USA Preorders:
Sony 200-600mm FE at Amazon, BHphoto, FocusCamera, BuyDig and Adorama.
Sony 600mm FE GM at Amazon, BHphoto, FocusCamera, BuyDig and Adorama.
EU Preorders:
Sony 200-600mm FE at Calumet DE. WexUK. ParkCameras. Calumet NL. Cameratools NL.
Sony 600mm FE GM at Calumet DE. WexUK. ParkCameras. Calumet NL. Cameratools NL.
Asia Preorders:
Sony 200-600mm FE at Sony Japan. Sony Australia.
Sony 600mm FE GM at Sony Japan. Sony Australia.

Sony Introduces the New Super-telephoto 600mm F4 G Master Prime Lens

Sony’s Longest Reaching Prime Lens is World’s Lightest in its Class, Featuring High-performance Autofocus, High Resolution and Beautiful Bokeh

SAN DIEGO — June 11, 2019 — Sony Electronics Inc. today announced another impressive addition to its flagship full-frame G Master™ series lens lineup: the new FE 600mm F4 GM OSS super-telephoto prime lens (model SEL600F40GM).

As Sony’s longest reaching prime lens, the new 600mm includes many of the company’s most advanced optical and mechanical technologies, producing exceptional image quality with extraordinary focusing speed and precision. The FE 600mm F4 GM OSS is also the lightest lens in its class[i], weighing in at approx. 6.71 lbs., and features an extremely balanced design to ensure the best possible shooting experience. Along with the acclaimed FE 400mm F2.8 GM OSS lens, the new 600mm lens gives professional sports, wildlife and news photographers more options for capturing subjects at a great distances with extreme accuracy and detail.

“With two new lenses announced today, our growing E-mount lens lineup now includes 33 full-frame models and 51 lenses in total,” said Neal Manowitz, deputy president for Imaging and Professional Solutions Americas at Sony Electronics. “The tenth model from our flagship G Master series, the new 600mm F4 raises the bar for speed, mobility and control in a super-telephoto prime lens. Combining the extensive 600mm reach with features like 20 fps shooting and AF/AE calculations at 60 times per second on the α9 or extremely high resolution, high-speed performance on the α7R III allow professional photographers to create images that were simply not possible to capture before.”

Fast, Precise and Quiet Autofocus[ii]

To take best advantage of the highly evolved autofocus systems of Sony’s latest full-frame E-mount cameras, the new FE 600mm F4 GM OSS lens features two extreme dynamic (XD) linear motors that drive the lens’ focus group to provide fast, precise AF and reliable subject tracking. These motors are supported by specially developed motion algorithms to minimize lag and instability, as well as to control noise levels, resulting in exceptionally quick, accurate and quiet autofocus performance, allowing the lens to capture dynamic, fast moving athletes or wildlife with ease.

Superb G Master Image Quality and Bokeh

As a member of Sony’s flagship G Master series lenses, this new large aperture super-telephoto prime lens features an incredible level of image quality and detail, with outstanding contrast and resolution maintained all the way to the corners of the image. The unique optical design includes a large extreme aspherical (XA) element that effectively suppress all common telephoto lens aberrations, in addition to three fluorite elements that help to minimize chromatic aberration and suppress any amount of color bleeding. Sony’s latest bokeh simulation technologies and XA element are also utilized to control spherical aberration and help achieve exquisite bokeh.

The lens features an 11-blade circular aperture mechanism that contributes to the high quality of bokeh in images, and it has been coated with Sony’s original Nano AR coating to suppress any unwanted reflections, glare or ghosting in images.

The new FE 600mm F4 GM OSS is compatible with Sony’s 1.4x and 2.0x E-mount tele-converters, producing outstanding imaging performance at extended focal lengths[iii] while maintaining fast, precise AF performance.

Lightweight, Balanced Design

The new super-telephoto prime lens provides a level of portability and maneuverability that has never been achieved before in a lens of its class. Based on technology from the acclaimed FE 400mm F2.8 GM OSS lens, the lightweight design of the new 600mm lens is achieved through the usage of three fluorite elements, with a reduced number of elements deployed at the front of the barrel. Magnesium alloy is also used throughout the lens to help minimize weight and bulk.

Also inherited from FE 400mm F2.8 GM OSS, the new 600mm lens features a lens design that is not front-heavy, reducing moment of inertia that resists rotation and ensuring quicker, more precise panning when shooting handheld or on a monopod.

