Sony Tidbits…

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Sony RX10 III Review – Real World, Lab, and How to Use Camera

Flat lens promises possible revolution in optics (BBC Science)
Get Ready for the VR Revolution (Explora).
Why I choose the Sony A7SII (Hanna Saba).
Sony Multi-Interface replacement foot fixed for cheap (Pictureitllc).

To write a guest post on SAR follow the instructions on that page. Thanks!

Juha Hansen‎:Here is our 3rd production diary from Scotland and England. We where shooting exclusively on A7 cameras. A7RII, A7s, Zeiss Batis 18mm, Sony Zeiss 50mm and 24-70. Slowmo’s on RX100IV with 250 fps. Music made with Ableton Live and Push. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qUOqyC3-nCw

Vintage:Video using the A7S: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svw3W-YRfAc

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Metabones releases new firmware update to address customers critic

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metabones

Metabones did listen to the customer feedback after the latest firmware release form June 23. And they just released a new firmware for the Canon EF to E-mount Smart adapters and Speed Boosters: Benefits and improvements: (more detail may refer to press release below)

  • You have spoken and we have listened. “Green” is the default mode again.
  • “Advanced” mode AF-C improvements.
  • Fixed manual focus distance display with focus-by-wire lenses (e.g. 85/1.2L, STM lenses).

Vancouver, Canada, June 30, 2016: Metabones® thrives on constructive criticism by the community and the press, and customer feedback was the driving force behind the fastest phase-detect autofocus (PDAF) across the widest selection of EF-Mount lenses on the Sony phase-detect trio (A7 Mark II, A7R Mark II and A6300) through a series of incremental firmware improvements last year, a feat that still held just as true with the release of “native” AF firmware last week. This accomplishment was the cornerstone of Metabones’ “Ubiquitously Fast Autofocus” vision, providing the broadest range of mirrorless cameras with fast still-photo single-AF when using adapted EF-mount digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) lenses. It began with fast AF on Panasonic launched in tandem with the 0.71x EF-MFT Speed Booster ULTRA last July, followed by fast AF on the Sony phase-detect trio and Olympus cameras last year. An EF lens on A7 Mark II, A7R Mark II or A6300 focused so quickly that it was virtually indistinguishable from a genuine Canon DSLR under some use-case scenarios. Nevertheless, Sony’s contrast-detect AF cameras such as A7S Mark II and early phase-detect cameras such as A6000 still took seconds to lock using an EF lens, and that remained the final frontier to conquer before we could lay claim to be ubiquitously fast. With Metabones “native” AF firmware, these other cameras got an order-of-magnitude boost in AF performance. “Native” AF was also an order-of-magnitude faster than Sony A-mount lenses on Sony LA-EA3 adapter on these non-phase-detect and early phase-detect Sony cameras. With the “native” AF firmware release, “Ubiquitously Fast Autofocus” was fait accompli and our vision had become reality.

“Native” was an informal term referring to a different version of the lens communication protocol which unlocked extra features such as direct manual focus (DMF), Eye-AF (A7 series), fast contrast-detect AF (faster for all Sony cameras except the phase-detect trio), continuous video AF, zoom position and focus distance display. Metabones did not make any representation of further performance improvement for the Sony phase-detect trio of cameras from “native” AF. Quite on the contrary, our previous announcement stated that “native” AF might have lower performance than the original “Green” mode phase-detect AF, which had been the fastest since last year. There was no performance regression in the sense that the user could configure the adapter to have the old behaviour (“Green” mode) back with a simple procedure. Hindsight being 20/20, switching the default mode from “Green” to “Advanced” was a mistake, and we apologize to affected A7 Mark II, A7R Mark II and A6300 owners who were inconvenienced by this change. Based on your input, we are releasing a new Metabones App 2.4 (E-mount v52) with the default mode reverted to “Green” again. V52 cannot be safer to install because no new features are activated and there are no changes in operation without you first opting in. Users of Sony’s contrast-detect AF and early phase-detect AF cameras are advised to configure your adapter to “Advanced” mode using the procedure in the User Manual section of our web site (http://metabones.com/article/of/green-power-save-mode) to get a significant AF performance improvement. In addition, we have made “native” AF-C slightly better and added C-AF support for Olympus OM-D E-M1, although an AF-C performance bottleneck remains in the lens’ inability to execute a series of fine maneuvers with minimal latency as commanded by the camera body. Metabones App 2.4 is available immediately for download from Metabones’ web site. We will continue to listen to your feedback as we have always been, because your input sets the direction of our future development efforts on “native” AF technology using adapted DSLR lenses.

Downloads links:
Firmware update for EF-E Smart Adapter MARK IV and EF-E Speed Booster ULTRA (Windows)
Firmware update for EF-E Smart Adapter MARK IV and EF-E Speed Booster ULTRA (Mac)
Firmware update for EF-M43 (Windows)
Firmware update for EF-M43 (Mac)

 

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Exclusive for SAR readers: Get a free $100 gift card with the Batis 25mm FE lens!

