Manfrotto announced the special Alpha edition of their Befree Advanced tripod:

The Manfrotto Befree Advanced Alpha travel tripod is a special version of the Befree Advanced Lever dedicated to all Sony α camera users who want maximum performance and stability in all shooting positions.
The plate is designed to match Sony α7 and Sony α9 camera bodies*, to ensure perfect grip, even in the most angled camera shots. The front jut of the plate physically blocks the camera, preventing any play both on tilt and rotational movements, always keeping the camera stuck to the head plate. The result is impressive camera stability, which takes image sharpness to the highest level. The plate is also fully compatible with the world’s most widespread standard head attachments: Manfrotto RC2 and Arca-swiss style. With this aluminium plate fixed to the camera, all Manfrotto heads and almost all tripod heads on the market featuring Arca-style attachments can be set up rapidly and effortlessly, without disassembling components.

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Thanks Colin for sharing this!

The Belgium Store PCHshop confirmed the Sony A7III will be in Stock this Saturday already!

Sony A7III preorder links:
Sony A7III in USA at Adorama, BHphoto, Amazon,  BestBuy, FocusCamera, BuyDig.
Sony a7III in Europe at Calumet Germany, ParkCameras UK, WexUK.

More A7III news:
Why The Sony A7iii Is Important & Where It Sits With The A7Riii & A9 (Fstoppers).

Sony Alpha Universe Underwater

Mitakon 50mm f0.95 FE review by Marc Alhadeff.
Things We Love: Peak Design Everyday Sling (Explora).
Sony a7R III: Ultimate Street Photography Camera (Three Blind Men and An Elephant Productions)
Using the Sigma 35mm f1.4 Art Lens on the Sony a7r III (ThePhoBlographer).
Sevenoak SK T1 Durable Mini Tripod Review (Personal View).

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

Mariusz: “How to color grade without shooting LOG https://youtu.be/B_CVsad2Ymo. Color grading footage from a7r2 without log”

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

Sigma issued a new firmware update for their MC-11 adapter. Those are the new features/improvements:

● It has become compatible with the SIGMA 14-24mm F2.8 DG HSM | Art for SIGMA.
● With the SGV lenses^*1 listed below, it has improved AF performance in the peripheral areas of the image as well as when the “Eye AF” function is selected.
● With lenses that are not compatible with the MC-11, it has corrected the release time lag which occurred during flash photography.^*2
※ Before updating the MC-11 firmware, please ensure SIGMA Optimization Pro has been updated to ver. 1.4.1 or later for Windows, and ver. 1.4.0 or later for Macintosh.
＊1 SIGMA 35mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art, SIGMA 50mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art, SIGMA 85mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art, SIGMA 135mm F1.8 DG HSM | Art, SIGMA 18-35mm F1.8 DC HSM | Art, SIGMA 24-70mm F2.8 DG OS HSM | Art, SIGMA 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | Contemporary
＊2 Please note that this does not guarantee accurate operation with all the lenses that are not compatible with the MC-11.

Sigma MC-11 at [shopcountry 60822].

Patrick Murphey Racey talks about the new 28-75mm f/2.8 lens (here at BH) with a Tamron manager. Patrick writes:

This new lens from Tamron was designed from the ground up and for the most part, to be placed only on Sony E-mount cameras.  This is a big commitment from Tamron to make a Sony-specific lens in E-mount.  It also means that they are not simply “necking out” the rear portion of the lens as Sigma has chosen to do with their FF fast primes.  It may even have the ability to out perform some of Sigma’s re-tasked primes, especially in the wide areas of the zoom range.  Why, you ask?  Because the lens was made just for Sony’s exact sensor placement and distance just inside the lens mount flange.  It’s a safe bet to be a real contender.

Our reader Micah got this from a Tamron manager: The lens will have a 72mm filter size.

Sony A6500 Custom Camera Settings

Camera makers continue to ignore photojournalist pleas for encryption (Dpreview).
Imaging Without Lenses (American Scientist).
Samyang 50 mm f1.4 AF EF: prueba de campo (Photolari).
New LockPort for Sony A7M3
Things We Love: Voigtländer Color Heliar 75mm f/2.5 Lens (Explora).

Firoz: “When I wake up early in the morning, The clean white Fog is the first thing on my mind. Oh damn…it is smog. Dense smog shrouded the area, turning it into a fairy-tale wonderland. I shot this film from my balcony. Shot with a7s + FE 55mm f/1.8.ZA. https://vimeo.com/249952297”

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

Our reader Rzero explained them:

Using SAL300F28G2, SAL500F40G and SEL100400GM as reference, the switches should be for

1. AF/MF
2. DMF STD/Fulltime
3. Focus Limiter
4. Focus Hold
5. Prefocus Set Button
6. Optical Steady Shot ON/OFF
7. OSS Mode 1/Mode 2
8. BEEP ON/OFF button.

Or maybe that’s what it really does :)

New Sony 400mm f/2.8 FE GM lens prototype shown today has many unmarked switches. Here they are explained :) – #sonyimages #sonyalphasclub #sonyalpha #sonyphotography #sonyphotogallery #sonyalpharumors #sonyalphagear #SonyPhotoGallery #SonyAlphasClub #SonyMirrorles #sonyalphaphotos

Ein Beitrag geteilt von Andrea Photographer-Explorer (@andrea_pizzini_photographer) am Mär 1, 2018 um 12:42 PST

And here is an image of the huge front element from the 400mm lens (courtesy of Daniele Bragaglio)