It finally did happen in Korea: Sony sells more system cameras than Canon :)

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Sony shares climbing during the last three months (December-January-February). Image source: Blog Naver.

Sony’s dream to overturn Canon on the system camera market became truth in one country: South Korea! In February Sony beat Canon by a margin of 0.1% only and now owns 33,163% of the overall system camera market in Korea. The reason hwy this happens is easy: Asian countries are shifting towards mirrorless system cameras while Europe and North American stills tick to DSLR systems. In Q4 of 2013 the mirrorless sales iN Korea climbed up to 58% of the system camera market (DSLR drops to 42%).

Sony now has to focus on “Western countries” to repeat the success they have in Asia.

Source: Blog Naver. Thanks S. Park for sending this :)

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First image samples of the new Samyang 12mm lens on the Sony NEX-5n

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Darkshape (Click here) posted the very first image samples taken with the new Samyang 12mm lens on the Sony NEX-5n. This are his findings about the new lens:

“The lens has a remarkable resolution. It is sharp at f/2.0, at f/8 it is razor sharp. It is sharper than my Tokina 12-24 I have been which is a pretty damn sharp lens. Like the Tokina (or even more than the Tokina) it has considerable colour aberration around the edges – however I didn’t have any trouble correcting it with a few clicks in the ACR.”

Here are newly announced Samyang lens specs and preorder option links at BHphoto:
8mm f/2.8 UMC Fish-Eye as Sony E mount (Click here).
10mm f/2.8 ED AS NCS CS lens as Sony E mount (Click here) and as Sony A mount (Click here).
12mm f/2.0 NCS CS lens as Sony E mount (Click here).
8mm T3.1 Cine UMC Fish-Eye II lens as Sony E mount (Click here).
24mm f/1.4 ED AS IF UMC lens as Sony E-mount (Click here).
35mm f/1.4 AS UMC lens as Sony E-mount (Click here)

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Sony madness: Also Pentax 645Z with Sony sensor will go at crazy high ISO (204,800) and has 4K “Interval” mode.

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Short rumor about the new Pentax 645Z camera that should feature the new Sony 51MP medium format sensor. Digicameinfo leaked the images of the camera and also the specs. And Phototumors reports that it will cost $8500.

So this will be the cheapest Medium Format camera on the market with a Sony 51MP sensor that goes up to 204,800 ISO, does a sort of 4K in interval mode (???). As you know there are rumors saying Sony will do a sort of digital mirrorless [shoplink 25383 ebay]Mamiya 7 (here on eBay) camera[/shoplink]. And it should be cheaper than the Pentax. If it becomes true this will be an amazingly interesting camera!

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A6000 in Stock at Vistek. NEX-3n with lens for $299. And RX100/RX100II deals.

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The A6000 is in Stock in Canada (via DL). The A6000 is still not in Stock in USA but at least there is one great deal back: $299 for the NEX-3n and kit lens at Amazon (Click here). And the camera now sells more than the A6000 (ranking here). The NEX-3n is also selling well in the overall camera ranking (Click here) lead by the surprising Go Pro Hero+.

More new deals or preorders:
DDSC-RX100 II Digital Camera + 2 Batteries, 16GB & More for $644 at [shoplink 25841 ebay]6ave on eBay US (Click here)[/shoplink].
Sony RX100 for $474 at Rakuten (Click here).
Sigma 50mm ART lens can be preordered at BHphoto (Click here) and Adorama (Click here).
Tamron 16-300 APS-C A-mount lens can be preordered at Adorama (Click here).

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Sony TidBits…(and 7 Stages of moving from Canon to the Sony A7r).

