UPDATE: Wild rumor about a new Sony A1 firmware update in February
UPDATE: Source contacted me again and corrected me by saying A1 Firmware update will come in February (and not February 1). He wrote this:
new firmware will come to the Alpha1 in February, include video-af to a7r5
If you can confirm or deny this please send me a message though the anonymous contact box or write me at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com.
Sigma 60-600mm review by SonyAlphaBlog: “In good lighting conditions performances are excellent in term of sharpness”
Preorders at BHphoto, Amazon US&EU, Adorama. Fotokoch. FotoErhardt. WexUK.
SonyAlphaBlog tested the new Sigma 60-600mm lens and concluded:
The Sigma 60-600mm F4.5.3 DG DN Sports (2369 euros) is a a monster zoom lens extending the classical 150-600mm to reach 60mm on the low end. This unique 10x range is very versatile and allow to use it for wildlife and sport to take group shoot as well as tiny detail of a player or a bird and to be able to follow a distant subject coming very close to you, which is the main issue with a 150-600mm where you are stuck when your subject is coming close.
In good lighting conditions performances are excellent in term of sharpness on the entire range with although a little drop a 600mm.
AF is also very good in standard situation but for fast moving subject , the lens loose track when subject was coming near or with erratic movements.Although build quality and ergonomics are very good there is 2 points to take into account: Weight is huge and you can hold it more than 1 minute and be steady, so a monopod or a tripod is a must with this lens. I was also annoyed not to be able to zoom fast as zoom ring is quite stiff. I also had to take my big bag to transport it.
Triple Amazon EU deal on the Sony 24-105mm G, 18-135mm and Tamron 50-400mm FE
Here are three new Sony deals (on some of them you have to click on the “voucher” button):
- 140 Euro off on the 24-105mm lens at Amazon Germany.
- 40 Euro off on the 18-135mm lens at Amazon Germany.
- 105 Euro off on the Tamron 50-400mm FE lens at Amazon France.
Tony Northrup: high megapixels is best for low light & high iso
Tony writes:
Low megapixel cameras have less noise in low light because of bigger pixels, right? Camera manufacturers AND smartphone manufacturers use that in their advertising, but is it true?
NO. We put three sets of cameras to the test, for both still images and video. The cameras tested include the Sony a7S III, Sony a7R IV, Sony a1, Canon R5, Canon R6, Fujifilm X-H2, and Fujifilm X-T4. In EVERY case, the high megapixel camera outperformed the lower megapixel camera in low-light, high ISO photography AND video. Every time.
BCN award 2023 winners announced: Sony on second place in the mirrorless camera market (but on top when it comes to lenses)
In 2022 Sony had the top position in the mirrorless world. But this year they slipped behind Canon. The exact opposite happened in the lens market: Sony is now ahead of Canon.
The Japanese BCN organization collected the exact sales number from 40% of the Japanese stores. And this is the market share of the camera companies:
・BCN AWARD 2023 Category Camera
- Digital camera integrated lens category (*The share in parentheses is last year’s share)
1st Sony: 22.1% share (23.1%)
2nd Canon: 18.0% share (34.01%)
3rd Fujifilm: 17.1% share (11.6%) - Digital camera SLR category
1st Canon: 76.8% (59.8%)
share 2nd Nikon: 17.2% (33.9%)
share 3rd Ricoh Imaging: 5.7% (5.8%) share - Digital Camera Mirrorless SLR Category
1st Canon: 31.7% (28.2%)
share 2nd Sony: 29.4% (32.0%)
share 3rd OM Digital Solutions: 14.3% (12.7%) share - Digital video camera category
1st Panasonic: 42.4% (43.6%)
share 2nd place Sony: 34.7% (26.3%)
share 3rd place DJI: 9.4% (11.2%) share - Action camera category
No. 1 GoPro: Share 57.7% (70.4%)
No. 2 DJI: Share 20.5% (5.3%)
No. 3 Shenzhen Arashi Vision: Share 7.9% (-)
・BCN AWARD 2023 Category Camera Accessories
- Interchangeable lens category (*Last year’s share in parentheses)
1st Sony: 16.4% share (17.2%)
2nd Canon: 15.9% share (17.6%)
3rd Sigma: 14.5% share (12.6%) - Tripod/monopod category
No. 1 Hakuba Photo Industry: Share 30.9% (29.1%)
No. 2 Videndum Media Solutions: Share 15.1% (15.5%)
No. 3 Slick: Share 14.4% (12.6%) - Camera case/bag
No. 1 Hakuba Photo Industry: Share 41.0% (33.3%)
No. 2 Elecom: Share 17.5% (18.8%)
No. 3 Etsumi: Share 5.9% (-)
via Digicameinfo