Sony Alpha digital cameras

Sony Tidbits…

May 2, 2015
news
16 Comments

Focus Tracking Differences between Sony’s E-Mount and A-Mount Cameras by Gary Friedmann

Gary (video on top): “As I mention in my blog (friedmanarchives.com where this video first appeared), there are a lot of people for whom this situation may never come up. My purpose with the video is to let people better understand how the cameras evolved, and to touch on the strengths and weaknesses of each platform. It’s always useful to know under which circumstances your equipment will hit its limits, even if you never push it that far.”

For Germans: Gold Box on the RX1R (via DL) and A6000 (via DL).
Zeiss Loxia 35mm lens random thoughts by Sony Artisan Michael Wayne Plant.
State of the Camera Market (Diglloyd).
Sony Alpha A7 Family – Which One To Choose? (Verybiglobo).
Sony FE 24-240 tested at Dutch Pixelmania.
New kind of QX lens mount patent (Egami).
My review of the B-Grip Camera Holster for CSC’s and DSLM with my A6000 and A7R (Richardfoxphotography).
The Mighty Fifties – Zeiss 55mm f/1.8 vs Loxia 50mm f/2 vs Sigma 50mm f/1.4 (Ilovehatephoto).

Bernhard: “I started a little blog about my recent switch from my Canon 5DMKiii to a Sony A7s: http://www.wimair.at/WP/?page_id=3760. It’s written a little “personal”, to tech charts – only real life experiences. And it’s german only, so it may not be interesting for you. As you sometimes post blogs of readers I thought you may like it.“

New Tamron/Tokina lens mail-in rebates. Mother’s day deals and FE 28mm in Stock in US.

May 1, 2015
deals
0 Comments

28mm FE:
The new 28mm FE is now in Stock in US at [shoplink 36063 ebay]KenmoreCamera[/shoplink], [shoplink 36064 ebay]Buydig[/shoplink] and preorders are shipping out at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, FocusCamera, Sony US.

Mother’s day
You can find an extremely long list of Special Mother’s day deals at BHphoto (Click here). Note that some deals only work when using the coupon code “MOMDAY15“.

Tokina-Tamron:
You have the following lens mail-in(!) rebates on A-mount Tamron lenses at Adorama (Click here).
– 16-300mm: $50 savings
– 18-270mm: $100 savings
– 24-70mm: $100 savings
– 70-200mm: $100 savings
– 70-300mm: $100 savings
And there is also a $30 off the Tokina AT-X 11-16mm II DX at Adorama (Click here).

Crazy Hasselblad deal:
Hasselblad Lunar E-mount camera just got a massive $5,500 off at BHphoto (Click here).

More Sony US rebates:
Price drop and lot of free stuff on the A7II at FocusCamera.
Price drop and lot of free stuff on the RX100 at Adorama.
Price drop and lot of free stuff on the A5000 at Adorama.
Sony Alpha a7II (Body Only) for $1,498 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore.
Sony Alpha a7II with FE 28-70mm OSS Lens for $1,798 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore.
Sony Alpha a7 (Body Only) for $998 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore.
Sony Alpha a7 with FE 28-70mm OSS Lens for $1,298 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore.
$100 off on the A6000 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore.
Price drop and lot of free stuff on the HDRCX405 HD Handycam at FocusCamera.

Impressive! New Batis 85mm almost matches the Otus 85mm MTF performance!

May 1, 2015
reviews
158 Comments

So, what’s the optical performance difference between the $4,490 85mm f/1.4 Zeiss Otus and the $1,199 85mm f/1.8 Zeiss Batis? Almost none! Just check out the comparison between the two MTF graph (Click to enlarge).

While the MTF performance is very close the Zeiss Otus still has the advantage of being faster (f/1.4 vs f/1.8) and it has less distortion. See the MTF and Distortion files here:
Zeiss Otus at Zeiss.de
Zeiss Batis at Diglloyd.

As our reader Seeky stated it relly looks like the 85mm Batis is a sort of mini-Otus!

Both lenses are now available for preorder in USA and Europe (UK/Germany)
Zeiss Batis 85mm f/1.8 lens in US at Adorama, Bhphoto. In Eu at Amazon DE, WexUK. In Asia at Digitalrev.
Zeiss Batis 25mm f/2.0 lens at Adorama, Bhphoto. In EU at Amazon DE, WexUK. In Asia at Digitalrev.
Lens shade for 85mm at Adorama, Bhphoto.
Lens shade for 25mm at Adorama, Bhphoto.

New Sony FY2014 financial report: Less compact cameras sold. Good income with high profit model.

May 1, 2015
news
35 Comments

Sony just released their new Q1 financial report (files can be seen here). There are many good news:

1) Sony is recovering quickly from the big crisis and is making money again
2) Despite the collapse of the fixed lens compact camera market Sony is still doing money with the Imaging Segment
3) Sony is selling less fixed lens cameras and less video cameras. And the forecast is that it will sell less cameras the next months. But it’s shifting the focus on high value models and the strategy seems to work. Therefore they still expect to keep making profit with the business.

And this is what Sony writes

Bildschirmfoto 2015-04-30 um 09.24.48

More graphs (Click on it to enlarge)

There is no info about a particular digital camera strategy or future products. But it’s good to hear Sony is one of the few companies still making money with cameras :)

DxOmark tests the new Sony 28mm FE lens- Says it’s a “Wide-angle prime with top results”!

