Ken Rockwell reviews the 55mm FE: Says it’s the Porsche of all lenses!

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[shoplink 40189 ebay]Bildschirmfoto 2015-09-10 um 20.30.06[/shoplink]

Reminder: That limited quantity eBay deal will run out soon. It’s on grey imported Zeiss FE lenses but the savings are big and they come with full US seller warranty. The seller itself is Top Rated at eBay:
$190 off and 3 years US seller warranty on the Zeiss FE 55mm lens on [shoplink 40189 ebay]eBay US (Click here)[/shoplink].
$60 off and 1 years US seller warranty on the Zeiss FE 35mm lens on [shoplink 40190 ebay]eBay US (Click here)[/shoplink].

Ken Rockwell: And both lenses got reviewed by Photo blogger Guru and Her majesty ;) Ken Rockwell. This is what he writes about the Zeiss 55mm FE:

No other 50mm or 50mm f/1.8 lens has anywhere near the optical technology of this lens. It is significantly sharper wide-open than anything from Canon or Nikon. If you’re reading this, just get one. Like a Porsche, there is no substitute.

And this is what he writes about the Zeiss 35mm FE:

The Sony Zeiss FE 2,8/35mm is an optically superb gem,the quality of out-of-focus areas as opposed to the degree of defocus, is superb.No other 35mm f/2.8 lens has anywhere near the optical technology of this lens. It is significantly sharper wide-open than anything from Canon or Nikon.

A and E-mount USA savings ending at midnight: So if you want to buy the lenses today is the last day you get the big E and E-mount savings in USA! A special full overview page can be seen at Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here). And those are the FE lens savings in detail and with direct link to three major US stores:

Full Frame E-mount lenses:
$100 off on the Zeiss 55mm f/1.8 lens at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
$100 off on the Zeiss 16-35mm f/4.0 lens at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
$100 off on the 70-200mm G lens at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
$100 off on the Zeiss 24-70mm f/4.0 lens at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
$100 off on the Zeiss 35mm f/2.8 lens at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
$100 off on the 28-70mm lens at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
$100 off on the 28-135mm PZ lens at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
$25 off on the 24-240mm lens at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.

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Lesnumeriques: Sony A-mount lens strategy focuses on FF.

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Bruno from Lesnumeriques asked Sony about the future A-mount lenses and the short answer he got is:

They focus on FF lenses for A-Mount and consider that their APS-C line up is enough for now.

Well this could mean the end of the APS-C A-mount system. I still do hope Sony will not “forget” to launch a new A99II soon. Otherwise A-mount people will really go upset!

New lenses: Still no news about the new A and E-mount lenses to come. But I am sure we will get news very soon (3-4 weeks from now). Proof of that is that Sony Russia already registered the new 24-70mm FE GM lens 30 days ago:

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Sony A7rII in Stock at WexUK. No A7sII preorder option yet in Europe

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The A7rIi is in Stock at WexUK (Click here). and in many [shoplink 40303 ebay]UK/IT/FR eBay Stores (Click here)[/shoplink].
The A7sII is nowhere available for preorder in Europe. I guess we have to wait til September 17 to get preorder links just like the US folks.

List of today’s Gold Box deals at Amazon DE (Click here).

HOT! The new Sony A7sII can be preordered at Adorama now (Click here). And also the new FS5 camcorder (Click here).

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Sony A7sII info from Newsshooter: “Has tweaked sensor, no 4K internal recording on APS-C mode”.

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HOT! The new Sony A7sII can be preordered at Adorama now (Click here). And also the new FS5 camcorder (Click here).

