Sony Tidbits…


Sony FE 100mm F2.8 STF GM OSS Product Overview

Does the α9 with 100-400mm GM Stay on Track at the Track? (Alphauniverse).
Sony FE 12-24mm f/4 G versus other lenses (FredMiranda).
Best Mirrorless Cameras for Travel Photography (Adorama Learning Center)
Lock Down Your Home Wi-Fi Network (Explora).
Zeiss Batis 18mm f2.8 Review (Atamadnan).
Best Compact Camera for Travel (Phototraces).

Jay Perry:A camera AND a MUSICAL INSTRUMENT? Is there anything the @Sony a7R II can’t do? youtu.be/bi4IPmkoWSY?a

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.

 

Question to SAR readers: How many Megapixel do you need on the upcoming Sony A7rIII (or A9r)?

The new Sony A7rIII (or A9r) is scheduled to hit the market in 2018. So there is still some time to wait. It’s likely it will have the current Sony A9 body and a new High Resolution sensor inside. Of course the big question is…

How many Megapixel should the upcoming Sony A7rIII or A9r have?

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Some quick PROS and CONS of having a crazy high resolution camera:

PROS:
– Better for large prints (But who really needs it?).

Sometimes better for postprocessing (cropping , downsampling to reduce noise, and so on).
– Futureproof. Always nice to have the highest resolution quality of the photos you care about. And in future we may have 32K TV and other crazy stuff that might make it useful to have large files.

CONS:
– Makes the whole experience slower (Slow file saving, slow transfer, slow computer).
– Low frame rate makes it not suitable for sports and action photography in general

– Needs a lot of storage (SD cards, Computer, Online and hard disk backup).
– Diffraction limit on lenses. And you need good glass.

We have our own Facebook camera groups and pages you can join to discuss the upcoming new cameras in detail:
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.

 

 

Competition news: Nikon announces the development of the new D850

This is interesting: Today Nikon only announced the “development” of the new D850. Which means it will take quite some time before the camera will hit the market. Also interetsing….no specs have been shared. So we don’t know which Sony sensor they are going to use.

This is the press text from Nikon.

DEVELOPMENT OF DIGITAL SLR CAMERA NIKON D850

MELVILLE, NY (July 25, 2017 at 12:01 A.M. EDT) –- Nikon Inc. is pleased to announce the development of the next generation full-frame, high-resolution, high-speed digital SLR cameras with the upcoming release of the highly anticipated Nikon D850. This announcement coincides with Nikon’s 100th anniversary of its establishment, which is celebrated today.

The D850 will be a formidable tool for creators who will not compromise on exceptional image quality and versatility, including both aspiring and professional photographers as well as hobbyists who capture landscapes, weddings, sports, fashion, commercial imagery and multimedia content creators.

The D850 is the successor to the D810, which has been highly praised by its users for offering extremely sharp and clear rendering, with rich tone characteristics. This powerful new FX-format digital SLR camera is engineered with a range of new technologies, features and performance enhancements that are a direct result of feedback from users, who demand the very best from their camera equipment. The D850 will exceed the expectations of the vast range of photographers that seek the high resolution and high-speed capabilities that only a Nikon of this caliber complemented by NIKKOR lenses can offer.

To learn more about the Nikon D850, please visit nikonusa.com/d850. Information regarding the release of this product will be announced at a later date.

Voigtlander 65mm FE press release states this macro “is one of its finest lenses ever”

Last week we reported that you can preorder the new Voigtlander MACRO APO-LANTHAR 65mm f/2.0 FE lens at BHphoto and Adorama. Shipment start is August 2.

Today we have the full Voigtlander Press Text via DPreview:

MACRO APO-LANTHAR 65mm F2 Aspherical

Announcing the release of the Voigtländer MACRO APO- LANTHAR 65mm F2 Aspherical, a Sony E-mount macro lens for full frame sensors incorporating an apochromatic optical design and inscribed with the designation “APO-LANTHAR”

We announce the release of the Voigtländer MACRO APO-LANTHAR 65mm F2 Aspherical, a Sony E-mount macro lens for full frame sensors. The APO-LANTHAR designation is given to especially high performance lenses in the Voigtländer lens lineup. The legendary APO-LANTHAR lens that continues to enthrall photographers with its outstanding imaging performace and beautiful rendering was born in 1954, but its origins can be traced back around 120 years (see additional info about the APO-LANTHAR below).