April 30, 2015
reviews
118 Comments

Dxo_28mm_fe_sony

DxOmark (Click here) just published the [shoplink 36056 ebay]Zeiss 28mm FE lens[/shoplink] results and writes:

Ranking third for all hybrid lenses, just behind two significantly more expensive Carl Zeiss options, is a great result for the Sony FE 28mm F2 lens. At a cost of just $498, and boasting a “fast” F2 aperture and solid results in most categories, it’s an affordable wide-angle solution for Sony A7 series shooters. It’s actually marginally ahead of the Zeiss wide-angle competition overall for sharpness, but isn’t quite as strong at F2.8, where the corners drop off a little. The main area of concern is Distortion, however, with quite heavy “barrelling” that landscape and architecture photographers will want to correct in post-production.

An absolute great performance for the money!
The FE 28mm is now in Stock for the first time in USA at [shoplink 36004 ebay]Focuscamera eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

Zeiss Distagon second best lens after the 55mm FE:
It’s also interesting to note that DxO also added the Zeiss FE 35mm f/1.4 to the database. With 38 points it scores as second best FE lens right behind the 42 points of the [shoplink 36054 ebay]55mm FE lens[/shoplink].
The 35mm Distagon is finally in back in Stock at Amazon US (Click here).

All new FE lens preorder links:
In USA at:
Zeiss 35mm f/1.4 FE at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, FocusCamera, Sony US.
Sony 90mm f/2.8 FE at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, FocusCamera, Sony US.
Sony 24-240mm FE at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, FocusCamera, Sony US.
Sony 28mm f/2.0 FE at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, FocusCamera, Sony US.
Sony Fisheye Conversion Lens for FE 28mm F/2 at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
Sony Ultra-Wide Conversion Lens for FE 28mm F/2 at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
Sony Fisheye Converter for E 16mm F/2.8 and E 20mm F/2.8 at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
Sony Ultra-Wide Converter for E 16mm F2.8 and E 20mm F2.8 at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
In Europe at:
Zeiss 35mm f/1.4 FE at Sony Germany, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, AT, CH, SE, FI, NO, PT.
Sony 90mm f/2.8 FE at Sony Germany, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, AT, CH, SE, FI, NO, PT.
Sony 24-240mm FE at Sony Germany, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, AT, CH, SE, FI, NO, PT.
Sony 28mm f/2.0 FE at Sony Germany, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, AT, CH, SE, FI, NO, PT.
Wide Angle converter at Sony Germany, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, AT, CH, SE, FI, NO, PT.
Fisheye converter at Sony Germany, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, AT, CH, SE, FI, NO, PT.
Wide angle converter for 16 and 20mm lenses at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, AT, CH, SE, FI, NO, PT.
Fisheye converter for 16 and 20mm lenses at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, AT, CH, SE, FI, NO, PT.
In Asia/Australia at:
Sony 24-240mm FE lens at Digitalrev, CameraPRO, Sony Australia.
Sony 28mm FE lens at Digitalrev, Sony Australia.
Sony 90mm FE lens at Digitalrev, Sony Australia.
Zeiss 35mm f/1.4 FE lens at Digitalrev, Sony Australia.
Wide angle converter for 16 and 20mm lenses at Digitalrev, Sony Australia.
Fisheye converter for 16 and 20mm lenses at Digitalrev, Sony Australia.

This is the biggest price drop on E-mount ever: 5,500$ off on the Hasselblad Lunar!

April 30, 2015
deals
41 Comments

Lunar back to Earth:
Wow! The “NEX-7 modified” Hasselblad Lunar E-mount camera just got a massive $5,500 off at BHphoto (Click here). I guess Hasselblad strategy to sell “luxurified” cameras didn’t pay off if they have to make such kind of price drops. And it will not make happy the people who really bought the camera for the original $6,995 price.

FE 28mm lens now in USA:
The very first lens is in Stock at [shoplink 36004 ebay]Focuscamera eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. And the first batch of preorders at BHphoto just shipped too!

New Sony US rebates:
Price drop and lot of free stuff on the A7II at FocusCamera.
Price drop and lot of free stuff on the RX100 at Adorama.
Price drop and lot of free stuff on the A5000 at Adorama.
Sony Alpha a7II (Body Only) for $1,498 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore.
Sony Alpha a7II with FE 28-70mm OSS Lens for $1,798 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore.
Sony Alpha a7 (Body Only) for $998 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore.
Sony Alpha a7 with FE 28-70mm OSS Lens for $1,298 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore.
$100 off on the A6000 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore.
Price drop and lot of free stuff on the HDRCX405 HD Handycam at FocusCamera.

Announced: The yet tiniest third party FF lens for your A7/s/r camera!

April 30, 2015
news
35 Comments

[shoplink 36037 ebay] Bildschirmfoto 2015-04-30 um 16.24.47 [/shoplink]

The eccentric Japanese Lens designer Mr. Miyazaki just released the new [shoplink 36037 ebay]MS-Optical Perar 21 mm f/4,5 MC Super Wide Triplet lens[/shoplink]. And the extraordinary thing of the lens is that it is only 5,2mm thick and weights 42g! It’s smaller than the [shoplink 34266 ebay]M to E-mount adapter[/shoplink] you will have to use on your E-mount camera. This makes it likely the smallest and lightest third-party Full Frame(!) lens you can use on your A7 cameras. Instead of using a cap on your camera you can simply put that lens on it and the camera will be always “ready” for a quick shot.

You can see the very first image samples and buy the lens at [shoplink 36037 ebay]BreguetCamera on eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

This is the third Perar lens from Mr. Miyazaki. The other two are the slightly thicker [shoplink 36038 ebay]24mm (here on eBay)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 36039 ebay]28mm (here on eBay)[/shoplink] lenses.

[shoplink 36037 ebay][/shoplink]

Images via Japancamerahunter. Found via Mirrorlessrumors.