SAR readers Greg Watermann shot this new Pitbull video with the Sony A7sIII and the Zeiss Batis 40mm lens. If you have any questions for him comment this post and I am sure he will answer ;)
I got some very wild hints that something might be “moving” at Sony (watch video on top). And to be fair I also want to give you a different opinion:
TheDigitalDigest (vide below) is sort of “defending” Sony’s firmware policy by basically saying that:
Sony has not promised to add features on their Sony A1 (or any other) camera. So we should stop asking for things Sony didn’t say they would deliver
He says it’s perfectly normal in the digital industry to not add new features via software. You have to buy new gear if you want new features.
My simple answer to that is the following:
Of course the A1 is till a superb camera! But Sony doesn’t live in a bubble. There are competitors out there like Fuji and Nikon that indeed are going the opposite way and often do ADD new features via firmware update that they didn’t anticipate or promise ahead of their camera launch. So the problem is that customers will think twice in future if they should buy a Nikon Z8 or Sony A7rV or Fuji X-T5 knowing that with Nikon and Fuji they will likely get new features on future updates.
NOTE: On the video above I said those are Viltrox lenses but they are not, they are from Yongnuo!
Yongnuo will soon announce five new APS-C lenses. The leaks show the X-mount versions. Unclear yet if there will be also Sony E, Nikon Z and Canon R mount versions. Here are the specs:
11mm f/1.8
23mm f/1.4
33mm f/1.4
50m f/1.4
56mm f/1.4
Some leaked images of the 001 numbered first prototype lens appeared on Weibo.
You can now preorder the new Sony Xperia 1V at Amazon and BHphoto. The one cool feature of the Xperia is that you can use it as an external monitor and recorder on your Sony Alpha camera:
There is a 45% discount on the Flex Bolt sold on Indiegogo. The FLEX Bolt makes it easy to capture stunning lightning shots effortlessly.
Spinn launched the brand new version of their famous Fully self-adhesive protective gear wrapper on Kickstarter (Click here).
The launch of the new dual layer sensor inside the Sony Xperia 1V (preorders at Amazon and BHphoto) was accompanied by some big claims from Sony. Like: “noise and dynamic range that is equivalent to a full-frame camera“. I have looked on the web to see if someone made a real test on this and I found nothing.
The only comparison video I found was made by DCfever. Here they compared the Samsung S23 Ultra performance with the new Xperia and the Sony is clearly ahead:
I am sure the Xperia 1V has the best camera on any smartphone today! And it’s good to know Sony is always ahead of the game. But I really find it nearly impossible from that the Xperia 1V can match the performance of my Sony A7rV. I believe there is some good marketing “wording” with lot’s of “asterisk” on this statement :)