Newsshooter collected some more detailed info about the A7sII:

1) For low light shooting Sony is claiming the a7S II is better by approximately 2 stops than the a7R II.
2) The only difference between the sensors A7s and A7sII sensors is that the colour science has been tweaked on the a7S II and should offer results that are similar to that of the a7R II. This is something that a lot of Sony fans will be very pleased to hear as the a7R II seems to offer more pleasing skin tones than that of the original a7S.
3) A7sII has “S-Log3 Cine” with more filmic look. S-Log3 or S-Log3 Cine gammas has been lowered to 1600 ISO instead of the 3200 for S-Log2 on the a7S.
4) Strangely enough there is no option to record 4K internally in APS-C crop mode, you can only record 4K internally in full frame mode.

Update: obviously in crop mode there are less pixels so 4k is impossible :)

The A7sII is now listed at BHphoto (Click here) and Adorama (Click here).

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Sony A7sII to ship end October in US for $2,999. Preorder start on September 17.

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A7sII

HOT! The new Sony A7sII can be preordered at Adorama now (Click here). And also the new FS5 camcorder (Click here).

The A7sII is now listed at BHphoto (Click here) and Adorama (Click here).

Also the new FS5 camcorder is listed with no preorder option:
Sony PXW-FS5 XDCAM Super 35 Camera System at BHphoto (Click here) and Adorama (Click here).
Sony PXW-FS5 XDCAM Super 35 Camera System with Zoom Lens at BHphoto (Click here) and Adorama (Click here).

Unveiled: Internal 4K Comes to the Sony Alpha a7S II (Explora).

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Schneider announces 25mm, 35mm, 50mm, 75mm and 100mm T/2.1 Full Frame lenses for the Sony E-mount

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Surprise! Schneider announced the release of five Full Frame E-mount lenses: The 25mm, 35mm, 50mm, 75mm and 100mm T/2.1! ALl lenses are prices between €2,998-€4,320. Those lenses do alreayd exist for other mounts like Nikon and Canon (prices here at BHphoto).

FF-PRIME LENSES BY SCHNEIDER-KREUZNACH NOW ALSO WITH SONY E-MOUNT

Bad Kreuznach, 08.09.2015

Schneider-Kreuznach will present an FF-Prime lens with Sony E-Mount for the first time at the International Broadcast Conference (IBC) in Amsterdam.

The E-Mount allows users to mount the full frame lenses to cameras like the new Sony Alpha 7RII. Up to now, the lenses, which have been on the market since 2014, could be used in combination with Nikon’s F or Canon’s EOS mount bayonets as well as PL mounts. “With the FF-Prime lenses we want to provide a genuine optical alternative to professional filmmakers and cinematographers. We are delighted that we can meet the considerable demand for a combination with a Sony E-Mount and thus expand the scope for application”, says Harald Barth, Head of Film and Photo at Jos. Schneider Optische Werke GmbH. With a 4K resolution (4096 x 2304 pixels), the lenses were designed specifically for DSLR cameras with full frame sensors and for professional cine cameras. The homogeneous set comprises T2.1/25mm, T2.1/35mm, T2.1/50mm, T2.1/75mm and T2.1/100mm focal lengths. The lenses are characterized in particular by their easy handling and an organic overall impression. This sets them apart from the crowd and makes them the lens of choice for filming ads, feature films, documentaries, TV series and corporate videos. The FF Prime lenses with Sony E-Mount will become available during the course of 2015 and will cost between 2,998 and 4,320 euros depending on focal length.

In addition, Schneider-Kreuznach will present its MPTV filters and Cine-Xenar lenses in Amsterdam. Among the MPTV filter range are the new Confetti filters that create mini-streaks on the image looking like fireworks. During talks on 11, 12 and 13 September, MPTV filter expert Ira Tiffen will provide some insight into the filters’ principles of operation and explain how to achieve the best possible filter effects. Dutch filmmaker Remco Hekker will present the FF Prime and Cine-Xenar lenses.

Schneider-Kreuznach will be at the IBC in Amsterdam from 11 to 15 September 2015: hall 11, stand A41.

