Sony patented a new 150-400mm f/4 lens

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Asobinet spotted a newly published patent that describes two lens designs. One is the currently available Sony 70-200mm GMII and the other one is a new yet not announced lens. The 150-400mm with constant f/4.0 aperture:

  • Focal length: 154.53-387.86
  • F-value: 4.12
  • Angle of view: 15.94-6.39
  • Image height: 21.64
  • Total length: 339.98

A patent is NOT a guarantee that this lens will hit retail. But it shows what Sony engineers are thinking about. This would be a variation of the current Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS lens. And maybe the differences are to small to justify the production of a 150-400mm variant. What’s your take on this?

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Get $40 off on the HEIPI 3-in-1 Travel Tripod

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You can now preorder the Heipi 3-in-1 Travel Tripod at Heipivision (Click here). $40 OFF with code “QV654S8DATAZ” for a limited time!

Ending today: 5day deal launched their 2023 massive Video Creators Bundle deal (Click here). You get a lot of stuff for $98 only.

Ending soon: Topaz just released the new Photo AI updated which you can get with a new $40 discount (Click here).

Hard disk deals:

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New Viltrox 16mm f/1.8 FE review by Phillip Reeve: This may the point where Chinese outdo Japanese manufacturers

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Viltrox 16mm f/1.8 FE lens at BHphoto, Amazon US&EU and PerGear.

Phillip Reeve tested the new Viltrox lens and concluded:

in my opinion this Viltrox 16mm 1.8 AF FE is a real gamechanger. It adds a competitive modern AF system and the most useful and advanced controls found on any E-mount lens (except for some of the high end tele lenses) highlighted by its flashy but also useful LCD display.

Points of criticism are scarce. The vignetting is high at f/1.8 to f/2.0, but this was probably a tradeoff necessary by avoiding a bulbous front element and allowing for easy use of standard filters.
Flare resistance could be better, but considering the competitors’ performances and the Viltrox’ more complex 15 elements design this might actually be asking too much here. And this isn’t a small lens by any means.

To me it was only a matter of time before the Chinese lens manufacturers start to outdo the Japanese ones and this lens might be where it begins. I don’t know how the people at Viltrox did it, but they got a lot of things right here.

Considering the lens is 1/3 the price of the Sony 14mm GM and the new Sigma 14mm FE…well I do believe we have a secret hidden gem here!

Get the Viltrox 16mm f/1.8 FE lens at BHphoto, Amazon US&EU and PerGear.

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Interesting Sony sensor strategy and forecast: Focus on bigger size sensor and market share of 60% by 2025

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Sony held its 2023 Business Segment meeting on May 24, 2023 and they shared this interesting PDF about their future sensor strategy:

It’s clear that the main focus is on sensor for the smartphone and automotive industry. Overall they see a trend towards large size sensor in both mobile and “classic” image sensor market. As a whole the company plans to have 60% of the market share in 2025 (now 51%).

via Image Sensor World

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