Quick note on A-mount lens rumor…

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People keep asking me about the new A-mount lenses. So here is my short answer for now:

The source who told me that new A-mount lens would come at Photokina is actually a long time trusted source. So I am very surprised like you to not see any new A-mount lens today. There are now three things that could have happened:

1) That trusted source was wrong for the first time.
2) Sony will show some updated A-mount lens the next days.
3) Sony did “freeze” the A-mount lens launch.

Will try to get the right answer the coming days…and I hope for you it’s answer 1) or 2) !

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Sony 16-35mm FE press text!

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Here is the official press text and preorder links:

Zeiss 16-35mm FE at Amazon, BHphoto, Sony Store US.
Zeiss 16-35mm FE in Europe at Sony DE, UK, ES, IT, FR, CH, AT, NL, BE, FI, SE, NO, PT.

Sony Introduces New ZEISS 16-35mm F4 Wide Angle Zoom Lens for E-mount Cameras

SAN DIEGO, Sept. 15, 2014 – Packing a serious amount of imaging power into a light, compact frame, the new Sony Vario-Tessar T* FE 16-35mm F4 ZA OSS (SEL1635Z) lens offers photo enthusiasts a compelling choice for wide-angle photography including landscapes, architecture and more.

A natural match for the acclaimed α7 Series of 35mm full-frame cameras, the new Vario-Tessar T* FE 16-35mm F4 ZA OSS is Sony’s fifth full-frame zoom lens developed for the E-mount system, joining the Sony FE 28-70mm (model SEL2870), ZEISS 24-70mm F4 (model SEL2470Z), 70-200mm F4 G (model SEL70200G) and 28-135mm F4 G Power Zoom (model SELP28135G) lenses.

The new Vario-Tessar T* FE 16-35mm F4 ZA OSS wide-angle zoom lens features an uncompromising optical design with five aspherical lens elements, including one large AA (advanced aspherical) element and three ED glass elements. This ensures outstanding corner-to-corner resolution and sharpness, while reducing distortion and minimizing color aberration

A signature of ZEISS lenses, the Vario-Tessar T* FE 16-35mm F4 ZA OSS features T* coating on its optical surfaces which minimizes flare and ghosting and boosts contrast, clarity and depth with landscape shots and strongly backlit scenes. It also has a constant F4 maximum aperture, allowing photographers to achieve beautiful background defocus effects with a shallow depth of field at all focal lengths. The lens is equipped with Optical SteadyShot™ image stabilization and is dust and moisture resistant, allowing it to perform well in tough shooting environments.

Sony α Lenses Assortment

With the addition of the new Vario-Tessar T* FE 16-35mm F4 ZA OSS, the E-mount lens family now includes 24 different lenses and adapters, including several other premium options from ZEISS® and Sony’s G Series Lenses:

E 16mm F2.8
E 20mm F2.8
E 35mm F1.8 OSS
E 50mm F1.8 OSS
E 30mm F3.5 Macro
E 24mm F1.8 ZEISS
E 10-18mm F4 OSS
E PZ 16-50mm F3.5 – F5.6 OSS
E 18-55mm F3.5 – F5.6 OSS
E 18-200mm F3.5 – F6.3 OSS
E 18-200mm F3.5 – F6.3 OSS LE
E PZ 18-200mm F3.5 – F5.6 OSS
E 55-210mm F4.5 – F6.3 OSS
E PZ 18-105mm F4 G OSS
E 16-70mm F4 ZEISS OSS
FE 28-70mm F3.5 – 5.6 OSS
FE 35mm F2.8 ZEISS
FE 55mm F1.8 ZEISS
FE 24-70mm F4 ZEISS OSS
FE 70-200mm F4 G OSS
FE 28-135mm F4 G OSS
FE 16-35mm F4 ZEISS OSS

New Sony α Accessories

Sony has also introduced a range of new accessories for their α (alpha) mount camera system including the compact HVL-F32M flash. Rated at a generous GN32 guide number, the flash head can be adjusted in a variety of directions for pro-style bounce effects and has a variety of advanced flash functions including ADI flash metering, high-speed sync and Auto White Balance, and is dust and moisture resistant.

The new XLR-K2M XLR adaptor kit provides pro-style balanced audio input to α7 Series cameras plus the α99, Cyber-shot™ RX10 and NEX-VG900 interchangeable lens camcorder, and comes paired with the ECM-XM1 shotgun microphone.

Additionally, the RMT-VP1K wireless remote kit lets photographers enjoy ‘hands-off’ control of cameras functions including shutter release, start / stop movie recording and zoom. There is also a stylish new LCS-PCS7 system bag that’s an ideal match for the α7 Series of cameras.

Pricing and Availability

The Vario-Tessar T* FE 16-35mm F4 ZA OSS (SEL1635Z) full-frame wide-angle zoom lens will be available this November for about $1350.

The HVL-F32M flash will be available this December for about $300.

