Interview with Christophe Casenave from ZEISS: “Sony Alpha is in a phase of professionalization”

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Zeiss

Lenspire posted the content of an interview with Zeiss product manager Christophe Casenave. Here are a couple of interetsing informations:

1) Sony Alpha is in a phase of professionalization: “Sony Alpha is one of the most rapidly evolving system, the one in which most innovation is brought at the moment and it is a system in a phase of professionalization. We believe that we can help making this system appealing to professional photographers by providing pro-grade lenses.”

2) Reason for the Sony A7 success: “Many people like to provide old lenses they owned, or sometimes their parents owned, a second life. Even if these lenses are not ‘up-to-date’ or modern in terms of quality, they provide some kind of nostalgic look. Only this system allows to adapt so many older lenses.”

3) Why they launched the Loxia series: “We remarked that many people were adapting our ZM lenses, even if they are not all optimal for the digital sensor. In addition, we figured out that the AF lenses, while still quite compact, compared to DSLR lenses, still tend to get bigger on this system. The combination of these three factors gave us the idea to develop a new family of very compact, very high craftsmanship manual lenses”

4) Why the Loxia 21mm has a complete new design (not borrowed from the ZM series): “We could not do a symmetrical design, because we needed to ensure that the ray angle is low enough to avoid any kind of aberrations in the corners. As such, we chose a Distagon, with a very light retro-focus.”

Personal note: “Sony Alpha is in a phase of professionalization”…can’t wait to see that coming true at Photokina 2016!

Links to all Zeiss made FE Loxia and Batis lenses:
Zeiss Batis 85mm f/1.8 lens in US at Amazon, Adorama, Bhphoto. In Eu at Amazon DE, WexUK. In Asia at Digitalrev.
Zeiss Batis 25mm f/2.0 lens at Amazon, Adorama, Bhphoto. In EU at Amazon DE, WexUK. In Asia at Digitalrev.
Zeiss Loxia 50mm f/2 Planar T* Lens for Sony E Mount at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama., WexUK, CameraPro.
Zeiss Loxia 35mm f/2 Biogon T* Lens for Sony E Mount at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, WexUK, CameraPro.
Zeiss Loxia 21mm f/2.8 FE lens at BHphoto and Adorama. In Europe at WexUK.

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FS5 now shipping. Review by Newsshooter.

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The new FS5 4K E-mount camera is now in Stock and shipping at Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).

And Newsshooter reviewed the FS5 with Kai from Digitalrev:

As a B-camera on larger productions the FS5 should work well in places where you might previously have used a DSLR, GH4 or Sony a7S. Obvious uses include on brushless gimbals and in-car rigs, although you will probably want to record externally.

Newsshooter also tested the camera at anti-war protests:


Unboxing a Sony PXW-FS5 | Sony | 4K Creators

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Today only: Super A5100 deal in France. A77II deal in Germany.

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Sony

Our readers from France should be aware that they have a terrific good deal today:

A5100 double lens kit for 479 Euro only at Amazon France (Click here). It runs today only!

And while we are here: German readers do have a A77II Gold Box deal at Amazon Germany (start at 15:30 for prime members). UK readers have some SD card and bag Gold Box deals at Amazon UK (Click here).

Editors note: Sorry made a Freudian Lapsus and wrote A6000 instead of A5100. Now corrected.

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Sony Tidbits…

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Interbee 2015: Want more lens flare? Try Technical Farm’s see-through lens adapter (Newsshooter).

Shooting a Video with a 1950 Plastic Camera Lens by Stern Mathieu on Youtube.
Spanish A7sII test at DSLRmagazine.
Sony Alpha QX1 (ILCE-QX1) Review (ePhotozine).
Sigma 20mm F1.4 DG HSM A Canon mount review: Tempting new addition (DxOmark).
Minolta APO 100-300mm + Sony A7II Video REVIEW (SonyAlphaForum).
TEST / Sony RX1R II : dites oui au viseur pop-up, non au capteur 42 Mpx (Lesnumeriques).
I’m really thinking of selling off Canon Gear (SonyAlphaForum).
A7rII Fashion Portraits W 55mm 1.8 (SonyAlphaForum).

