Note for US readers: The new 70-200mm FE lens is now shipping at BestBuy!

DxOmark (Click here) tested the new Sony 70-200mm f/4.0 FE lens and writes:

The Sony’s performance is very good and sharpness levels are very high, and even though it can’t quite match the best in class – the Nikkor 70-200mm f4 – at 200mm, it’s still unlikely to disappoint. Coming bundled with a tripod collar, the Sony even slightly undercuts the rival Nikkor model, making the FE 70-200mm f4G OSS look good value without compromising on quality or practical features.

You can preorder the lens in USA at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, BestBuy and SonyStore. In Europe at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT.

SLRgear (Click here) is the first worldwide site who reviewed the new Sigma 50mm f/1.4 ART lens. They tested it on a Canon 5DMarkIII but as you know the lens will be available for A-mount too. And this is their test conclusion:

The Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art is the most exciting lens we’re likely to review this year. All competing lenses from Canon and Nikon fell short when compared to the resolving power of the 50mm Art. We haven’t (yet) tested the very best from Zeiss (Otus), but we are confident Sigma will trounce it in one key area: price.

Amazing! Now please Sigma, gives us an A-mount pricing and preorder option soon!

Follow the live stream on SAR!

We are almost there! At 2pm Las Vegas time (10 pm in London and 11pm in Berlin) Sony will announce the new A7s E-mount Full Frame 4K camera with 12 megapixel and XAVCs recording. And if we are “lucky” we are going to see an updated FE lens roadmap too.

A7s rumor recap:
Over a month ago I started to get rumors about a 4K capable photo camera. As I have been told back at that time the camera wasn’t ready yet. So I assume the A7s will not come to market immediately and its main goal is to take away the spotlight from the currently only competitor in this class, the Panasonic GH4 (here at Amazon). The good news on the A7s is that while Sony focused on delivering a great 4K quality the positive side effect for photographer is that after a very long time we will get a new camera with low Megapixel count. A unique chance to grab a camera that has top clean High ISO, speedy processing and probably delivers enough resolution for most of our daily use. I just hope the price will not be much higher than that of the Panasonic GH4 ($1,700). Very important to know: The A7s is not the new A9 high end camera. The A9 is still scheduled for a late Summer release!

The surprise:
Sony could announce an updated FE lens roadmap. A couple of weeks ago mark Weir from Sony said new FE lenses would be announced soon. And he said fast primes are int he work too. Yesterday Sony FE lens designer said they would like to make a 85mm f/1.4 or f/1.2 lens. So let’s cross the fingers for that guys!

Again, be sure to be online here on SAR to follow the event live at 2pm Las Vegas time (10 pm in London and 11pm in Berlin).

Personal note:
Because the Sony A7s announcement took me by surprise this is how I ahve to work somewhere in the middle of nowhere in Tuscany (Click on picture to enlarge):

Hope this will work fine tonight :)

From left to right: Yosuke Aoki, Vice President Sony Digital Imaging Europe
Atsushi Ueda, image quality engineer for Sony mount A and E,
Naoki Miyagawa, optician engineer for Sony mount A and E.

Image courtesy: LesNumeriques.

I am still not 100% sure about it but tomorrow (Sunday 6) there is a fair chance Sony will unveil new FE lenses too! Last weeks Mark Weir from Sony US said we won’t have long to wait to see the new lenses. And he also said fast aperture lenses are in the works too.

Today a French SAR reader (Merci Max!) pointed me out to a new Sony interview posted at Lesnumeriques (google translation here). Here Sony FE lens designer Naoki Miyagawa said he would like to build an e-mount 85mm f1.4 (or even f1.2) if he had time (given by Sony) to do so. And I don’t know why but my instinct says he already designed the lens and that it’s ready for the market :)

The official Sony FE lens roadmap.

Damn would I love to get a 85mm f/1.4 lens (don’t need the extra weight of an f/1.2). This will be a hot day tomorrow!

Reminder: The Sony A7s will be unveiled live at 2pm in Las Vegas (on Sunday). You can follow the live video stream on SAR!!! This is the time in other time zones:
– 5pm New York time on Sunday April 6
– 10pm (22:00) London time on Sunday April 6
– 11pm (23:00) Berlin time on Sunday April 6
– 6am (06:00) Tokyo time on Monday April 7

Stay tuned on SAR!!!!!!!!

———
Message to sources: You can send me more info anonymously by using the contact form you see on the very right of your browser. You can also contact me directly at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com.
For readers: Subscribe the RSS feed (Click here) and Twitter (Click here) stream and the Facebook fan page (Click here) in order to not miss any news!
——–

Reminder (SR = Sonyrumor):
SR1=probably fake rumor
SR2=rumor from unknown sources
SR3=50% chance it is correct
SR4=rumor from known sources
SR5=almost certainly correct!

Follow the live stream on SAR!

What you see here on top is the live stream that will start on Sunday April 6 at 7pm Las Vegas time. This is when Sony will announce the new Sony A7s!!!! I will embedd the live stream here on SAR so be sure to be online here at 2pm! Time in other time zones are:
– 5pm New York time on Sunday April 6
– 10pm (22:00) London time on Sunday April 6
– 11pm (23:00) Berlin time on Sunday April 6
– 6am (06:00) Tokyo time on Monday April 7

Again Follow SAR via RSS feed (Click here), Twitter (Click here) or Facebook fan page (Click here) to not miss any news! There are plenty to come between now and Sunday!

