Short rumor about the new Pentax 645Z camera that should feature the new Sony 51MP medium format sensor. Digicameinfo leaked the images of the camera and also the specs. And Phototumors reports that it will cost $8500.

So this will be the cheapest Medium Format camera on the market with a Sony 51MP sensor that goes up to 204,800 ISO, does a sort of 4K in interval mode (???). As you know there are rumors saying Sony will do a sort of digital mirrorless [shoplink 25383 ebay]Mamiya 7 (here on eBay) camera[/shoplink]. And it should be cheaper than the Pentax. If it becomes true this will be an amazingly interesting camera!

The image on top shows you the new 28-135mm f/4.0 FE Powerzoom lens on the new A7s. You can here some more interesting tidbits about the lens from minute 6:00 of that video:

Both the Powerzoom and XLR mic kit are marked “under development”. Therefore no price and availability info have been released.

Let’s catch up with rumors that in some kind involve Sony:

1) Pentax launched a teaser for their new Pentax Z medium format camera. Wanna bet it uses the new Sony CMOS medium format sensor? :)

2) Fuji will release a Full Frame system camera in 2015 (via MirrorlessRumors). I heard that flange distance will not be as short as the E-mount. It means their FF lenses will fit on E-mount via adapter. Could be great to sue Fuji lenses on our A7 and future A9 cameras!

The world’s first store accepting preorders and unveiling the price of the new Sony A7s is WexUK (Click here). But asked via Twitter they also said that the price “is given to us by Sony, but it may change between now and the release date“. For comparison: WexUk sells the A7r for 1669 pounds! The A7s costs exactly %50 more! Based on the current A7r Amazon pricing the A7s could cost around $3,450! That would be higher than expected. I hope Sony will read your comments so that they will lower the price :)

Note: Actually the A7r price is lower if you buy it in kit with FE lenses. U to $650 savings on these special pages at Amazon (Click here), BHphoto (Click here) and SonyStore (Click here). Hope the A7s will take part of these kit savings too.

For US readers: One single Open Box A7 sells for $1,249.99(!) at [shoplink 25793 ebay]CameraLand on eBay US (Click here)[/shoplink].

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Thanks Rob for finding the tweet!

First image sample taken with the Mitakon 50mm f/0.95 Full Frame E-mount lens.

Almost three months ago we reported about the first image samples taken with a prototype Mitakon 50mm f/0.95 Full Frame E-mount lens (SAR post here). According to one of our trusted source the lens will now be launched on April 20th! And it will cost $799. That’s $220 more than their other E-mount lens, the [shoplink 14656 ebay]35mm f/0.95 lens for ASP-C E-mount cameras (they are on auction here on eBay)[/shoplink] which doesn’t cover the FF sensor area.

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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!

Cinema5D had the pleasure to help Sony with suggestions for the A7s development:

The cinema5D team was included in the design process and what Sony showed us yesterday was nothing short of a very pleasing result. They had listened to the shooters when they built this camera.

Good to hear Sony worked hard to get feedback from important sites. But like all other sites also Cinema5D isn’t sure about the final price:

There is no pricing on this camera yet, but it can be presumed that it will be in the $2000 range just like the previous A7 models.

By the way, notice the confusion on the price. DC.watch writes the price is a couple fo times higher than that of the A7.

Let me catch up with some A7s related news:

On top you can see Frederick Van Johnson youtube video interview about the Sony A7s. And a must watch video is this one posted by Den Lennie who is actually one of the few that had the lucky chance to test the A7s:

A7s Launch Film BTS from Den Lennie on Vimeo.

An absolute must read article for photogrpahers wondeirng why the A7s is that interesting has been written by Soundimagesplus (Click here):

The quality of the image is at least as important, if not more so, than how big it is.And that is where a camera like the A7s will really score. Better performance at high ISO’s means faster shutter speeds, narrower apertures and cleaner, sharper images. The photographer is also freed from the constraints of tripods, flash and lighting rigs in many instances. And 12MP is certainly enough for most publishing requirements. Sensors that improve dynamic range and allow us to document the non-sunlit world with clarity and definition is surely something we should applaud and encourage as photographers. I’m actually more excited about this camera than I thought I would be.

A7s eyes-on by Engadget on Youtube.
Spanish A7s NAB video by CineDigitalTV on Youtube.

A7s sites in different languages at Sony US, DE, UK, ES, FR, IT, NL, SE, FI, PL.