DxOmark (Click here) published their A7II sensor results. And it’s really no surprise that the sensor performs very close to the A7:

Improvements to build quality and handling alongside the addition of a new sensor shift image stabilisation system make the new Sony A7II an even more appealing prospect to both serious amateur and professional photographers. Packing essentially the same 24.2Mp full frame sensor there’s no discernable improvement in image quality over its predecessor the Sony A7, but it still remains one of the best scoring sensors on our database ranking in 11^th place overall.

At CES Sony also launched that new A7II promotion video. And there is also a new review by Tony Northrup:

USA/Canada A7II links:
Sony Alpha a7II (Body Only) for $1,698 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore and Sony Store Canada.
Sony Alpha a7II with FE 28-70mm OSS Lens for $1,998 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore.
Sony 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G SSM II Lens for $1,148 at BHphoto.

EU A7II links:
Sony Alpha a7II (Body Only) for 1.799 Euro at Sony Germany, Sony UK, Jessops UK, Sony France, Sony Italy, Sony Spain, Sony Austria, Sony Switzerland, Sony Netherland, Sony Belgium, Sony Portugal, Sony Sweden, Sony Finland, Sony Norway.
Sony Alpha a7II with FE 28-70mm OSS Lens for 2.099 Euro at Amazon Germany, Wex UK, Jessops UK, Verkkokauppa.

Asian/Australia A7II link:
Sony A7II at Sony Store Australia, Digitalrev and Amazon Japan.

Zeiss issued a new firmware update for their 12 and 50mm E-mount Touit lenses. This is what you get:

Touit 2.8/50M E-mount:
A firmware update to Version 02 is now available for the Touit 2.8/50M with E-mount. It corrects the following behaviour that may have occurred with the previous lens firmware version with particular camera menu setting and in particular situations:

• clearly noticeable shutter release delays when pressing the release button with activated flash
• ‘hunting’ for the focus point with the camera in AF-C mode
• all Touit 2.8/50 macro lenses for E-mount cameras ever delivered already support phase detection autofocus and the fast hybrid autofocus of newer Sony E-mount cameras with their proprietary firmware.

Touit 2.8/12 E-mount & Touit 1.8/32 E-mount:
An update to firmware version 02 is available for the Touit 2.8/12 and Touit 1.8/32 lenses with E-mount. With this version, the lenses also support phase detection autofocus and the fast hybrid autofocus of newer Sony E-mount cameras.

Zeiss Touit lens pricing and specs at Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).

Sony just released the new firmware update for the A7II. It improves the image stabilization performance. You can donwload the software here: Sony USA. Soon it will be available also on those pages at Sony Germany, Sony UK, Sony Fance, Sony Italy, Sony Spain, Sony Netherland.

[shoplink 32302 ebay][/shoplink]

Kelvin from Venus Optics sent me an interetsing news about their new 60mm Ultra-Macro lens which comes for A-mount too. The lens can be bought already on [shoplink 32302 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

My name is Kevin and I am from Venus Optics, a new Chinese manufacturer of camera lenses. We have just launched the world’s first 60mm f/2.8 2X Ultra-Macro lens with below key features.

– Magnification range from 0.1x to 2x. Easily alter the magnification ratio without installing any extension tube or teleconverter. Ideally suited for rapidly changing macro photography scenarios.
– Wide magnification range also makes it extremely useful for shooting macro objects (e.g. insects) with different sizes.
– Designed also for normal shooting purposes with a 60mm focal length. An all-in-one solution for normal portrait shooting as well as ultra-macro photography.
– Houses with 9 elements in 7 groups patented optical structure to provide great deal of image clarity and color renderness.
– The optical system consists of 2 major moving lenses groups in order to minimize the barrel distortion.
– 14 pieces of aperture blades form a close-to-circular aperture, capable of creating creamy shallow depth of view.
– The enclosure of the lens is made of metal to strengthen its durability.
– A complimentary lens pouch and filter are included in the package.
– Canon EF, Nikon F, Sony Alpha and Pentax K mount are available

Kevin
Sales Director
Anhui ChangGeng Optical Technology Company Limited (Venus Optics)
Email: sales@venuslens.net
Web: http://www.venuslens.net/

Image samples and full press text can be seen here:

If you missed the Sony announcement you can play the video on top to watch it again. While there was no new A or E-mount stuff Sony talked quite a lot about their Alpha range. And they are also displaying the new FE lens prototype lenses on their CES booth (images here at Amateur Photographer). We already saw these prototypes back at Photokina and Sony doesn’t add any info today. But full specs and pricing info will be announced in 4 week right before the start of the CP+ show!

So far the rumored price info is (source SAR article with VBL):
– 28mm f/2.0 G should cost 499 Euro (February shipment)
– 35mm f/1.4 Zeiss should cost 1399 Euro (March shipment)
– 90mm f/2.8 G macro should cost 999 Euro (March shipment)
– 24-240mm f/3.5-6.4 should cost 1099 Euro (March shipment)
– both converters should cost 229 Euro each (March shipment)

You can also preorder the new CES stuff:
USA: 4k action camera at BHphoto (Click here). 4k camercorders at BHphoto (Click here) and Sony Store (Click here).
Europe: Sony Germany, Sony UK, Sony France, Sony Italy, Sony Spain, Sony Holland, Sony Belgium, Sony Austria, Sony Switzerland, Sony Portugal, Sony Sweden, Sony Norway, Sony Finland.

One more thing:

All AX100 camcorder owners will get a new firmware update soon. Sony writes:

The FDR-AX100 will also support XAVC S 4K 100Mbps high-bitrate recording through a firmware update scheduled for March 2015.

Sony CEO Hirai talked a lot about the A7s, A7 and great Sony sensor technique. But there were no new A and E-mount announcements today (as expected). For that we have to wait just 4 weeks more (early February).

The focus at CES was on TV’s and other stuff including the new 4K actioncamera and 4K camcorders. All that stuff can be seen on that Sony special CES page (Click here).

And here are some info:
Action Cam HDR-AS200V Promotion Movie (Sony Action Cam Youtube). And many more sample videos at youtube.com/user/ActionCamfromSony/videos
Action Cama nd Camcorders hands-on pictures at Engadget.
Videos about more of their new CES stuff like TV’s at Sony Youtube.
New 4K Handycam FDR-AX33 (FIRST LOOK) at Sony.
New 4K ActionCam FDR-X1000V (FIRST LOOK) at Sony.
ActionCam Press at ThePhoBlographer.
German FDR-AXP33 hands-on at Videoaktiv.