Air JAWS: Night Stalker

By Louis Ferreira | Published: July 6, 2016

The Discovery channel is using the Sony a7S to capture footage that couldn’t be obtained before, without additional lighting, which allows documentary film makers to capture sharks and seals in a more natural/undisturbed environment.

“The camera’s capabilities allowed us to shoot things we’d only dreamed about previously. When life-and-death struggles are going on between shark and seal, the last thing you want to do as a filmmaker is shine a light on the battle and influence the outcome. The α7S allowed us to be completely non-intrusive as filmmakers because we didn’t need lights. As Chris Fallows put it so well in the film, it allowed us to be “invisible spectators” into the nightlife of the great white.”

Full interview via Discovery Read More »

Posted in Sony a7S II| Tagged , | Leave a comment

New SAMYANG 50mm F1.2 AS UMC CS

By Louis Ferreira | Published: July 4, 2016

Samyang 50mm-F1.2

Kind of an interesting lens because there are a few reviews on the web of it, but I can’t find it anywhere on Amazon (has the generic, but not the Samyang), B&H Photo, or Adorama.

Translated:
Kenko Co., Ltd., the sale of South Korea · Samyang Optics Co., Ltd. of the interchangeable lens “SAMYANG 50mm F1.2 AS UMC CS”, will start from July 22, 2016. Corresponding mount Canon M, Fujifilm X, Sony E, Micro Four four types of Thirds. Color is ordered and two colors of black and silver. Suggested retail price is open.

The combined small in telephoto manual focus lens on the mirror-less camera body
APS-C size of the solid-state imaging device telephoto manual lens inside was developed only. Brightest F value of F1.2 Among SAMYANG lens, you can enjoy portrait and landscape photos, such as a wide range of shooting that was taking advantage of the beautiful blur.

Two of Glass aspherical lens (ASP)
Aspherical lens, the center will reproduce the excellent image quality and contrast to the periphery from even in the open in the correction of aberrations.

UMC coating of proprietary technology (UMC)
Adopted UMC coating is a proprietary technology for the reproduction of vivid color images, has maximum suppress flare and ghost.

Mechanism
Wings of the aperture is designed close to the circle in nine, you can enjoy a blur of smooth and soft feel. The basic frame of the lens is made of high hardness aluminum alloy, it can also shoot at the light and durable for harsh environment. Detachable lens hood is a lightweight and portable design, also has excellent portability. Read More »

Posted in 3rd Party Lens, Sony a6000, Sony a6300| Tagged | 2 Comments

Lens Baby Twist 60 Coming July 22nd

By Louis Ferreira | Published: July 2, 2016

twist60_canon-sony

The Lens Baby 60mm for E mount, coming July 22nd, looks like an interesting lens for people that like to experiment with the out of focus areas in their photos. These kinds of lenses can be a lot of fun to shoot, but difficult to master.

Lens Baby

Read More »

Posted in 3rd Party Lens, Sony a7 II, Sony a7R II, Sony a7S II| Tagged | 1 Comment

The Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM is Competitive

By Louis Ferreira | Published: July 1, 2016

sony_sel2470gm_fe_24_70mm_f_2_8_gm_1454514360000_1222774

Looks like the new Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM is competitive with similar Nikon and Canon zooms, by DXO’s measure, but DXO hasn’t compared them with comparable sensors yet so sharpness isn’t overly relevant in their test, because of the substantially differing pixel count.

“In this comparison we’ve tested the Sony against the equivalent Canon and Nikon rival models. We’ve chosen the higher resolution 50-Mpix Canon EOS 5DS R to highlight the potential of the Canon combination, but even when tested on the lower 22-Mpix resolution Canon EOS 5D Mark III, the EF 24-70mm F2.8L II still achieves peak sharpness levels similar to the Sony. Still, it will be interesting to see just how the lens performs with the newer sensor in the A7R II.”

It is also interesting that the Sony performs best at 50mm, while the Canon is best at 24mm, and the Nikkor is best at 35mm. Many photographers prefer 50mm or 35mm, but I do not know many that shoot 24mm regularly. I’m curious to see if the Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM will continue to shine on sensors like the 42MP a7R II and beyond. Read More »

Posted in Sony a7 II, Sony a7R II, Sony a7S II, Sony lenses| Tagged | 2 Comments

Metabones Firmware Updated Again

By Louis Ferreira | Published: June 30, 2016

Metabones Smart Adapter IV

It seems Metabones has heard the call of their customers and addressed their concerns. The last firmware update treated lenses as “native” by default instead of “green.” Now you have an option to opt into “Native” mode, which unlocks the new enhanced features if your camera supports them.

“”Native” was an informal term referring to a different version of the lens communication protocol which unlocked extra features such as direct manual focus (DMF), Eye-AF (A7 series), fast contrast-detect AF (faster for all Sony cameras except the phase-detect trio), continuous video AF, zoom position and focus distance display. Metabones did not make any representation of further performance improvement for the Sony phase-detect trio of cameras from “native” AF. Quite on the contrary, our previous announcement stated that “native” AF might have lower performance than the original “Green” mode phase-detect AF, which had been the fastest since last year. There was no performance regression in the sense that the user could configure the adapter to have the old behaviour (“Green” mode) back with a simple procedure.”

You can read the full release below and download the new firmwares. Read More »

Posted in 3rd Party Lens, Accessories, Sony a6000, Sony a6300, Sony a7 II, Sony a7R II, Sony a7S II| Tagged | Leave a comment

Meyer-Optik Announced A New Trimagon 95mm f2.6 portrait lens

By Louis Ferreira | Published: June 29, 2016

Meyer-Optik-Trimagon-f2.695-portrait-lens
Meyer-Optik announced a new Trimagon f2.6/95 portrait lens. Here are the main specs:

  • Light intensity & focal length: f2.6-22; 95mm
  • Optical design: 3 elements in 3 assembly units
  • Angle of view: 25°
  • Filter diameter: 52mm
  • Optical assembly as a classic triplet | 3 lenses/3 units
  • Iris diaphragm with 15 specially calculated steel aperture blades with special anti-reflection coating
  • Compatible with:
    • Canon
    • Nikon
    • Fuji X
    • Sony-E
    • MFT
    • Leica M (rangefinder not supported)
  • Available from early summer 2016
  • RRP: €1,699 (incl. VAT)

Read More »

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