The XLR-K2M XLR adaptor kit will be available this October for about $600.

The RMT-VP1K wireless remote kit will be available this November for about $70.

The LCS-PCS7 system bag will be available this October for about $160.

The new lens and accessories will all be sold at Sony retail stores (www.store.sony.com) and other authorized dealers nationwide.

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Sony announcement: Few hours to go!

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Few hours to go until Sony announces the new lenses. And hopefully we will finally now what that fast large aperture prime lens is :)  Here are a couple of notes for you:

1) Zeiss 16-35mm will ship within end of this year. All other lenses that Sony will Pre-announce today will ship 2015

2) Website sometimes doesn’t load. Just click ont he reload button of your browser if that happens.

3) I haven’t found any live streaming video yet. Please contact me if you find one (sonyalpharumors@gmail.com).

Announcement at 15:00 London time:
7am in San Francisco
10 am in NYC
16:00 in Berlin
23:00 in Tokyo.

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Photokina competition announcement: Samsung NX1 restarts Megapixel war :)

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There are a dozen of companies announcing new stuff today! The first news comes from Samsung. It’s interesting because it’s sets a new record of resolution on an APS-C sensor (28 megapixel). It is also the third company after Panasonic and Sony to offer 4K video recording on a mirrorless camera!

NX1 specs at BHphoto (Click here). More info and full press text at MirrorlessRumors (Click here).

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Reminder: Sony announcement in a few hours at 15:00 London time.

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In a few hours at exactly 15:00 London time (16:00 in Köln at the Photokina) Sony will introduce new lenses. As usual you can follow the event here on SAR where I will give you all links to reviews, news and preorders for the new products. By the way 15:00 London time is:
7am in San Francisco
10 am in NYC
23:00 in Tokyo.

What can we expect? The Zeiss 16-35mm f/4.0 for sure. And Sony will also likely show more new (pre)production A and E-mount lenses and an updated FE lens roadmap.

———
Message to sources: You can send me more info anonymously by using the contact form you see on the very right of your browser. You can also contact me directly at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com.
For readers: Subscribe the RSS feed (Click here) and Twitter (Click here) stream and the Facebook fan page (Click here) in order to not miss any news!
——–

Reminder (SR = Sonyrumor):
SR1=probably fake rumor
SR2=rumor from unknown sources
SR3=50% chance it is correct
SR4=rumor from known sources
SR5=almost certainly correct!

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Sony US launches great new savings on the A99 and A6000!

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Sony US launched two new bundle deals:
$520 off on the A99 at SonyStore (Click here).
$199 off on the A6000 at SonyStore (Click here).

All other current Sony deals:
Refurbished RX100m2 now sells for $399 only via [shoplink 28904 ebay]Secondipity (Click here)[/shoplink] Sony A6000 with kit lens with a $100(!) discount at [shoplink 28733 ebay]BigValue eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
$349 only for the Sony RX100 at [shoplink 28700 ebay]BigValue eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
Refurbished NEX-5t with kit lens for $349 at [shoplink 28890 ebay]Sony eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
Refurbished RX1R for $1,819 at [shoplink 28894 ebay]Secondipity (Click here)[/shoplink].
Sony A7r with free extras for $1,863 at [shoplink 28892 ebay]6ave eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
Sony 32GB SDHC Class 10 UHS-1 R40 Memory Card – 2 Pack for $34 only at [shoplink 28814 ebay]FocusCamera eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

Reminder: With the “secret” code “Olympus20” you get $400 off (and fre LR5) with the Sony A7r sold at FocusCamera (Click here).

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(SR5) Full Zeiss 16-35mm FE lens MTF and design graph.

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I got more images about the new Zeiss 16-35mm f/4.0 FE OSS lens that will be announced tomorrow. As you know you can follow the event live here at SAR at 16:00 Berlin time!

Here are two graphs about the new lens:

The Zeiss 16-35mm should ship within end of this year. But I “fear” that all other lenses that will be announced tomorrow will hit the market in 2015 only. Because so far I didn’t get detailed info on them…probably because Sony will not unveil the final info tomorrow (just general introduction).

To end with a good news: After Pohotkina I can probably start with new rumors about the High Resolution cameras and some RX camera info I got in these days.

Follow the Sony announcement live here on SAR on Monday Sept 15 at 16:00 Berlin time. That’s:
7am in San Francisco
10 am in NYC
15:00 in London
23:00 in Tokyo.

———
Message to sources: You can send me more info anonymously by using the contact form you see on the very right of your browser. You can also contact me directly at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com.
For readers: Subscribe the RSS feed (Click here) and Twitter (Click here) stream and the Facebook fan page (Click here) in order to not miss any news!
——–

Reminder (SR = Sonyrumor):
SR1=probably fake rumor
SR2=rumor from unknown sources
SR3=50% chance it is correct
SR4=rumor from known sources
SR5=almost certainly correct!

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