Sony α9 camera announced 24mp and 20 FPS

Key Specs:

• 24.2 mp Exmor stacked sensor
• 20 FPS continuous shooting
• 4K 30p Video
• ISO 100 - 51200
• New battery model NP-FZ100
• Quad-VGA OLED Tru-Finder with approximately 3,686k dots
• 693 focal plane phase detection AF points
• AF joy stick (so it wont take all day to find those points) 
• 5-axis image stabilization
• $4500

Wow, is all I can say to those specs and the first look at this amazing piece of camera tech. This will hurt Nikon even more, now that Sony has already overtaken them in sales. Look for the Canikon to play catch up to Sony.

It looks like Sony has got a real winner here, this is a dream spec of a camera, The lenses are coming, they still have a ways to go in the Pro telephoto end, but they are gaining ground quick. This is meant for pro's that shoot sporting events. Birders will probably drool, but its not for my type of shooting.

See the rest of the specs here

See DPReviews first look here 

A sports camera with no lenses here 

Camera Labs here

Luminous Landscape here 

Ross

Images In Light

Sony A99 II

SLR Lounge hands on here

Sony keeps pushing the technological boundaries in the camera world and the A99 II is next. Will they be able to maintain two lines of full frame cameras? only if they both sell well, that would be my only fear with this system. The camera looks very nice, well specked and will make Sony fans very happy. They are leading the technology race, which is great for all of us, it pushes the other camera makers to make improvements. I don't know what we'd do without the likes of Sony and Fuji, my money is on Fuji though, I prefer their lens line up and ergonomics, something Sony is still lacking.

Key Specs:

• 42.4 mp full frame Exmor R CMOS Sensor
• 79 hybrid cross AF points
• 12 fps
• 4D Focus
• 5 axis stabilization 

DPReview here

Ross

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Zeiss Batis 18mm f/2.8 in Sony FE mount

Sony FE  mount gets a new Zeiss 18mm super wide angle option for their A7 series full frame camera. This will be a nice addition to the 25 f/2 and 85 f1.4. There is a much bigger difference between 18mm and 25mm than it sounds. I would like to see Zeiss do this for Nikon and Canon.

For those looking for a high end wide angle FE lens, this should be the one to get. The Batis lenses alone make me want to repurchase an A7rII.

Buy it here at B and H for $1499.00

More at DPreview here

Ross

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Sony and the missing link

The missing link

Sony today finally gives its fans what they have been missing, not just the anticipated A6300, but more importantly the the FE 24-70 f/2.8 GM and the FE 70-200 f/2.8 GM along with an FE 85mm f/1.4 GM, fast portrait prime, plus a pair of teleconverters. I can hear the vacuum of peoples bank accounts already.

 Sony full frame owners will really get a boost to their system with these new lens additions, the Pro f/2.8 versions have been missing, also a real portrait lens. Sony still has a way to go to catch up with Nikon and Canon, but this will go a long way to help complete the lenses needed for the Sony mirrorless system.

 What I do see here is proof that the cameras  really are to small and I wouldn't be surprised to see them start to grow. The A7 series has already begun that with the Mk II versions. A lot of people bought in to this system because of its relatively small size, but physics has a way of catching up, f/2.8 lenses just cant be small, that's just physics. Also you will note that the 70-200 has OSS, I believe the sensor based 5 axis stabilization is insufficient to cover these focal lengths, so this lens is pretty much the same size as the Canon or Nikon equivalents.

Sony FE 24-70 f/2.8 GM  here
Sony FE 70-200 GM  OSS here
Sony FE 85 f/1.4 GM  here
DPReview a6300 here
DPReview lenses here 

Ross

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When will we hit ISO 1 Million

The new Sony A7sII

See specs here at DPReview

Its not far now until we hit ISO 1 million, the new Sony A7sII gets us one step closer, what is that going to mean in the near future? will we be taking photos at night like we do in the day? I'm guessing yes. Will we still need tripods? yes, I think so, for a while anyway.

Sony's rapid fire introduction of cameras is out pacing any company I have seen before. Some of these devices are being delivered with high price tags and not a lot of thought in to what a photographer really needs. I am still waiting on a Sony camera that will allow for a quick method of selecting an auto focus point,  please Sony a little thought in to ergonomics. I applaud the innovation, but more than that is needed, we are photographers and we want a device that gets out of the way, so we can think about what it is we are photographing and not what button do I find that function under.

Then there is uncompressed 14 bit RAW, when is Sony going to provide that? and just like that, they fix it, here.

See low light 4k video here

Ross

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Sony A7 R II announced

Sony just announced the A7 R II, 42mp Back Side Illumination (BSI) 4K video up to ISO 102400 with IBIS 5 axis sensor stabilization.

