(SR5) Batis 18mm f/2.8 images leaked

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batis_18mm_003

Preorders:
in USA at BHphoto.
in Europe at Amazon.de. Photo Porst. ParkcamerasUK.

These are the very first images of the new Batis 18mm f/2.8 E-mount lens. It will be announced by Zeiss today at 11 am Berlin time. And those are the specs:

– 11 lenses in 10 groups 10. Has four aspherical lens
– Distagon-based design
– Newly adopted floating element
– Dust and water proof
– Electromagnetic diaphragm
– Has a minimum focusing distance of 0.25m
– Filter diameter of 77mm
– Weight 330g
– OLED display
– Quiet linear motor AF

batis_18mm_002

via Digicameinfo.batis_18mm_001

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Loxia 21mm in Stock at Popflash. Imported Sony A7sII for $2,399.

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[shoplink 46835 ebay]Bildschirmfoto 2016-04-13 um 13.45.43[/shoplink]

In a few hours Zeiss will announce new lenses (at 11am London time). In the meantime their latest Loxia 21mm lens is now in Stock at [shoplink 46835 ebay]Popflash on eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

You save $500 on the grey imported (1 year seller warranty) [shoplink 46836 ebay]Sony A7sII sold on eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

[shoplink 46836 ebay]Bildschirmfoto 2016-04-13 um 14.55.53[/shoplink].

Reminder: Many Sony Lens deals at Bhphoto.

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A good news: Sony 85mm GM autofocus is not causing scratches (it’s lubricant).

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rearoff

Lensrentals dismantled the Sony 85mm GM lens to see if the autofocus noise is there because of some construction issue. Some readers reported about scratches but the good news is that those aren’t:

Barrel Markings: About half of these lenses have some visible lubricant on the inner focusing barrel that looks like scratches but isn’t. It is not scratches. It may be that over some time every single one of these lenses will have some lubricant show up on the inner barrel. Or it may smooth out over time to a beautiful, lustrous sheen that makes your bokeh glow like a sunrise in Yosemite. Sony may change assembly procedures or lubricant in future batches and it won’t be there anymore. But for right now, if you buy this lens you may see some lubricant in the inner barrel that looks like scratches.
It might be that 6 months from now we find out that all of these lenses should be absolutely silent when focusing. I’ve looked at lots of them, but they obviously were all early production run lenses. There may be a fix Sony comes up with. I suspect, though, that a firmware fix will be slowing down AF to make it quieter.
In the meantime, optically this is a superb lens and a lot of people are making great images with it.

At the same time Lensrentals also published the full 85mm GM review and here there is only very good news to report:

The Sony FE 85mm f/1.4 G Master lens is pricey, but not much different than the price of other top-quality 85mm f/1.4 lenses. It delivers the image quality you would expect for the price and copy-to-copy variation is reassuringly low. Sony has definitely taken strides to fix the variation problem that we saw in some of the earlier FE lenses. Give them credit, and also give them some understanding. They are turning out lots of new lenses in a new mount with a bunch of new technology. There are always going to be some growing pains when a company does that.

GM lens store links:
85mm f/1.4 GM FE at BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama, BestBuy. Amazon Germany. Calumetphoto.de. WexUK. Jessops.
24-70mm f/2.8 GM FE at BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama, BestBuy. Amazon Germany. Calumetphoto.de. WexUK. Jessops.

Personal message: Sorry for the error in yesterdays 85m GM post title (I wrote” Batis” instead of “Sony” because of a freudian lapsus). It took almost 12 hours before I corrected the mistake because I was travelling accross Europe and had no Internet connection.

 

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