DxO tells you what the best lenses for the Sony A7R IV are

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These are the best lenses for the Sony A7rIV according to DxOmark!

Best wide angle lens: Zeiss 25mm FE (BHphoto, Amazon and Adorama)

Best standard lens: Zeiss 55mm FE (Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto)

Best telephoto lens: Sony 85mm GM (BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama)

Best wide angle zoom: Sony 16-35mm GM (Amazon, Adorama, Bhphoto).

Best standard zoom: Sony 24-70mm GM (Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto).

Best telephoto zoom: Sony 70-200mm GM (Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto).

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Sony’s goal is “maintaining the global number one position in imaging”

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Sony issued a new press release to highlight the Corporate Strategy Meeting FY2020 goals. This is what they had to say about the Imaging Business:

Imaging & Sensing Solutions

  • Due to the uncertain market environment, Sony is carefully reviewing its capital expenditure plans in this segment in relation to projected demand through the fiscal year ending March 31, 2022, but its goals of maintaining the global number one position in imaging and gaining the global number one position in sensing remain unchanged.
  • Sony is also strengthening its focus on sensing solutions for mobile devices that “connect people to people,” and automotive sensing solutions that “support people,” which are expected to grow over the long term.
  • Based on its belief that image sensors will be key devices in the AI era, Sony intends to leverage its world-leading stacked CMOS image sensor technology and provide AI sensing solutions that deliver new value across a broad range of applications.
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Sony Semiconductor Solutions and Microsoft partner to create smart camera solutions for enterprise customers

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Press text:

Sony Semiconductor Solutions and Microsoft partner to create smart camera solutions for enterprise customers
Companies collaborate to make video analytics solutions more accessible in order to drive better business outcomes

TOKYO — May 19, 2020 — Sony Semiconductor Solutions (Sony) and Microsoft Corp. (Microsoft) today announced they are partnering to create solutions that make AI-powered smart cameras and video analytics easier to access and deploy for their mutual customers.

As a result of the partnership, the companies will embed Microsoft Azure AI capabilities on Sony’s intelligent vision sensor IMX500, which extracts useful information out of images in smart cameras and other devices. Sony will also create a smart camera managed app powered by Azure IoT and Cognitive Services that complements the IMX500 sensor and expands the range and capability of video analytics opportunities for enterprise customers. The combination of these two solutions will bring together Sony’s cutting-edge imaging and sensing technologies, including the unique functionality of high-speed edge AI processing, with Microsoft’s cloud expertise and AI platform to uncover new video analytics opportunities for customers and partners across a variety of industries.

“By linking Sony’s innovative imaging and sensing technology with Microsoft’s excellent cloud AI services, we will deliver a powerful and convenient platform to the smart camera market. Through this platform, we hope to support the creativity of our partners and contribute to overcoming challenges in various industries,” said Terushi Shimizu, Representative Director and President, Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation.

“Video analytics and smart cameras can drive better business insights and outcomes across a wide range of scenarios for businesses,” said Takeshi Numoto, corporate vice president and commercial chief marketing officer at Microsoft. “Through this partnership, we’re combining Microsoft’s expertise in providing trusted, enterprise-grade AI and analytics solutions with Sony’s established leadership in the imaging sensors market to help uncover new opportunities for our mutual customers and partners.”

Video analytics has emerged as a way for enterprise customers across industries to uncover new revenue opportunities, streamline operations and solve challenges. For example, retailers can use smart cameras to detect when to refill products on a shelf or to better understand the optimal number of available open checkout counters according to the queue length. Additionally, a manufacturer might use a smart camera to identify hazards on its manufacturing floor in real time before injuries occur. Traditionally, however, such applications — which rely on gathering data distributed among many smart cameras across different sites like stores, warehouses and distribution centers — struggle to optimize the allocation of compute resources, resulting in cost or power consumption increases.

To address these challenges, Sony and Microsoft will partner to simplify access to computer vision solutions by embedding Azure AI technology from Microsoft into Sony’s intelligent vision sensor IMX500 as well as enabling partners to embed their own AI models. This integration will result in smarter, more advanced cameras for use in enterprise scenarios as well as a more efficient allocation of resources between the edge and the cloud to drive cost and power consumption efficiencies.

Sony’s smart camera managed app powered by Azure is targeted toward independent software vendors (ISVs) specializing in computer vision and video analytics solutions, as well as smart camera original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) aspiring to add value to their hardware offerings. The app will complement the IMX500 sensor and will serve as the foundation on which ISVs and OEMs can train AI models to create their own customer- and industry-specific video analytics and computer vision solutions that address enterprise customer demands. The app will simplify key workflows and take reasonable security measures designed to protect data privacy and security, allowing ISVs to spend less time on routine, low-value integration and provisioning work and more time on creating unique solutions to meet customers’ demands.
It will also enable enterprise customers to more easily find, train and deploy AI models for video analytics scenarios.

As part of the partnership, Microsoft and Sony will also work together to facilitate hands-on co-innovation with partners and enterprise customers in the areas of computer vision and video analytics as part of Microsoft’s AI & IoT Insider Labs program. Microsoft’s AI & IoT Insider Labs offer access and facilities to build, develop, prototype and test customer solutions, working in partnership with Microsoft experts and other solution providers like Sony. The companies will begin working with select customers within these co-innovation centers later this year.