Brad: “One of the main reasons I upgraded to the a7s ii was for the slo-motion capabilities in full HD. I recently had the chance to document a brother/sister team who create unique and fun artwork out of metal junk.  This was a fun opportunity to really push the 120 f/second feature.  Shot entirely on a Sony a7s ii with the Loxia 35mm lens. https://vimeo.com/147804423“

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Save $70 on Open Box Sony A6000 kits at Samys ($478)

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[shoplink 43050 ebay]A6000[/shoplink]

It doesn’t get any cheaper than that: Samys is selling  Mint Open Box A6000 kits with regular 1 year Sony warranty for $479 ($70 off the regular price). You can have them in [shoplink 43045 ebay]Silver (Click here)[/shoplink] or [shoplink 43050 ebay]Black (Click here)[/shoplink].

All current Sony Christmas deals:

$200 gift card from Amazon US:
There is a new “hidden” Black Friday deal offer: You get $200 off on all major Sony cameras  if you click on that Amazon link (Click here) and use the code “CAMERAGIFT” at checkout. Here are the detailed Instructions: http://amzn.to/1lLDni1
Plenty of photo accessory Gold Box deals at Amazon US (Click here).

Sony A6000:
$50 gift card on the A6000 superbundle sold by FocusCamera (Click here).
Free extras and an additional $50 gift card for free with the A6000 double lens kit sold at Adorama (Click here).
$150 off on the Sony Alpha a6000 Mirrorless Camera w/ 55-210mm Lens & Acc kit at BHphoto (Click here).
$230 off on the Sony Alpha a6000 Mirrorless l Camera w/ 16-50mm Lens & Acc Kit at BHphoto (Click here).
Sony Alpha a6000 Mirrorless Digital Camera – Body only Deluxe Bundle at Amazon US (Click here).

Sony A7rII, A7II and A7:
Free $200 gift card and free Metabones Smart adapter with the A7rII sold by BHphoto (Click here).
Sony a7R II Full-Frame Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera, Body Only Deluxe Bundle at Amazon US (Click here).
2% reward and free extras with the A7II sold by BHphoto (Click here).
Free $100 gift card with the Sony A7 at BHphoto (Click here).

RX100m4:
Free $100 gift card with the RX100 IV at BHphoto (Click here).

Full Frame E-mount lenses:
$100 off on the 24-240mm lens at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Camera Hotlink deals at Adorama (Click here).
$80 off on the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 FE lens at BHphoto (Click here).

APS-C E-mount lenses:
$50 off on the 50mm f/1.8 lens at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
$50 off on the 35mm f/1.8 lens at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
$100 off on the 10-18mm lens at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
$25 off on the lens 30mm macro at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
$150 off on the 18-200mm PZ lens at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
$100 off on the 18-200mm lens at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
$50 off on the 16-50mm lens at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
$200 off on the Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 lens at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.

A-mount lenses:
 $50 off on the 11-18mm lens at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
$50 off on the 16-50mm lens at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
$100 off on the 16-105mm lens at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
$100 off on the Zeiss 24mm lens at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
$25 off on the 30mm macro lens at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
$25 off on the 35mm lens at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
$25 off on the 50mm DT lens at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
$100 off on the 70-300mm II lens at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
$25 off on the 85mm lens at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
$50 off on the 100mm macro lens at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
$100 off on the Zeiss 135mm lens at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.

Upt to $300 off on Sigma A-mount lenses:
 $250 off on the 18-250mm F3.5-6.3 DC OS HSM at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
$250 off on the 70-200mm F2.8 DG OS HSM at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
$300 off on the 105mm F2.8 DG OS Macro HSM at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
$250 Instant rebate on the 17-50mm F2.8 DC /OS at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
50mm f/1.4 ART for $849 at Amazon and Bhphoto.
Save $370 on the Tamron 150-600mm A-mount lens sold by [shoplink 42888 ebay]BuyDig on eBay US (Click here)[/shoplink]. Add the $120 mail in rebate and you pay $699 only.

Hasselblad:
Huge savings on the Hasselblad Lunar and Stellar Sony camera clones at BHphoto (Click here).

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Sony CES page and livestreaming. What do you hope to get: A99II, A6xxx or FE lenses?

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CES

An anonymous source sent me the link to that special Sony CES page: https://blog.sony.com/CES/. Sony will announce new products on January 5. And you can watch the announcement live via UStream here on SonyAlphaRumors.

He also added: “Sony will announce a new APS Camera at the CES next year according to their blog at“. But I have not found such a statement on any Sony site or social network. I may ask the source to send me the link to it?

Keep in mind the CP+ photography show will take place in February. So we don’t know yet what of the rumored new FE lenses, A6xxx and maybe new A-mount stuff will be announced at CES or at CP+.

Just curious:

What do you hope to see announced at CES on January 5?

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