Adorama Exclusive – PhotoPlus 2015: Sony RX1R II, a7S II and a7R II

A7RM2 memory functions for landscape photography by Richard Fox.
Sony to Acquire Altair Semi For $212 Million (Eetimes).
Real Anamorphic for less? The Rectilux 3FF-W single focus adapter reviewed (Newsshooter).
Loxia 21mm vs Batis 25mm (Mirrorlessons).
Voigtlander 2/28 Ultron tested on the A7s by Philip Reeve.
Plane Spotting with the A7II (SonyAlphaForum).
Movie set photographer switching to A7rII (ilovehatephoto).
Loxia 2/50 full size A7R II samples at Pixelmania.

José Ramos Photography‎
“Reverence”
The gorgeous Vestrahorn mountains in Iceland, during sunrise, after a 36 hour non stop shooting and driving session, during the 2015 September photo-trip. I crashed and slept all day inside the car in Hofn, after this marathon, but it was certainly worth it. Hope you do agree!
Technical info:
Sony a7R + Zeiss 16-35mm f4

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!

Kipon announced the new Leica M-mount to Sony FF E-mount Helicoid macro adapter. It costs ¥21.500 (close to $200).

Batis 85mm with Sony a7 and a7ii

Zeiss Batis 25mm f/2 on Sony A7S II Aperture Series: Blue Dusk Settles on Snowy Lundy Canyon (Diglloyd).
Lomography Petzval 58 Bokeh Control Art lens Review (Photobyrichard)
α7R II + PO3-3M 50mm F2 (Dc.watch).
Is it Time to go Full Frame? Weight These Pros and Cons Before You Decide (Digital-photography-school)
Frozen Landscape Photography with Sony a7ii (SonyAlphaForum).
Hands-On Review: The Sony FS7 and Sony’s FE PZ 28-135mm Variable Speed Zoom Lens (Explora).
Interchangeable Lenses versus Built-in Zoom: What Filmmakers need to Know (Explora).

Martin: “I will have a german webinar on using Lightroom for a streamlined workflow. http://xritephoto.com/ph_learning.aspx?action=webinars&eventid=-125&eventdateid=-151. All images were shot on the A7mk2 and A7R. Maybe its cool for some of your german language readers.”

Sony posted the full Q3 financial results (PDF file here). Here are a couple of key info:

1) The overall Sony Net income increased 21%
2) In the imaging segment Sony reports a 5% decrease in sales. But the profit had a 4.0 bln yen increase. The profit has been achieved thanks to cost cuts and “improvement in the product mix of digital cameras”
3) Q4 Forecast for the imaging segment: Sales estimation is 10 bln yen less than expected. This because of “Lower than expected sales of broadcast- and professional-use products”. But Sony also increased the operative income forecast (5 bln yen upward revision) because of “a shift to high value-added models”
4) For the first time after many years Sony reports a decrease in Image Sensor Sales (-12% sales). This reflects the current “crisis” of the smartphone market.

Overall the news is good for Sony. Like any other company the digital camera business sales are shrinking. But Sony shift towards high-end products with higher net margin is paying off.

Sony a7 Series Eyecup Comparison Part 1

Long Exposure Photography with Sony a7ii (SonyAlphaForum)
Sony To Use FD-SOI in Stacked Image Sensors (eetimes).
Thibault Roland on how he creates his images (Imagingambassadors.sony.net).
Comedy Sketch – Sony A7S II & 3DR Solo Drone (SonyAlphaForum).
High ISO noise – Sony A99 vs Pentax K3 – first impressions, and software NR (SonyAlphaForum).
Test Zeiss: Otus vs Loxia vs Sony-Zeiss (Thecinephotographer).

Bernie Aniciete: “Music video filmed using Sony a6000, LX100 and DJI Phantom 3 Pro. Used Nebula 4000 for stabilization: https://www.facebook.com/BnEPhotography/videos/10208666761053581/?l=6260241802673447734
www.BnEPhotography.com
www.Facebook.com/BnEMediA
www.YouTube.com/BnEMediA
@TheRealBnE – IG/Twitter“

This is somehow unexpected and SAR readers can try to figure out why this happened: According to the just posted new BCNranking 2015 Japanese market sales report Sony lost almost 10% of the mirrorless market share. The big winner was Olympus that went up 12%.

I am no sales expert but probably Sony’s focus on high-end cameras didn’t pay back in terms of market share. Not everyone has $3000+ to spend on cameras. Sony should probably focus more on the entry-level market to attract the “mass” of photographers. Those figures may suggest that non releasing a new A6100 and maybe an entry level A5 FF camera did come at some costs. Or maybe people feels Sony is not “serious” enough with their APS-C system. As Sony seems to be very focused on making FE lenses (big and expensive) instead of properly designed APS-C E-mount lenses.

What are your thoughts on this?

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via Mirrorlessrumors