Samyang 18mm f/2.8 Teaster

By Louis Ferreira | Published: August 27, 2019

Samyang is now teasing the Samyang 18mm f/2.8 on their social media accounts. The official announcement should be later this week.

Follow SonyAddict on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube

Posted in 3rd Party Lens| Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Sony Launch Event Tomorrow At 10:00AM EST: Most likely APS-C Cameras

By Louis Ferreira | Published: August 27, 2019


Sony’s press even tomorrow will most likely be for the a6200/a6700/a7000 or whatever Sony decides to call their new APS-C cameras. So far there has just been a lot of hype about how great these cameras will be, but I would say expect something that’s a step up and a step below the a6400.

We might see how serious Sony is about APS-C tomorrow or we might finally get the Sony a7SIII announcement, but I think this will be their APS-C event. I will try to carry the live stream here, but if I cant I will be live blogging the announcement.

Follow SonyAddict on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube

via Sony Alpha Universe

Posted in Sony a6200, Sony a6700, Sony a7000, Sony a7SIII| Tagged | Leave a comment

CameraLabs: Sony a7RIV In-Depth Review

By Louis Ferreira | Published: August 26, 2019

Godran finished his Sony a7RIV review and it a long one. Overall he sounds impressed by the value and below you can find excerpts from the video:

  • New Weather sealing
  • The new exposure composition lock is nice
  • The buttons are larger and feel better
  • Would like backlit buttons
  • Moving the back scroll wheel to the top feels better to Gordon
  • More room between lens mount and grip which is welcome
  • UHS-II for both slots is nice and should have been the case before
  • The new smart hot shoe is useful with the new shotgun mic
  • Hopes the new hot shoe is on other cameras
  • Samer wired connectivity as before
  • Still Bluetooth and wifi, but wifi now has 5ghz too
  • Z battery is great still
  • Sony has one of the longest battery lives around
  • The grip lets you use two Z batteries
  • The 5.76MP OLED EVF looks amazing in use
  • The back screen is still very much the same and only angles up or down
  • Would like it to angle out or flip
  • The touch interface is still poor and hasn’t been improved
  • Playback doesn’t let you swipe or zoom
  • Interval timer built-in
  • Larger denser AF than ever before with 567PDAF over 74% fo the frame in a square area
  • Crop mode has 325PDAF points covering the entire frame with 27MP images
  • -3EV AF
  • Real-time eye AF for humans and animals
  • AF is so good that you can trust it to automatically work unlike others
  • Eye AF works in movies and should have been available in other models
  • 10FPS for 68 frames
  • Continuous eye AF works very well
  • Can be used for sports/action/wildlife without an issue
  • The interface is like the a7RIII
  • Specs the same as a7RIII
  • Super 35 is the best way to use if to video like the previous camera
  • 4k up to 30p
  • The camera uses 6k of data instead of 5k like the previous
  • 4k super 35 24p is 1.6x crop and 1.8x crop for 30p
  • 1080p up to 60p and 120p with sound and AF
  • Sony has very flexible slow motion
  • No 10-bit or 60p etc…
  • Best phase-detection around for video
  • The new 61MP BSI Full Frame sensor leapfrogs its rivals
  • The camera still uses basically the same IBIS that gives 5.5 stops of stabilization
  • Great for very large prints and crops
  • When comparing the old and new model Gordon found that there is a visible increase in detail up till 400 ISO where there is more noise
  • By 1600ISO there is almost no difference between the a7RIII and a7RIV and by the highest value you could argue the a7RIII is better
  • You should shoot the a7RIV at below 400ISO to fully benefit
  • a7RIV JPEG engine does a good job keeping images clean up to 1600ISO
  • The upgraded pixel shift can give you a lot more resolution
  • Pixel shift photos still need special software
  • You don’t get quadruple the detail with pixel shift, but it’s good for archiving still subjects
  • Subject and technique matter a lot
  • Nonobvious things move in pixel shift like foliage in the breeze so it’s best to use indoors
  • Should be able to process pixel shift images in the camera
  • When pixel shift works you won’t get 240MP, but there is certainly more than 61MP for the right subjects
  • The a7RIV is an impressive body that brings a lot of speed and handling to tempt D850 owners
  • The body tweaks are welcome
  • Still frustrated with the touch screen and video not being upgraded
  • The new mic is great for video shooters
  • If you want video the LUMIX S bodies are better
  • Overall he recommends it, but if 42MP is enough then look for a deal on the Sony a7RIV

Follow SonyAddict on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube

Sony a7RIV: B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama
Sony RX100VIII: B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama
Sony VG-C4EM grip: B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama
XLR-K3M Mic Input: B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama
ECM-B1M Digital Audio Shotgun Microphone:
B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama

Posted in Sony a7RIV| Leave a comment

Clarifying The Sony LA-EA1, LA-EA2, LA-EA3, and LA-EA4

By Louis Ferreira | Published: August 24, 2019

Sony has a lot of great new and used Minolta A-Mount glass that is being forgotten about as more Sony photographers more to E-mount from Sony’s legacy A-Mount standard. Sony’s A-Mount translucent mirror technology has always interested me and when it was introduced there was a lot of value in Sony’s lens line up, but I decided to go m43 around that time since it was truly mirrorless and compact.

