If you own M-mount lenses you might get this: The new Fotodiox PRONTO is in Stock at Amazon US, Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon FR, Amazon IT and Amazon ES. This adapter adds autofocus on your manual focusing M-mount lens.

Features list:

• Add autofocus to your Leica M-mount Manual Focus Lenses
• Further adapt to other lens mounts to increase your autofocus capability
• Fast & Precise Focusing for Snapshot / Motion photography
• Support AF-S & AF-C mode; Super Light and Compact
• Improve Close Focus Ability of all supported lenses
• Ideal for 50mm and Wider Focal Lengths
• Compatible with Sony α7(II) , Sony α7R(II) , α6300 , α6500 & α9
• Compatible with 5-Axis Stabilization
• 24-Month Fotodiox warranty

Here is a video showing how this works:

Full press text:

A manual lens needs to be focused manually; Think again! The Fotodiox Pro PRONTO adapter brings autofocus to your Leica M-mount lenses. If you want to automatically focus your M-mount lenses on your Sony e-mount camera just attach it to the PRONTO adapter. For general use, it is recommended that the lense be set to infinity focus allowing autofocus within the entire focusing range of the lens. Half-press the shutter button to activate AF and the PRONTO adapter will focus your lens just like any other AF lens. Performance is optimal with 50mm and wider lenses. Telephoto optics with require coarse manual focusing before use of the adapter for fine tuning via autofocus.

Improve close focusing with the Fotodiox Pro PRONTO adapter by attaching your lens and setting to the closest focus distance possible. This setup will allow you to use the PRONTO adapter as a 4.5mm extension tube with autofocus capabilities that will significantly shorten the minimum focus distance of your lens. The wider the lens, the stronger the effect will be.

The PRONTO adapter has a Leica M-mount, but the options don’t stop there. With the use of additional adapters you are able to adapt nearly any lens to Leica M, attach to the PRONTO adapter and enable them to be used with autofocus. Not all adapters will work due to size limitations imposed by the motor housing of the PRONTO adapter.

Please note that the PRONTO adapter has a weight limit of 680g for the attached lens. Although this is difficult to exceed with M-mount lenses, it is easy to surpass when using a second adapter on SLR and Medium Format lenses. In house testing and consumer reporting has shown success when supporting the lens instead of the lighter camera.

Camera Compatibility:
Cameras with Phase Detection AF such as:
• Sony Alpha α6300, α6500
• Sony Alpha α7 II, α7R II, α9
* The PRONTO adapter supports AF-S and AF-C focusing. You can change the Focus Area from Wide to Center or Flexible Spot (S/M/L). Decreasing the focus area comes with a significant reduction in speed and may produce some focus hunting. Face detection is also supported.
* We do NOT recommend using with Contrast Detection AF only cameras (i.e. Sony NEX, α6000, Sony α7, Sony α7R, Sony α7S, Sony α7Sii, etc)

Auto Focus Speed
The PRONTO adapter relies on the phase detection sensors of your camera and is not intended to support contrast detection auto focus. Due to this, focusing is only possible where phase detection autofocus sensors are located and may result in differences in real world performance from model to model.

Auto Focus Limitations
Because the PRONTO adapter relies on phase-AF, not all of the AF features of your camera work; notably the Eye AF & Lock-on AF do not function properly.

Notes:

• • The motor, which changes the length of the PRONTO adapter, will make some noise; this is normal. This noise is minimal and should not be a hindrance in most situations.
• • If the adapter seems slow to respond, disassemble the lens and adapter. Clean both sides of the adapter’s signal contacts with technical grade alcohol. Allow to completely dry before re-assembly.
• • In bright lighting situations the adapter focuses nearly as fast as a native AF lens however, in lower light the autofocus slows significantly.
• • The PRONTO adapter may slowly drain your camera battery even when the camera is turned off. To prevent this issue when the camera is not in use simply remove the battery briefly and insert it again.
• • The weight limit for attached lenses is specified to be 680g or less. Using lenses with a greater weight may result in extra strain on both the motor and the mount.

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Thanks Fred!

Music video shot on the Sony Alpha 7s ii and Sony FE 24-70mm f/4 ZA OSS Vario Tessar T. Video by Matteo Podini and Matteo Bombarda

Samsung Galaxy Note 8 USB woes (Photochirp).
Sony A99 II ISO to the max in the Lab (SonyAlphaLab).
What’s In My Bag: Michael Rubenstein’s Essential 4K Location Gear (Alphauniverse).
Sony A9 Short Review (Marc Galer).
When f/1.0 just isn’t fast enough (Blairbunting).
Canon Updates PIXMA TS- and TR-Series All-In-One Printer Lineup (Explora).

