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Photographyreview (Click here) tested the Sony A55: “The Sony Alpha SLT-A55 is a great camera with an innovative design, great performance and excellent image quality. It’s not quite the sports camera I was hoping for but it’s a very capable all-round performer that most people will be very happy with – especially people who value video as much as still photos.”

Day 5 of the Sony A55 review at ThePhoBlographer (Click here). He also made some ISO tests and those are the conclusion for the RAW noise test: “When viewing images at a normal size, noise starts to become noticeable around ISO 1600 but it’s nothing to be concerned about. I probably wouldn’t make any post processing noise adjustments until ISO 6400 unless I was blowing up the image to a larger size. I think this is impressive ISO performance from a consumer DSLR. ”

Jhpvideotutorials (Click here) also tested the A55: “If you’re looking for a SLR style camera that takes much better HD video than Canon or Nikon SLR’s, and takes very good photos, then this camera might just be the one for you!  If you’re a Photographer looking for the best image quality possible and plan to use studio lights, then I would not recommend this camera for you.” (P.S.: You have to click on the small page numbers at the bottom of the post to see all 5 page long review).

CLick those links to check price and availability of the A55: [shopcountry 3617].

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Kurtmunger (Click here) tested the Tamron 60mm f/2.0 macro lens for Sony: “I would highly recommend the Tamron 60mm F/2 lens when used out in the field at longer distances, where F/2 can come in handy for getting a defocused background, or hand-held available light situations.  For people wanting a good macro lens with plenty of working distance, and will be using it at close focus, I’d recommend the Sony 100mm macro.”
Click on shopnames to check price and availability of the Tamron: [shopcountry 6803].
And click here to check price and availability of the Sony macro: [shopcountry 6805].

On Dpreview forum (Click here) a user tested the Samyang 35mm f/1.4 on the NEX-5.

P.S.: “jieying” made four new reworked Kowa 55mm f/1.0 lenses for NEX. He is selling them on [shoplink 6804 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

I found a bunch of nice third party lens reviews (tested on NEX cameras). Let’s start with the most expensive lens:

1) Leica 50mm f/0.95
Steve Huff (Click here) tested the $11,000 lens on the NEX-5. yes it’s not a typo…$11,000 or 10.000 Euro. Don’t believe me? See the scary auctions on [shoplink 6749 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. Got a heart attack? :)
That’s what he think about the combination: “This also made me wonder if there is anyone out there who bought an NEX-5 and a lens like the Noctilux to use with it. IMO, it would be a waste as the NEX sensor can not take full advantage of this masterpiece lens.”

2) Panasonic 14mm f/2.5
EosHD (Click here) tested a Micro Four Thirds lens on the NEX-3. You wonder how that is possible? With that adapter you can find on [shoplink 6750 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
EosHD says: “It covers the whole sensor just about with a slight light fall off. What’s interesting is just how extreme the distortion of the image is without the electronic image correction of Micro Four Thirds bodies. The optics really are very compromised on their own. But it’s a sharp lens, even wide open at F2.5 and very contrasty.”

3) Contax Zeiss Distagon and Planar
SonyAlphaNex (Click here) tested a bunch of (awesome) Contax lenses on the NEX-5!

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The famous “starblogger” Ken Rockwell stopped at Sony and tested the NEX-VG10 (Click here to read the full review). He usually reviews Nikon or Canon stuff so let’s see what he thinks about the VG10: “It’s about time someone made a large-sensor video camera dedicated for the video market, and it’s about time that Canon and Nikon SLRs got put to bed for video. SLRs were never made for video, and Sony knows video cameras better than anyone.“…”For those of you looking mostly to make video, I consider this a much smarter buy than a DSLR, and the NEX-VG10 includes a great lens for video; no need to use the interchangeable lens feature.”
Thanks Ken for posting a Sony review!
Check the VG10 price at [shopcountry 3058].

Imaging Resource (Click here) tested the Sony A580: “The only major fault we’d bring to the fore is the over-aggressive noise suppression in JPEG images, which strangely get worse in the red channel when you switch to Weak Noise Reduction mode. But there’s no arguing with our printed results, which show the Sony A580 able to produce good quality 20×30-inch prints from Large Fine JPEG images from ISO 100 to 400, and even the highest setting of 12,800 produces a good quality 5×7-inch print. ”
Check the A580 price at [shopcountry 4617].

Digitalcamerainfo (Click here) tested the Sony A33: “The Sony Alpha SLT-A33 did not blow us away in any specific area, but the camera did a passable job in all of our tests. If you’re overly concerned about image performance, then there are plenty of other cameras that will please you more than the A33 (like the Sony A55V). But, we found the A33 to be a handy shooter with a good set of controls, an intuitive menu system, and some fun features to boot.”
Chekc the A33 price at [shopcountry 3620].

Phase One released the new Capture One 6.2 which adds the support for the Sony SLT and NEX cameras. And Alpha Numerique tested the new software with the Sony A55 and NEX-5. The reuslt is that Lightroom is still better at High-ISO handling but Phase One is a very good tool for studio and landscape photography.

Cameras.co.uk (Click here) tested the NEX-3: “The Sony Nex-3 is not a cheap option, but it is a quality option. You can pick up the majority of features this camera has with an entry level Digital SLR and pay less if you prefer to. The main attractions are its picture quality and a portability that a Digital SLR simply cannot match. Overall The Nex-3 is an impressive camera.”
Check the NEX-3 price at [shopcountry 3000].

Low light test: FS100 F3 AF101 5DmkII from Philip Bloom

The well know filmmaker Philip Bloom just posted a bunch of new interesting videos made the two new Sony video cameras and the Panasonic AG-AF100 and Canon 5D markII. The Sony F3 is a PL mount camera and the Sony NEX-FS100 has an E-mount. Read the full preview and see all the videos on Philip’s website (Click here). It’s still to early to draw any final conclusion but it looks like the Sony cameras do deliver the best results! I for myself are strongly considering to buy the NEX-FS100. Want to carry it with me for my next trip in Ecuador in September. Let’s hope the camera release will be not delayed and be in Stock in July (Source: B&H).

Links to the other mentioned cameras:
– Panasonic AG-AF100 [shoplink 6087]
– Canon 5D markII [shoplink 6340]

P.S.: Had a very tuff day at work and I just saw that I did recieve many emails form readers. Will try to answer you all within the shortest time possible!

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Photographybay (Click here) tested the Sony A55: “The A55 gives the novice user plenty of room to grow in both the photo and video realms. The biggest limitations I found were the image buffer when shooting RAW files at high frame rate bursts and the unnatural feel of the fast AF in video recording. For an entry-level DSLR though, the Sony A55 will go toe-to-toe with just about any other comparably-priced camera out there.”

A reminder: The A55 like other Sony cameras is currently discounted in US:
And here is the summary of all US deals:
-$50 on the A580 at Amazon, Adorama, B&H and J&R.
-$50 on the A55 at Amazon, Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay.
-$50 on the A33 at Amazon, Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay.
-$50 on the NEX-5 at Amazon, Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay.
-$50 on the NEX-3 at Amazon, Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay.