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This week the new new pancake lens became available at Amazon US, BHphoto, Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon IT, Amazon ES, Amazon FR, Pergear, Viltrox.

Good news folks! Sony officially released the new 4.0 firmware update for the Sony A7IV.

Benefits and Improvements

• Adds support for focus bracket shooting, which allows for continuous shooting while automatically shifting the focus position
• Introduces additional settings for exposure value adjustments and number of shots in the exposure bracketing
• Adds a function that automatically creates still images with Shot Marks from movie frames after recordings
  Note: You can add a Shot Mark while shooting or playing a movie and use it as a mark for selecting, transferring, or editing the movie.
• Allows the use of Focus Magnifier and Auto Magnifier in MF while using the Bright Monitoring feature
• Allows notifications to be displayed when the latest software is available for your camera
• You can now continue shooting while transferring captured photos and videos to a smartphone or tablet
  Note: Ver. 2.5.0 or later of the Creators’ App is necessary. The Creators’ App may not be available in some countries or regions. For more information, please visit the Creators’ Cloud support website.
• Transfer to smartphones and tablets can now be resumed even if interrupted in the middle of a transfer
  Note: Ver. 2.5.0 or later of the Creators’ App is necessary. The Creators’ App may not be available in some countries or regions. For more information, please visit the Creators’ Cloud support website.
• You can now transfer only the differences that have not yet been transferred to your smartphone or tablet, or add videos to be transferred during the transfer process
  Note: Ver. 2.5.0 or later of the Creators’ App is necessary. The Creators’ App may not be available in some countries or regions. For more information, please visit the Creators’ Cloud support website.
• Adds support for the Monitor & Control app
  Note: The Monitor & Control app connects wirelessly to a camera and enables video monitoring and remote control with a smartphone or tablet.
  Ver. 2.1.0 or later of the Monitor & Control app is necessary. The Monitor & Control app may not be available in some countries or regions.
• Fixes an issue where peaking display would appear during movie playback
• Improves the functionality and operational stability of the camera

Note: Please refer to the Help Guide for details on all updated functions.

You can finally buy the new pancake lens at Amazon US, BHphoto, Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon IT, Amazon ES, Amazon FR, Pergear, Viltrox.

Personally, I think this is a cool new toy. Instead of using a lens cap, you just have to put the lens on all the time and the image quality is good enough to take photos on the go. And here comes a curious story about this lens. You can actually modify it to make it anamorphic:

5 years ago (April 24, 2019), Zeiss announced the Zeiss Otus 100mm F1.4, its last lens with “photo” focus. The last announcement of an E-mount lens was 6 years ago (September 27, 2018) with the Zeiss Batis 40mm F2 CF.

Zeiss obviously doesn’t believe there is money to be made in this market and has stopped making new photo lenses. They still make new cine lenses and they still produce their old Batis–Loxia–Otus lenses. But we have to be honest, their lenses are now obsolete. The autofocus of the Batis lenses is slow and the competition offers excellent lenses at a much lower price.

But yesterday Zeiss did something unexpected: they released a new video promoting their lenses. Exactly 4 years after the last Zeiss Batis video. In the most realistic scenario, this means “nothing”…. maybe it’s just a random “accident”. In the optimistic scenario, maybe Zeiss is rethinking its strategy and is ready to launch new lenses for the Sony E-mount?

I’m just speculating here, but I think there are a few good reasons why they might do this:

1. The decade-long downward trend in the camera market has stopped and there are clear signs that the market is now stable. So it’s easier to invest in such an environment.
2. The high-end market is still healthy and full-frame cameras are now the norm.
3. Zeiss still has an attractive brand name and would certainly have no problem selling new lenses if they are good enough.

What kind of Zeiss lenses would you like to use?

My opinion:

1. I think there would be room for a new Otus series designed for mirrorless cameras. The original OTUS was designed for DSLR and was too big.
2. A series of f/1.4 Batis lenses for the Sony E-mount system would also be nice.

But I am aware that I am in a dream….. The most likely outcome is that Zeiss will continue to ignore the mirrorless world :(