Now prices are still high for new A-Mount glass, but if you look carefully there are some great used values that should only get better with time as more photographers switch to native E-Mount glass. There are a variety of reasons why a photographer might switch their A-Mount to E-mount glass, but if you choose your adapters wisely switching to native E-Mount glass is less of an advantage than you might think.

In my estimation, Sony’s adapters that come with a screw drive and translucent mirror are the best option, but if your camera has on-chip PDAF the translucent mirror becomes useless beyond having a screw drive motor in it, but that is the cursory explanation. For a more nuanced explanation watch the video above to see how the Sony LA-EA1, LA-EA2, LA-EA3, and LA-EA4 operate differently and the video below to see how they perform when shooting video.

Posted in Sony E-mount adapters, Sony lenses| Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 Di III RXD FE Review

By Louis Ferreira | Published: August 23, 2019

Dustin Abbott posted another of his lengthy reviews that is broken up into three parts about the Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 Di III RXD FE. Below are excerpts from the videos:

  • The 17-28mm is well built and very light
  • Fully weather sealed
  • Very well designed
  • Not great for manual video
  • Video AF is good and silent
  • Great AF overall and it is one of the quietest lenses Dustin has ever used
  • There is some strong budge/barrel distortion and vignette at 17mm, but it is well corrected in JPEG and easy to correct the RAW
  • For real-world landscape, there isn’t much distortion or bulge so it gets better when the focal point is distant
  • The Tamron is very sharp at the center of the frame with good contrast wide open
  • Tamron is pretty good in the corners wide open, but a little soft
  • At f/5.6 the center is spectacular and it sharpens up in the mid-frame and corners
  • Once you get to 20mm there is a little pincushion distortion and vignetting gets much better
  • The Tamron at 20mm looks excellent at the center and the midframe and corner is performing well wide open
  • 20mm at f/5.6 fantastic center and mid-frame with the corners looking good
  • 24mm has a little pincushion and vignetting is not an issue
  • 24mm looks very good at f/2.8, but the resolution does get a hair better at f/5.6 very good result overall
  • 28mm is a little wider on the 17-28mm than on the 28-75mm lens
  • The 17-28mm has a little pincushion distortion at 28mm
  • The 17-28mm is fantastically sharp at 28mm, but the 28-75mm is a little sharper
  • There is a little softness on the 17-28mm and 28-75mm at the corners
  • At f/5.6 both Tamron’s are sharp in the middle, but the 28-75mm shows some more contrast
  • The extreme corners at f/5.6 are good, but not excellent
  • This lens is well designed for landscape photography because infinity focus has minimal issues
  • The Tamron 17-28mm has lots of micro-contrast and pop at infinity wide open and stopped down
  • A little ghosting pattern with the Sun in the frame, but the contrast is still solid and it makes the image look more artistic
  • Starbursts are good and bokeh is pretty good
  • Image quality is solid at 28mm up close
  • Crisp star points for Astro with minimal chroma problems
  • Good lens for Astrophotography at 17mm, but not exceptional
  • Chroma is a hair worse at 28mm
  • 17mm can focus closer than 28mm and contrast and resolution are great here
  • 28mm close focus has a little less magnification, but the contrast drops off a little
  • Hopefully, we will see a lens profile for 17-28mm RAW files from Adobe soon
  • Video is corrected in-camera for distortion and vignetting
  • The only comparison the Tamron lost was against the 28-75mm Tamron at 28mm
  • The Tamron 17-28mm and 28-75mm can replace a lot of prime lenses
  • Had a few AF glitches that require the camera to be reset so might need a fix like the 28-75mm
  • The 17-28mm cost less than half of what Sony’s wide zoom G master does and it’s even less than what Sony’s f/4 wide zoom costs while offering superior performance

Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube.

Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 Di III RXD FE: B&H Photo /  Amazon / Adorama
Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 Di III RXD FE: B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama

Posted in 3rd Party Lens| Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Tamron Will Announce Four New Mirrorless Lenses Coming Soon

By Louis Ferreira | Published: August 22, 2019


Tamron posted some teasers to their social media that hints at 3 new mirrorless lenses coming soon. It looks like one will be a telephoto/zoom maybe a 75-210mm along with 3 prime lenses. If they release a 70-200mm type zoom for e-mount than they will complete their lineup with the 17-28mm, 28-75mm, and a 75-210mm. Tamron zooms have been incredibly popular on E-mount and are still often sold out.

Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube.

Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 Di III RXD FE: B&H Photo /  Amazon / Adorama
Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 Di III RXD FE: B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama

https://www.facebook.com/TamronLensesUSA/videos/672671209809959/

via Photorumors

Posted in 3rd Party Lens| Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment