Sony Tidbits…

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Home on the range with Sony autofocus

Laowa 14mm f/4 FF RL Zero-D (Photozone).
Hands-On Review: G-Technology ArmorLock External SSD (Explora).
Sigma 105mm f2.8 DG DN Macro Art review – preview (CameraLabs).
Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG DN Art Lens Review (ePhotozine).
Filmed With Xperia: The Story of Madeline (Alphauniverse).
HAIDA FILTER for Sony 12-24mm f2.8 GM review (HR images).
Sony GP-VPT2BT Wireless Shooting Grip Review and How-To Set-up with Camera (SonyAlphaLab).

Personal photos and tests from SAR Admin Andrea on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and 500px.

Join the new Sony Alpha Camera Facebook group.
To get news from our Forum subscribe that RSS feed.
I kindly invite you all to follow our RSS feed, follow us on Facebook and Twitter to not miss news and rumors

We have our own Facebook camera groups and pages you can join to discuss the upcoming new cameras in detail:
Sony A9 group and Sony A9 page.
Sony A7rIV group and Sony A7rIV page
Sony A7sIII group and Sony A7sIII page
Sony A7III group and Sony A7III page
Note: In groups you can post your own stuff like images, news and questions. While on pages you will read the specific camera news from SAR.

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Reminder: You can now preorder the new Capture One 21 with a 20% discount using this code!

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Reminder: You can now preorder the new Capture One 21 on this page (Click here) with a 20% discount. It’s a bit tricky to preorder it so here I explain how to do it for C20 owners:

  1. Login to Capture One
  2. Go to the upgrade page and enter your license number
  3. Upgrade to C21 and get the 20% discount using the checkout code “PREORDER2020“

If you do own C12 or older version you first have to purchase C20 (with no discount code). And they will than get C21 update for free.

New features and release time:

Capture One has decided to not disclose any info about the new features (I know this is odd). So if you wonder why the heck you should pay for a new version without knowing what you get…I can only give you one reason: The 20% discount that you get now and you will NOT get the day of the official launch!

The release date has not been announced but as usual expect the release to be between mid November and mid December.

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This week SAR readers photos selection

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by Adam Teeoo
“Hunting Mode On”
Northern Harrier
Sony a9 + FE 600mm F4 GM + 2xTC (Handheld)
#sonyalphagallery

1) You can submit one single picture per week only.
2) To submit your picture for the weekly readers roundup post you can choose one of the following three options:
– Instagram: Follow @sonyalphagallery and tag us on your picture to give us the permission to repost your image on the instagram gallery and on SAR (we will credit you)
– Facebook: Submit your picture on our group: facebook.com/groups/sonyalphacamera. Please add the hashtag “#sonyalphagallery ” to grant the permission for reposting on SAR. Without the hashtag we will not add your picture!
– Forum: Submit your picture on the SonyAlphaForum image section and add the hashtag “#sonyalphagallery ”
3) Like and comment the pictures from other readers here: instagram.com/sonyalphagallery, facebook.com/groups/sonyalphacamera and on SonyAlphaForum.
4) A selection of most liked pictures by the community and by me SAR admin will be posted weekly on SAR.

Note: When sending a pic feel free to also add a link to your site to promote yourself! And please do share one single picture per week only. Do not spam :)

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Sony FE 20mm f/1.8 G review at Opticallimits: This lens is THE reason for serious amateurs to prefer the Sony system over Canon/Nikon/L-mount

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Opticallimits tested the Sony FE 20mm f/1.8 G and they really liked the lens performance:

In the grand scheme of things, the Sony G lenses seem to be a bit underappreciated whereas the GM lenses collect all the glory. However, we think that the G series could actually be THE reason for serious amateurs to prefer the Sony system over Canon/Nikon/L-mount. These lenses strike the perfect balance between costs and performance. The Sony FE 12-24mm f/4G, 90mm f/2.8G, FE 24-105mm f/4G, and FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3G are all excellent choices … and so is the Sony FE 20mm f/1.8G.

The Sony lens offers breathtaking sharpness in the broader center zone at all mainstream aperture settings. The corner performance isn’t quite as high but it’s very usable at f/1.8 already and very good at medium aperture settings – all with minimal field curvature and low astigmatism. As such the lens is also feasible for astrophotography. The native image distortion is low and nicely corrected in auto-mode. The same goes for lateral CAs. The biggest weakness of the lens is vignetting. It’s rather extreme at f/1.8 in raw files and not overly impressive even at f/5.6. Image auto-correction comes to the rescue here as well so usually, you will just spot some light falloff at f/1.8. An almost baffling aspect is the quality of the bokeh. Wide-angle lenses are usually rather mediocre in this respect – at best – whereas the FE 20mm f/1.8G is actually impressive with smooth highlight discs that can maintain a circular shape even in the image corners. And the general blur characteristic is good, too.

The build quality is excellent thanks to high-grade materials and a tight assembly. The lens doesn’t extend during focusing and is sealed against dust and moisture. Sony also added some mechanical goodies such as a dedicated aperture ring including a clickless mode and a focus stop button. You may argue that it would have been nice if they also added optical image stabilization but we think it’s good that they avoided this temptation. Especially ultra-wide lenses require precise centering and an image stabilization group would have made things more complex here – besides the extra costs. Another positive aspect is the compact size and low weight.

The Sony lens isn’t cheap to boot but then it’s also faster than your average 20mm lens. As a rule of thumb, an extra stop doubles the price tag. Keeping this in mind, the price of around 900USD/EUR is still reasonable. And we conclude our verdict with … highly recommended!

Sony 20mm f/1.8 FE G:
In USA at BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama. FocusCamera.
In EU at Amazon DE, Calumet DE. Amazon UK. Parkcameras UK. Amazon FR. Amazon IT. Amazon ES.

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