A need for apochromatic optical designs that reduce the longitudinal chromatic aberrations of the three primary colors (RGB) of light to practically zero arose with the increasing popularity of color film. Now, with the current range of high- resolution digitals sensors, this need for extremely high-level control of chromatic aberrations is even more pertinent than when film changed from monochrome to color. So rather than just being for already solved old technologies, apochromatic optical designs are indeed a subject requiring serious consideration in the digital age.

The Voigtländer MACRO APO-LANTHAR 65mm F2 Aspherical, which inherits the designation “APO- LANTHAR”, is a high performance manual focus macro lens optimized for the imaging sensors of Sony mirrorless cameras. The optical performance of this lens, which provides an image circle capable of covering a full frame sensor, rates as one of the finest in the history of Voigtländer. Sharp imaging performance is obtained from maximum aperture where you can enjoy blurring the background, and by utilizing a floating mechanism this lens delivers outstanding image quality for subjects from the minimum focusing distance of 31cm (reproduction ratio of 1:2) through to infinity. This lens is a manual focus and manual aperture design, but also features electrical contacts that enable the lens settings at image capture to be included in the Exif information of the image data. Furthermore, the lens is installed with a distance encoder to enable support for 5-axis image stabilization on bodies with this feature, for example by providing distance to subject information used in X,Y shift compensation. Focus peaking while manual focusing is also supported.

Main features

  • Full frame Sony E-mount with electrical contacts
  • Apochromatic optical design that eliminates chromatic aberrations
  • Enhanced high performance utilizing aspherical lens surfaces
  • Optical design optimized for digital imaging sensors
  • Extremely solid and durable all-metal barrel
  • Manual focus for precise focusing
  • Maximum reproduction ratio of 1:2 at a minimum focus distance of 31 cm

Additional info about the APO-LANTHAR

The history of the APO-LANTHAR begins with the HELIAR invented by Hans Harting in 1900. Despite its simple optical configuration of five elements in three groups, the HELIAR was a lens with superb depictive performance. As an example of the HELIAR optical formula still being valid in the present day, it is used in the currently available HELIAR Vintage Line 50mm F3.5, a lens known for its superb depictive performance. Furthermore, a HELIAR is recorded as being the lens used to take imperial portraits of Emperor Showa, and it is said the HELIAR lens was extremely highly regarded for its beautiful depictive performance and even treated as a family treasure by portrait photography businesses during the Showa period.

Moving forward about half a century from the birth of the HELIAR to 1954, Albrecht Wilhelm Tronnier developed a lens using the same five-elements-three-groups configuration as the HELIAR utilizing new glass types to achieve performance that exceeded the HELIAR. That lens was the APO-LANTHAR. The APO in APO- LANTHAR indicates an apochromatic optical design. The main characteristic of such a lens is that longitudinal chromatic aberrations caused by the different wavelengths (frequencies) of the three primary colors (RGB) of light are reduced to practically zero to achieve high-level color reproduction. Color film slowly gained popularity after its release in 1935, and one reason why the APO-LANTHAR was developed was to address a growing need to capture light more faithfully than possible with monochrome film.

The first camera to be fitted with an APO-LANTHAR lens was the 6 x 9 roll film rangefinder camera representative of post-war Voigtlander, the Bessa II. There were three different lens variations of this camera: APO-LANTHAR 4.5/100, COLOR-HELIAR 3.5/105, and COLOR-SKOPAR 3.5/105. The APO-LANTHAR 4.5/100 variation has red, green, and blue (RGB) rings indicating the apochromatic optical design engraved around the front of the lens barrel to differentiate it from the other versions as a special lens. Due to the rarity and high performance of the Bessa II fitted with APO-LANTHAR lens, this camera has become a legendary camera traded on the used market at high prices and the envy of camera collectors.

As homage to the RGB colors that differentiate the APO-LANTHAR from other lenses beginning with the BESSA II, the MACRO APO-LANTHAR 65mm F2 Aspherical also features three colored dashes indicating the RGB colors at the front edge of the lens barrel.