‎René Gamper: “https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmNDp8pgHAc For everyone who is interested in Timelapse Photography, i created a little video about a few Timelapse i made in the past two months with my A7rii :D
Everything except the Drone Shots where taken with the Sony A7rii, shot in Raw @ 8k and downsampled to 4k.
Give me your opinion and write some comments, i love reading them 😊😉”

Hasselblad X1D Field Kit – Unboxing (Sony 50MP sensor inside)

Sony A99 II and 70-400mm G II SSM Lens (SonyAlphaLab).
Sony Imaging PRO Support at the U.S. Open (Alphauniverse).
Testing FS5 Slow Motion and Low Light (Jeff Remas).
Lilliput A7S FullHD 4K On-Camera Monitor (Personal View).
World’s fastest lens for mirrorless gets an “upgrade” (MirrorlessRumors).
Palm-Sized and Super-Fast: Samsung T5 Portable SSDs (Explora).
Sony VENICE LA Launch Event (Newsshooter interview).

Lensbaby Composer Pro II with Sweet 80 Optic for Sony E and A-mount. You can preorder it for $379 at BHphoto (Click here).

Image samples can be seen at Explora.

Voigtlander 40mm f/1.2 on the Sony A7 (image by Optyczne.pl).

The new Voigtlander 40mm f/1.2 manual focusing FE lens has been announced in Japan by Cosina. The dollar converted price is around $1,200. Image samples can be found here: cosina.co.jp/gallery/iida-40-1_2/index.html

And those are the full lens specs:

Oprema Optik just launched the Indiegogo funding campagn for the new Biotar 58mm f/2.0 lens. It’s also available as native E-mount option:

Press Text:

Oprema Jena Launches Campaign to Revive Biotar 58/f2
Lens’ one-of-a-kind design includes 17 aperture blades

Koblenz, Germany. New German lens maker Oprema Jena launched a campaign today on the crowdfunding site Indiegogo to resurrect the Biotar 58mm f2, promising to faithfully recreate the original lens’ optics down to its unique 17 aperture blade design.
The Biotar 58mm is Oprema Jena’s second lens project, following its successful Kickstarter campaign to revive the Biotar 75mm f1.5. Oprema’s plan calls for bringing some of the greatest lenses in history that are no longer being produced back to the market.

The new Biotar 58/f2 will be a truly remarkable lens that combines sharpness and bokeh in one sleek package. But what really sets the Biotar 58mm apart is what you’ll find on the inside — 17 aperture blades that will help it produce a one-of-a-kind background blur.
There’s not another modern lens on the market with that many aperture blades.

How can Oprema design a lens with that many blades when some of the best modern lenses on the market have 10 blades or fewer? The answer is in the Biotar’s fully manual design.
Auto-focus lenses are designed with fewer aperture blades to cut down on moving parts and reduce noise. Those are factors that the Biotar doesn’t have to worry about.
The Biotar 58 should be ready for the market in October 2018 at an expected retail price of $1,999 USD. However, backers on Indiegogo will be first in lines to get this special lens.
The Biotar lens family was originally produced by Carl Zeiss in Jena, Germany and both the 58mm and 75mm classic lenses are in high demand on the vintage market.

The Oprema Jena team includes Dr. Stefan Immes, who leads the Meyer Optik Goerlitz lens brand, famed designer Andre de Winter, who has won awards for the mechanical design of the Leica Summicron — M 35mm ASPH lens and the Leica Summilux — C lenses. Also on the team is Wolf Dieter Prenzel, a leading expert in the field of optical design of classic lenses. Prenzel, who worked for the original Meyer Optik, is the designer who created modern versions of several classic Meyer Optik lenses, including the legendary Trioplan and Primoplan lenses. Tokyo-based Tokina, one of the industry’s leading lens makers, will handle the production of the Biotar 58.

The Biotar 58 will be available in most major mounts, and, like the Biotar 75 will have rangefinder coupling, allowing it to be manually focused on the Leica-M rangefinders.

Mr. Goto Teng from Nikon got interviewed by the Chinese Weibo site. BeforeI start the mass discussion one important note: I relied on Google translation tool for this. I hope I didn’t misiniterpret something. But if I undertsood this correctly well Nikon was quite harsh towards Sony and the competition:

First: Nikon confirmed they will go Full Frame mirrorless soon

Second: They said they will not the modern design route from Sony A7 cameras. The google translation says: “Sony has a full frame but the shape we do not like”

Third: Nikon says “Just a small part of the real professional people to use their cameras (referring to Sony-Olympus-Fuji)“

Fourth: Nikon would not release so many cameras as Sony did. Sony had to go through a lot of failures before they came up with the A9. Nikon does not need to go through that process as they already went though that failures process due their long camera history.

Nikon really made some bold claims in this interview and in my opinione undermined the value of mirrorless players like Sony and Fuji. Probably this is a strategy to keep potential buyers from buying Sony and Fuji?

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via Mirrorlessrumors