The Big guys over at Dpreview posted the full Sigma 35mm f/1.4 lens test. And the lens got a “Gold Award” with a very high score of 89%: “The Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM is a truly excellent lens, that performs as well in the field as its superb lab test results suggest. With fast silent focusing and solid build, its lower price makes it a compelling alternative to the camera manufacturers’ equivalents if you don’t need weather-sealing.”

The A-mount lens is availble for preorder at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (click here). To get notified when this lens is on eBay login and save this search at Slidoo.

DxOmark (Click here) just published their full Sony A99 sensor test. And it scores right in the middle between the Canon and Nikon Full Frame. The only real downside is the Low Light performance which is less good compared to Canon and Nikons score. But if you shoot at Low ISO than the A99 is on par with the best Nikon FF and far better than the Canon. DxO writes: “The use of Sony’s SLT technology in its top-of-the-line full-frame shooter delivers both pros and cons. The obvious downside is low-light performance compared to its closest competitors. The upside to the technology, of course is fast performance with full-time live view and continuous autofocus, which makes the A99 one of the best choices among semi-pro cameras for shooting video.”

It’s a good result for the A99 and at leats for me color depth and dynamic range are far more important than the image quality at 6400 ISO :)

I suspect that the Sony RX1 will score an even better results because of the lack of the transparent mirror. And this may another a good reason why a NEX FF makes sense…don’t you think?

A99 and RX1 links:
A99 Best price in US is at [shoplink 16154 ebay]Bigvalue ($2,600 on eBay here)[/shoplink].
A99 body Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Jessops, Wex UK, Wex Germany, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH and more links at Alphacameradeals.
A99 with kit lens links Alphacameradeals.
RX1 Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Wex UK ,Wex Germany and more links at Alphacameradeals.

One of my favorite websites just reviewed the RX1: http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/sony_rx1_review.shtml

It’s a must read article that ends with that sentence: “I hate sounding like a fanboy, but I must say that the Sony RX1 presses all the right buttons for me – no pun intended. Built quality is exemplary, haptics are mostly excellent, as are control placement and customizability. The Zeiss lens is truly excellent, and having a full-frame 24MP camera that can fit in a coat pocket and go almost anywhere without being an encumbrance makes this camera greatly appealing. One can always find quibbles in any piece of equipment, but the RX1 is more operationally all-of-a-piece and desirable than just about any recent camera in my experience.”

Sounds like Sony is on the right path with the RX series. Both the RX100 and the RX1 are well made cameras. Now let’s see if the RX10 is coming as next!

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Click these links to check price and in Stock status: Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Wex UK ,Wex Germany, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH and more links at Alphacameradeals. Save $170 by simply purchasing the $7 cheap chinese metal hood ([shoplink 15410 ebay]there is one here on eBay[/shoplink]) instead of the original expensive Sony hood.

I hope you received your preordered RX1! If not than you may watch these new reviews that once again tell you how good this camera is :)

My thoughts on Sony RX1 at mysonyrx1.wordpress.com.
How to edit the RAW images of the SONY RX1 at rx-1.tumblr.com.
Sony RX1:prepare to be a lot amazed and a little annoyed (Tashley).
First impressions at Photorumors.
Some image samples and nice unpacking pics at DC.watch (translation here).

Click these links to check price and in Stock status: Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Wex UK ,Wex Germany, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH and more links at Alphacameradeals. Save $170 by simply purchasing the $7 cheap chinese metal hood ([shoplink 15410 ebay]there is one here on eBay[/shoplink]) instead of the original expensive Sony hood.

The new Sigma 35mm f/1.4 lens keeps surprising the reviewers:
DSLRmagaizne (translation here) tested the lens on a Canon and writes that it has a “superb optical performance“.
Lenstip also tested the lens: “The Sigma has the best results of all 1.4/35 lenses, tested by us so far in the categories of resolution, distortion, chromatic aberration and coma correction. ”

This may be one of the nicest new lenses you can get for the A-mount system. And soon we hope to see that new Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 too :)

Sigma A-mount 35mm f/1.4 lens preorders at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (click here).

Image courtesy: DC.watch.

One of the nicest new cameras we had in 2012 is certainly the NEX-6. And the image posted by DC.watch (you see it on top) makes it look even more beautiful :) They tested the NEX-6 with the great looking (and superbly manufactured) Ricoh GR  21mm f/3.5 which is such a hard to find lens that there is no even one [shoplink 15992 ebay]single auction on eBay[/shoplink].

That said we have two new complete NEX-6 reviews at Engadget and SonyAlphaLab. And the camera gets lot of positive feedback from both reviewers. There is also a new Sony NEX-5R review at Cnet Asia.

Now let’s see what’s coming soon from the NEX front. The 85mm f/1.8 and what else?

NEX-6 in Stock status at [shopcountry 14167].
NEX-5R in Stock status at [shopcountry 14168].

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Reminder: The luxury leather case producer Gariz announced a new case for the NEX-5r and NEX-6!
NEX-5R: You can buy it on their [shoplink 15853 ebay]eBay store (Click here)[/shoplink]. There is also a [shoplink 15887 ebay]Light Brown (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 15888 ebay]Brown (Click here)[/shoplink] version. Gariz has also some other little leather accesories for the NEX-5r like lens cap and bags (look here via Slidoo eBay).
NEX-6: Gariz also released three different NEX-6 case: [shoplink 15882 ebay]Brown (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 15884 ebay]Black (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 15883 ebay]AllBlack (Click here)[/shoplink]. (full list at Slidoo).