It offers full EF lens support for Canon users with Metabonse adapter, including AF  and continuos tracking and aperture control. Supposedly it has a fast phase detection AF system, but I will wait to hear what the early testers have to say.

Fotodiox adapter is better ? here
More on adapters here

From Dpreview :

  This is potentially a huge deal – especially for Canon users. We’ve used an a7R II with a Canon 24-70mm lens and a Metabones adapter, and focus is indeed very fast indeed. We’ll be looking at this in more depth as soon as we have a production sample camera, but for now, we’re highly impressed.

Opinion-did-sony-just-do-the-impossible 

Shooting with 3rd party lenses on the A7 series, good article here 

Update: 
A fatal mistake here

Not great AF with adapted Canon lenses here 
Photography Blog here 
Over hyped? over priced? here 
still needs fixing here
Gushing about the A7rII here
Tech Radar here

Now uncompressed 14 bit RAW here.

Luminous Landscape here 

The Phoblographer here 

Fstoppers here 

More at Fstoppers here

Zeiss Batis here

Film perspective here

Buy it here at B and H  

This could be my next camera if Canon don't get moving quickly, I think they will, but I think Canons new sensor technology is still a couple of years away. However Sony is aiming for a larger chunk of the sensor market, maybe they will make a deal with Canon until Canon can produce sensors as good or better than Sony.

Sony still needs to fix their lossy RAW file's, we need uncompressed 14 bit RAW. See interview here.

If this works as well as I am hearing with EF lenses, I may try this camera out, I don't like the Sony interface and I don't like Sony's support or trust that they will stay the course, but the Sony sensors are very clean and I may have to get on board with this one, I will keep my 5D Mk III, because the A7 is still no DSLR and some times I need that kind of speed

The Manual is available from Sony here

Ross

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Sony A7 and A7R a new era in SLR photography?

The new Sony A7R and A7 cameras where announced today, ushering in a new era in SLR photography ?

This could change things, this is the camera I wanted Canon to make, this is what could sway me to buy, this is what we wanted Fuji to do, but really only Sony had the muscle to make, for now.

But wait Sony doesn't have the lenses right ?

Wrong, today Sony also announces: The 55 1.8 Zeiss Lens,The 35 2.8 Zeiss Lens, 24-70mm F4 Carl Zeiss OSS, 70-200mm F4 Sony G OSS

So we will see how this camera performs, but on spec the A7R looks to be the one I want and if it performs I will certainly get. A brand new full frame 36mp sensor in a camera, that fits in the palm of your hand and with these new lenses, well like I said, if it performs.......

Also with adapters, you will be able to mount almost any lens to this camera, including Zeiss and Leica. The Metabonse adapter will allow full AF and metering with your Canon and Nikon Lenses.

Sony has done a job on Canon and Nikon from the looks of it. This is no surprise, the only surprise here is, Sony took so long to bring a 36mp sensor to market.

This also brings into question, what is M4/3's good for, this camera is not much bigger than the new Olympus OM-D E-M1, which is the M4/3's flagship camera, granted its half the price, but still the argument of size is no longer as valid as it was.

Only one thing missing here so far and that is, in camera stabilization. Knowing Sony though, the image quality in this camera will be the best, as of today.

Pre order it here 



As usual Michael Reichmann has a good assessment of the camera over at The Luminous Landscape here

See a preview at DPR here



Ross

Images In Light

Sony DSC-RX100 Cyber-Shot

Larger Image
 Sony RX100, f/5.6, 10.4 mm, 1/640 sec, ISO 125, Program; Landscape.

 Sony RX100, f/5.6, 10.4 mm, 1/320 sec, ISO 80, Program; Aperture Priority.

Sony RX100 with Richard Franiec Grip

 A lot of people have been extolling the virtues of the Sony RX100, for good reason too, it is a fantastic little camera that has become my go to pocket camera, it takes phenomenal images for such a small package.

If this is the future of pocket cameras, I can hardly wait for what larger format cameras will be able to produce, Sony has enabled this camera to expose a very wide range of color and light, while producing sharp, contrasty images with the Zeiss branded optics.

It has a few quirks, but most cameras do, one in particular is the ability to accidentally press the movie button, the menu system is a little complex, but far better than a lot of other manufacturers.

Its a little camera and I have sausage fingers, so I'm told, so I recommend the  Richard Franiec Grip

Ross

Images In Light

RX1

Really Sony, wow, full frame 24mp camera with a Zeiss 35mm lens the size of a micro 4/3 camera, I want, drool......

first Cyber Shot I have ever wanted, but at $2800, can't seem to justify this one.

Hey Sony, I'll test it for you !

Ross