Durability, Reliability and Control

To withstand the harsh conditions of sporting events and wildlife photography, Sony’s new FE 600mm F4 GM OSS is built with a durable magnesium alloy and a strong, lightweight carbon fiber hood. The lens is dust and moisture resistant[iv], and its front element is coated with fluorine to resist dirt and fingerprints.

FE 600mm F4 GM OSS features an ample number of hard controls on the lens, including customizable focus-hold buttons in four different locations on the lens barrel, which can be programmed for control of features, if desired. There is also a Full-Time DMF switch to immediately engage manual focus at any point, and a focus ring that features Linear Response MF for fine, responsive manual focus.

Additionally, the new lens includes built-in optical stabilization for dynamic action and three different ‘Mode’ settings, including a Mode 3[v] setting with an advanced algorithm that ensures easier framing when following moving subjects. It also features a function ring with selectable ‘Preset’ and ‘Function’ settings, and a drop-in filter slot that accepts ø 40.5mm ND and other filter types, as well as the optional VF-DCPL1 Drop-in Circular Polarizing Filter. The VF-DCPL1 filter can be rotated to achieve the desired polarization while installed in the lens.

Pricing and Availability

The FE 600mm F4 GM OSS will ship in August 2019 for approximately $13,000 US and $16,900 CA. It will be sold at a variety of Sony’s authorized dealers throughout North America.

[i] Compared to interchangeable 600mm F4 lenses for 35mm full-frame format camera bodies, as of June 2019. Sony survey

[ii] When the NEX series, ILCE-3000/3500, ILCE-5000/5100, ILCE-7/7R/7S, is attached, the autofocus function is limited. For details, please visit our support site.

https://support.d-imaging.sony.co.jp/www/cscs/lens_body/?area=gwt&lang=en&mdl=SEL600F40GM&cat=3

[iii] Maximum aperture with the 1.4x and 2.0x teleconverters is F5.6 and F8, respectively

[iv] Not guaranteed to be 100% dust and moisture proof

[v] MODE 3 is supported by the latest α9/α7R III/α7 III software version. Refer to the Sony support site for camera body compatibility information

Skylum released the new Luminar 3.1.1 update. The new version mainly focuses on speed improvement and as you can see from the image on top it’s really much faster. If you plan to buy Luminar use our coupon code “SAR” at checkout to save $10.

What’s New:

Mac

– Change the language. Now you can set the language in Luminar regardless of your system settings. Simply go to Main menu > Language and choose one from the list.

– Easier navigation. Want to quickly find the folder that contains a specific photo but have too many folders to go through? Now all you have to do is right-click on the photo and select Go to > Folder in Library and you’re there!

– Improved launch time. Now, starting from the second launch, the average launch time for Luminar is significantly faster. Even if you have hundreds of thousands of photos in your Library.

– Faster album creation. In this update, we’ve boosted the speed of Luminar when creating new albums with large numbers of photos.

Win

– Easier navigation. Want to quickly find the folder that contains a specific photo but have too many folders to go through? Now all you have to do is right-click on the photo and select Go to > Folder in Library and you’re there! You can even find all photos from the same date by right-clicking and selecting Go to > Images from the same date.

– Improved launch time. Now, starting from the second launch, the average launch time for Luminar is significantly faster. Even if you have hundreds of thousands of photos in your Library.

– Masking Brush. With this update, the masking brush becomes even smoother and more pleasant to use – and almost 2.5 times faster!
updated “What’s new”

BCNretail published the market shares data between April 2018 to March 2019.

Canon did hold 37.3% of the overall camera market shares (fixed lens plus system cameras)
Nikon did hold 26,7% of the overall camera market shares
Sony did hold 13,1% of the overall camera market shares
Olympus did hold 6% of the overall camera market shares
Ricoh did hold 5.8% of the overall camera market shares

Compared to the previous year:

Canon sold -1,3% cameras (units of sales)
Nikon sold -15% cameras
Sony sold -6,6% cameras
Olympus sold -13,8% cameras
Fuji sold +19,4% cameras

But the story changes if you consider the overall value of the camera sales. Sonny mostly sells high-end cameras and that’s where you see their big leap forward. So while in terms of units Sony had a -6,6% of sales they actually made more money than the previous year:

Canon camera sales value dropped -11,4%
Nikon camera sales value dropped -28,5%
Sony camera sales value increased +14,5%
Olympus camera sales value dropped -21,3%
Fuji camera sales value increased +0,6%

Sony is clearly focusing on the market with the higher profit margin and this strategy is clearly paying off! Nikon and Olympus had a really dramatic drop in sales value. If that trend continues it will be a big trouble for both of them…

via Digicameinfo