End of last week I told you that Sony is developing a camera which has a sort of a hybrid mount. I don’t know how it works but our smart readers found a camera that has a kind of hybrid mount (thanks!). The original [shoplink 10295 ebay]Contax rangefinder[/shoplink] made from the 1930ies to the 50ies had two bayonets! [shoplink 10295 ebay](Click here to see them on eBay)[/shoplink].  Camerapedia explains how this works: “This mount is in fact the combination of two bayonets. There is a focusing helical built in the body and the standard lenses mount directly in that focusing ramp via an internal bayonet. So the standard lenses have no focusing ring of their own. The other lenses mount on an external bayonet and have their own focusing ring, only the rangefinder coupling is done via the body’s focusing ramp.”

You can see a nice image that shows the two different type of mounts here: http://www.fotocommunity.de/pc/pc/display/16753502. Now imagine a Full Frame camera with an inner mount for NEX lenses and an outer mount for Alpha lenses. Could it work? Does it make sense at all? I hope my sources can soon give me the answer how this should work for real! ;)

—

P:S.: Zeiss Ikon Contax I, II and III can still be found [shoplink 10295 ebay]here on eBay[/shoplink].

For one month now I am collecting the info about a third still very “mysterious” full frame camera. The first two Full Frame cameras that will come in 2012 are the A9x SLT camera with 24 Mega-pixel sensor (80% the rumor is true) and a 36 Mega-pixel SLT camera with built-in vertical grip (65% the rumor is true). The third camera I heard about is still an early prototype only and could be unveiled at Photokina (September 2012) at earliest. It is not a neither a pure NEX camera nor a pure SLT camera. It’s a new kind of camera, with a hybrid mount! Don’t ask me what that “Hybrid mount” camera is because I really didn’t figure it out yet. I even searched on google and [shoplink 10260 ebay]here on ebay[/shoplink] to see if there is something similar in the camera history. No way :(
I am asking my sources to help me a bit on that. Thanks!

P.S.: And do not forget that you can join the SonyAlphaRumors fanpage on facebook (Click here). There are many discussions and news on that website too!

US deals: Here are the direct links to the Black Friday deals homepage at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Cameta (Click here) and J&R (Click here).

After a long pause I can finally share a new SR5 (top rumor) with you! According to trusted sources Sony will release a new A-mount Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 SSM lens in 2012. I am not sure yet about the exact month but it could be announced along the new A9x in Spring. I have also no idea yet about the price. Easy to guess it will be more expensive than the [shoplink 7134 ebay]Sony 50mm f/1.4 lens ($399)[/shoplink]. It should be more in the price league of the manual [shoplink 10196 ebay]Zeiss Planar 50mm f/1.4 lens ($700)[/shoplink].

A couple of months ago the Japanese blog Egami found a new Sony patent that describes the characteristics for two new standard lenses. A new 50mm f/1.2 and a new 50mm f/1.4 fullframe lens. You see the lens specs on top of this post.

One more info: Sony postponed all Sony fullframe lens releases from 2011 to 2012. They will all come with the new FF cameras. So expect a nice bunch of new lenses! Stay tuned on SonyAlphaRumors! And don’t forget to join us on facebook (Click here).

Poll:

 Loading ...

Links:
Sony 50mm f/1.4 lens at [shopcountry 7134]
Zeiss Planar 50mm lens [shopcountry 10196]

Current Zeiss fullframe lenses for Sony:
SAL-1635Z 16-35mm f/2.8 ZA SSM Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* AF SLR Lens [shopcountry 9773]
Distagon T* 24mm f/2 SSM Wide Angle Lens [shopcountry 9769]
SAL-2470Z 24-70mm f/2.8 Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* Autofocus Lens [shopcountry 9776]
SAL-85F14Z Telephoto 85mm f/1.4 Carl Zeiss Planar T* Autofocus Lens [shopcountry 9782]
SAL-135F18Z 135mm f/1.8 Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* Autofocus SLR Lens [shopcountry 9771]
SAL-135F28 135mm f/2.8 Manual Focus SLR Lens [shopcountry 9772]

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!

Our friends over at Nikonrumors leaked the first picture of the Nikon D800. And why should we care about it? Because it uses the new 36 megapixel Sony sensor that we first reported here on SAR almost a year ago. The leaked picture confirm that the rumor is 99% true. Before to talk about the megapixel madness(?) I want to remind you that unlike Nikon Sony will first release a 24 megapixel FF camera in early Spring and a couple of months later the much more expensive 36 Megapixel FF camera which will probably have a built-in vertical grip. Both camera will be SLT (no optical viewfinder).

The good news here is that unlike Nikon Sony will offer us both, a low resolution and high resolution choice. But the question is, do we really need so many megapixels? Carl Garrard writes on Photographic Central: “I think the average consumer is starting to realize that megapixels isn’t all that important anymore, and the term itself at least in the US is becoming increasingly less popular in conversations I have with everyone. In other words, most people don’t give a crap about megapixels as much as they used too.”

I believe there is no problem if Sony is going to release a camera with 36 megapixels as long as we they also offer the low resolution option (24 Megapixels). Carl also hopes that Sony will offer an optical viewfinder version. But I already know that this is not going to happen. There will be a new generation of OLED viewfinders which is even better than the currently very good [shoplink 8461]Sony A77[/shoplink] viewfinder.

Now let’s hope Sony will release the Sony A9x sooner than expected. I know many are pushing to announce the camera before the planned Spring release!

Asian sources told me today that the new 1.04 firmware update has been released to Sony related photographers and reviewers. They are now currently testing it to check for issues. The firmware is not going to be published this week. Sorry, there has been a communication mistake between the sources. They first told me that Sony would release the firmware this week but only now they understood that it is just an “internal” release.

Please understand that this is a rumors website, it’s hard to get every time 100% reliable and super correct info. Anyway, the update should be very soon available for us normal customers too!

That is going to be a tuff competitor for Sony! The first Fuji X pictures surfaced at Xitek. Like the NEX-7 it has a built-in viewfinder but Fuji is using the same optical and electronic hybrid viewfinder they use on the [shoplink 6075 ebay]Fuji X100 (Click here to see that cam)[/shoplink]. I expect the Fuji X to cost much more than the NEX-7 but I admit that the viewfinder technology is a real hit. I have no info about the sensor size yet but I guess it’s APS-C. Anyway, I think Sony has a much more advanced sensor and OLED viewfinder technology (compared to the Fuji X100). And I don’t think the Fuji X will be good at video.

Maybe it’s just me, but I would like a NEX-7 version with hybrid viewfinder. And you?

 Loading ...