Image courtesy: Photozone.

Klaus from Photozone has some bad news for us. He tested three NEX lenses and all are delivering sub average results when used on the NEX-7. The 24 Megapixel sensors demands high quality lenses and the cheaper 16mm, 18-55mm and 30mm macro can’t exploit the full sensor potential. The only exception is the [shoplink 8448]50mm f/1.8[/shoplink] lens and very likely the still to be tested and wonderful [shoplink 8450]Zeiss 24mm f/1.8[/shoplink]. Here are the latest three tests from Klaus:

1) The Sony E 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS (Click here to read the review) kit lens isn’t good enough for the NEX-7: “it may perform decently on lower resolution NEX cameras (the 3 and 5 series). However, its capabilities are clearly overstrained on Sony’s 24 megapixel sensor. In so far it is very surprising that Sony is also offering it bundled with the NEX 7.”

2) The 16mm f/2.8 pancake (Click here to read the review): “the Sony E 16mm f/2.8 may be a controversial lens on lower resolution NEX cameras. However, it seems rather pointless to use it on the NEX 7 – 24 megapixel are way beyond the capabilities of this tiny lens.”

3) Klaus also tested the A-mount Zeiss 85mm Planar lens on the NEX-7 (Click here to read the review) and while it definitely performs much better there are still some issues: “even the mighty Zeiss isn’t perfect anymore on the 24 megapixel sensor. At max. aperture the center performance is certainly very good but the border quality is a bit lower than expected. This is somewhat surprising considering the fairly big lens to sensor distance due to the required adapter. The decrease in border quality either relates to a difficult sensor characteristic or, possibly, to a sub-optimal sample of the lens.”

All these lenses do deliver a better performance on other NEX cameras with lower resolution sensors like the [shoplink 8452]Sony NEX-5n[/shoplink]. This is a call for Sony to focus on the development and release of good quality lenses! The NEX-7 remains a top seller surpassing the direct competition like the Fuji X PRO 1 and Olympus E-M5 at Amazon US (place 2), Amazon Germany (place 8), Amazon France (place 4) and Amazon UK (place 17). And they would sell ton of lenses if there would be more of them.

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Sony NEX-7 preorder search links: [shopcountry 8454].
Sony 50mm f/1.8 preorder search links: [shopcountry 8448].
Zeiss 24mm f/1.8  preorder search links: [shopcountry 8450].

As you know it is the Sony 36 Megapixel Full Frame sensor that powers the current Nikon D800 topseller camera (Click here to see the ranking). And as far as I know Nikon has a (one year?) exclusivity on that sensor. DxOmark just tested the sensor quality (Click here). It beats all current FF sensors and “is comparable to the best medium-format sensor, and in fact does even better — much better — as ISO increases.” It shows that Sony sensor technology greatly improved during the last couple of years. Even Canon has to worry.

My guess is that the Canon 5DmarkIII is loosing his war against the Nikon D800. This may be a chance for Sony if they don’t wait to much. A double SLT FF camera announcement (24 and 36 Megapixels) would probably be the right thing to do!

The German Heise website (Click here for the english google translation) is the first website posting image samples and a short review of the Super Quality and most expensive Alpha mount lense ever made. The reviewer says the lens is “impressive” but suggests you to borrow the lens when you really need it instead of buying it. The lens cost $13000 at BHphoto (Click here). For us “poor” people go for the [shoplink 11531 ebay]Sigma 500mm f/4.5 EX APO (Click here)[/shoplink] which costs $5000 only! :)

Oh, and read this: Photographer uses red-dot gunsight as AF assist (Cnet US).

The Rokinon 8mm fisheye via ThePhoBlographer.

Samyang (also known as Rokinon) is a well known company that makes some amaizng lenses for different mounts. But until now all their lenses were manual focusing only. But in a recent interview at Techradar (Click here) they unveiled that they are going to release their first autofocus lenses for the NEX system in 2013. Good to hear we don’t have to rely on Sony and Zeiss only to get some good quality E-mount lenses!

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I like Rokinon/Samyang lenses a lot and I recommend you the following two lenses for Alpha mount:
1) The 35mm f/1.4: In US you can find it as Rokinon at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here) and on [shoplink 7453 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. In Europe the name is Samyang and you can find it on [shoplink 7380 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] and with the name Wallimex again on [shoplink 7831 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
2) The 85mm f/1.4: You can get for $274 on Amazon (Click here), branded with the name Rokinon on [shoplink 7456 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] and branded with the name Samyang on [shoplink 7454 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

[shoplink 10220 ebay][/shoplink]

Our reader Björn Utpott just sent me the link to his latest 50mm lens comparison (Click here to read it). The big question is: Is the new [shoplink 8448]50mm lens[/shoplink] for NEX better than the “older” [shoplink 10220 ebay]Zeiss ZM 50mm f/1.4[/shoplink] lens? The answer is pretty easy, the lenses have been designed for completely different kind if use. The Sonnar ZM has a more old creamy look with sharp center and less sharper borders. The new Sony 50mm is sharp through all the frame.

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Sony 50mm f/1.8 for NEX at [shoplist 8448].
Zeiss ZM Sonnar f/1.5 links at [shopcountry 10220]
M to NEX mount adapter on [shoplink 8850 ebay]eBay[/shoplink]

While the [shoplink 8450]Zeiss 24mm f/1.8[/shoplink] is certainly the highest quality lens for the NEX system the 50mm f/1.8 is the real must have lens if you want a good and fast lens for less than a thirds of the price you pay for the Zeiss. And to see how good the lens is switch over to Kurt Munger (Click here) that just posted the full 50mm review.

If you are on the waiting list than you might be happy to know that first stores are already shipping the lens and most will do so within the next 2-3 weeks. Here is my usual full preorder list I check to see what’s going on with Sony stuff. Click on the shop name to see if they have the 50mm lens:
[shoplist 8448]

Image courtesy Quesabesde

Quesabesde (Click here to read the google english translation) wrote a new Sony A57 hands-on. And David K. from Photoclubalpha (Click here) shared his thoughts about the A57: “Everyone has been saying – we’d love an A77 or even an A65 with the 16 megapixel sensor. Or we’d love an A55 upgraded with the better viewfinder. So what do Sony deliver? Neither…“. And a first impression post has been written at Photocomment (Click here).

On SonyAlphaRumors 51% of the readers like the new A57 while other 25% said they cannot judge yet and the rest said that they didn’t like the camera at all (Click here to see the full A57 news coverage and the poll at the bottom of that post).

If you think you need that camera here are some USA preorder links:
A57 Body Only: Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), SonyStoreUSA (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
A57+18-55mm lens: Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), SonyStoreUSA (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).