Well this is an exciting news: I just spotted these newly published Sony patents describing the optical design of two new fast lenses:

135mm f/1.8 FE
100mm f/1.4 FE

Of course a patent is never a guarantee that Sony will bring those lenses into mass production. But I think in that case there is a very high chance these lenses are coming for real! I bet the 135mm f/1.8 will be one of the next E-mount lenses we will get from Sony!

Here are all details:

Sony’s competition isn’t sleeping and there are quite some news to report:

Sharp:
This is a surprise. Sharp is the first company announcing an 8K mirrorless system camera. It has a MFT mount and full specs will be unveiled at NAB show in April. The cool thing is that it has a 5inch flip out screen. Would lo ve to get that one on a Sony! More info at MirrorlessRumors.

Canon:
Canon officially confirmed that “8K video capable camera is already in our EOS R-series roadmap”. More info at CanonWatch.

Nikon:
Nikon announced a new update Z lens roadmap. I love those f/1.8 primes and I think Sony should make them too! More info at Nikoneye.
Nikon also said that it will add Eye AF, Raw video on Z6-Z7 cameras via firmware upgrade. More info at Mirrorlessrumors.

Panasonic:
Panasonic confirmed their S1-S1R cameras will have HLG stills shooting mode. More info at L-rumors.

To sum up the “features” Sony doesn’t have right now and that the competition “announced”:
– 8K video
– 5 inch flip out screen
– f/1.8 primes
– RAW video
– HLG stills

Take note Sony…

Tony Northrup shared his 2019 predictions. While the A7000, A7sIII and A9sII predictions sound quite reasonable Tony added an unexpected bomb: He believes Sony will make a super fast autofocus lens.

Now call me crazy, but I do believe this would indeed make sense!

Of course Sony would not make any profit from such a lens. It would be expensive to make, expensive to sell and nearly nobody on this planet would buy it. But It would stop Nikon managers to keep bashing on the Sony mount. And forums, blogs and trolls would suddenly have no more arguments. So yes Sony, let’s show Nikon have we do a proper superfast autofocus lens!

According to latest info posted on L-rumors.com in late January we should finally get full specs and pricing info about the next direct Sony competition: The Panasonic S1 and S1R cameras!

The one stand out feature of these cameras will be 4k60p video recording which is missing on all current Sony FF cameras:

Sony A7sIII will be the first model with 4k60p but it’s not coming any time soon.

We are getting closer to two major Sony events:

Event ONE:
Sony will have an official press conference and product announcement day on January 7 at 5pm Las Vegas time. Usually Sony doesn’t announce new E-mount gear at CES. Last time this happened was in 2014 for the A5000. But you never know and at least the BeAlpha event on Jan 8 hints at “possible surprises”. We heard Sony’s focus will be on unveiling a full 8K platform which includes:

8K Television/CLEDIS
8K Laser projector
8K camera/camcorder
8K postprocessing platform

Event TWO:
Sony has organized a major journalist meeting around mid January. There is no 100% guarantee they will announce new products but in most cases those events lead to some kind of lens or camera announcement.

I will hopefully be able to embed a CES press event live stream on SAR. Stay tuned!

Sony is ready to launch a bunch of new 8K sensors and a new 8K codec in 2019. This post sums up all the many info we leaked the past weeks:

New XEVC 8K codec (article and detailed images here):
8k at 24fps, 12 bit and 240Mbps peak bitrate.

New Full Frame sensors:
IMX435 is a new 36Mp 8K sensor (article here)
IMX551 is a new 60MP 8k sensor (article here)
IMX455 is a stripped down version of the IMX551 (article here).

APS-C sensors (article and detailed specs here):
IMX510: 32MP, 16 bit…
IMX571: 26MP, dual gain ISO, 16 bit stills

All the sensor mentioned here are open for sale to third-party manufacturers. But To use the full potential you need to buy the rights to use the Sony proprietary SLVS-EC interface. Sony itself might use those sensors or a customized variation of those sensors.

One of my sources just sent me this video of the new 50mm f/1.0 Full Frame autofocus E-mount lens! This lens is rumored to be made by Yongnou but this has yet to be confirmed. They already make AF lenses for Canon and Nikon (they are on sale here on Amazon US, Amazon DE). I assume it’s very likely they are could make this lens. It’s also a nice to have a direct competition of the Nikon which will launch the 58mm f/0,95 lens this January but will be available as manual focus lens only. Of course, I don’t expect Yongnou to match the Nikon in terms of quality…but the Nikon also is rumored ot cost around $6,000 while Yongnou lens will be a lot cheaper.

The lens is rumored to be launched sometimes in early 2019. If you can find an image of that lens please drop me a message at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com. Thanks!

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Note: Unlike reported on the previous rumor the lens isn’t f/1.1 but f/1.0.