This week SAR readers photos selection


Sergei Gavrilov‎
md: Olga Tikhonova
https://www.instagram.com/gavrilovsergphoto/
https://www.sony.ru/alphapro/photographers/sergej-gavrilov

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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New firmware update for the Sigma MC-11 adapter

Sigma issued a new firmware update for the MC-11 adapter. The improvements:

● It has become compatible with the SIGMA 17-70mm F2.8-4 DC MACRO OS HSM | Contemporary in SIGMA mount (firmware version 1.02).
● It has become compatible with the SIGMA 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 DC MACRO OS HSM | Contemporary in SIGMA mount (firmware version 1.01).
● It has become compatible with the SIGMA 18-300mm F3.5-6.3 DC MACRO OS HSM | Contemporary in SIGMA mount (firmware version 1.01).
※ Before updating the MC-11 firmware, please ensure SIGMA Optimization Pro has been updated to ver. 1.4.1 or later for Windows, and ver. 1.4.0 or later for Macintosh.

Sony 16-35mm GM and 12-24mm G officially announced!

Sony just announced the new 16-35mm GM and 12-24mm FE lenses. The full press text can be read on that page at SonyAlphaRumors. More info here:

Preorders:
Sony 16-35mm f/2.8 GM at Bhphoto, Adorama, BestBuy and Amazon. In EU at Calumet DE, WexUK, Jessops.
Sony 12-24mm f/4.0 at Bhphoto, Adorama, BestBuy and Amazon. In EU at Calumet DE, WexUK, Jessops.

Official press pages:
16-35mm GM at Sony.net and 12-24mm at Sony.net.

Previews and Hands-on:
Techradar, Dpreview. CameraLabs (12-24mm). CameraLabs (16-35mm) Photorec. Imaging Resource (16-35mm). Imaging Resource (12-24mm). ThePhoBlographer (16-35mm). ThePhoBlographer (12-24mm).

Early curiosities and findings:
– New 16-35mm GM lens has a new fly by wire focus ring mechanism. Optimized for manual focusing!
– 12-24mm is surprisingly resistant to flare (unusual for such a wide angle zoom)
– 12-24mm lens weights half compared to the Sigma 12-24mm and Canon 11-24mm lens competition

Image samples:
16-35mm at Sony.net. Dan Watson. Dpreview.
12-24mm at Sony.net. Dan Watson. Dpreview.

Press text:
Photolari (Spanish). Photoscala (German).

Interview with Mark Weir:

Videos:

12-24 F4 Review by Max Yuryev:

16-35 2.8 GM Review by Max Yuryev:

Lens hands-on by Dan Watson:

Interview at BH:

MTF chart (Click on it to enlarge)

16-35mm:

12-24mm:

Product Images:

Poll:

What lens will you buy?

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Press text: Sony Introduces Two New Wide-Angle Full-Frame E-Mount Lenses

Preorders:
Sony 16-35mm f/2.8 GM at Bhphoto, Adorama, BestBuy and Amazon. In EU at Calumet DE, WexUK, Jessops.
Sony 12-24mm f/4.0 at Bhphoto, Adorama, BestBuy and Amazon. In EU at Calumet DE, WexUK, Jessops.

Sony Introduces Two New Wide-Angle Full-Frame E-Mount Lenses

New 16-35mm F2.8 GM Completes the E-mount F2.8 G Master “trinity”; 12-24mm F4 G covers widest angle among all full-frame E-mount lenses

SAN DIEGO, May 17, 2017 – Sony Electronics, a worldwide leader in digital imaging and the world’s largest image sensor manufacturer, has today announced two new additions to their growing lineup of full-frame E-mount lenses.

The new lenses include the FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM large aperture wide-angle zoom lens (model SEL1635GM) and the FE 12-24mm F4 G ultra wide-angle zoom lens (model SEL1224G). The FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM lens brings the incredible high-resolution and beautiful bokeh of Sony’s flagship G Master series to a wide 16-35mm focal length for exceptional landscapes, cityscapes, portraits and more, while the 12-24mm F4 G, Sony’s widest full-frame E-mount lens to date, offers a dynamic new perspective for all Sony E-mount shooters. In total, Sony’s full-frame E-mount lens lineup now covers from ultra-wide 12mm to super-telephoto 800mm (with teleconverter) focal length range.

New FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM Wide-Angle Zoom Lens

The new FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM wide-angle zoom joins the acclaimed FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM and FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM OSS to round out Sony’s lineup of F2.8 large aperture zoom lenses. Equipped with a variety of Sony’s most advanced lens technologies, it’s the first wide-angle G Master model, making it ideal for an extensive variety of shooting situations – landscapes, architecture, close up portraits, sports, action and much more. It’s also exceptionally lightweight and compact, maximizing portability and usability.

The new lens features exceptional corner-to-corner sharpness, with an optical design that includes five aspherical elements, two of which are Sony’s original XA (extreme aspherical) elements that reduce aberration and delivers the ultimate resolution throughout the entire zoom and aperture range. The front XA element on the FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM is the largest XA element ever produced, ensuring optimum quality. Additionally, two ED (Extra-low-Dispersion) glass elements keep chromatic aberration to a minimum while maximizing resolution, and Sony’s original Nano AR coating suppresses internal reflections to ensure excellent image contrast and clarity.

The lens features a near circular aperture shape at all settings, and the combination of the aforementioned XA element with its 11 blade aperture design produces images with sharply focused subjects and beautifully defocused backgrounds or “bokeh”. It also has two DDSSMs (Direct Drive SSM) that compose a floating focusing system and ensure that AF acquisition is speedy and quiet, making it an ideal choice for shooting still images as well as movies.
The FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM is also dust and moisture resistant1, has a fluorine coating on the front lens that helps to both prevent dust or grease marks and remove them easily if they do become a trouble. There’s also a customizable focus hold button and a hood release button.

New FE 12-24mm F4 G Ultra-Wide-Angle Zoom Lens

A uniquely designed ultra wide-angle zoom lens, the new FE 12-24mm F4 G lens produces outstanding image quality in a compact, lightweight design, weighing in at approximately 20 oz. Sony’s widest full-frame E-mount lens, it offers a dynamic perspective for landscape, architecture and interior photography, and is well-suited for both stills and video shooting.

The lens features an innovative optical design with four aspherical elements that ensure excellent corner to corner sharpness and resolution. Additionally, the lens has three ED glass elements and one Super ED glass element that minimize chromatic aberration throughout the entire image, and also includes Sony’s original Nano AR coating.

The new FE 12-24mm F4 G lens includes a DDSSM (Direct Drive SSM) for fast, quiet and precise AF performance, plus a customizable focus hold button and focus mode switch. It’s also dust and moisture resistant.

Pricing & Availability

The new FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM Wide-angle Zoom Lens will ship this August and will be sold for about $2,200 US and $3,000 CA.

The new FE 12-24mm F4 G Ultra Wide-angle Zoom Lens will ship this July sold for about $1,700 US and $2,300 CA.

A variety of exclusive stories and exciting new content shot with these new lenses and other Sony α products can be found at www.alphauniverse.com (https://alphauniverse.com), Sony’s community site built to educate, inspire and showcase all fans and customers of the Sony α brand.

Content is also available at the global Sony Photo Gallery (https://www.sony.net/Products/di_photo-gallery/) and the Sony Camera Channel on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLL06nPE7_lzPhzIhPzzmEIAA0YPWqR7KN). Detailed information pages within Sony.com for the new products can be found at:

(US) – FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM (http://www.sony.com/electronics/camera-lenses/sel1635gm)
(US) – FE 12-24mm F4 G (http://www.sony.com/electronics/camera-lenses/sel1224g)

 

(SR4) Sony is developing a new 400mm FE lens?


Image on top: The current 500mm f/4.0 G A-mount lens.

I got two info about a new Sony 400mm lens. A trusted source sent me this today:

I heard from Source that Sony seems to be developing 400mm F2.8. But he does not have much confidence in this information, so please take it with a grain of salt.

And weeks ago a second source which also shared correct info in the past said he heard this is a 400mm f/4.0 lens.

It is probably save to say that Sony has a 400mm FE lens that might be launched by end of this year. And maybe both sources are correct and Sony is testing two version a faster f/2.8 lens and a more compact f/4.0 lens.

And the difference between those two lenses is literally huge. The image below shows you the [shoplink 58701]Canon 400mm f/2.8[/shoplink] on the left, the [shoplink 58702]Canon 400mm f/4.0[/shoplink] in the middle and the new Sony 100-400mm GM lens on the very right (via CameraSize):

To give you a perspective of the difference between the two Canon lenses:
The faster f/2.8 lens costs $10,000, weights 3,85kg and is 34cm long (Full specs here at [shopcountry 58701])
The faster f/4.0 lens costs $7,000, weights 2,1kg and is 23cm long (Full specs here at [shopcountry 58702])

Now, if it’s true that Sony has both models in development. Which one should they release?

