The A77 is more and more difficult to find in Stock and the price is rising. But I just found four manufacturer refurbished A77 bodies in Stock for 150£ (120Euro) less than the original price! They are sold by [shoplink 10266 ebay]cameracenter UK on eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. Guess what? i bet they will be sold out within minutes! So hurry!
One more refurbished deal. The Sony A900 is in Stock for 1699£ only again at [shoplink 10270 ebay]cameracenter on eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. You save 300£ (or 400 Euro) on the original price!
The video on top has been made at BHphoto store in NYC. Enjoy!
P.S.: Sony will soon release a statement about the A77/NEX-7 production status. I guess the chance is low that we will see both cameras in Stock before Christmas. And only a few store accepting NEX-7 preorders. Check this search links: [shopcountry 8454].
Last week Sony announced that the A77/65 and NEX-7/5n production has been restarted. We are still not 100% sure when the cameras will be in Stock but we noticed some small good news:
1) First, The A65 that was supposed to be back in Stock in USA on December 31 now will be in Stock on December 1 at Amazon US (Click here). 2) The A77 preorder option is back at Sony Canada (Click here). And the A77 is back in Stock Amazon Japan (Click here). 3) Amazon UK (Click here) changed the NEX-7 delivery message. It now says “Usually dispatched within 1 to 3 months.” (before it was 4 months). 4)Sonystore US (Click here) now says the A77 and the NEX-7 is “coming soon“. 5) and than we have the very first Instant Rebate on the A65 camera it’s good news because you don’t do rebates on a camera if it’s not available. Here are the deals:
– $100 rebate on the A65 with S18-55mm and 75-300mm lenses at Adorama (Click here).
– $100 rebate on the A65 with S18-55mm and 55-200mm lenses at Adorama (Click here).
In USA Some people is already reselling their just purchased A77 camera for a lot more than the original price. Check that auction on [shoplink 10232 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] and the used A77 on Amazon (Click here). Almost $400 more than the normal price for the new camera!
UPDATE:Sony China removed the A77/65 firmware upgrade 1.04 page! But the download links still work. Be aware that this upgrade firmware has yet not been officially released. Download and install at your own risk! And we don’t know if you can replace that firmware with the firmware that Sony will possibly release next week. So do NOT install if you don’t know what you are doing!!!
I guess the rumor we posted yesterday is true. Sony planed the release for today but than postponed it to next week. Sony China made a mistake an posted it today and than removed it after a couple of hours. Read our readers comments to check out what has been improved!
I am having so much fun with my [shoplink 8452]Sony NEX-5n[/shoplink] that I am constantly looking for lenses I could purchase for it. Thought it would be nice to share my impressions about one of the lenses I am looking for. The [shoplink 10220 ebay]Zeiss ZM Sonnar 50mm f/1.5 lens[/shoplink]. You can see an image of the NEX-5n with that lens on Flickr. The reason why I am intrigued by that lens is that:
1) it has a super build quality
2) it has a perfect focal length for portraits (75mm on a NEX).
3) and it is relatively compact and fast.
The lens is not cheap, around $1200 on [shoplink 10220 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. Plus you have to buy the M to NEX mount adapter ([shoplink 8850 ebay]here on eBay[/shoplink]).
Lens reviews
To start I read the presentation on the Zeiss website. I didn’t find any official review of the lens on a NEX camera. I only found some reviews of the lens used with the lovely Zeiss Ikon ZM. Ken Rockwell writes that it is “an easy lens to love: it’s just so small and fast! It’s not a lens for pixel counters. It’s very sharp at middle and smaller apertures where it matters, but trades sharper images for smoother images at the largest apertures. This 50/1.5 is superb for general photography and people pictures.“. And Luminous Landscape tested the lens on the Leica M9: “There is something else that the Sonnar and some other Zeiss lenses have, and that is a very pleasant 3D feeling to the pictures. It´s not as clinical as pictures with some of the ASPH-Leica lenses sometimes can get. It just feels very pleasant, for lack of a better word.”
I would say the lens performs very well on Fullframe cameras. But how does it look on a NEX camera with APS-C sensor?
Image and video samples on NEX:
I found that aperture test made by Janus that shows the bokeh look of the lens on the [shoplink 8452]Sony NEX-5n[/shoplink]:
It looks like the lens is a real winner but I will wait to see the first tests of the [shoplink 8448]Sony 50mm f/1.8[/shoplink] before to consider to buy the Zeiss Sonnar lens. The Sony has autofocus and is cheaper. But on the other hand I love to work with manual focus and I like to buy lenses with super build quality (makes me feel it was worth to buy it). If only the price would not be that high!
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Zeiss ZM Sonnar f/1.5 links at [shopcountry 10220]
M to NEX mount adapter on [shoplink 8850 ebay]eBay[/shoplink]
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