A7s records in XAVCS format which is a consumer version of the XAVC format (see some of the main differences above).

According to two of our sources the A7s records 4K using Sony’s XAVCs codec. From Wikipedia:

“XAVC S supports resolutions up to 3840 × 2160, uses MP4 as the container format, and uses either AAC or LPCM for the audio  As example use in Sony FDR-AX100 4K Ultra HD consumer camcorder.”

A source also told me the camera has a clean 4K clean output but doesn’t record a clean 4K on SD cards. The source didn’t specify if with “clean” he means 4K at 10 bit and 4:2:2. Also same as the main competitor, the Panasonic GH4.

Note: The FDR-AX100 has following recording options and I guess these will more or less match with those of the A7s:

UHD 4K
XAVC S
3840 x 2160p / 30 fps
3840 x 2160p / 24 fps

High Definition
XAVC S
1920 x 1080 / 60 fps
1920 x 1080 / 30 fps
1920 x 1080 / 24 fps
AVCHD
1920 x 1080p / 60 fps
1920 x 1080p / 24 fps
1920 x 1080i / 60 fps
1440 x 1080i / 60 fps

MP4
1280 x 720p / 30 fps

———

Reminder: The A7s will be unveiled live at 2pm in Las Vegas (on Sunday). You can follow the live video stream on SAR!!! This is the time in other time zones:
– 5pm New York time on Sunday April 6
– 10pm (22:00) London time on Sunday April 6
– 11pm (23:00) Berlin time on Sunday April 6
– 6am (06:00) Tokyo time on Monday April 7

———
Message to sources: You can send me more info anonymously by using the contact form you see on the very right of your browser. You can also contact me directly at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com.
For readers: Subscribe the RSS feed (Click here) and Twitter (Click here) stream and the Facebook fan page (Click here) in order to not miss any news!
——–

Reminder (SR = Sonyrumor):
SR1=probably fake rumor
SR2=rumor from unknown sources
SR3=50% chance it is correct
SR4=rumor from known sources
SR5=almost certainly correct!

image on top shows current A7.

The Sony A7s keeps surprising us! It will get announced on Sunday already(!) and it will record 4K video. And now I just learned it features a new 12 megapixel Full Frame sensor! It completely goes in the opposite direction of the market who calls for “more megapixels”. And I think Sony’s move makes a lot of sense: Larger pixels, cleaner high ISO images, more fps! This is going to be an amazing 4K camera!

Reminder: The A7s will be unveiled live at 2pm in Las Vegas (on Sunday). You can follow the live video stream on SAR!!! This is the time in other time zones:
– 5pm New York time on Sunday April 6
– 10pm (22:00) London time on Sunday April 6
– 11pm (23:00) Berlin time on Sunday April 6
– 6am (06:00) Tokyo time on Monday April 7

Follow SAR via RSS feed (Click here), Twitter (Click here) or Facebook fan page (Click here) to not miss any rumor that will be posted between now and the announcement! Stay tuned!!!!!!!!

Personal note: Sorry for my messy English and the many typos. I am travelling across Tuscany and some places have bad connection. I am working in extreme conditions :(

———
Message to sources: You can send me more info anonymously by using the contact form you see on the very right of your browser. You can also contact me directly at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com.
For readers: Subscribe the RSS feed (Click here) and Twitter (Click here) stream and the Facebook fan page (Click here) in order to not miss any news!
——–

Reminder (SR = Sonyrumor):
SR1=probably fake rumor
SR2=rumor from unknown sources
SR3=50% chance it is correct
SR4=rumor from known sources
SR5=almost certainly correct!

Follow the live stream on SAR!

At 7pm on Sunday (April 6) in Las Vegas Sony will announce the new Full Frame E-mount camera called “Sony A7s”. And according to one of our trusted sources it can record 4K video! Note: Today Sony announced a 4K partnerhsip with Fifa (more about it at Newsshooter). I am still not 100% sure yet if it will also feature the superb A6000 hybrid AF. But my guess is that the answer is YES and this could be the reason why it has the “S” suffix for “Speed” :)

A7s unveiling: You can follow the live stream presentation here on SonyAlphaRumors at 2pm Las Vegas time. So you can see the A7s as first and live here on SAR! Other time zones:
– 5pm New York time on Sunday April 6
– 10pm (22:00) London time on Sunday April 6
– 11pm (23:00) Berlin time on Sunday April 6
– 6am (06:00) Tokyo time on Monday April 7

Follow SAR via RSS feed (Click here), Twitter (Click here) or Facebook fan page (Click here) to not miss any rumor that will be posted between now and the announcement!

P.S.: A77II A-mount camera will be announced in early May! Interesting interview with Sony FE lens designers at LesNumeriques!

———
Message to sources: You can send me more info anonymously by using the contact form you see on the very right of your browser. You can also contact me directly at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com.
For readers: Subscribe the RSS feed (Click here) and Twitter (Click here) stream and the Facebook fan page (Click here) in order to not miss any news!
——–

Reminder (SR = Sonyrumor):
SR1=probably fake rumor
SR2=rumor from unknown sources
SR3=50% chance it is correct
SR4=rumor from known sources
SR5=almost certainly correct!