About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
About Sony Semiconductor Solutions
Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation is the global leader in image sensors. We strive to provide advanced imaging technologies that bring greater convenience and joy to people’s lives. In addition, we also work to develop and bring to market new kinds of sensing technologies with the aim of offering various solutions that will take the visual and recognition capabilities of both human and machines to greater heights. For more information, please visit: Sony Semiconductor Solutions Group.

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LEAKED: First detailed images of the new Sony ZV1

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Here you have the images of the new Sony ZV1 camera that will be announced on May 26. This is basically an RX100VII successor made for vloggers. Which means it has a big recording button, a fully articulating screen and top notch autofocus feature.

Sony ZV1 camera specs roundup:

  • Looks like an RX100VII
  • Has a fully articulating screen on the side similar to the Canon EOS-RP
  • Better grip than current RX100 cameras
  • Very big Video record button
  • integrated ND filter
  • 20MP 1 inch sensor
  • 24-70mm F1.8 – 2.8 lens
  • All the autofocus features like: EyeAf and so forth
  • One touch Bokeh feature
  • Auto Object detect
  • Announcement May 26

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Capture One 20 (13.1.0) announced: New features, Sony 20mm FE and Tamron lens support and support for the “mysterious” ZX1 :)

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Today Capture One released the new 13.1.0 update and also a new redesigned website (Click here). It adds support for Sony and tamron FE lenses and also for the long time missing Zeiss ZX1 camera :)

New major features and tools: 

  • New Heal & Clone Tools
  • New Before & After Tool
  • New Lightroom Catalog Import

New camera support: 

  • Canon 250D
  • Canon PowerShot G5X Mark II
  • Canon PowerShot G7X Mark III
  • Nikon P950
  • Leica M10 Monochrom
  • Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III
  • Zeiss ZX1
  • Phase One iXH 150

New lens support: 

  • Phase One XT -Rodenstock HR Digaron-W 50mm f/4
  • Tamron 28-75mm F2.8 Di III RXD
  • Fujifilm Fujinon XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR
  • Ricoh GR III (GR Lens 18.3mm f2.8)
  • Canon PowerShot G5 X Mark II
  • Sony FE 20mm F1.8 G

You can buy the new software here or download a free trial here.

Press text:

Capture One Launches a new update to Capture One 20
Bringing new features, new capabilities, a new product, and a new look, Capture One is providing better solutions for more people, and breaking new ground.  

COPENHAGEN, May 18th, 2020: Capture One, the premiere name in photo editing software, delivers a suite of announcements that highlight new product offerings, expanded capabilities, and a new direction; revealing the company’s continuing evolution and support for creatives.
The development of Capture One 20 remains driven by an evolving roadmap rooted in user feedback from both the Capture One community and creative community overall.  The latest update brings brand new heal and clone tools that reduce the need for external retouching applications while increasing efficiency, and a new Before & After Tool that gives new ways to check your editing progress and to compare your edits.
With user experience in mind, Capture One has also developed a new activation flow with new dialogues, sample images, and interface guidance that make it faster and easier than ever to become a Capture One user. In addition, the company has advanced its Lightroom Catalog importer, and together it not only makes it easier to start using Capture One, but easier to migrate without missing a step.
Beyond that, when it comes to Capture One, users have choice. There are currently a number of Capture One variants such as Capture One Fujifilm and Capture One (for Sony), and now the company is proud to deliver Capture One for Nikon. Similar to the other branded versions, Capture One for Nikon brings the full feature-set of Capture One Pro at a reduced cost to Nikon users.
“We want to enable creatives to achieve their best images as effortlessly as possible, and that is why we drew heavily on feedback from our community to develop Capture One 20,” says Jan Hyldebrandt-Larsen, VP Software Business at Capture One. “It is our commitment to support them by providing a seamless photo editing experience defined by developing the features they ask for and need, as well as the ones they didn’t know they wanted. Capture One 20 is an exciting moment for us as we happily put even more focus and resources behind that goal.”
Learn what’s new in Capture One 20 at: www.captureone.com/20 
Learn more about Capture One at: www.captureone.com 

New features and tools in Capture One 20 

New Heal & Clone Tools

New dedicated brushes for Heal and Clone will automatically create the correct layer when used 
Fast workflow with automatic source-point generation 
Limitless number of heal-zones per layer (previously only 1 p/layer) 
Most flexible healing workflow of any RAW converter 
Moveable source points, and transformable heal zones 
Fast performance and high-quality rendering 

New Before & After Tool

A new dedicated tool placed in the Toolbar with easy keyboard shortcuts 
‘Y’ will toggle before/after on and off 
‘Shift + Y’ will toggle between the two modes:  
Full View and Split View Slider (draggable) 
Fast performing and works on multiple photos in the viewer 
Full View available in all products 
The Split View Slider is not available in Capture One Express variations 

New Lightroom Catalog Import

Improved Lightroom Importer with better descriptions
Allows import of ‘offline files’ (files located on disconnected storage devices).
Capture One automatically imports files once the correct hard drive has been plugged in
Provides a report after the import with information about unsupported files
Basic image adjustments and Catalog structure will be replicated in Capture One

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