If you plan to buy a 400mmm you would prefer this to be a...

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Sony Releases a High-Speed Vision Sensor that Makes Detection and Tracking of Objects at 1,000 fps Possible

Sony released the specs of an impressive sensor for industrial applications. It’s capable of tracking objects at 1,000fps! Here is the press text:

Sony Releases a High-Speed Vision Sensor that Makes Detection and Tracking of Objects at 1,000 fps Possible

Stacked CMOS Image Sensor that Combines High-Frame-Rate Imaging and High-Speed Sensing

Tokyo, Japan—Sony Corporation today announced the release of the new IMX382 high-speed vision sensor, which enables detection and tracking of objects at 1,000 frames per second. Sony will begin shipping samples in October 2017.

This vision sensor features a stacked configuration with a back-illuminated pixel array and signal processing circuit layer. The circuit layer is equipped with image processing circuits and a programmable column-parallel processor, delivering high-speed target detection and tracking. This configuration enables high-sensitivity imaging thanks to the back-illuminated pixel array, with target detection and tracking at 1,000 frames per second. The new sensor uses information such as color and brightness obtained from pixels to detect objects, then extracts the object’s centroid, moment and motion vector, and finally outputs the information from the vision sensor in each frame.

  • High-speed vision sensor IMX382
Model name Sample shipment date Sample price (excluding tax)
High-speed vision sensor IMX382 October 2017 100,000 JPY

This vision sensor has achieved imaging, target detection and tracking at 1,000 fps on a single chip. This not only expands the scope of application, but delivers new value that was difficult to obtain with conventional systems.

On past systems equipped with a 30 fps processing image sensor, it was not always possible to capture fast-moving objects and/or phenomena. At 1,000 fps, approximately 33 times faster in imaging speed than conventional chips, the new product can capture fast-moving objects and detect objects from image information, while using high-speed processing to extract information such as centroid, moment, and motion vector. Because the processing results can be output from the sensor in each frame, feedback to the system is faster than conventional methods. Delays in detecting anomalies or malfunctions in production lines at factories and other places can produce fatal results. However, this vision sensor makes it possible to instantly capture such events, so that orders can be issued quickly to stop the system.

Conventional industrial robots are normally operated by specifying motion coordinates using a program. Utilizing the high-speed tracking functionality of this vision sensor, however, enables real-time feedback to robots, enabling autonomous robot operation that is responsive to the movement and status of objects. This helps make robot teaching more efficient, contributing to improved productivity.

On conventional systems, the image processing required for detecting and tracking of objects has to be carried out at a later stage (on a computer, or other computing device). This vision sensor changes all that by delivering imaging, target detection and tracking image processing on a single chip. Not only does this make the later stage devices more compact and help to save overall system power; it also expands the new system development potential by eliminating certain physical limitations.

Timed with the sample shipping, Sony will also be providing evaluation kits. The evaluation kit consists of the camera and control software, making it easy to evaluate the sensor in diverse customer environments.

Sony is focusing intently on the sensing field and seeking to leverage its potential in the image sensor market. By integrating the imaging technology that it has developed over the years with sensing technologies that enable information acquisition and utilization, Sony strives to pioneer new applications and new markets for image sensors.

Main Features

1. Enables detection and tracking of targets at 1,000 frame per second
  • The signal processing circuit layer on the bottom of the stacked configuration is equipped with image processing circuits and a programmable column-parallel processor, delivering high-speed target detection and tracking. This construction enables high-sensitivity imaging with back-illuminated pixel array and achieves target detection and tracking at 1,000 frames per second.
  • The new sensor uses information such as color and brightness obtained from pixels to detect objects, then extracts the object’s centroid, moment and motion vector, and finally outputs the information from the vision sensor as a signal in each frame.
Check out the video on the high-speed vision sensor
2. Built-in sensing function for a compact system and power savings
  • The product achieves imaging and image processing on a single chip. Not only does this make for a more compact overall system and power savings; it also expands the new system development potential by eliminating certain physical limitations.
  • For system output, in addition to the image data output pathway the chip is also equipped with an output pathway solely for sensing information, so users can select between them for their particular application.
3. Evaluation kit allows the sensor to be evaluated in diverse usage environments
The evaluation kit consists of a camera and software and is designed makes it easy to evaluate the sensor in a variety of customer usage environments.
  • IMX382 high-speed vision sensor configuration