Fotodiox announced the new Mirage Trio USB Charging Station for Apple Lightning or Android Devices. And the weird thing is that they made it look like a Sony A7 camera :)
The device costs $74 and is available at Amazon US and Fotodiox.

Watch this video to see how it works:

via Newsshooter

Sony is the world’s number one CMOS sensor producer. And it looks like the market is still booming. Digitimes reports that supply is becoming tight. Image Sensor World sums up the reasons for that:

Handsets with dual-lens cameras spurs demand for CMOS sensors
More mid-range smartphones are expected to feature a dual lens cameras in 2017
Mobile devices consume 70% of CMOS sensors
Automotive market has expanded for CMOS image sensors

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Sony A6500 Review | John Sison

Sony a99 II real-world sample gallery (Dpreview).
New ShutterBands Enhancement Kit for Sony E-Mount Cameras at Amazon US.
Really Right Stuff Now Available at B&H (Explora).
Cumberland Wildpark with the Sony A7II VLOG (DSphotoblog).
Zooms VS Primes – the real trade off (Matt Granger)
Can I Charge Batteries Through Sony a6300 Meike Grip? (ThatCameraGuy).

To write a guest post on SAR follow the instruction on that page.

Full poll results can be seen here.

This is the message sent by the SAR readers community to Sony. Almost 10.000 unique(!) voters selected the 3 most important FE lenses Sony should make as next. The full poll results can be seen here. So let’s shortly discuss the top lenses:

1) 24-105mm f/4.0
This was the most requested lens by our community. It got 2,074 Votes which means 21% of all voters did choose that lens. In Short SAR readers feel like a proper FE travel zoom is missing yet.

2) 135mm f/1.8 (20%, 1,974 Votes)
The A-mount version (here on [shopcountry 54734]) of that lens is simply amazing. And it doesn’t come as a surprise that SAR readers would like to get an E-mount version of it!

3) 12-24mm f/2.8 (14%, 1,403 Votes)
This is a bit an unexpected result. That wide-angle zoom lens got 70 votes more than the 16-35mm f/2.8 GM!

A few more interesting notes:

• On fifth position we got the FE 35mm f/2.0 (12%, 1,199 Votes). This is somehow unexpected as we already got a [shoplink 54735]Zeiss 35mm f/2.8 lens[/shoplink]. It looks like SAR readers would like to get a faster option which isn’t as expensive as the [shoplink 54736]Zeiss 35mm f/1.4[/shoplink].
• 85mm f/1.2 (9%, 860 Votes). This is also a small surprise. Zeiss made a [shoplink 54737]85mm f/1.8 Batis[/shoplink] and [shoplink 54738]Sony the 85mm f/1.4 GM[/shoplink]. Is there really a need for a tiny bit faster 85mm lens? Seems like SAR readers absolutely want it!
• There is also a need for a telephoto zoom in the 100-400mm lens range. We got three lenses that scored good results: 150-600mm f/5.6 (9%, 847 Votes), 100-400mm f/4.0-5.6 (8%, 768 Votes) and 70-400mm f/4.0-5.6 (8%, 743 Votes)
• Of course we also need more options in the 50mm prime range :) We want the 50mm f/0.95!!!! :)

SAR reader Amit sent me this screenshot:

Imagine my surprise where in a scene depicting a professional photographer with real looking professional equipment the camera used was none other than the great Sony A99.
La La Land is a serious contender for the Oscars, even if probably not for the Sony scene :)

The motor power of Techart Pro Adapter

The Photographs of Rodney Smith 1970-2016 (Explora).
Sony at CES (Youtube).
A lawyer rewrote Instagram’s privacy policy so kids and parents can have a meaningful talk about privacy (Quartz).
The rambling video autofocus mega-test – Part 2 (Philip Bloom)

To write a guest post on SAR follow the instruction on that page.

Marco: “A shot of mine taken with the a99ii and Sony Carl Zeiss 24-70G2 is featured on the web site of the National Trust, a major British charity – it is the ‘amphitheatre’ shot on this page. Click on the I on the right for the image credit. https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/claremont-landscape-garden“

Egill: “New Years eve in Iceland, everything shot on A7SII + 85mm GM. Most of the footage is shot in 100fps (2.2x crop mode), little bit in 4K 25fps. https://youtu.be/NERI3L-OihQ“

James: “Sony A7S2 Opinion After One Year https://youtu.be/sqOBrFBPYQQ“

Mirrorlessrumors shared the 2016 Japanese market shares report from BCNranking. In the mirrorless system camera segment Sony lost 8% sales share compared to 2015. This isn’t surprising as in 2016 Sony had “only” two new APS-C E-mount cameras (A6300 and A6500). The biggest gain has been achieved by Canon thanks to their first really serious mirrorless camera: The EOS-M5.