Sony announced it suggested retail price for its upcoming 500mm f/4 (which has been eagerly expected for years, which was seen in nearly all international photo fairs under various model guises): 13000 euros. This is not for everybody. This is heavy in all senses of the word. Availability of the Sony 500 mm f/4 G…
Category: Sony accessories & lenses
Lens repair
You must not be too easily frightened to go and reapir your own photographic lenses. But with some patience, some tidiness and a lot of concentration… This is exactly what Fredy Willette of Alpha-Numérique teaches us in his article Réparation d’un problème d’engrenage sur un objectif non motorisé (Google English translation).
New flexible cobra flash at Sony
Sony just announced a long list of accessories for the Alpha SLR and SLT series. The most interesting one is certainly the new cobra external flash (fully orientable), HVL-F43AM. Main features: Guide Number: 43 (ISO 100) Bounce Flash: Click positions: up (30° / 45° / 60° / 75° / 90° / 120° / 150°); down…
Sony opens the NEX lens specification
Sony has announced officially and publicly that they are going to completely share the specifications for NEX series lenses. It will become possible for third-party lens manufacturers to create optical products for the Sony NEX hybrid mirror-less photo cameras. Here is very good news for the Sony customers. But it’s even better when we read…
News for the Sony A77
The interview that Mark Weir, Senior Manager of Technology and Marketing at Sony Electronics, gave to Imaging Resource is choke full of relatively precise informations about what will be the Alpha 77 (forecasted successor to the Sony Alpha 700, as high-end for the APS-C sensor SLR photo cameras for Sony). You may read it all,…
Best Sony SLR lenses for wildlife photo
When Sony first entered the SLR market in 2006, not many people were sure it would be a successful move for a company with a no significant reputation outside of the compact point-n-shoot world of cameras. However, they drew a bold ace by buying the assets of Konica-Minolta (essentially all SLR photography assets for Minolta).…
Sony: A toast to absent friends!
When they presented the new Sony Alpha 560 and Sony Alpha 580, yesterday, Sony published a family photo for the two Alpha and NEX ranges. Nobody is missing. But two products are obviously absent: The Sony Alpha 700 has been removed completely from the photo. There no longer is any 500mm f/8 mirror tele-lens (which…
Sony E18-200mm f3.5-6.3 OSS, available
Sony just announced that this lens awaited as a key item in the Sony NEX range will be available from September 10th, 2010 at the steep price of 99,750 yens, or about 920 euros. Optical stabilization, focal range equivalent to 27-300mm, aluminium alloy finish; This should be a nice object.
Glass at the Photokina
As we all know, the upcoming Photokina in September is already the center of rumours coming from all parts. I have been trying to give an idea of what could be coming for the major brands in the DSLR market, concentrating mostly on the new bodies to be seen. But there is no end to…
3 new lenses for Sony
Sony did not wait for Photokina to announce a batch of three new lenses for the Alpha line of DSLR photo cameras. The Distagon T* 24mm f/2 ZA SSM (SAL24F20Z) complements the already existing beautiful large-aperture wide-angle lenses from Carl Zeiss (Planar (SAL85F14Z) and Sonnar (SAL135F18Z)). It should be priced high but appealing for most…
Photography, so many failures!
photo credit: davidgsteadman When buying a photo camera, we often research in order to decide if this is the best camera, if its features will be goo enough, but will it be robust enough? Will it be useful or necessary to purchase a warranty contract extension? Will it fail very soon? When somebody asks me…
Sony at PMA 2010
Finally, Sony told us some about the future of the Alpha line of D-SLR cameras. Unfortunately, it does not mean that we will see new cameras soon. The discontinued Alpha 700 will receive a replacement (who is surprised, really?) and it will come with a wide-angle lens Zeiss Distagon T* 24 mm f/2 ZA SSM…
A fish-eye lens at rock-bottom price
When you use an expensive SLR camera you are often tempted to purchase a specialty lens like a ultra-wide angle (fish eye) lens. But, apart from the rare occasions when you really need it, it’s too expensive for you and me. Why not build it yourself? Instructables does the demonstration with a Nikon D90, but…
Lens range at Sony / Zeiss
Since Sony took over the photo activities of Minolta, we observed a considerable evolution on the lens range. There were only lenses from the Minolta original range (mainly on the second-hand market), but Sony associated with Zeiss to build a full-spectrum offer covering more and more and providing a good answer to the needs from…
Sony Zeiss 16-35mm f/2.8 first impressions
I just got a Sony Carl Zeiss 16-35mm f/2.8 ZA SSM zoom (Mfr# SAL1635Z) and I wanted to share with you my first impressions. Obviously, this is a pro-level mechanical design. You immediately notice the weight of this zoom lens (at no less than 1.9 lbs (860g), this is not a cheap plastic lens). Some…
Focal length and photo lenses
Tamron rewrote its web site. This was the occasion to move the Lens Comparison Tool but it is still useful to compare a 400mm with a 500mm (or a 35mm with a 50mm). But you can also find a similar tool at Olympus (and it takes into account the specificities of 4/3 sensor format, of…
Upcoming Sony Alpha 800
PhotoRumors is telling us about an anonymous leak describing a possible new Sony Alpha 800 with the following features: 16.2 MP full frame sensor EXMOR R (new technology) 100-25600 ISO 8 frame/sec SSI, same a900 OVF, new AF system, GPS and WiFi built-in 3.5″ LCD display Pop-up flash Flash sync: 1/500s Camera level 23 AF sensors…
All lens tests are wrong
I recommend reading a nice little post titled “All lens tests are wrong” that concludes that the only good test for a lens is to use it during a full year. Not wrong, but I still recommend to also check my list of web sites with photo lens reviews.
Sony 70-400mm tested in France
Jean-Marie Sépulchre made a test of the Sony 70-400 mm f/4-5.6 G SSM on a Sony Alpha 900 (24 MP Full frame camera). As this is a serious chunk of nice glass impatiently awaited by many (incl. wildlife photogrpahers like me), it was worth seeing. The 70-400mm lens test draws the interesting conclusion that “this…
Focal Length Comparison
Thanks to Tamron, it is possible to easily compare photo lenses of different focal length and their effect on the size of an image. Tamron focal length comparison
Comparison of 80-200mm zooms
DPreview has a good comparison of 4 zoom lenses opening at f/2.8 for SLR cameras: Canon 70-200mm F2.8 L IS USM Nikon AF-S VR 70-200mm F2.8 G Sigma 70-200mm 1:2.8 EX DG Apo Macro HSM II Tamron 70-200mm 1:2.8 Di LD (IF) Macro Since they are one of the most coveted segment of the SLR…
Web sites for lens reviews
It is often difficult to group lens reviews in order to compare/evaluate a little more than their mere physical characteristics (focal length, aperture/diaphragm, or even number of individual lenses). But how would you evaluate/review optical quality? When I see the really impressive differences between two lenses, I would be prepared to judge from their price,…
New lenses for Sony
Obviously, the most recent announces from the lens front for Sony SLR cameras are going to hit a soft spot for the lovers of the orange camera brand. Sony 70-400mm f/4-5.6 G SSM This long tele-zoom is going to attract a lot of enthusiasts loving long focal lenses when they do not want to loose…
Super-zoom from Sony
We were waiting for it, we were speaking about it, we were murmuring. Here it comes. Sony just let some information leak about their new super-tele-lens to complete an already rather rich list of good quality lenses: All the details about the Sony 70-400mm f/4-5.6 G SSM are in the original post on Roumazeilles.net.