Sony E PZ 18-105mm gets tested at DxO: “good center sharpness throughout the whole zoom range”

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DxOmark (Click here) tested the Sony PZ 18-105mm F4 G OSS E-mount lens. And the surprise is that it is as good as the Zeiss 16-70mm lens:

It might not have the Zeiss badge, but the [shoplink 42649]Sony E PZ 18-105mm F4 G OSS[/shoplink] has good center sharpness throughout the whole zoom range, and that includes the initial aperture where zooms like this are usually poor, and particularly so at the longer end of the range. The downside is that it’s not as well corrected in other areas as the Sony Zeiss E 16-70mm F4 ZA OSS, with which it is often compared. It still wouldn’t be an easy choice, even taking into account the $400 premium for the Zeiss. However the longer reach of the Sony is attractive, and for video users especially, the power zoom option may just swing it.

Find the lens on [shopcountry 42649].

Dpreview says the Sony A7II is the best camera of the year in the $1200-2000 price range!

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Sony keeps winning all kind of different Dpreview awards. Today the Sony A7II got selected as the best camera of the year in the $1200-2000 price range:

Unlike the Samsung and the Panasonic, the [shoplink 42630]Sony a7 II[/shoplink] brings a full-frame sensor to the party while still maintaining a relatively small form factor (at the expense of larger lenses, of course). The in-body image stabilization is excellent, and the phase detection AF system ensures swift, accurate autofocus. The a7 II’s sensor is superb too, both in terms of resolution and dynamic range. And the recent addition of an uncompressed Raw option makes it all the more powerful photographic tool.

Sony A7II store price check at [shopcountry 42630].

And I have the strong feeling the A7rII will win the upcoming $2,000+ competition ;)

First Sony RX1rII tests at Dpreview and Imaging Resource.

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Imaging Resource tested the different LPF (low pass filter) settings:

“The trade-off between moiré and overall sharpness is evident, especially in the first example with the bottle label.”

Dpreview added the studio test scene and the RX1rII shows an impressive tack sharp resolution.

The new RX1RII will ship starting from next week at Amazon US (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here) and Adorama (Click here).

Sony FS5 4K E-mount camcorder review at Cinema5D. And one annoying limitation reported by Newsshooter.

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Cinema5D published the first impression review of the new FS5 4K E-mount camcorder:

The Sony FS5 is a well balanced package for the documentary/wedding/indie/news shooter cameraman. For those who are looking for an easy to use large sensor solution, be it “full auto mode” or “full auto focus” this is a very good alternative.
On the other hand, the advanced shooter will not feel neglected and be able to take control on most if not all camera functions in a manual way. As with most of Sony’s latest products, this one will receive a firmware update soon after its release to answer some of the shortcomings already found since the time it was announced. Sony also promised to introduce a future RAW recording capability for this camera at a later stage. Exciting.

Newsshooter pointed out one limitation of the camera

Last week we published news that the Sony FS5 won’t allow simultaneous recording of 4K internally to SD card, and externally to an external recorder at the same time. This means that anyone wanting to record to an external 4K recorder like the Atomos Shogun and at the same time internally to SD card for backup is out of luck.

There is also a Sony FS5 4K Hands on Video at Adorama Blog.

The new E-Mount 4K camcorder can be preordered in two versions:
FS5 body only at Adorama and BHphoto.
FS5 body with kti lens at Adorama and BHphoto.

DxO tests the 16-70mm E-mount Zeiss lens: “good balance of sharpness and uniformity”

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DxOmark (Click here) published the fulL Zeiss 16-70mmf /4.0 E-mount lens review:

Although the overall DxOMark score is perhaps a little discouraging for a $1,000 stabilized zoom, the Sony Zeiss E 16-70mm f4 OSS actually has a good balance of sharpness and uniformity. It has low chromatic aberration, and distortion at 16mm is very well corrected, even if it’s bordering on the difficult to correct complex type. It might not wow users at either end of the zoom range, but it does in fact have excellent performance at 35mm.

What makes the lens even more appealing is that you save $300 on the Hasselblad version at BHphoto (Click here)!

Sony A7RII Review at DPreview. Gets one of the highest scores ever!

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Dpreview (Click here) published the full Sony A7rII review. The camera got an impressive overall score of 90%:

The a7R II pushes the boundaries of not just mirrorless, but also cameras in general. It has many new features that photographers of the future will wonder how they ever lived without. And while skimping on simple common-sense core features like direct AF point selection or touch-based AF is bordering on inexcusable at this point, much like some aspects of the ergonomics, the a7R II garners our top award – and one of our highest ever scores – for its sheer photography-accelerating technical prowess.

Surprised? Me not :)

Small note: $400 off on two A7rIi Open Box at Samys: [shoplink 42553 ebay]ebay 1[/shoplink] and [shoplink 42552 ebay]ebay 2[/shoplink].

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

Sony α7r Mark III Wish List / Feature Suggestions 17 Things we want to see next (Max Fury)

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We now know everything about the new A7rII. So let’s talk about the future new A7Rm3! Max Fury from SonyAlphaForum shared his list of the “17 Things we want to see next” on the A7rIII:

“Since the introduction of the excellent Sony α7r II this year I cant help but think of the features that the next iteration of the camera will bring, and set a new bar for Full Frame Interchangeable Lens Camera once again. Althougt the α7r II seems to have many and killer features, there’s still a lot of room for improvements.
 