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Sony 70-200mm f2.8 SSM G Series II Lens Review

Canon user that want to switch over to the Sony A7-A7r system shoudl read carefully the funny but also realistic 7 Stages switch guide from Leica Boss! I like the final stage 7 decription “Acceptance and hope”:

In this stage, you are now a Sony person. You know this means constant head-scratching, dealing with bizarre pricing and more camera body releases than lens releases. You accept that you’ll never see a meaningful firmware release. But you’re all-in. You love your A7 system. You’re an e-mount guy. You’ve got your eye on a Summilux 50mm. The world is your oyster, and you’re capturing it 36 megapixels at a time…

New Custom L bracket for Sony α7 PSL-a7II by Sunwayfoto.
Sony publishes some data showing its semiconductor manufacturing capacity (Image Sensor World).
Tamron 150-600mm test at Quesabesde.
Mirex adapter for Canon EOS to Sony ‘E’ Mount (OnLandscape).
Nauticam housing for the A5000.
Sony Xperia Z2 overview: Revised model takes first place in Mobile rankings (DxOmark).
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H400 Review (Photographyblog).
Tamron SP 150-600 mm f/5-6.3 Di VC USD – sample images on Lenstip (Shoot on Canon).
non technical review of the A7 by James.
Sony FE 70-200mm images at Kasyapa.
A6000 and Touit 12mm image samples at DC.watch.
Sony Too Applies for GS Pixel with Internal Storage (Image Sensor World).
A6000 test at Itmedia.
Sony A7R, 35FE and Sigma DP3 Merrill comparison at Massimocristaldi.com.

Phiniox: “I just wanted to share my initial experience modifying the Sony E 16mm f2.8 for full frame.
Without the modification; the needed crop is 1.25x resulting in 20mm ~15mp (4800x3200px). With the mod this reduced to 1.09x – 17.5mm 20.1mp (5500x3666px). So being that the A7 in APS-C crop mode makes 10mp files I recovered an extra 10 megapixels. Shooting at F8+ with the use of heavy lens correction can the vignetting and distortion is be cleaned to produce very usable results. I may actually prefer the crop SEL16F28 to my Tokina AF 19-35mm f3.5-4.5 A Mount. A 200 dollar native ultra wide is an attractive option to other more expensive solutions.
Initial Impression/Gallery: http://phinioxglade.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/modified-sony-e-16mm-28-for-use-on-ff-a7.html
Real world use/Galley: http://phinioxglade.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/modified-sony-e-16mm-pancake-for-full.html“

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Reminder: Preorder the superb Sigma 50mm A-mount lens now! At BH or Adorama.

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The lens on preorder at BHphoto (Click here)

Hot remindeR: The superb brand new Sigma 50mm f/1.4 ART A-mount lens is now available for preorder at BHphoto (Click here) and Adorama (Click here). It costs a quarter of the Zeiss Otus and is 95% as good as the Zeiss! You can see some image samples on that BHphoto page (Click here), ThePhoBlographer (Click here) and Lcap (Click here). Again, this is a must have lens for A and E-mount camera owners. Preorders are taken from worldwide(!) at BHphoto (Click here) and Adorama (Click here).

Extra note: Also the new Tamron 16-300mm can be preordered starting from today at Adorama (Click here).

This is the official Sigma press release:

Sigma Corporation is pleased to release the new SIGMA 50mm F1.4 DG HSM, the large aperture, standard prime lens from our “Art” line.In 2008, Sigma released a large diameter standard lens designed for digital SLRs, “SIGMA 50mm F1.4 EX DG HSM”. At that time, products for film cameras were prevalent, yet we spent enormous effort to set a new benchmark for the 50mm lens that optimizes the characteristics of digital cameras, such as compensating peripheral brightness, controlling the point images in the corners, and improving the image drawing, not only around the focusing point, but also other areas in the image.
In recent years, as the DSLR evolves, development of image sensors for higher pixel size has created the photographers’ desire for the lenses with superior performance. In 2012, Sigma has announced the “Art” line that achieves unsurpassed expressive performance to fulfill the higher requirement of photographers. The first lens from the “Art” line “SIGMA 35mm F1.4 DG HSM [A 012]” sought for uncompromising performance, and it resulted in great reviews as well as a lot of awards from all over the world. Based on the accumulated wisdom and know-how to establish the standard for our “Art” line series, we are proud to announce the development of the new high performance standard lens with a large diameter for this new era of superb image quality.

SIGMA 50mm F1.4 DG HSM F/CANON fittings are scheduled to start the shipment towards the end of this month.
Launching date of Sigma, Sony and Nikon mount is not determined yet.
Corresponding AF Mounts: SIGMA, Canon, Sony and Nikon
Accessory: Case, Petal-Type Hood (LH830-02) supplied.

 

Again: Preorders at BHphoto (Click here) and Adorama (Click here).

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