New Zeiss Loxia 25mm in Stock at Amazon and FocusCamera (and tested by Fred Miranda)

The new Loxia 25mm lens is in Stock for the first time in the USA via Amazon and FocusCamera.

Fred Miranda tested the lens and compared it’s performance with the Loxia 21mm lens. Check it out!

Reminder:

Today Phase One released a major software update for Capture One. It also adds two specific new Sony features:

  1. RAW files support for the A7III andnew lens profiles for the 24-105mm FF and 18-135mm E-mount lenses.
  2. Capture Pilot 2.0 adds camera control support for Sony, allowing users to change camera settings of the tethered camera directly from your iOS device.

Below you can find the full press text. Keep in mind you get a 10% discount on Capture One 11 (Click here) and Capture One 11 for Sony (Click here) by using our coupon code “AMBSAR“.

 

Venus Optics announces the new 10-18mm and 100mm FE lenses

Now it’s official! Venus Optics announced two new Sony FE lenses. This is the press text:

Laowa 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 FE Zoom
This lens is currently the widest zoom lens available for Sony full frame E-mount cameras. Designed primarily for travel photography, Venus optics have managed to compress the size to smallest in its class, less than 10 inch (<10cm) and only 1.1 pounds (<500g). The 102° (18mm) to 130° (10mm) angle of view provides flexibility for photographers to compose landscape or architecture photos with ease. The lens houses with 14 elements in 10 groups with 2 aspherical elements & 1 extra-low dispersion element to deliver exceptional performance. It can focus as close as 15cm for some mini-macro shooting. A rear filter slot is included to fit with 37mm filter. Click/clickless aperture can be toggled by the switch on the lens barrel.

Laowa 100mm f/2.8 2X Ultra Macro APO
Followed by the success of the Laowa 60mm f/2.8 2:1 Macro, the 100mm f/2.8 2:1 Macro is the 2nd member of Laowa 2:1 macro line-up. This new 100mm lens can cover full frame sensor size and focus from 2:1 magnification to infinity. The wide magnification range allows macro photographers to capture subject at any sizes. This 100mm portrait lens also features an apochromatic (APO) characteristic that no chromatic aberration can be found. The 12 elements in 10 groups optics design delivers a crystal sharpness image in both macro and tele distances. Canon EF / Nikon AI / Pentax K / Sony FE mounts are available.

All lenses will be available for trial at Venus Optics’ booth (T225) in Beijing P&E Imaging fair during 3rd-6th May 2019. They are expected to be shipped in mid/late 2018. Exact shipping date and pricing are to be confirmed.

Capture One 11.1 released: Now supports A7III RAW files and adds Capture Pilot 2.0 for Sony!

Today Phase One released a major software update for Capture One. It also adds two specific new Sony features:

  1. RAW files support for the A7III andnew lens profiles for the 24-105mm FF and 18-135mm E-mount lenses.
  2. Capture Pilot 2.0 adds camera control support for Sony, allowing users to change camera settings of the tethered camera directly from your iOS device.

Below you can find the full press text. Keep in mind you get a 10% discount on Capture One 11 (Click here) and Capture One 11 for Sony (Click here) by using our coupon code “AMBSAR“.

Phase One Releases Capture One 11.1
Update Provides New Resource Hub, Expanded Camera Support and Improved Workflow

COPENHAGEN, Apr. 19, 2018 – Phase One, the world’s leading manufacturer of high-end digital camera systems, today released Capture One 11.1, a service release to the industry’s premier RAW conversion and image editing software. The release enhances the Capture One user experience, through a new support platform and functionality updates to ensure a faster, smoother workflow. Improved Styles and presets workflow, support for 11 new cameras, including Sony A7 Mk III and Fuji X-H1 and 10 new lenses, including Tamron lenses for both Nikon and Canon, and an all-new Resource Hub are among the latest updates.

“Capture One remains dedicated to the needs of ambitious photographers. These latest updates introduce an extension to camera and lens support, as well as an all-new Resource Hub. The Resource Hub is an in-app portal that allows users to easily access news, tutorials, updates and much more – all designed to inspire photographers and ensure the best workflow and user experience in Capture One,” said Jan Hyldebrandt-Larsen, VP Software Business at Phase One.

NEW FEATURES AND TOOLS IN CAPTURE ONE 11.1

IMPROVED STYLES AND PRESETS

A new workflow adds a much faster way to apply both Styles and Presets to a Layer on one or multiple images, offering a direct control of opacity, imperative to wedding and portrait photographers.
Furthermore, a new Spring Styles Pack is included, offering bright pastel color grading to images, particularly helpful to wedding, portrait and landscape photography.

RESOURCE HUB

The Resource Hub has been introduced to offer quick access to free learning resources via a dynamic on-screen portal. Tutorials, news, webinars, blog posts and much more are offered in one convenient location to improve the user experience and learning curve with Capture One.

NORMALIZATION TOOL

The normalization tool provides a reference point for exposure and white balance for batch adjustments, now allowing any color to be used when previously the only option was a neutral grey.

