Tokina 85mm f/1.8 FE autofocus lens officially announced!

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You can preorder it now at BHphoto and Adorama. In Europe at Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon FR, Amazon IT, Amazon ES.

Press Text:

Kenko Tokina announces release of the NEW atx-m 85mm f/1.8 FE
New Series, New optics, New look – The atx-m 85mm f/1.8 FE lens for full-frame Sony E-mount mirrorless cameras.

Huntington Beach, CA, January 17, 2020: Kenko Tokina, Japan’s leading manufacturer of premium camera accessories, is releasing the Tokina atx-m 85mm f/1.8 FE lens for full-frame Sony E-mount mirrorless cameras. It is the debut lens for Tokina’s atx-m series of mirrorless lenses that will include lenses for multiple mounts and sensor formats.

The atx-m 85mm f1.8 FE lens features a clean design with high quality optics housed in a beautifully anodized, semi-satin black metal lens barrel. The fast f/1.8 aperture is perfect for portraits, low light shooting and produces beautiful bokeh.

The optical design has 10 glass elements in 7 groups including 1 SD (Low Dispersion) lens that offers excellent resolution, sharp edge-to-edge results, and well controlled chromatic aberrations. Tokina’s exclusive Super Low Reflection Multi-coating provides natural color and excellent contrast along with superior water, oil, and dust repellant properties.

The new ST-M auto-focus motor is quiet, fast, and accurate in still and video modes and thanks to an all-metal focus unit and high-quality lubricants; manual focus is tactile, smooth and precise.

The atx-m 85mm FE is developed and manufactured in accordance with Sony-licensed specifications and communicates all required data to the camera to take full advantage of the latest Sony features including 5-axis image stabilization, Face/Eye Priority AF, Real-time Eye AF, MF assist, and electronic distance scale.

“This is a very exciting new lens series for Tokina” says Yuji Matsumoto, President at Kenko Tokina USA. “The mirrorless camera market continues to expand and the atx-m series will address the needs of photographers using different camera mounts and sensor sizes.”

Worldwide sales of the Tokina atx-m 85mm f/1.8 FE lens will begin on February 7, 2020 with authorized Tokina USA retailers taking pre-orders January 17, 2020. Estimated USA Street Price of $499.00

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Sony releases firmware updates for the Sony A9II, 24mm GM and 135mm GM

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Today Sony released firmware updates on three E-mount products:

Sony A9II (download fw 1.01 here). Benefits and improvements:

  • FTP transfer can be started earlier after shooting pictures
  • Improves the overall stability and performance of the camera:
    • Corrects a specific condition where the camera can sometimes turn off when playing back RAW images
    • JPEG Image quality is more consistent when shooting under specific conditions

Sony 24mm f/1.8 GM (download fw 02 here). Benefits and improvements:

  • Improved aperture response when the lens is attached to the ILCE-9, ILCE-9M2 and ILCE-7RM4 camera models.
  • “Focus Priority” can be selected from the “Aperture Drive in AF” menu when the lens is attached to an ILCE-9 camera (with firmware version 6.00 or later).

Notes:

  • It is not possible to execute the lens firmware procedure with the following E-mount cameras: NEX-5, NEX-3, NEX-C3, NEX-VG10, PXW-FS7.
  • When using the PXW-FS7M2, follow the steps as specified in the instruction manual.

Sony 135mm f/1.4 GM (download fw 02 here). Benefits and improvements:

  • Improved aperture response when the lens is attached to the ILCE-9, ILCE-9M2 and ILCE-7RM4 camera models.
  • “Focus Priority” can be selected from the “Aperture Drive in AF” menu when the lens is attached to an ILCE-9 camera (with firmware version 6.00 or later).

Notes:

  • It is not possible to execute the lens firmware procedure with the following E-mount cameras: NEX-5, NEX-3, NEX-C3, NEX-VG10, PXW-FS7.
  • When using the PXW-FS7M2, follow the steps as specified in the instruction manual.

 

 

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WILD RUMOR: Reports from Thailand say the A7IV will have a fully articulating LCD screen?

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poorly photoshopped (LOL) A7III body with fully articulating screen

A person who claims “to be close” to the Sony factory in Thailand reports that the A7IV will have a fully articulating LCD screen:

“Sony a7IV has full articulate screen, spec same as III no improvement, more like basic model for vloggers.”

This is the first time I heard about this so it might be complete BS. But this is the kind of wild rumor I hope it will become true. It’s something like seven years now the Sony community is asking for this to happen!!!

More reliable rumor talk:
Just last week I posted the rumor from a source who told me Sony will launch a new camera and new handle soon. Well yesterday Sony announced the GP-VPT2BT handle so this gives us a fair chance that indeed Sony will have a new camera on market by March. The A7III has been announced two years ago at the Cp+ show. So this would fit the timeline. But this is only a guess for now and I got no evidence or reliable rumor confirming this now.

Let’s guess the possible A7IV specs:
I presume Sony will take a very conservative approach. Which means: Expect the A7rIV body and features with an “Upgraded” 24MP sensor. Well, adding a fully articulating screen would be at least one positive surprise…

Rumor ranking explained:
I now post only  two kind of rumors:

RUMOR: Marks rumors that  are somehow more solid and likely to be true
WILD RUMOR: Marks rumor that are from anonymous and first time sources. We post them just for the sake of fun and clickbait of course  :)

Note: Please hold me accountable for the “RUMOR” and not for “WILD RUMOR”  :)

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Sigma 30mm f/1.4 E-mount lens has lowest price ever and now is the top selling lens at Amazon

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You get the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 APS-C E-mount lens for the lowest price ever on Amazon US. And it’s no coincidence it’s also the top sold lens according to this Amazon ranking.

And today only you save on those four items at BHphoto:

– $100 of on the Pelican deluxe case
– $72 off on the Porta Brace case
– $30 off on the Seagate 4TB external hard drive
– $20 off on the Bolt Macro Ring Light

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