Sony Xperia 1 VII with 70-200mm lens to be announced on May 13

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Sony launched an official teaser for a new Sony Xperia One announcement on May 13. As you can see from the video Sony is teasing the telezoom features of the new smartphone. And indeed it’s rumored to have a 12-megapixel periscope telephoto camera with a 70-200mm focal length.

Rumored specs via Xpertpicks:

  • According to other reports, the Xperia 1 VII’s OLED panel will support a 19.5:9 aspect ratio, 4K resolution, and a 120Hz refresh rate. It will come preloaded with Android 15, like recent flagship phones.
  • Under the hood, the Snapdragon 8 Elite-powered phone will offer 12GB / 16GB of RAM, 256GB / 512GB of storage, and a 5,000mAh+ battery with 30W fast charging support.
  • On the front, it will feature a 12-megapixel selfie camera. The camera module on the back will have an OIS-assisted 48-megapixel primary camera, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide lens, and a 12-megapixel periscope telephoto camera with a 70-200mm focal length.
  • Expected to break cover in May globally, the Xperia 1 VII is likely to carry a starting price of $1,399.

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Sigma USA officially announces price increases from 2 June due to tariffs

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300-600mm preorders at BHphoto. Amazon. Adorama. FotoErhardt. Fotokoch. WexUK.

Mark Amir-Hamzeh, President of Sigma America just sent out this statement:

Dear customer,
Thank you for your continued support and trust in Sigma. We are writing to inform you of an upcoming pricing adjustment to our products, effective June 2, 2025.
Due to the recent implementation of government-imposed tariffs, our costs have increased substantially. We have made every effort to absorb these added expenses, but the sustained impact of the tariffs now necessitates a price increase to ensure we can continue delivering the quality and service you expect.

Key details:

  • Current pricing will remain in effect for all orders placed through June 1st, 2025, subject to product availability.
  • New pricing will take effect on June 2, 2025, and will apply to all new orders and any unfulfilled items.

We understand this is difficult news to hear, and please know this decision was not made lightly. We have always prided ourselves on delivering unmatched value to our customers, and we are doing everything we can to continue to do that while providing the same service and product excellence.
We sincerely appreciate your understanding and continued partnership.

Sigma manufactures all its lenses in Japan. And Japan has been slapped with a 10% tariff. How high the final price increase will be is unclear. The 10% tariff applies to the price of the imported product, not the final price you pay in the US shop. I therefore estimate that the actual price increase for consumers will be about 5-7% on top of the current price. This is something you can feel with the more expensive lenses. The new 300-600mm is available for pre-order for $6,000. An increase of 5 % would mean a price of $6300. A real world example of a price increase can be seen on Leica M11-P. The price rose from $9195 to $9839 (+7%). The camera is manufactured in Germany, which is subject to the same duty rate of 10% as Japan.

The uncertainty lies in the negotiations. It could be that the tariffs are ultimately set to zero again or that the tariffs are increased further if the negotiations fail. But this is all political speculation and I don’t want to guess what will happen in a few months’ time.

If you like to avoid paying the extra price you should consider preordering now your lens on those Sigma pages at BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama.

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Sony “FX3a” will be announced tomorrow…but don’t worry one more camera is coming!

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Tomorrow Sony will release the new “Sony FX3a”. But to call it new is an exaggeration. Basically the LCD display is no more in production and Sony had to release this new version with a new display and charger. So this is not a real updated FX3 and a new Sony FX3II is still on track to be released within a year.

Don’t be disappointed yet, I told you a very new kind of Sony camera will be announced in late May!

If you happen to know more about this announcement feel free to share the info though this anonymous contact form or contact me via eMail, Signal, Telegram. Thanks!

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DxO just announced the new Nik Collection 8

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DxO just released the new Nik Collection 8 suite (Click here). You can buy it here or try it out here.

Press Text:

Nik Collection 8 expands Photoshop’s photo editing potential across all seven plugins thanks to new integration and powerful features
Version 8 unlocks the full power of Photoshop masks, and upgrades make Nik Color Efex better than ever. Plus, Nik Silver Efex has been rethought to ensure effortless black-and-white images.

Paris (France): DxO today unveils Nik Collection 8, the latest version of its celebrated creative plugin suite for photographers. This new release brings a completely redesigned Photoshop panel, powerful new masking functionality, and significant improvements to Silver Efex and Color Efex, delivering a more dynamic editing experience.

“With Nik Collection 8, we wanted to enhance both creativity and efficiency,” said Boris Oliviero, Product Director. “We’ve reimagined the Photoshop workflow, making it easier than ever to apply powerful effects, refine local adjustments, and move seamlessly between plugins.”