Xenon Full Frame Primes
For digital cinematography, Schneider-Kreuznach offers the FF-Prime lens range for demanding film and TV productions. This series of 4K lenses was designed for cameras with full frame sensors (36mm x 24mm). This means that the full image circle with a diameter of 43.3mm can be utilized for cameras like the Canon 5D Mark III or the Nikon D800. In addition, the interchangeable bayonet mount enables the lenses to be used on cameras with S35 sensors including the RED Dragon, the Canon C100/C300/C500, the Arri Alexa, the Blackmagic Cinema Camera or the Sony F5/F55. The current range of focal lengths will be joined by 18mm and 135mm lenses. The 14-blade iris creates a harmonious bokeh and breathing is reduced to a minimum. Color matching ensures homogeneous color characteristics, thus reducing time-consuming corrections during postproduction.

MPTV range of filters for professional film and TV productions
The sheet filters in Schneider-Kreuznach’s MPTV filter range are suitable for use with matte boxes measuring 4” x 4”, 4” x 4.65” and 6” x 6”. During the production process that has been developed especially for this purpose, the high-quality, homogeneous foil material is vacuum laminated between two layers of crystal clear, optically pure glass. The glass is ground and finely polished on both sides to ensure exact flatness of the glass surface and plane parallelism. To guarantee consistently high quality in all products, the density of the filters is checked with a densitometer and the specified light transmission is analyzed with a spectrophotometer. Schneider-Kreuznach MPTV filters offer uncompromising optical performance for optimal results.

Cine-Xenar III range
In addition to the FF-Prime lens range, Schneider-Kreuznach offers another professional cine lens family – the MPTV “Cine-Xenar III” range. It was developed for cameras with Super 35 sensors (18.6 x 24.8mm). The 6K lenses feature outstanding optical quality, very low distortion, virtually no breathing and an excellent bokeh. As a result, all focal lengths in the range produce films with a consistent look. The Cine-Xenar range comprises seven fixed focal lengths: T2.2/14mm, T2.2/18mm, T2.2/25mm, T2.1/35mm, T2.0/50mm, T2.0/75mm and T2.0/95mm. Thanks to their modular design, the lenses are particularly easy to service. The PL bayonet can be exchanged with a Canon bayonet.

via Photographyblog.

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Sony A7sII announced!

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Bildschirmfoto 2015-09-11 um 09.40.56

Sony announced the new Sony A7sII. Stay tuned! I will keep updating this post!

Preorders:
The new Sony A7sII can be preordered at Adorama now (Click here). And also the new FS5 camcorder (Click here).
A7sII at BHphoto (Click here).

Key specs:
12MP Exmor CMOS sensor
RAW output 14 bit (real or lossy?)
Internal 4K recording with higher dynamic range
5 axis stabilization
Much improved AF in low light conditions (169 AF points)
The A7SII will be available in November 2015, at 3400€.

Press text, Image samples and videos:
Full Sony specs on that SonyAlphaRumors page.
Sony A7sII official press text: “Out of darkness cometh light” on that SonyAlphaRumors page.
5 Things You Need To Know About The New Sony Alpha a7S II (WexUK).
List fo real world pictures of the new Sony A7sII! (SonyAlphaCameras).
Sample photos at Sony.net Gallery.
α7S II – 4K low-light ISO comparison MOVIE | α | Sony (Youtube video on Sonyalphacameras).
α7S II – 5x Slow Motion “Landscape” in Full HD | α | Sony (Youtube video on Sonyalphacameras)
α7S II – 5-axis optical image stabilization | α | Sony (Youtube video on Sonyalphacameras)
α7S II – S-Gamut3.Cine/S-Log3 and S-Gamut3/S-Log3 movie | α | Sony (Youtube video on Sonyalphacameras)
α7S II – High quality 4K movie “Takigi-noh” in Full frame | α | Sony (Youtube video on Sonyalphacameras)
α7S II – Fast Intelligent AF for movie | α | Sony (Youtube video on Sonyalphacameras).
Presnetation at TheVideomode.

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Newsshooter at IBC 2015: Sony A7s II first look from Dan Chung on Vimeo.

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