With that said here are the 17 things I like to see for the successor of the a7r II, that will keep all of the features of the 7r II, but also add these 17 things that will make it the best Full Frame Camera… Ever made!
 
#1. New Name
 Ok, I work at one of the biggest camera stores in my country and even my boss when talking about the Sony cameras many times confuses the names. 7a II, ar7, as7 and so on. He never gets confused with the Nikon cameras. Why? because they have simple names that’s why. The alpha 7r II or how Sony likes to call it the ILCE7RM2/B. Huh?! What’s that? Sony is absolutely terrible at naming their products. So I want a new name simple enough that even my grandmother can remember it. Get on it!
 
#2. Dual SDXC Card Slots
 Even though the α7r II is aimed at pro’s. Having just one card slot is not professional at all. In fact, it’s amateur. I, and I think all of the pros, would like to see this changed.
 
#3. Revamped Menus and User Interface
 Ok, this is the most complained about feature of the Sony Cameras. the User Interface. Everybody is complaining about it and nobody likes it. I own and have own many Sony products myself over the years and the one consistent thing that has been bad about Sony products is the UI. Sony… if you cant do it yourself, which you obviously can’t, please, acquire a company that can. And have that Time-Laps app by default in the camera for Christ sake!
 
#4. Faster Start-Up time
 Faster start-up time helps to capture that fleeing moment in life. And makes you confident to keep the Camera turned off to save battery and know that it will come back to life immediately when you need it.
 
#5. Touch Screen OLED Screen
 Nothing is more intuitive than touching to focus or to change a setting or to zoom. The iPhone has been demonstrating this since 2007. And no screen has better contrast to review our stills and clips than an OLED screen.
 
#6. Large Battery Capacity
 What is inside that grip area of the body? Just cram a huge-ass battery inside there. Because 270 shots in a modern pro Full Frame camera is just laughable. Especially when you think that it shoots 4K video also. Which btw brings me to the next feature request.
 
#7. 10 bit RAW Video (internally of course..) and Unlimited Recording
 For that ultra flexibility while editing in post our amazingly artistic videos with no time restrictions.
 
#8. Unnoticeable Rolling Shutter or Global Shutter
 Action or fast moving subjects look absolutely abysmal with that god awful Rolling Shutter. Do another Innovation and make the first Pro Full Frame camera for Action movies. It will be another huge innovation Sony!
 
#9. 16 Stops Dynamic Range, Stills and Video
 The current α7r II has a decent 14 Stops of DR in photos, but let’s live up to the potential and promise of digital and finally leave film and its 15 Stops in the dust. (The D810 is almost there with 14.8 DR). Color depth is great at 26 bit. No complaints there but your’re welcome to improve it even more.
 
#10. Faster Autofocus
 Who doesn’t like fast? Do your thing and add more of those cross focusy things to make focusing as fast as lightning.
 
#11. 10 fps Continuous Shooting
 I don’t mind the current 5 fps, but if you want to get those sports and wildlife pro’s on board, and get all that cha-ching $$$, gotta have the speed to keep up with their demands.
 
#12. GPS
 Apart from when, I also need to know where exactly I took those cat photos! Come on GPS is in everything these days. The cheapest phones have them! It’s useful for reference and organization that the pro’s need.
 
#13. AC WiFi
 Again. Who doesn’t like fast? Gotta transfer all that 42MP files fast and effortlessly. For better workflow and freedom.
 
#14. No Overheating
 The fastest car in the world, (Bugatti Veyron), has like 10 fridges in it. Why can’t you cramp on of those fridges in the new body but still keep it small and lightweight? Come on Sony, if you can’t do it… somebody else will.
 
#15. RAW Histogram and Preview
 Many of you may not know this but the photos that you see on the viewfinder or the LCD screen of the camera are actually Jpegs of the RAW files! Which are of course not representative of the real RAW captured data. No more lies Sony! Give us the true previews and histograms of our RAW images! ;P
 
#16 Variable Low-Pass Filter
 Sony has done it in the RX1R II! Now just put that thing in the next alpha 7 model. No more R’s and two models of the same camera, with and without Low Pass filter.
 
#17. Get rid of the mechanical shutter
 Why do we need a mechanical shutter in an all digital camera? I don’t get it. (I also don’t care so don’t bother explaining it to me.) Getting rid of that mechanical shutter will not only make the camera more reliable but also more power efficient, and ninja silent of course, so we can creep around and attract no attention whatsoever… Mooohahahahahaha.
 
Ok, pretty big list of feature ha? But I know if one company can do it it’s Sony.”
What do you think about that list? Sony is reading us, so feel free to add your suggestions on the comment system or directly at SonyAlphaForum!
A7rII store list:
In USA: at Amazon, BHphoto, AdoramaSonyStore US, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto.
In Europe at Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Wex UK and ParkCameras.
In Asia at Digitalrev, CameraPro.