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Batis25mm

I made a special deal for SAR readers. You get a $100 gift card for free if you buy the Zeiss Batis 25mm lens on that FocusCamera link (Click here). Once you click on the link and add the lens to the shopping cart insert the coupon code “SONYALRU100GC“. Note, the couon code works only if you click the link above. The deal expires on July 4.

The Techart Leica-M autofocus adapter for Sony E-mount cameras is on sale for $399 on [shoplink 49372 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

More deals:
The big lens savings are ending soon! So be sure to check out the full special deals pages at BHphoto (Click here) and Adorama (Click here).
BHphoto launched a super long list of “Independence day deals” (Click here).  Scroll down and down and down to see them all :)
Easycover announced their very first Sony product, the A6300 protective case! Preorders links:
Black A6300 Easycover ar BHphoto and [shoplink 49228 ebay]eBay Europe[/shoplink].
Camouflage A6300 Easycover ar BHphoto and [shoplink 49227 ebay]eBay Europe[/shoplink].

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Sony camera business report: It’s number one in mirrorless. Future focus on resolution, sensivity and speed increase.

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Sonycamerareport

Sony released the full financial report for the Imaging Product Segment (PDF file here). For the first time they give us a clue about the negative impact of the Kumamoto earthquake. So let’s get to the most important points:

  1. The main goal in the consumer market is to “Strengthen “camera brand” and maintain a high level of profitability centered on Interchangeable Lens Camera (ILC)“. As you can see from the slide above the focus is on higher resolution, sensivity and speed cameras. And of course expanding the “a-mount system”. But be aware that for Sony “a-mount” means Alpha-mount which is both A and E-mount (weird marketing!)
  2. The full 2016 year forecast for the whole Imaging Segment has been revised down. Sales are down from to 530 bln YEN (previous estimation was 630 bln YEN). While operating income is down to  16bln yen (previous estimation was 61 bln YEN).  To put in into numbers. The earthquake did cost 100bln YEN (16% off the overall sales).
  3. Sony predicts that during fiscal year 2017 sales will be 630-680 bln YEN and operating income around 8-10% of the sales.
  4. Sony predicts camera sales in 2016 to be comparable to the 2015 sales
  5. Sony predicts lens sales to grewth this year compared to 2015.
  6. Sony owns 14% of the camera market and is currently number one in the mirrorless and premium fixed lens market

Sonyc2

Sonyc3

Overall it looks like that due the Kumamoto earthquake damage 2016 will be a “Transition year”. Which means no growth is expected and probably no many new camera models will be on sale this year (some may be announced in late 2016 but shipment will start in 2017).

The full company reports can be found at http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/calendar/presen/irday/irday_160629.html

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Two new Voigtlander 10mm FE reviews by Admiringlight and Weitz

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10mm

Jordan Stelle on Admiringlight writes:

The Voigtländer 10mm f/5.6 Hyper-Wide Heliar is a truly unique lens. It’s the widest rectilinear lens made for any format in the history of photography. It also is pretty darn good optically, though definitely falls short of perfect.  There’s some softness at the edges, and the corners are softer still, but the overall resolution the lens produces is very good. It’s tack sharp in the center and the good sharpness extends over most of the frame.  It also shows fairly high chromatic aberration and very high vignetting, though both can be corrected to some degree in post-processing (with the addition of some noise in the case of vignetting).
Still, these drawbacks don’t spoil what is a truly magnificent lens. The 10mm f/5.6 has a wonderful drawing style, with great contrast and rich color, and it resists flare well in most circumstances.  But more important than the pure optical quality are the intangibles

Allan Weitz on Explora writes

Edge sharpness when shooting at wider apertures is soft and “stretchy,” but it does improve once you stop the lens down 2 to 3 stops. Center sharpness is quite good, even at wider apertures, and gets even better stopped down. Contrast levels are right on the dime, most notably when shooting in monochrome.
Magenta and/or cyan color smear, long the bane of ultra-wide lenses on full-frame digital cameras, is pretty much nonexistent. There’s also evidence of chromatic color fringing along contrasty edges—most notably toward the edges, but nothing that can’t be corrected post-capture.
If you own a Sony E-mount camera and you’ve been shy about shooting with wider-angle lenses, your time has arrived.

Voigtlander 10mm FE at [shopcountry 49319].

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Ending soon: Up to $200 savings on Sony-Zeiss A and E-mount lenses

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Savings

The big lens savings are ending soon! So be sure to check out the full special deals pages at BHphoto (Click here) and Adorama (Click here).

BHphoto launched a super long list of “Independence day deals” (Click here).  Scroll down and down and down to see them all :)

Easycover announced their very first Sony product, the A6300 protective case! Preorders links:
Black A6300 Easycover ar BHphoto and [shoplink 49228 ebay]eBay Europe[/shoplink].
Camouflage A6300 Easycover ar BHphoto and [shoplink 49227 ebay]eBay Europe[/shoplink].

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