Two new E-mount lenses (I think both might be autofocus) will be announced soon:

• Yongnuo will announce a new YN23mm f/1.4S DA DSM WL Pro APS-C E-mount prime on January 3th
• Brigthin Star will announce a new E-mount prime on January 6th

I don’t have the specs of the Brightin Star yet, but if it’s anything like all the other releases so far, this will again be an inadequate and unexciting addition. We already have a lot of affordable, unexciting lenses. What I’d like to see from these companies now is a truly innovative product…. like Viltrox did with the 16mm f/1.8 and 28mm f/4.5 pancake.

the A7V is coming soon for sure…just not like this imagined image on top :)

I wish you all a happy new year! And I’m sure we’ll still have an exciting time here on SAR in 2025. In fact, I think it will be even more exciting than 2024 ;)

I don’t expect any new Alpha gear to be announced that day. But as always, I hope I’m wrong. But even if nothing comes that day, I’m sure the Sony A7V will be announced very soon!

A couple of readers from different European countries have brought to my attention that their national Sony stores have labeled some older Sony cameras as “new”. I have no idea why Sony did this, probably a formatting error on the Sony Europe pages?

According to PetaPixel Sony had a solid year in 2024:

It was a clean sweep for Sony in PetaPixel‘s 2024 Awards. The Sony a9 III (announced near the end of 2023 and therefore not relevant to Sony’s 2024 grade) won Camera of the Year, the 85mm f/1.4 GM II won Prime Lens of the Year, and the 28-70mm f/2 GM our Zoom Lens of the Year. That’s worthy of praise and a high mark for the year.

Some of Sony’s releases were a bit uninspiring, like the 24-50mm f/2.8 G and the new APS-C kit zoom lens, which drag the average down ever-so-slightly. However, that aside, Sony had an impressive 2024, and Sony fans have a lot to look forward to as we turn the page to 2025.

Personally, I would rate Sony a little lower. In my opinion, Sony has done an almost perfect job with the lenses, apart from the fact that we are still missing some nice telephoto lenses. But when it comes to cameras, we should have gotten more. An RX1rIII successor would have been a real hit if it had been announced in 2024. Don’t you agree?