Just a quick message to wish you all Happy new Year!

From a Sony Alpha perspective we should soon see the first announcements. Expect both…New cameras and lenses!

Opticallimits tested the Tamron telezoom and concluded:

The Tamron 150-500mm f/5-6.7 Di III VC VXD is a very capable super-tele zoom lens. Its center quality is certainly good enough for the purpose it is meant for. In the lower focal length range, it touches excellent quality in the center and it’s still very good at 500mm. The outer image field is a bit of a mixed bag. At 150mm, the sharpness is very good but it suffers from rather heavy field curvature mostly visible at close to medium focus distances. The field curvature is gone at 250mm and the borders/corners are pretty good until 400mm. They do soften at 500mm, though. That being said – keep in mind that the border/corner quality is mostly irrelevant with such a lens. The lateral CAs are well controlled and eliminated via auto-correction anyway. The lens also shows fairly high image distortion in RAW files (only). The vignetting characteristic is a tad high in RAW mode but no issue after correction, of course. The bokeh has two aspects. The general blur is actually pretty smooth, whereas out-of-focus highlights can be rather nervous.

The build quality left a positive impression despite the extensive use of plastics. It feels solid and there is no wobbling whatsoever, even when extended to 500mm. The small focus ring isn’t the best in the business but the zoom ring is surprisingly smooth despite the heavy weight of the inner lens tube. We liked the push/pull zoom lock mechanism – which is also needed due to the extending zoom design here. The AF speed depends heavily on the used Sony camera. It’s not a speed demon on older bodies but if you own the latest and greatest, the AF is impressively fast and noiseless. The VC image stabilizer gave us about three f-stops which is decent enough given the long focal length.

In our book, the primary differentiator of the Tamron 150-500mm f/5-6.7 Di III VC VXD is the compact size. It is much more backpack-friendly than the big Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS. Some users will also appreciate the shorter minimum focal length, which is certainly making it somewhat more versatile. However, the king (the Sony lens) isn’t dead yet.

Tamron 150-500mm FE at BHphoto. Amazon US&EU. Adorama. Fotokoch DE. Parkcameras UK.

7 Focus Mistakes ALL Sony Users Make!

Today deals at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon FR, Amazon IT, FotoErhardt DE, FotoKoch DE.
What’s in My Bag: Design Photographer Temi Coker (42West).
The Voigtlander 15mm f4.5 Super Wide Heliar III Aspherical FE (SavetheJourney)
Great Joy 85mm 1.8x anamorphic lens mini review (Dpreview).
mini documentary was shot with a Sony A7IV and A7C (Vimeo).
11 Photographic Gift Ideas for Your Shutterbug (Explora).

Follow our new Youtube channel.
I kindly invite you all to follow our Discord channel, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter to not miss news and rumors

We have our own Facebook camera groups you can join to discuss the upcoming new cameras in detail:
Sony Alpha group.
Sony A1 group.
Sony A9 series group.
Sony A7r series group.
Sony A7s series group.
Sony A7 series group.

Lots of Canon cameras, but some Nikon and Sony shooters too, in this sideline shot showing pros at work during Argentina’s World Cup semifinal match against Croatia (Image credit: Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)

Digitalcameraworld made the following observation:

The DSLR has, of course, reigned supreme in sports photography for decades, but for the first time I could see quite a lot of mirrorless cameras in action.

More of a surprise though,  is just how quickly Canon and Nikon have got up to speed despite being late to the mirrorless party as far as having credible systems was concerned. That both now have true pro-level bodies backed by all the required lenses – including supertelephotos – means that their dominance of the pro camera market will continue. 

Yes, Sony has made some inroads – and Fujifilm to a lesser extent – but the brand-loyalty bond has been hard to break and it’s probably well-nigh impossible now. Both companies will keep building on what they’ve achieved so far… Canon with the aforementioned EOS R1 and Nikon with the Z 8 – the most likely model number for the Z 9’s support act. 

The Airtag compatible Mount plate is now available for preorder at Smallrig (worldwide shipment).

Super Fast Autofocus Tracking! Free Firmware Update – Tamron 150-500mm Lens!

Today deals at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon FR, Amazon IT, FotoErhardt DE, FotoKoch DE.
A long term review of the Sony Zeiss 35mm f1.4 ZA Distagon (SavetheJourney)
Tilt Shift Zoom Lens for Canon, Nikon, Sony & Fujifilm (Durlacher).
Pergear 35mm F1.4 review at SonyAlphaBlog.
Sabrent 512GB Rocket V90 SDXC: Achieve Lightspeed (Explora).
How to Adjust Photo Saturation for a Natural Look (42West).

Follow our new Youtube channel.
I kindly invite you all to follow our Discord channel, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter to not miss news and rumors

We have our own Facebook camera groups you can join to discuss the upcoming new cameras in detail:
Sony Alpha group.
Sony A1 group.
Sony A9 series group.
Sony A7r series group.
Sony A7s series group.
Sony A7 series group.