Sony 70-200mm FE lens reviewed at CameraLabs and StuckinCustoms.


Image sourtesy: Photozone.de.

The Sony FE 70-200mm f4G OSS has been reviewed at CameraLabs:

 I think you’ve got the message by now: if you want a decent 70-200mm in the native FE-mount, this is your only choice, so thank goodness it’s a decent one. Highly recommended.

StuckinCustoms also tested the lens and writes:

This lens is supa-dupa-light! It doesn’t have all that heft and size of its Nikon counterpart. It’s just amazing, really. I gave it to all my DSLR-carrying friends and they just look at me with a bitter expression. I love it.

Sony 70-200mm FE at Amazon (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), SonyStore (Click here). In Europe at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, AT, NL, BE, CH, FI, SE, PT

Fotodiox mount review by Fstoppers: “Tough E-Mount is a winner”!

fotodiox

The Fotodiox Tough full metal E-mount replacement is now on back order at Amazon (Click here to preorder) and BHphoto (Click here to preorder).

Fstopper tested the new Fotodiox mount and writes:

For me, the Tough E-Mount is a winner. I was easily able to fix a bothersome wiggle at home in less that five minutes. If the all-metal mount really does increase strength over Sony’s mount as Fotodiox claims, all the better; but not the reason that many are buying it for.

Installing the #Fotodiox Tough E-Mount

Ein von Ryan Mense (@ryanmense) gepostetes Video am


This is a must have item I am going to buy too :) Get it at Amazon (Click here to preorder) and BHphoto (Click here to preorder).

Does the Sony FS7 kill the Canon C300? Oh yes says Newshooter!

fs7-c300-600x336
Image courtesy: Newsshooter

Newsshooter (Click here) posted the Sony FS7 4K E-mount camcorder field test impressions:

So has this camera won me over from the C300? Well actually yes, so far – with the exception of the waveform/histogram issue which I assume Sony will solve. I need to test more but at this point I’m confident that it will replace the C300 (and possibly my F5 too) as a daily workhorse. Ergonomically it bests the C300 and it suits my style of shooting. It has the 4K option but, just as important for me, it has all the flavours of HD that I need including good old MPEG. Slow motion is a big deal too. I still prefer Canon colours out of the box – but the FS7 produces some nice looking images that I’m pretty happy with.

But Canon lens owners ready to jump on the FS7 should be aware of that:

Don’t rush to buy this camera expecting it to work flawlessly with the Metabones Speedbooster Ultra or EF to E-mount adapters – it doesn’t for now at least. Hopefully there may be a fix from Metabones but this isn’t a combo I recommending at the moment.

An interesting thing I didn’t notice before is that the FS7 is the first E-mount camera that has an “Alpha Mount” mark on the mount. And not the usual “E-mount” as seen on current E-mount photocameras:

fs7-sensor-412x600

Image courtesy: Newsshooter

Camcorder preorders:
Sony PXW-FS7 body only at BHphoto (Click here).
Sony PXW-FS7 with 28-135mm lens at BHphoto (Click here).
Sony VCT-FS7 Lightweight Rod Support System for PXW-FS7 at BHphoto (Click here).
28-135mm at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
28-135mm powerzoom in Europe at Sony DE, UK, ES, IT, FR, CH, AT, NL, BE, FI, SE, NO, PT.
Sony 128GB XQD Memory Card G Series 400MB/s at Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
Sony 64GB XQD Memory Card G Series 400MB/s at Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
Sony 32GB XQD Memory Card G Series 400MB/s at Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).

First Fotodiox Tough E-Mount review by David Kilpatrick.

fotodiox

The Fotodiox Tough full metal E-mount replacement is shipping at Amazon (Click here to preorder). And finally we have a first serious review from David Kilpatrick (Click here). He writes

It looks a touch classier than the cheaply machined soft metal Sony original, it is a snug and perfect fit, and lens mounting has a slightly more solid feel without resistance or any scraping sensation.Everything worked perfectly as expected once fitted. Cost – $39.95 plus shipping. I consider it a good upgrade.

David just updated his review and added an important note:

Footnote – one day later – while Sony E mount lenses seem fine, some of my third party adaptors are not fitting well, and very short focal length lenses indicate that the infinity focus may not be accurately retained as they claim. Due to weather conditions I’ve not been able to check properly. If you use lenses 12mm to 20mm on adaptors, proceed with caution.

If you want it grab it now at Amazon!

New Zeiss Loxia 50mm tests by DSLRmagazine and Dirk de Paepe.

Zeiss_Loxia_50_2_1_A
Image courtesy: DSLRmagazine

DSLRmagazine (google tranlsation here) posted the MTF graph along other test images. The Loxia 50mm shows “superb resolution” straight form the maximum f/2.0 aperture:

Zeiss_Loxia_50_2_14_A

Interestingly DSLRmagazine noted there is chromatic aberration correction on RAW files.

