Confused About Sony’s RX100 Line up? This Might Help.

By Louis Ferreira | Published: October 21, 2018

Explora did a post about all of the currently available Sony RX100 cameras, which includes the above spreadsheet for reference. You can find even more information in the post here.

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Rokinon 85mm f/1.8 Preorders Start

By Louis Ferreira | Published: October 20, 2018


The Rokinon 85mm f/1.8 Lens for Sony can be preordered at B&H Photo and Adorama.

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Metabones Launches Contax N-Mount Speed Booster ULTRA and Smart Adapter

By Louis Ferreira | Published: October 19, 2018


Metabones Contax N-Mount Speed Booster ULTRA Smart Adapter:
B&H Photo / Adorama
Metabones Contax N-Mount Smart Adapter:
B&H Photo / Adorama
Contax Lenses:
Amazon

Vancouver, Canada, September 10, 2018, Owners of legendary Carl Zeiss optics in Contax N-Mount have long demanded a trusted migration path to mirrorless cameras. With the advent of Metabones® Contax N-Mount to Sony E-Mount Speed Booster® ULTRA and Contax N-Mount to Sony E-Mount Smart Adapter, the longing is over.

Built upon the foundation of Metabones’ past success, phase-detection autofocus on A9, A7R Mark III, A7 Mark III, A7R Mark II, A7 Mark II, A6500 and A6300 not only offers pinpoint accuracy but also AF speed significantly surpassing the original Contax N series AF cameras. (Tailored to single-lens reflex cameras with a traditional phase-detection autofocus system, Contax N lenses are not compatible with contrast-detection autofocus mirrorless cameras such as A7S Mark II.) Read More »

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Sony a7SII: Digital Night Vision vs Analog Night Vision

By Louis Ferreira | Published: October 18, 2018

Digital night vision hasn’t caught up to analog cathode tube yet, but it’s getting very close. T.REX ARMS tested the Sony a7SII with its IR block removed to make it perform better in low light, against the analog Armasight by FLIR PVS14 and the Sony a7SII was actually competitive with the PVS14 when there was a little light present in the environment. The analog PVS14 was only able to outperform the Sony a7SII in extreme low light conditions, but not by much.

The PSV14 also had an advantage since it comes with a 26mm f/1.2 lens attached, while the Sony a7SII only had a Sony 50mm f/1.8 lens. T.REX should have performed this comparison with a f/1.4 Sony lens to better compare the difference between the PSV14 and a7SII. The Sony a7SII performed significantly better with a little light present and it can see in color, which the PVS14 cannot. The Sony a7SII was also set up for auto exposure and might have performed better if setup entirely manually.

It’s interesting how close these technologies are getting and I am sure digital will surpass analog for this nitch application in the near future. It’s entirely possible that the new Sony a7SIII could outperform a PSV14, but we will have to wait and see. Overall this is a very interesting demonstration from a channel that does not focus on photographer or videography/cinematography.

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DPReview: Sony Photokina 2018 Interview

By Louis Ferreira | Published: October 18, 2018


There have been lots of Photokina interviews to cover and each has its own points of interest. DPReviews interview with Kenji Tanaka, VP and Senior General Manager of Sony’s Business Unit 1, Digital Imaging Group and it’s a good one. Below are some excerpts:

  • ‘I don’t care about competitors, I care about customers’
  • Sony want’s to satisfy the needs of all photographers
  • Recently they made a lot of sports photographers happy
  • Sony is the largest sensor manufacturer
  • Their stacked sensor is unique but everything associated with it has to be high quality too take advantage of the sensor
  • Sony isn’t trying to switch DSLR users to mirrorless they are trying to make new customers
  • Sony wasn’t surprised that Canon and Nikon entered the mirrorless market because it’s an area with a lot of innovation to come
  • The fundamentals of mirrorless are Lenses, image quality, speed, and battery life (Some of their competitors struggle with battery life)
  • Sony is focused on getting full frame mirrorless right before possibly moving on to larger formats
  • Some customers want small high quality primes like the 24mm f/1.4 and Sony plans to produce more
  • APS-C is still a big market for them and they will continue making bodies and lenses even though they have been focused on Full Frame lately
  • APS-C is important for portability and ease of use
  • They need to find out what customers want from an APS-C camera
  • They aren’t differentiating between lenses for APS-C and Full Frame at this time
  • Many APS-C customers buy Full Frame lenses
  • Sony is still working on improving their weather sealing
  • Sony hopes the price of cameras like the a7III will come down so that anyone can buy one
  • The Sony a7II recently reached $1,000 and that made some customers happy
  • Processing speed is a limiting factor fully utilizing SD UHS-II
  • In the future current SD technology won’t be enough for future technologies like 8k/30p
  • Most customers want two SD card slots
  • E-mount is open so there is going to be competition that benefits customers
  • They are currently working on a new Sony a7S but it will take time because they want to exceed expectations
  • Current Sony a7SII users want 4k/60p, 4:2:2 10-bit, battery life, AF performance and more
  • Sony doesn’t think the next S should be all about video because the current ones have great dynamic range and are good for photography too.
  • Sony wants to use AI to let their users focus on things like composition instead of focal points

via DPReview

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Voigtlander Color-Skopar 21mm f/3.5 ASPH in Stock Early

By Louis Ferreira | Published: October 18, 2018


The Voigtlander Color-Skopar 21mm f/3.5 ASPH for E-mount is available for preorder at B&H Photo and Adorama, but Amazon already has them in stock from cameraquest. Cameraquest is one of Voigtlander’s main distributors, so maybe we will see this lens in a bit earlier than November at B&H Photo and Adorama.

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