(SR4) Sony 18-135mm lens coming in August only (still lens production issues?)

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Sony’s last lens announcement was in August 2011. But until today many of these still are not so easy to find in Stock. Particularly the much requested [shoplink 8448]50mm f/1.8[/shoplink] for Nex. I was hoping to see some new lenses in Spring but things don’t look really good now. I have been told that even the newly leaked 18-135mm SAM lens you see on top of this post will ship in August only!
I talked with my sources and it seems that the real big lens announcements will take place the second half of the year. Sony didn’t expect that huge request of [shoplink 8450]Zeiss 24mm[/shoplink] and 50mm E-mount lenses and are still facing production shortages. Hope the Sony managers got the message and may try to increase the production and new lens release! The NEX E-system and the Full Frame A-system still lack of many important lenses.

Good luck to find these lenses:
Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 shop search links [shopcountry 8450].
Sony 50mm f/1.8 shop search links [shopcountry 8448].

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The Sony NEX-5n goes into stratosphere…no joke!!!

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The Stratos-Sphere Project : making-of from Edouard Janssens on Vimeo.

We already knew the NEX-5n is a great camera but it’s good and very useful :) to know that it works perfectly also under very extreme conditions! A Belgian photographer sent a helium balloons up 33km into space to take photos of the curvature of the earth. At 6:05 you clearly see the NEX camera :) Their website is stratos-sphere.com. Thanks Justin for sending me this ;)
And here are the search links to that great stratosphere camera: [shopcountry 8452] :)

To remain in the reign of the weird findings someone also sent me the links to “Ducati NEX adpated lenses”. There is a DUCATI Luxtor 40mm f/1.5 you can find on [shoplink 12171 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. And a DUCATI Lator 60mm f/2.8 again on [shoplink 12172 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

More Sony TidBits:
Kirk Tuck (Click here) fells in love with Sony :)
A special edition of the NEX-7 at DC.watch (Click here).
A Sony A77 biorthday cake on Flickr (Click here).
List of camera defects from Sony and other manufacturers at Moonlightknighthk (Click here).

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SonyAlphaRumors readers work summary!

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From time to time readers send me links to their best work done with Sony cameras. And I am glad to share them here on SAR! Here is the list:

Luca:I am doing a 365 project at http://366nex.blogspot.com. It is focused on using solely the NEX-7 as awalkaround, life-companion, multi-purpose camera. I hope you will enjoy it. As you’ll see in the blog, if you’ll like to visit it, I am using the NEX-7 for many (and very) different purposes, so you’ll find bit of studio photography, street photography, candids, portraits, and night shots.

Mattia:AutoMotoRetrò 2012 video on Youtube

Marc:I got my NEX5 converted to infrared by Lifepixel in the US (300$) it works terrific, it works also for video. here is a sample test http://youtu.be/Ff-T8aEyFA4 I will be using it in the coutryside during my holidays

Tino: Ich habe soeben nach längerer Zeit wieder einmal ein paar Bilder auf meinen Flickr-Account hoch geladen. Aller diese Fotos wurden im Bodensee gemacht.
Folgende Ausrüstung kam zum Einsatz: Sony NEX-5N. Nauticam NA-NEX5 Unterwassergehäuse (Umgebaut auf NEX-5N). Sony E 30mm F3.5 macro. Nauticam Marcro Port 45. INON D-2000 Blitz. Hier der Link zu den Bildern: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tdphoto-ch/sets/72157629567407365/

 

Tomer:I just wanted to share my Sony experience with you… I’m a filmmaker, based in Tel-Aviv. I was recently comissioned to direct a launch video for the NYC company, Boxee (www.boxee.tv). The shoot called for a high quality, low footprint camera system, adapted for first-person POV purposes. After much testing and deliberation, myself and the DoP chose the Sony Nex-5N+16mm lens+wide adapter, and have never looked back since… The camera performed admirably, in a wide variety of scenarios (no heating issues whatsoever), and the client was very happy with the end result :-) :
https://vimeo.com/36758114
On a side note, I purchased the camera after the shoot, and managed to locate a vintage Olympus 38mm Pen-F lens for it. It never leaves my camera, and has really transformed my still photography experience. As and avid music fan, I do some concert photography, and it serves my purposes beautifully:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomerbahat/sets/72157629174781312/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomerbahat/sets/72157629112168249/
That’s it, thank you very much for doing such a great work on the blog!

Douglas: “Some of my recent work done with the Nex 5n. https://vimeo.com/37920172

Thanks you all!

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LEA2 and LEA1 adapter reviews!

