The famous Muhammad Ali photo taken by Neil Leifer
World famous photographer Neil Leifer is now officially a Sony Artisan. This is the reason why he switched over to Sony:
The first thing that came to mind was the Sony weighed half of what my Nikon weighed. I looked through the camera, and I noticed the incredible quality of the Sony Zeiss lenses. Now, I had Zeiss lenses on my Leica’s years ago so I know how good they are. I decided I really wanted to try it out, so I got in touch with Sony, sourced a loaner camera, tested it while shooting boxing and completely fell in love with it! The weight and the quality of the photography…I thought, this is definitely the way of the future. I know a good camera when I have one in my hands.
A full interview with Neil Leifer can be read at Alphauniverse.
Now I want to hear the Nikon and Canon folks saying Sony isn’t for PRO… :)
Gear That Saved Us While Shooting A Short Film (TheCameraStoreTV).
70-200GM (Sony products) – anyone received theirs yet in Canada? (SonyAlphaForum).
Sony A6500 review: slow motion compilation at 1080 / 120p (CameraLabs)
Top 10 Photographic Items for Non Photographers (Explora).
Tips For Photographing Family Portraits for Holiday Cards (ALC).
35mm lenses test on A7S2 (Scatteredlightblog).
Sony E 55-210mm Review (Hello Mikee).
Current Sony deals:
An overview of all Sony cameras with free gift cards can be found on that BHphoto page.
An overview of all Sigma lens rebates can be found on that Adorama page.
Among the new deals we have the $150 discount on Vello E-mount adapters sold by BHphoto.
It’s the first time I see such an “electric lens” patent from Sony. It describes a zoom lens having normal optical elements and in the center two liquid crystal lenses. The liquid crystal lenses can change the “refractive index” with the use of electric signal. Sony writes:
To achieve miniaturization of the optical system, it is conceivable to use what is called a liquid crystal lens, in which liquid crystal is disposed between two planar lens substrates. This is because by applying an electrical signal to the liquid crystal to vary the refractive index of the liquid crystal, it becomes possible to vary the focal length of the lens without moving the lens itself.
In theory by using liquid crystal elements you can make smaller and superfast autofocus lenses. Because you no longer need to move around lenses on a great distance to focus or zoom in and out. The major drawback of that technology is that it usually brings a drop in resolution. But within the patent Sony claims to have solved that issue. This is the design of the zoom lens:
There are two liquid crystal elements (marked with number 10) for zooming and focusing. All other optical elements are fixed (except for the in lens stabilization part).
As usual with patents we don’t know how long it will take to see such a design on a real mass production ready lens. But for sure this would be a killer feature for the FE system. Having fast focusing and fast aperture lenses in a very compact size would really give you one more reason to join the Sony FE system. As for now Sony FE cameras are indeed smaller than DSLR but the lenses are usually almost or equally big as DSLR lenses.
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Additional note: Liquids can change shape and direction via electric or sound impulse. An example can be seen here:
This patent has been found and reported first by SonyAlphaRumors. Please credit us if you reproduce the news. Thanks!
The Japanese electronics maker’s credit rating was upgraded to Baa3, up one notch from the “junk” status of Ba1. Moody’s has also changed the ratings outlook to stable from positive.
They also expect to hear more good news from Sony as it is “setting aside one-off factors — such as [the] Kumamoto earthquake“.
2016 was a relatively “slow” camera year. 2017 should be different from that point of view with at least 2 FF cameras to be announced.
