Sony Distagon FE 35mm f/1.4 T* ZA Lens Review

Today Gold Box deal on the Wallimex 12mm f/2.0 APS-C E-mount lens at Amazon Germany.
Super low price on the Sony A7II at Amazon Italy (Click here).
Sony USA Customer Support sucks (SonyAlphaForum)
Back to Full Frame after decades (SonyAlphaForum).
Batis hands-on at Itmedia.
Sony RX100 Mk IV review by Ken Rockwell.
FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS review at DC.watch.
Sony to enter the drone market with a high speed model (TheNakedCamera).

Henjo: “I shot another slo mo video with my RX100 IV. I shot the whole thing at 480fps. I love this camera! Hopefully your viewers find it interesting.https://vimeo.com/136747128”

Affinity: “We have shot a recent wedding video using the RX100 IV as camera B and we just love the slow motion feature on this little camera; as did the client :-) Please check it out and share: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4gBa86R8C4“

[shoplink 41219 ebay][/shoplink]
The current [shoplink 41219 ebay]M-mount 12mm Heliar (image on top)[/shoplink] will be available in Spring with native E-mount.

It’s official! Vogitlander just announced that they will launch three native Full Frame E-mount lenses!

• 10 mm F 5,6 Hyper-Wide-Heliar. Newly designed for E-mount!
• 12 mm F 5,6 Ultra-Wide-Heliar. Based on the current [shoplink 41219 ebay]M-mount version (here on eBay)[/shoplink]. Optimized for the digital cameras on the E-mount version!
• 15 mm F 4,5 Super-Wide-Heliar. Based on the current [shoplink 41220 ebay]M-mount version (here on eBay)[/shoplink].

All three lenses have a de-click feature just like the [shoplink 41234 ebay]Zeiss Loxia lenses[/shoplink]!

Let us know what Voigtlander lens you would buy! Vote the Poll at SonyAlphaForum (Click here).

Here is the official press text:

Committed to highest quality—Lenses, that support latest camera technologies with high precision mechanics: the brand new Voigtländer lenses.

Sony E-Mount
In Spring 2016 Voigtländer will release a brand new, much-anticipated line of Sony-E-Mount lenses, that can be used on Sony E-Mount cameras without an adapter.
According to the tradition of Voigtländer the first three lenses of this new lines are covering an extreme wide angle range and are perfect for landscape and architecture photographers:

• 10 mm F 5,6 Hyper-Wide-Heliar
• 12 mm F 5,6 Ultra-Wide-Heliar
• 15 mm F 4,5 Super-Wide-Heliar

While the 12 mm and 15 mm lenses are already available with a VM-Mount the 10 mm focal length is completely new. As these extreme wide lenses are challenging a fast and smooth communication between lens, camera and photographer, which is extremely important.
If enabled the camera changes automatically in magnifying mode during focusing which allows highest accuracy. All lens-relevant data such as focal length, aperture and focal distance are transmitted to the camera. This data is shown in the view finder/display and used for metering and image stabilization.
The selective aperture control system for full frame is used for the first time in this lenses—a vital feature for film makers as it allows a step less and soundless aperture control.

VM-Mount
Voigtländer continues its VM-Mount digital optimization with the new 12 mm F 5,6 Ultra-Wide-Heliar III. Additionally Voigtländer will also release the new 10 mm F 5,6 Hyper-Wide-Heliar with VM-Mount.

Release date:
All new lenses will be available in Spring 2016. For further information please visit our website again at a later date.

Source: Vogitlander.

Full lens discussion at SonyAlphaForum.

Zeiss Batis Series Lenses: Product Overview with Marcin Lewandowski

Sony RX10 II review final conclusion and introduction to its smaller brother, RX100 IV (EosHD).
Fuji 56mm f/1.2 vs. Zeiss Batis 85mm f/1.8 vs. Contax G 90mm f/2.8 (Admiringlight).
Zeiss Distagon FE 35mm f/1.4 ZA T* Sample Photos (ePhotozine).
Shooting with gun-shaped lenses: The Noflexar lens line (TheNakedCamera).
Roeschlein-Kreuznach Telenar 90mm f/3.8 on the A7 (SonyAlphaForum).

Madmedialine‎: “Sony Alpha 7s Nightshot https://youtu.be/gcXQsc04-eA“

Metabones released the new EF-E Smart Adapter MARK IV and EF-E Speed Booster ULTRA firmware V0.45. Download it here for Windows (Click here) and Mac (Click here).

Those are the improvements:

• A7RII PDAF speed improvement for some wide angle, normal and medium telephoto lenses on A7RII
• Fixed an intermittent overexposure issue on A7RII
• Fixed an intermittent start-up issue on A7S
• Stability improvement

DPReview just issued the 2015 Awards. And the best product of the year is the Sony A7rII:

The Sony’s combination of image quality, video capability and autofocus performance come together to make it our camera of the year. The camera’s sheer capability: a 42MP sensor that performs well in high contrast or low light situations, built-in image stabilization, 4K video with internal recording, is hugely impressive. But add to this the ability to sensibly use other brands’ lenses and the a7R II becomes a significant camera far beyond the market for this particular high-end model: it could be the sign of things to come.

And the best zoom compact camera is the RX100m4:

The RX100 series has redefined what’s possible with a pocket camera and the Mark IV has pushed that capability even further. Sony’s latest Stacked CMOS sensor adds high speed capabilities (plus improved autofocus) and, when combined with the higher-res viewfinder, results in the best RX100 yet. Which is to say, the best pocket compact yet.

Well done Sony!

A7rII store list:
In USA at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore US, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto.
In Europe at Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Wex UK and ParkCameras.
In Asia at Digitalrev, CameraPro.

RX100m4 cameras store links:
In USA at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto.
In Europe at Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Wex UK.
In Asia at Digitalrev, CameraPro.

Sony announced that it will split off its semiconductors operations and create a separate company. This will help them give autonomy to accelerate decision-making and make them more accountable for their profitability.

Engadget. writes:

The move means that Sony’s core businesses are now mobile, gaming, imaging (cameras), movies, music and financial services. Those businesses — especially mobile — will now have to stand on their own without sensors to prop them up.

As we know from previous reports the camera division is doing fine. And todays Sony decision will not change anything for the future.

Not only we hobbyist on SAR purchased the new Sony A7rII :) The White House is using the Sony for their official pictures! Check out the EXIF on Flickr.

And here are two more A7rII news:

Dpreview published the A7rII Dynamic range test and writes:

When comparing against the Nikon D810, the differences between the two cameras are subtle. The difference between the Sony and the Canon EOS 5DS is much easier to illustrate.

ThePhoBlographer posted a High megapixel camera comparison between the Canon 5Ds, Nikon D810 and Sony A7rII:

Sony is very close to catching up with all that Canon and Nikon can do; but it’s still not totally there. In many ways, they’re far ahead of what Canon and Nikon are capable of–and those ways appeal most to the non-professional photographers. For working pros in the wedding and photojournalism world that need TTL flash and more lens selections; we’re going to need to wait.

A7rII store list:
In USA: at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore US, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto.
In Europe at Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Wex UK and ParkCameras.
In Asia at Digitalrev, CameraPro.