Samyang announced the first of the five new lenses that will be announced the coming five weeks. All lenses will be available in five different mounts. Today they released the 135mm T/2.2 XEEN Cine lens. More info can be found at samyanglensglobal.com/product/detail.do?SQ=46. And this is the press text:

July 18th, 2016, Seoul, Korea

The global optics brand, Samyang Optics (http://www.samyanglensglobal.com) announced the release of XEEN 135mm T2.2. Along with the existing five lenses of 14mm T3.1, 24mm T1.5, 35mm T1.5, 50mm T1.5 and 85mm T1.5, XEEN 135mm T2.2 offers outstanding image quality from resolving power for 4K+ production for filming video and cinema.

XEEN is a specialized brand in professional video-cine lens launched by Samyang Optics in 2015. The XEEN lenses are designed with Samyang Optics’ know-how and have outstanding optical performance for 4K+ with the X-Coating Technology, ensuring maximum image quality to create a cinematic look.

The 24mm x 36mm negative size allows XEEN to not only work with full frame cameras, but also with Super 35, APS-C and APS-H cameras. The lenses are available in five different mounts – PL, EF, F, E, and MFT and two different focus scales – metric and imperial units. Also, the aluminium metal housing is known for its reliability in various shooting conditions.

The new XEEN 135mm adds telephoto angle to the existing XEEN set, enabling to capture the sincere emotions and details of characters in films and videos. Also the bright T2.2 offers high quality footage with clear contrast and impressive colors, even under less-than-optimal lighting conditions. The large aperture also creates a pleasing bokeh effect for a cinematic look.

Moreover, Samyang has announced to release a total of five lenses throughout five weeks as a 2016 Summer Samyang Blockbuster campaign starting from XEEN 135mm. The other four lenses will be announced on every Monday from July 25^th to August 15^th.

Created to deliver infinite possibilities, XEEN 135mm T2.2 will be globally available in August. The recommended retail price of each lens is EUR 2,200. More detailed product information is available on the official website (http://www.xeenglobal.com) and Facebook (http://www.facebook. com/xeenglobal) or Samyang Lens Global Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/samyanglensglobal).

Sony A7 Timelapse special, Las Vegas : The Breakdown with Miguel Quiles

Sony A6000 Review at Photographylife.
A7RII color changes after few seconds (SonyAlphaForum).
Outdoor Flash Portrait Lighting for AMAZING results, Zeiss Batis, Sony A7Rii by Jason Lanier
expensive lens mounts scratched from Metabones EF-E adapter (SonyAlphaForum)
Distagon T* FE 35mm F1.4 ZA tested at DC.watch.
FE 28mm test at DC.watch.
Contax 18mm f/4 Distagon and A7r (SonyAlphaForum).

Guy MW: “Here is a link to a music video I shot last weekend on my A7sii for Eco-Protest band Farmageddon here in the UK. Lenses used were a set of PL mount Zeiss Super Speed lenses. The shoot was pretty complex in terms of setups and schedule. Although I love the camera, its a bit fiddly for a shoot like this where there are a lot of distractions; easy to mis-dial a setting and not notice the mistake. Video was shot in Slog 3, exposed 2 x stops over. https://youtu.be/wqDL8RZ-Ud0“

There is a firmware upgrade for the Commlite Nikon F autofocus adapter. It adds the following features and fixes:

V04 Firmware Upgrading Content: 
1. Compatible with more lens;
2. AF speed is increased for partial lens;
3. Improve some AF mistakes for AF-I lens;
4. Improve some Exposure mistakes of V03 Firmware;
5. Improve some other bugs as follows:
5.1 Improve Partial Lens’ mistake of DX/FX recognition; 
5.2 Improve partial lens’ mistake of changing AF/MF mode; 

You can download the firmware here: commlite.com/en/down.php

Our reader Jules sent me this made a test of the new firmware and said it “made a huge difference to my [shoplink 49757 ebay]300mm f4 fr lens[/shoplink].”

You can buy the Commlite at Amazon (Click here) or via many [shoplink 47877 ebay]eBay sellers (Click here)[/shoplink].

Oliver Busch
Hope that is the right way to submit a photo to the SAR readers photos selection.
Shot is taken with A7RII and Loxia 35mm.
Feel free to follow me on https://500px.com/zermie

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1) Submit your picture with a message and picture here: facebook.com/sonyalpharumors or on the SonyAlphaForum image section.
2) Like and comment the pictures from other readers here: facebook.com/sonyalpharumors/photos_stream?tab=photos and on SonyAlphaForum.
3) A selection of most liked pictures by the community and by me SAR admin will be posted weekly on SAR.

Note: When sending a pic feel free to also add a link to your site to promote yourself!

6 Rules of Video Composition (and Why Not to Break Them)

Zeiss Batis 25mm f/2 Lens Review (TheTechReviewer).
The Worst Thing About the Sony a6300 (Bokeh).
Beloved Fashion Photographer Bill Cunningham Dies After Suffering Stroke (Adorama Learning Center)
New Kenko Canon FD and Contax-Yashica adapters are now shipping.
Taking Inventory of My Family’s Cameras (Explora).

To write a guest post on SAR follow the instructions on that page.

Simon Sharp: “https://vimeo.com/157031580 Thought you might be interested in a new short film ‘Bad Company’ that just received a Vimeo Staff Pick ! The film depicts the lives of the donkey boys of Kathmandu and the consequences of child labour. Using the Sony A7s I was able to shoot a little more unobtrusively this highly illegal business of child labour and the camera never let me down even under the most extreme physical conditions. There are stills (under the same title) to accompany the film on my site below: http://www.simonsharpphoto.com”

Sony releases a new firmware update for many FE lenses. It improves focusing performance in certain conditions. Here are the links to the firmware update download (Click on “Downloads” and select your OS):

35mm f/1.4 FE firmware download
35mm f/2.8 FE firmware download
70-200mm FE firmware download
24-70mm FE firmware download
55mm FE firmware download
28-70mm FE firmware download

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Thanks Dieter!

Photography Myths and Stereotypes: Do UV Filters Actually Ruin Your Images?

Voigtlander 5.6/10 review by Phillip Reeve.
How to Get Long Exposures Without Filters (Adorama Learning Center).
Gigantic 1000mm NASA Lens Up For Sale (Bokeh)
New RX1rII thumb grip released in Japan (DC.watch).
Data loss using DNG converter by Adobe (SonyAlphaForum).
Test – Sony FE 50 mm f/1,8 (Focus Numerique).
Osiris F1: An Affordable Automatic Film Processor (PetaPixel).

To write a guest post on SAR follow the instructions on that page. Thanks!