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David sent me the email with the link to the video you can see here on top: “I’ve just done a thorough review of the LA-EA2 adapter. I know the adapter has been out for a while, but I don’t think anyone has done a full video review yet. The review includes AF speed, options, adapter size compared to NEX 5N and kit zoom lens, etc. I hope it’s useful to your readers. Thanks again!

And if you want to see a review of the “older” LEA1 adapter Jason from SonyAlphaLab (Click here) did a super job testing the Sony 70-400 f/4-5.6 G SSM Lens + LA-EA1 on the Nex-5n!

LEA2 adapter shop search links at [shopcountry 12160].
LEA1 adapter shop search links at [shopcountry 12161].

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Zeiss 24mm tested at DSLRmagazine. Nothing stops the NEX-7!

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For USA readers: Seven NEX-7 with kit lens in Stock at Amazon (Click here).

Klaus from Photozone tested many NEX lenses on the NEX-7 and discovered that most lenses are still not good enough for the NEX-7. He still has to post the most important lens test, the Zeiss 24mm f/1.8. But there is another test made y the equally good reviewer Valentin Sama at DSLRmagazine (Click here to read the google translation). He says that the lens is worth every penny and the NEX-7 de facto deserves nothing less than a lens like that to express all the potential. The lens has almost no flaws, a bit of vignetting wide open that’s it. Even the bokeh is spectacular! Usually bokeh isn’t a key feature for a wide angle lens but it’s nice that Zeiss archived the perfection even in that aspect.

In Stock status
The lens is still not available everywhere (completely out of Stock in USA for example). Check these links to see if there one: [shopcountry 8450].
And the NEX-7 remains an impressive top seller. It surpassed the Fuji X PRO 1 at Amazon US (Click here to see the full ranking). And it remains on top positions at Amazon Germany (place 3 and 4), Amazon France (place 1) and Amazon UK.

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Sony FF: Remove or not remove the Anti Aliasing filter?

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On left the Nikon D800. On right the Nikon D800E without the Anti Aliasing filter (Click on the image to enlarge)

Let’s not talk about the usual stuff like AF speed or high ISO tests. There are some other aspects the camera manufacturers are now competing for. Example, In the mirrorless segment we already saw the “miniaturization battle“. When it comes to video quality you often read about the “Rolling Shutter jello effect reduction“. But there is also another pretty recent evolution: The removal of the AA (Anti Aliasing) filter that usually protects you from the effect called “Moire”. Within 2012 we already had two new cameras getting rid of the AA filter: The Fuji X PRO 1 (Click here) and Nikon D800E (Click here). Here is a list of links you can check to learn more about it:

Aliasing explanation at Wikipedia (Click here).
Nikon D800 versus Nikon D800 image quality comparison at Pocket Lint (Click here).
Canon 5DmarkIII versus a modified markIII without AA filter at CanonWatch (Click here).
Fuji X PRO 1 versus the “older” Canon 5DmarkII at DSL-check (Click here).

From what I have seen so far the Sony 36 Megapixel sensor really gets a jump of resolution when there is no AA filter. But the Moire effect is really annoying in pictures with patterns. And this cannot be removed in post-production. So for me the Nikon D800E is a no way to go for normal use photography. But the Fuji X PRO 1 tells us another story. By modifying the RGB pattern on the sensor you can almost completely remove the moire issue. And I think that would a way to go for Sony. So here is my question for you:

Choose the ONE lens Sony should ABSOLUTELY makes as next...

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Links to the mentioned cameras:
Nikon D800E at Amazon (Click here).
Fuji X PRO 1 at Amazon (Click here).
The Nikon D800 remains on top of the Amazon ranking (Click here).
While the NEX-7 surpassed the Fuji X PRO 1 (Click here to see the ranking).

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First NEX-FS700 test video and new Carl Zeiss 15mm T/2.9 and 135 T/2.1 for E-mount!

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FS700 480 FPS Test from Andy Shipsides on Vimeo.

If you were wondering what kind of lenses to use on the super new NEX-FS700 E-mount camcorder than I have good news for you! Carl Zeiss just announced two new CP.2 15mm T/2.9 and CP.2 135mm T/2.1. They will be available in late 2012 for $5,700 or €4,200 (VAT excluded!). What makes the CP.2 lenses so expensive is that they are perfectly color-matched to allow consistency in footage. On [shoplink 12143 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] you can find many CP.2 lenses and there is no one that you can get for a low price!

Meantime we can finally watch some nice video made with the FS700. On top of this post you can see the 480 fps test video by Andy Shipsides and below you can find an official introduction from Sony! Looks great or not?

Sony Professional: Introducing the Sony NEX-FS700 from Sony Professional on Vimeo.

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