Powerful new mask options

Photographers can now import masks directly from Photoshop into any Nik Collection plugin, making full use of Photoshop’s powerful selection tools. A new feature in the Local Adjustments panel also lets users transfer masks effortlessly between plugins. And when ready, photographers can send masks created in Nik Collection straight back to Photoshop for further
refinement. With Nik Collection 8, your masks remain accessible at every step of the workflow, whether they originate from Photoshop or a Nik Collection plugin.

A smarter, more flexible return to Photoshop

Bringing edits back into Photoshop is now more intuitive. Users can choose to:

  • convert edits into a Smart Object for non-destructive editing;
  • apply changes to the current layer or create a new one;
  • generate a new layer with a mask, providing additional flexibility.

Send edits as Layers to Photoshop

Photographers can now send their Nik Collection edits directly to Photoshop as a new Photoshop layer while continuing to work inside Nik Collection. This allows users to test multiple ideas for an image without breaking their creative flow, and have all of their edits immediately at hand once back inside Photoshop.

Brand-new Photoshop panel for maximum efficiency

Nik Collection 8 introduces a fully customizable and dockable Photoshop panel, replacing the traditional Nik Palette. This new design allows photographers to save screen space by choosing which plugins to display, and launch any plugin with a single click for a more fluid workflow. Plus, all of the essential controls for managing layers and masks are immediately accessible.

Major upgrades to Nik Silver Efex

Nik Silver Efex, the industry’s leading black-and-white editing tool, gets significant usability and
feature boosts:

  • Color Reference Image: Users can now view their original color image while working in
    black and white. This makes it easier to make changes that are dependent on the
    original image, such as applying Color Filters or adjusting the Sensitivity sliders inside
    the Film Types filter.
  • Streamlined interface: The logic of the interface now matches that of Nik Color Efex and
    Nik Analog Efex, keeping filters on the left-hand side until they are used to edit an image.
  • Better logic when applying presets: Only the relevant filters appear on the right-hand
    side when a preset has been selected.
  • New Local Adjustments: ClearView and Selective Tones can now be applied locally.
  • New Filter Looks: Each filter now includes various pre-defined options for quick
    application.

New Color Masks bring precision edits to Nik Color Efex

Targeting local adjustments just became more powerful as the suite now lets photographers select a range of colors for changes. Simply click on the desired color, tweak the handles as
required, and then start making adjustments.

Quick Export upgraded for a faster workflow

Upgrades make it quicker to switch to TIFF format when using the Quick Export button. Plus, the export options are now instantly accessible so that users can tweak the Quick Export configuration directly rather than having to navigate the menu.

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Sony will likely announce TWO new cameras this month: One of them is a new kind of camera!

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I have unconfirmed rumors from a sources about a DOUBLE Sony camera announcement:

  1. On May 7 Sony could announce a small ‘update‘ of this camera. With new LCD screen, new charging port and other minor updates. Bad news: Increased price tag of $4500?
  2. The exciting news: In late May there would be a completely new kind of camera that has one aspect of this Alpha series. More about that soon on SAR!

I am working right now with sources and hopefully within hours I can tell you more about both cameras!

If you happen to know more about this announcement feel free to share the info though this anonymous contact form or contact me via eMail, Signal, Telegram. Thanks!

 

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Good news: New large stock of Sony A1II camera is now shipping out in the USA

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As you know, the Sony A1II is still in high demand. In the US, it’s out of stock at BHphoto, Adorama reports that it will ship in July, and Amazon has even stopped accepting preorders and canceled all older preorders. But now there is good news:

Our reader Andrew reported

I, a regular customer running a small photography business, ordered a Sony A1ii on March 31st from B&H Photo, and I just received a shipping notification email that it got shipped today and is expected to be delivered on 02-May-2025 (tomorrow).  I’m a customer on the East coast of the USA. 
This may be indicative of the overall trend towards B&H (and likely other retailers) slowly clearing their backlog and catching up with orders of the A1ii.  I heard (unofficially) from some of their workers that they received a large shipment of a1ii cameras in early April (between 500-1000 units). 
My personal experience is also consistent with the trend as expressed in this thread:  https://old.reddit.com/r/SonyAlpha/comments/1ilis6f/sony_a1_ii_shipping_updates/?sort=new (see especially, comments by /u/Arizona_Monsoon and /u/Repulsive-Meeting490).
Just thought I’d let you know since I’ve followed you for a while, and I know that this is a topic of some interest to your readers, including myself.
Keep up the great work!

Thanks Andrew!

All new Sony rebates can be found on those pages at BHphoto, Adorama and Amazon.

Sony Camera deals:

Sony Lens deals:

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