This week SAR readers photos selection.

Bildschirmfoto 2016-03-12 um 09.05.17
Sergei Gavrilov‎
https://www.flickr.com/…/…/25618308676/in/dateposted-public/
Sony ILCE-7RM2
FE 55mm F1.8 ZA

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!

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Sony Tidbits…


Kit Lens Portraits: The Breakdown with Miguel Quiles

Switching from Nikon (SonyAlphaForum).
Review: Sony FE 70-200mm f/4 G OSS (Admiringlight).
Sony RX1 II: the perfect pocket rocket? (DearSusans).
Canon 5Ds Compared To Sony A7rII – Introduction (Soundimagesplus).
Worth to wait for A7Riii? (SonyAlphaForum).
90mm macro vs. Batis 85, G-Master 85 for portraits (SonyAlphaForum).

Chris:This short film strives to highlight the life in the Northern hemisphere of our planet. It is the result of filming in remote locations in Arctic, Norway, Switzerland and Iceland the last couple of years.  Captured with Sony α7rII, α7s, α99 and α77II. https://vimeo.com/156978480

Sony A6300 manual available for download. First unboxing video.

downloadA6300

You can now download the full A6300 manual at helpguide.sony.net.

A6300 sample photos taken with various lenses at SonylphaForum. German A6300 test at Chip.de. More with full-sized sample images from 640 ISO to 6400 ISO on the A6300 by Pmrphoto. And a first unboxing video has been posted by TheDigitalDigest on Youtube. A few unboxing pictures can be downloaded at Wetransfer.

Sony_a6300_11s

Preorders:
A6300 body at BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama, BestBuy. Calumetphoto.de. Amazon.de. WexUK. Jessops. Amazon.fr.
A6300 with kit lens at BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama, BestBuy. Calumetphoto.de. Amazon.de. WexUK. Jessops.
24-70mm f/2.8 GM FE at BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama, BestBuy. Calumetphoto.de. WexUK. Jessops.
85mm f/1.4 GM FE at BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama, BestBuy. Calumetphoto.de. WexUK. Jessops.

Thanks Joel for sharing this!

Venus Optics Announces the Laowa 105mm f/2 (t/3.2) Smooth Trans Focus Lens, ‘the Bokeh Dreamer’

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Venus Optics sent us an updated press release of the new Laowa 105mm f/2.0 A and E-mount lens. The lens uses an apodization element to produce images with smooth and creamy bokeh. You can also see some image samples.

PRESS RELEASE:

Anhui China, Mar 10, 2016 – Venus Optics, the Chinese camera lenses manufacturer who had launched the world’s Widest 1:1 Macro lens last June, has just released another extraordinary lens, Laowa 105mm f/2 (t/3.2) Smooth Trans Focus Lens for DSLR cameras.

The new Laowa 105mm f/2 Smooth Trans Focus Lens incorporates an unique optical design with an apodization (APD) element next to the aperture. The APD element resembles the function of an ND filter which becomes thicker towards the perimeter, gradually reducing the amount of light transmission towards the periphery to produce a soft, natural and beautifully diffused out-of-focus rendition (or called bokeh).

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Anhui ChangGeng Optical Technology Company Limited (Venus Optics) Email: sales@venuslens.net Website: http://www.venuslens.net/

The new Laowa 105mm f/2 Smooth Trans Focus Lens offers two separate diaphragms. The stepless 14-bladed perfectly circular aperture, in conjunction with the apodization element gives this lens the ability to produce smooth and pleasing bokeh. It is also useful for videographers to control the amount of light passes through the lens. The 8-bladed aperture is to determine the effective aperture opening (f-number) and the depth-of-field formed.

The lens houses with 11 elements in 8 groups with 1 piece of High Refractive elements, 3 pieces of Low Dispersion elements and 1pc of Apodisation element. This optical design is proven to deliver images with extreme sharpness and limit the chromatic abberations at its lowest. Floating design is also adopted to ensure a superb performance even in close focusing distance. The enclosure of the lens is fully made of metal to strengthen its durability. Canon EF, Nikon F, Sony FE, Sony Alpha and Pentax K mounts are available.

Sample photos can be found in our official website (http://www.venuslens.net)

Pricing and Availability

The Laowa 105mm f/2 Smooth Trans Focus lens will be available at authorized resellers and at the English official website (http://www.venuslens.net). The recommended retail price without tax is USD 699. Free shipping will be provided during the promotion period. Pre-order starts from today and shipping for Canon EF / Nikon AI / Sony FE mounts will start from April. Delivery for Sony A / Pentax K mounts will start from May.

Specifications

Bildschirmfoto 2016-03-10 um 17.35.37

MTF & Optical Structure

Bildschirmfoto 2016-03-10 um 17.35.14

 

Sample Photos

81-22-13-24567

About Us

Anhui ChangGeng Optical Technology Company Limited (Venus Optics) is a new Chinese camera lens manufacturer based in Hefei, Anhui. We currently manufacture and distribute camera lenses under the brand name of ‘Laowa’.

For more information about Anhui ChangGeng Optical Technology Company Limited and our products information, visit http://www.venuslens.net/

New Galaxy 7 has a Sony Full chip PDAF (could come on cameras too).

Samsung-Galaxy-S7-Teardown-Camera-Module-Front-Facing-package

Chipworks analyzed the Sony sensor used by the new Samsung Galaxy S7. And the sensor is the first with the Dual Pixel AF tech sourced from Sony:

It seems the full chip PDAF functionality, which requires dual readout from each pixel, was implemented with a multi-chip solution.

I can imagine Sony could implement the very same tech on larger sensors too. Imaging having a camera where every pixel has PDAF. This would be another standout feature on Sony cameras and one more reason for Canon/Nikon shooters to switch over to Sony…

Samsung-Galaxy-S7-Teardown-Camera-Module-Primary-camera-die-corner

found via Image sensor world (Thanks Animalsbarry)

Sony Tidbits…


JCH Show Episode 5: Lens talk with Arato Ogura

Considering switch to mirrorless a7R2 (SonyAlphaForum).
A brief assessment of the Sony FE 90/2.8 G (DearSusans).
Slow motion with RX10 II (Mirrorlessons).
Sony a7ii vs Sony a7 (Phillip Reeve).
German Sony-Zeiss FE 55mm f/1.8 review by Spuel Beck.

Martin:I’m a photographer from Germany, who switched last year from Canon to the Sony A7RII. In my blog, I write about my experiences with the Sony system (and other topics around photography).  I published an article about the Sony FE 28/2 lens http://www.spuelbeck.net/sony-fe-28mm-f2/

Tomiga:I have just poste E-mount Lens Overview article. It is series of text dedicated to novice users about APS-C lenses. First part is dedicated to fixed lens manufactured by Sony. tomiga.wordpress.com. Original article is in Polish but it can be autotranslated by Google services.

Sony Announces Development of New Wireless Lighting Control System at WPPI 2016. And new HX80 announced too!

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Sony just made a double announcement:

  1. Back in January our sources told us there would be a new HX80 compact camera. The sources were spot on as Sony just introduced the new HX80 camera (without any press release). Sony will also announce the new HX350 soon. HX80 specs and images at SonyUK and Imaging Resource.
  2. Sony also announced a new wireles Radio Flash Transmitter and Receiver

Here are the press releases:

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