NEW CAMERA AND LENS SUPPORT

The Capture One R&D team, alongside our color scientists, analyze hundreds of images from each camera to provide photographers access to the best out of box experience with natural profiles. Below outlines the new camera and lens additions that Capture One 11.1 supports. A full list of supported cameras can be found here: http://www.phaseone.com/supported-cameras

New camera support includes:

  • Fujifilm X-H1
  • Leica M262
  • Leica CL
  • Leica X-U
  • Leica V-Lux Typ 114
  • Leica TL2
  • Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mk III
  • Olympus E-PL9
  • Panasonic G9
  • Panasonic GH5S
  • Sony A7 Mk III

New lens support includes:

  • Canon lens:
    o CanonEF24-105mmf/4LISIIUSM
  • Leica lenses:o Leica Elmarit M 2.8/90
    o Leica Summicron M 2/90
  • Sony lenses:
    o Sony E 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS (SEL18135)
    o Sony FE 24-105mm F4 G OSS (SEL24105G)
  • Tamron lenses:o Tamron SP 70-200mm F/2.8 Di VC USD G2 A025
    o Tamron SP 35mm F/1.8 Di VC USD F012
    o Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD A010
    o Tamron SP 90mm F/2.8 Di MACRO 1:1 VC USD F017
    o Tamron 16-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD MACRO B016

CAPTURE PILOT 2.0

Capture Pilot 2.0 adds camera control support for Sony, allowing users to change camera settings of the tethered camera directly from your iOS device.

AVAILABILITY AND PRICING

Capture One 11.1 is available now for the Mac and Windows operating systems online at www.phaseone.com/store and from Phase One authorized partners worldwide www.phaseone.com/partners.

Capture One Pro (click here and use code “AMBSAR” to get a 10% discount):
Owners of Capture One Pro 11 perpetual and subscribers can update for free by downloading. New customers can purchase Capture One Pro 11 for 299 USD or 279 EUR.
Owners of Capture One Pro 9 and 10 can upgrade for 119 USD/EUR

Capture One Pro Sony (click here and use code “AMBSAR” to get a 10% discount):
Owners of Capture One Pro Sony 11 can upgrade for free by downloading. New customers can purchase Capture One Pro Son: y 11 for 79 USD/EUR.
Owners of Capture One Pro Sony 9 and 10 can upgrade for 69 USD/EUR.

Sony Tidbits…


Sony 16-35mm F2.8 G Master Lens Review

Howto Connect Zhiyun Crane Wireless Remote with Sony Cameras (The Hunter Report).
Sony A7R II vs A7R III – The complete comparison (Mirrorlesscomparison).
Review: Sony 24-105mm f4 G OSS (ThePhoBlographer)
Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm F1.4 FE Review (Photographyblog).
New from Syrp, the Genie II 3-Axis Motion Control System (Explora).
IK Multimedia iRig Pre HD Interview (Personal View)

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

Share your best pictures on our new Instagram SonyAlphaGallery.

There is now a fix for the Sony “stripe” issue!

You surely remember the big discussions on Dpreview because of the A7III stripe issue that appears i certain limited conditions. Well there is good news for you! This comes in straigth from today’s Dpreview post:

This fix is courtesy of Professor Hank Dietz, who is none other than the guy who developed a fix for Sony compressed Raw artifacts. His tool is available here. For now, it only works on compressed Raw files, but it works on any compressed Sony Raw file. That’s important, because this issue is not isolated to the a7 III by any means (though its predecessor the a7 II doesn’t appear to have any issues). It occurs with the a7R II/III, a9, R100 V – pretty much most cameras with masked pixels for on-sensor phase-detect AF (and that’s not just limited to Sony).

Higher resolution bodies are less problematic because a single pixel stripe is a smaller proportion of the image. The a7 III and a9 also have more phase-detection pixels than any other camera Sony has introduced, which makes the issue slightly more of an issue on these cameras.

Download link: http://aggregate.org/DIT/KARWY-SR/karwy/test/karwy.html

To take advantage of Professor Dietz’ work, you simply drag-and-drop a compressed Sony Raw file into the web application, wait a few seconds, and download the resulting file (you’ll want to add ‘.ARW’ to the end for your Raw software to read it properly). And voila – almost every trace of the striping is removed. Oh, and if you have any feedback, please PM Hank via his DPReview profile.

We’ve been in touch with the good folks at RawTherapee as well, and they have confirmed that they have implemented a fix internally, which will be released to the public in due course. There’s even a Photoshop fix developed by DPR forum member Magnar W, if you’re past the Raw development stage.

Thanks Rishi for this!

New firmware update for the Sony A7III resolves “blinking pixels” issue


Sony A7III in USA at Adorama, BHphoto, Amazon, BestBuy, FocusCamera, BuyDig.
Sony a7III in Europe at Amazon DE, Calumet Germany, Amazon UK, ParkCameras UK, WexUK, Amazon FR, Amazon IT, Amazon ES.

Sony issued a new firmware update for the Sony A7III (download here).

Benefits and improvements
– Resolves a “blinking pixels” phenomenon at the bottom edge of the image during XAVC S 4K (PAL 25p) recording (depending on the combination of camera settings)
– Resolves an issue where the touch panel could occasionally become unresponsive
– Improves the overall stability of the camera

And here you have a size comparison with the Canon 1DXII:

Sony Tidbits…


Sony FE 100-400 F4.5-5.6 GM OSS | Initial Sports Review

Laowa 15mm f/2 Sony FE Review (Albert Dros).
Review: Sigma 14-24mm f2.8 Art DG (Canon EF, Tested on Sony FE) by ThePhoBlographer.
Cascable 3.4 adds support for Sony α7R III, α7 III, α9, and more
Microsoft Surface Pro, an Ideal Mobile Video Editing Machine? (Explora)
IK Multimedia ARC System MEMS Microphone Interview (Personal View)
Sony’s 1.2x Crop in 30p mode – Does It Matter To You? (Peter Gregg).

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

Share your best pictures on our new Instagram SonyAlphaGallery.