Also Vignetting and Distortions are well controlled. The conclusion is:

The lab test not only confirms the good results on the field, but certifies the superb technical performance of this light, both in itself, and especially in combination with the firmware of the Sony A7 R

The next short review comes from Dirk de Paepe on Flickr:

I took this shot to demonstrate the detail rendering power of the new Zeiss Loxia Planar 2/50. IMHO, this comes very close to Otus (really, I see no difference with my A7r), although the Otus 55 is of course the superior lens, with virtually no flaws at no matter what aperture. The Loxia has some flaws, although only very slight ones that in most cases are very easy to correct in Photoshop.
This was shot at the minimal focal distance of 45cm (the ZM Planar has 70cm mfd), to see how much enlargement one can generate, when looking at 100% (next picture).
Regarding its price, size, weight and extra functionality, I can only say: the Loxia Planar is without any doubt a stunning lens! Once this line will be complete, I expect the Sony A7x/Loxia combination to outclass the Leica M system on (almost) all fronts – all that really matter (to me) anyway.
When looking at full size, this picture doubles the real life size of this money on my 27″ iMac monitor (surface x4) – this is to give you an idea of the detail enlargement in the 100% crop of the next picture. When you click on “View all sizes” and choose “large 1024”, this picture pretty much shows the actual size of the €50 banknote (140x77mm).

Zeiss Loxia preorders:
Zeiss Loxia 50mm f/2 Planar T* Lens for Sony E Mount at BHphoto, Adorama., WexUK, CameraPro.
Zeiss Loxia 35mm f/2 Biogon T* Lens for Sony E Mount at BHphoto, Adorama, WexUK, CameraPro.
Zeiss Lens Hood for Loxia 50mm f/2 Planar T* Lens at BHphoto and Adorama.
Zeiss Lens Hood for Loxia 35mm f/2 Biogon T* Lens at BHphoto and Adorama.
Zeiss 52mm Front Lens Cap for Touit and Loxia Lenses at BHphoto and Adorama.
Zeiss De-Click Key for Loxia Lenses (5-Piece Set) at BHphoto and Adorama.
Zeiss Rear Lens Cap for Loxia E-Mount Lenses at BHphoto and Adorama.

 

Big Zeiss 16-35mm f/4.0 FE review at Mobile01!

16-35mmFE
Image courtesy: Mobile01

Note: UPDATED Zeiss FE 16-35mm preorder links list:
Zeiss 16-35mm FE at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Sony Store US.
Zeiss 16-35mm FE in Europe at Sony DE, UK, ES, IT, FR, CH, AT, NL, BE, FI, SE, NO, PT.
Zeiss 16-35mm FE in Australia and Asia at Sony AUS and Digitalrev.

The very first full Zeiss 16-35mm FE lens review has been posted by the Chinese site Mobile01 (bad google translation here). Note that google translation tool misses to load all images therefore click on the original korean link to see them all. You can download all images (RAW and JPG) here. Because the google translation tool sucks on showing the images I directly link you to the test images:

Sharpness test at 16mm (center left and corner right): image here
Sharpness test at 35mm (center left and corner right): image here
Distortion at 16mm: image here
Distortion at 35mm: image here
Vignetting test: image here
Cool “astral” test: image here
Flare test: image here
aperture dispersion suppression test: image here

These are some of the reviewer thoughts on the lens:
– Very high optical quality (good resolving power even on the edge). It only gets soft from f/16 towards at 35mm
– Slight flare issues in some conditions
– autofocus is slow on the A7s but quite reliable.
– Some purple fringing wide open (easily to correct in PS)- not really fast autofocus on the A7s
no barrel distortion, results are perfect (and that’s one of the key reasons you buy a wide angle lens!).

Zeiss FE 16-35mm preorder links:
Zeiss 16-35mm FE at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Sony Store US.
Zeiss 16-35mm FE in Europe at Sony DE, UK, ES, IT, FR, CH, AT, NL, BE, FI, SE, NO, PT.
Zeiss 16-35mm FE in Australia and Asia at Sony AUS and Digitalrev.

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And this is just one of the great images posted at Mobile01:

16-35mmFE_sample
Image courtesy: Mobile01

Zeiss 16-35mm FE lens first impression review by Colby Brown.

Colby Brown (Click here) got the new 16-35mm FE Zeiss and posted his first impression review:

When you hold it in your hand, it doesn’t feel cheap. It feels solid. Why? Because instead of using plastic like many camera/lens manufacturers these days, they use a metal finish, both for the lens body itself and for the focus ring, which truly does make a difference when you are holding it in your hands. On top of this, the lens is listed as dust and water resistant, a feature I plan on putting to the test since a hurricane is currently moving through Hawaii as we speak.

Other reviews so far from Brian Matiash from Photofocus and at Techbang (google tranlsation here). Image samples at Mark Galer’s Flickr page (Click here).

Zeiss FE 16-35mm preorder links:
Zeiss 16-35mm FE at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Sony Store US.
Zeiss 16-35mm FE in Europe at Sony DE, UK, ES, IT, FR, CH, AT, NL, BE, FI, SE, NO, PT.