Brand new Rokinon 100mm f/2.8 E-mount lens listed at BHphoto for $549!

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Good news folks! This is the new Rokinon f/2.8 macro lens you can now preorder at BHphoto (Click here). It works well on both Full Frame and APS-C E-mount cameras and it will ship on April 27 already!
Full specs can be read at BHphoto! (Found via MirrorlessRumors and an anonymous source).

Home in on close-up subjects with the Sony E mount 100mm f/2.8 Macro Lens from Rokinon, which affords life-size 1:1 magnification along with a minimum focusing distance of 1′. This manual focus portrait-length lens also incorporates one high refractive index element and one extra-low dispersion element into its design to reduce chromatic aberrations and distortions throughout the focusing range. An Ultra Multi-Coating has also been applied to minimize flare and ghosting for increase contrast and color neutrality. A long focal length lens with close focusing abilities and a high magnification ratio, this macro lens is ideal for making close-up, detailed images of nearby subjects.

This 100mm f/2.8 lens features a Sony E mount, and is compatible with full-frame sensors or APS-C sensors, where it will provide a 150mm equivalent focal length.
A bright f/2.8 maximum aperture is useful for working in a variety of lighting conditions and the minimum f/32 aperture helps to attain a long depth of field when working with close-up subjects.
One high refractive index element and one extra-low dispersion element help to control chromatic aberrations and minimize distortions throughout the focusing and aperture ranges.
An Ultra Multi-Coating has been applied to lens elements to reduce lens flare and ghosting for increased clarity, contrast, and color fidelity.
Featuring a macro design, this lens affords a 1:1 maximum magnification ratio along with a minimum focusing distance of 1′.
Benefitting working with especially close subjects, this manual focus lens features an internal focus design to maintain the overall lens length during use. Additionally, the front filter mount does not rotate when focusing to better enable the use of polarizers, graduated ND, and other filter types that require precise positioning.
A rounded nine-blade diaphragm contributes to a pleasing out-of-focus quality when using selective focus or shallow depth of field techniques.

Sony Deals:
Zeiss FE Distagon lens is in Stock at Amazon US (Click here) and Adorama (Click here).
Back in Stock: Refurbished Zeiss FE 5mm lens for $749 at [shoplink 35071 ebay]Secondipity eBay US (Click here)[/shoplink] Til April 4 deal: Sony DSC-HX50V/B at cart(!) is $219.99 +LR5 +$20.00 GC at Focus Camera (Click here).

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Sony A7II gets Silver Award at Dpreview (and more A7II reviews).

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Bildschirmfoto 2015-03-11 um 14.06.14
A7II with Torii Koubou case.

Dpreview posted the full Sony A7II review and the camera earned a Silver Award:

The Alpha 7 II continues to push Sony’s full frame mirrorless line of cameras into ground-breaking territory. It is the only full frame mirrorless camera to offer in-body image stabilization systems and its performance is excellent. The body is comfortable to shoot with and offers a broad set of features that should appeal to both still and video shooters. Unfortunately the a7 II’s high ISO image quality is not as good as other full framers. Raw files are also less malleable than the competition and JPEGs tend to suffer from aggressive noise reduction.

Fstoppers writes:

The Sony a7II delivers a barrage of awesome features and terrific well-rounded performance that amateur and professional photographers will appreciate. Having image stabilization in conjunction with a full-frame sensor is something that excites you every time you go shoot because it gets to be used universally across your lens arsenal.

Tyson Robichaud writes:

If you would have told me 5 years ago that I could buy a Full Frame camera with in body image stabilization, WiFi for remote control and WFT, weather sealing, a top notch 24mp sensor that could quite literally fit in my pocket for $1700, I’d probably have said you were crazy, then maybe slapped you because you were nuts.

A7II links:
Sony Alpha a7II (Body Only) for $1,698 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore and Sony Store Canada.
Sony Alpha a7II (Body Only) for 1.799 Euro at Sony Germany, Sony UK, Jessops UK, Sony France, Sony Italy, Sony Spain, Sony Austria, Sony Switzerland, Sony Netherland, Sony Belgium, Sony Portugal, Sony Sweden, Sony Finland, Sony Norway.
Sony A7II at Sony Store Australia, Digitalrev and Amazon Japan.
A7II Gariz cases sold in [shoplink 32354 ebay]Black (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 32396 ebay]Brown (Click here)[/shoplink],  [shoplink 32355 ebay]Orange (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 32356 ebay]Camel (Click here)[/shoplink].

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FE 35mm f/2.8 fw update issues: Sony says it will repair affected lenses free of charge

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Sony issued the following statement regarding a possible issue with the FE 35mm f/2.8 lens:

Notice to Owners of the Sonnar T* FE 35mm F2.8 ZA Interchangeable Lens

March 31, 2015
Sony has recently become aware that some of the Sonnar T* FE 35mm F2.8 ZA E-Mount lenses sold during and after November 2014 are experiencing an issue when customers attempt to update the software to the new version released on March 4, 2015 (from Ver. 01 to Ver. 02).
Sony is planning to offer repairs for the affected lenses free of charge.
(Please contact the Sony Support Center listed below. Applications for repairs will also be accepted through the Sony website.)
In the case that the software update completes with no trouble, there is no need for repair.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

【Malfunction Symptoms】
The software update freezes at the screen below when the customer initiates the software update (from Ver. 01 to Ver. 02) that was made available on March 4, 2015.
Update that has frozen   Update that is proceeding normally

If the above symptom is exhibited, please remove the battery from the camera when the update freezes.
The lens can continue to be used with the pre-update Ver. 01 software.

※How to check the software version
1) Power on the camera
2) Select [Menu]→[Setup]→[Ver.] The software version installed on the lens will be displayed (as below).

【Affected model and production numbers】
SEL35F28Z Sonnar T* FE 35mm F2.8 ZA
α™ (E-Mount) interchangeable lenses
Purchased during or after November 2014

※Affected production numbers
Some, but not all, numbers from
1812043 – 1851015 (AE Version)
1840715 – 1850381 (CN2 Version)

 

Thanks to the anonymous source who sent this!

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To counterbalance: The positive reviews about the 16-70mm Zeiss.

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The 16-70mm lens image by phillipreeve

The very negative conclusions drawn by Photozone created quite a buzz here on SAR. Our reader Victor pointed out that most of the reviewers out there actually gave a high score to the 16-70mm Zeiss lens: Sonyalphalab, ePhotozine, Photographyblog, Imaging-resource, Admiringlight, Kurtmunger, Stevehuffphoto, Phillipreeve.

I am pretty confident Photozone is a serious review site and so are most of the reviewers I linked to now. This just proofs that reviews are not an exact science and depend on various factors like, personal preferences, lab test quality, scoring system and quality of the tested lens samples.

Zeiss 16-70mm deal: You save $150 on the lens if you buy it refurbished on [shoplink 35043 ebay]Secondipity eBay US (Click here)[/shoplink]

A funny note: Some readers keep saying I am just a Sony fanboy. After yesterdays negative post about the Sony APS-C strategy some of them said that I am bashing on Sony. Just to be clear. I am a free-thinker and I take no side based on non rational arguments. I love to openly discuss positives and negatives about Sony. Because I think that at the end no company is perfect and that critics can (sometimes) help to improve the company behavior.

 

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