Crazy: Minolta/Sony Alpha AF Bellows by Novoflex!

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[shoplink 6909 ebay][/shoplink]
I don’t know how many of you knew that Novoflex made a dual track rack and pinion AF bellows for Sony/Minolta camera and lenses! I found one of those for sale on [shoplink 6909 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. It has all the electrical contacts for the automation of the camera/lens/bellows system. The description says: “It’s a great accessory for close-up, macro, stereographic, and panoramic photography. It’s also perfectly suited for slide/negative & photo copying. It excels in hand-held indoor/outdoor, nature and macro photography, due to it’s automation, compact size and light weight. Other non auto bellows are generally too bulky and heavy for hand-held use. The precise rack and pinion gear allows very minute fore and aft movement of your camera for very accurate framing focusing. It will not slip when pointed up or down. It has a very secure locking mechanism. It can accommodate heavy lenses. It is of all metal construction, steel and aluminum.”

Novofles is a German company well known for their high quality adapters. But I didn’t know they make bellows too!

[shoplink 6909 ebay]Click here to see the current Novoflex bellow auction on eBay[/shoplink].

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POLL: Are you missing the compact pancakes on the Sony NEX lens roadmap?

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It’s a bit surprising for me to see that Sony has no plan to release compact pancakes like the current [shoplink 2998]16mm f/2.8 for NEX[/shoplink]. Do you think this is a mistake? I mean, what’s the meaning of having an ultra compact NEX-C3 if all the lenses (except the 16mm) are huge?

What lens will you buy:

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P.S.: There is still hope that Sigma and other third party lens makers can bring us some nice pancake!

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(SR5) The NEX lens roadmap and 30mm macro specs (+ NEX flash)

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And now we got even more info about the future 30mm NEX and the other 6 future NEX lenses.
The 30mm macro lens is designed with 7 lens elements in 6 groups. One of them is an ED lens and three of them are aspherical. Minimum focusing distance is 10cm, filter size 49mm and weight 138g.

There will be six more NEX lenses to come in 2011/2012:
A Sony portrait lens 50mm f/1.8
The 24mm f/1.7 Zeiss
The telephoto zoom lens (should be 55-200mm f/4-5.6)
A medium telephoto lens
The Sony G standard zoom
A Sony wide angle zoom.

P.S.: The NEX flash will cost around $150 and have a coverage of 24-50mm.

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(SR5) All you have to know about the NEX-C3 and A35

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As I already told you I do expect Sony to release the new NEX-C3, A35, new NEX flash and the new Sony 30mm f/3.5 macro NEX lens on June 3. Today I got more info about both cameras. The NEX-C3 and A35 will be in Stock by early August. And here are the specs:

NEX-C3:
16 megapixel sensor,
surprise: 200-12800 ISO (where is the ISO 100?)
HD video recording (why no FullHD?)
25 AF
same 3inch LCD as the NEX-5
The camera will also have the new picture effects (the NEX-3 and NEX-5 will get them with a firmware update)
The battery life has been increased by 20% compared to the battery life of the [shoplink 3003]NEX-5[/shoplink]
Price $599

A35:
16 megapixel sensor,
100-12800 ISO
FullHD 1080 AVCHD
New tele-zoom high speed shooting mode with 7 fps (???)
Same picture effects as the NEX-C3
Price $599

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(SR2) New Sony 70-300mm f/4-5.6 SAM coming?

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[shoplink 6885][/shoplink]

I just received a new message from a new source. Because the source is new please take the rumor with a grain of salt. He said:

“Sony will introduce a 70-300mm f/4-5.6 SAM telephoto lens (SAL-70300) to replace the current [shoplink 6885]Konica-Minolta designed 75-300mm f/4.5-5.6 (SAL-75300)[/shoplink]. It is currently designated “budget teleconversion lens“”

Message for the new source: When is Sony going to announce that lens? Thanks!

P.S.: Links to the current Sony 75.300mm lens to [shopcountry 6885].

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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A triple Sony A55 review

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[shoplink 3617][/shoplink]

Photographyreview (Click here) tested the Sony A55: “The Sony Alpha SLT-A55 is a great camera with an innovative design, great performance and excellent image quality. It’s not quite the sports camera I was hoping for but it’s a very capable all-round performer that most people will be very happy with – especially people who value video as much as still photos.”

Day 5 of the Sony A55 review at ThePhoBlographer (Click here). He also made some ISO tests and those are the conclusion for the RAW noise test: “When viewing images at a normal size, noise starts to become noticeable around ISO 1600 but it’s nothing to be concerned about. I probably wouldn’t make any post processing noise adjustments until ISO 6400 unless I was blowing up the image to a larger size. I think this is impressive ISO performance from a consumer DSLR. ”

Jhpvideotutorials (Click here) also tested the A55: “If you’re looking for a SLR style camera that takes much better HD video than Canon or Nikon SLR’s, and takes very good photos, then this camera might just be the one for you!  If you’re a Photographer looking for the best image quality possible and plan to use studio lights, then I would not recommend this camera for you.” (P.S.: You have to click on the small page numbers at the bottom of the post to see all 5 page long review).

CLick those links to check price and availability of the A55: [shopcountry 3617].

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Sony refurbished camera and lenses.

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[shoplink 6873 ebay][/shoplink]

UPDATE: Although the eBay Feedback history of the reseller is very positive a reader warned me to buy from that store and linked me to those customers reviews. Hmmm….

– A refurbished [shoplink 6873 ebay]Zeiss 85mm f/1.4 lens (Click here to see the item)[/shoplink] which you can get for 849.00 Pounds (969 Euros). That’s almost 300 Euro less than the cheapest price for a new lens I found in Germany and UK!
– And they are also selling ten [shoplink 6874 ebay]silver NEX-3 bodys (Click here to see them on eBay)[/shoplink] for 189 Pounds (215 Euros). That’s 25 Euro less than a new NEX-3.

From Wikipedia: “Refurbished products could possibly be the products which are returned by the customer within the return policy of the company which sold the product, without any defect with the product. Refurbished products are generally bench tested and certified by the authorized service centers of the company and then re-packaged, labeled as a Refurbished Product.”

 

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