIII and FE 24-105 G focus wide open at f/4, then stop down to working aperture at time of exposure. Shots at f/4 are consistently in focus, and get progressively worse at f/5.6 and f/8. This is independent of live view settings (On or Off).
In AF-C, the same combination focuses just fine with live view settings on, as the lens is stopped down to working aperture (though it doesn’t seem to stop down to working apertures smaller than f/8 or so until the actual exposure is taken, so perhaps there could be focus shift errors after f/8).
In MF, with live view settings Off, the aperture stays wide open and you get focus shift errors as you stop down the working aperture. With live view settings ON, the aperture stops down to working aperture and you get sharp, in focus images as long as you refocus after each aperture change.
The focus shift has been confirmed by several others (by manually focusing, then stopping down to working apertures below f/4). Others have confirmed their copies don’t exhibit this behavior, so strangely, it seems the focus shift is copy dependent.
It would be useful to confirm if this is as common a problem as it seems to be based on the first cohort of buyers on Fredmiranda.com.
I’ll be returning my lens instead of waiting to see if it is something Sony can address via firmware.“

 

Join the new Sony Alpha Camera Facebook group.
To get news from our Forum subscribe that RSS feed.
I kindly invite you all to follow our RSS feed, follow us on Facebook and Twitter to not miss news and rumors

Sony Tidbits…


Sony A7RIII 120fps low-light slow-mo!

Sigma MC-11 Mount Converter | SnapShot (Wex UK).
How to Copyright Your Photography and Make Money on Copyright Infringements (Fstoppers).
Samyang 35mm F1.4 AF vs Zeiss 35mm F1.4 (Marc Alhadeff).
Instagrammers are sucking the life and soul out of travel (TheGuardian).
Insta360 Nano S 360 VR Camera for iPhone (Personal View).
10 Innovative Photographic Accessories for Your Favorite Image Maker (Explora).

More informal and personal photos from SAR Admin Andrea on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Youtube.

Join the new Sony Alpha Camera Facebook group.
To get news from our Forum subscribe that RSS feed.
I kindly invite you all to follow our RSS feed, follow us on Facebook and Twitter to not miss news and rumors

We have our own Facebook camera groups and pages you can join to discuss the upcoming new cameras in detail:
Sony A9 group and Sony A9 page.
Sony A7rIII group and Sony A7rIII page
Sony A7sIII group and Sony A7sIII page
Sony A7III group and Sony A7III page
Note: In groups you can post your own stuff like images, news and questions. While on pages you will read the specific camera news from SAR.

2017 annual CIPA report: Camera market value did increase by 4% compared to 2016

CIPA released the 2017 camera shipment numbers based on actual Japanese companies data. MirrorlessRumors analysis:

1) For the first time in many years the last year wasn’t worse than the year before. The market sales value increased by exactly 4%. Honestly, I wouldn’t be too much happy about it because in 2016 we had the massive sensor shortage because of the Kumamoto Sony factory damage (caused by the earthquake).

2) DSLR sales decreased by 10% compared to 2016 but Mirrorless sales went up 40%. And I guess that in 2018 with Nikon and Canon going “serious” with mirrorless this marks the beginning of the end for the DSLR market.

So while the numbers are good on paper they are still way underwhelming. Hard to see the camera market going any better in 2018.

Luminar and Aurora 2018 updates released

Skylum (former Macphun) released updates for the Luminar 2018 (Click here) and Aurora HDR (Click here) software. If you are going to buy them keep in mind you save additional $10 on checkout using the code “SAR“.

Luminar 2018 1.1.1 version for Windows:
Added shift + scroll hotkey for brush size adjustment
Curves filter improved
Merge layers feature released
Saving cropped image to document issue fixed
Fixed several issues with Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom plugins usage
Sidebar UX improvements

Luminar 2018 version 1.1.1 for MAC:
Fixed issues with Photos Extension
RAW Develop support improved, added Leica Monochrome .DNG , HEIC formats, fixed support for Hasselblad and several other cameras.
Fixed several issues with Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom plugins usage
Fixed issue with Dodge & Burn mask from documents created on windows

Aurora HDR 2018 1.1.3 version for Windows:
Improved sliders: You can now directly enter values into a slider with the keyboard.
Improved presets: Applying multiple presets is now handled correctly.
Cropping improvements: The cropped state of an image is now correctly captured in the native Aurora HDR file.

Aurora HDR 2018 1.1.3 version for MAC:
Batch process faster: We’ve fine-tuned our bracket-detecting algorithm to speed up batch processing.
Align brackets better: We’ve updated our alignment algorithm to improve hand-held HDR photography.
Adobe plug-in improvements: The plugins for Adobe products have been performance tuned.
Improved cross-platform files: We’ve fixed issue with cropped photos created on Windows.
Improved user experience: We’ve refined the software to make it easier to use based on user feedback and testing.

Again…don’t forget you get $10 off using our code “SAR” when buying Luminar or Aurora 2018.

Sony Tidbits…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZrQxNZqRz4
My Sony a7R III Run & Gun Video Setup!

Fashion Photography Batis (Lenspire)
The Fastest Memory Cards Money Can Buy (Explora).
24-105mm G lens test at DC.watch.
Sony RX0 Review (Photographyblog).
Nikon patents sort of Dual Pixel AF sensor for future mirrorless cameras (Nikoneye).
Sony IEDM Presentation on 3-Layer Stacking Process Flow (Image Sensor World).

Personal photos and tests from SAR Admin Andrea on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and 500px.

We have our own Facebook camera groups and pages you can join to discuss the upcoming new cameras in detail:
Sony A9 group and Sony A9 page.
Sony A7rIII group and Sony A7rIII page
Sony A7sIII group and Sony A7sIII page
Sony A7III group and Sony A7III page
Note: In groups you can post your own stuff like images, news and questions. While on pages you will read the specific camera news from SAR.

 

Meike announces three new APS-C E-mount lenses: 50mm f/1.7, 25mm f/2.0 and a new 25mm t/2.2 lens


image on the page on Meike

Meike announced three new APS-C E-mount lenses:

50mm f/1.7
25mm f/2.0
25mm t/2.2 CINE

ePhotozine has some more info about the construction of the 50mm f/.17 lens:

The lens is comprised of 12 diaphragm blades and has a 0.11x magnification ratio.  The lens is set to be available in mid-March. 

The lens is yet not available for preorder. But you will soon find it like any other Meike lens on Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon DE.

Thanks Mistral!