At Photokina Zeiss announced two new FE Loxia lenses, Sony two new FE zooms and we also had four FE prototype lens announcements. Now we ask SAR readers to vote the FE lens they are likely going to buy:
[poll id=”194″]
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New Sony and Zeiss stuff preorders:
Zeiss 16-35mm FE at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Sony Store US.
Zeiss 16-35mm FE in Europe at Sony DE, UK, ES, IT, FR, CH, AT, NL, BE, FI, SE, NO, PT.
28-135mm powerzoom in Europe at Sony DE, UK, ES, IT, FR, CH, AT, NL, BE, FI, SE, NO, PT.
Sony FS7 4K camcorder at Adorama.
HVL-F32M Flash at Adorama, BHphoto.
HVL-F32M Flash in Europe at Sony DE, IT,
Sony RMT-VP1K Wireless Remote Commander & Receiver Kit at Adorama, BHphoto.
Sony XLR-K2M XLR Adaptor Kit (with microphone) at Adorama, BHphoto.
Sony LCS-PSC7 System Bag (Black) at BHphoto.
Zeiss Loxia 50mm f/2 Planar T* Lens for Sony E Mount at BHphoto, Adorama., WexUK, CameraPro.
Zeiss Loxia 35mm f/2 Biogon T* Lens for Sony E Mount at BHphoto, Adorama, WexUK, CameraPro.
Zeiss Lens Hood for Loxia 50mm f/2 Planar T* Lens at BHphoto and Adorama.
Zeiss Lens Hood for Loxia 35mm f/2 Biogon T* Lens at BHphoto and Adorama.
Zeiss 52mm Front Lens Cap for Touit and Loxia Lenses at BHphoto and Adorama.
Zeiss De-Click Key for Loxia Lenses (5-Piece Set) at BHphoto and Adorama.
Zeiss Rear Lens Cap for Loxia E-Mount Lenses at BHphoto and Adorama.
0 Responses
The ones I have no interest are:
1. The video zoom.
2. Sony 35/1.4 monster
3. 90 G monster
The video zoom works for stills also. It is weather sealed, has constant aperture, and a large focal length range. Not sure why it isn’t getting more attention. Maybe if the price were to fall a little.
I don’t think stills guys are keen on a mid ranging zoom with f4 and weighing 1.2kg and costing $2.5k. The cine advantages are basically lost on them.
Just as the whole wish of the A7 users to have compact lenses to match the cams is lost on Sony’ s deaf ears.
Well, all-purpose walk-around zooms are expected to be a little larger than your average lens. It’s still smaller and lighter than a collection of equivalent primes.
The size has to shrink first, the price comes after that. I am sure it will be a great video zoom for those who need it for the 8 mega pixel FS7.
Poor A-mount is dead.
you remind me of the movie “Groundhog Day”!
very funny
If on one day you only get chicken meat to eat, is pig then also dead!?
none …^^ i want a legacy lens
You should add the converters for 28/2 to the list as well.
What is the difference between the Zeiss 35mm f/1.4 and the Zeiss Loxia 35mm f/2.0. apart from the wider aperture?
The Loxia is far smaller. Also bokeh is slightly different. And of course: no autofocus on Loxia.
The question is rather, “does it makes sense?”
And the answer is: Yes. The Loxia lens is for people who want a small but very good lens and don’t need the extra light, price is lower, Zeiss is the designer and seller of that lens.
The Sony/Zeiss 35mm f1.4 is a co design between Sony and Zeiss, Sony is the seller of that lens. This lens is for people that want or need AF and large apperture, and don’t care about the size of the lens (and the price, it won’t be cheap)
Remember good lenses cost a lot of money and ar most of the time larger then mediocre lense with the same FL.
One is made by Sony the other by Zeiss. You do know that they don’t share the same wallet and that the money that goes to one don’t go to the other.
You mean one is made by Sony, the other by Cosina 😉 Zeiss lenses are made by Cosina in Japan.
I know. But Cosina or not the money goes to Zeiss at the end (+ a percentage of the Sony Zeiss sales for the blue logo stick on the side of Sony lenses).
If I would have been in the market for an A7, A7R or A7S, all three of which I like quite a lot for what they can do and how they handle and I do have had the chance to really get to know the A7R, the bulk and therefore weight of these new lenses would have finally convinced me to not choose Sony FE. The only exception would be if I had the need to use specific, probably adapted legacy lensed which I cannot mount to a Nikon DSLR.
All of the lenses are smaller than their DSLR brothers and including the body you mostly end up with half the weight. Maybe you expected them to be just half the size or what?
If you want the smallest you have to buy a Leica, it’s Manual Focus and more heavy though!
I do know the alternatives, and Sony FE wouldn’t have been top of my list anyway, but I’m surprised as to how big those lenses are; they’re not so much smaller than similar DSLR lenses that the difference would matter much to me. What I would have expected? That the size of Sony FE lenses would have been more like the size of Leica M, Zeiss ZM or Voigtländer LTM/M-Mount lenses, not more like the size of DSLR lenses, at least below the critical focal length of 45~50mm, since Sony doesn’t need a retrofocal design here, either, because of mirrorless. It’s not that all the bulk comes from the AF, it comes primarily from the glass, i.e. the optical design.
Yeah, they definitely made them bigger than they needed to be, because… oh, I can’t think of any reason to do that. Perhaps I’m just a blowhard with a few minutes to waste?
no, only the special brass leica lenses are heavy.
E mount is the biggest bait and switch con game in camera history.
From day one…a great camera that is compatable with any lens made..buy it
E mount lenses work better than non native E mount lenses…switch.
Non native E mount only works with the slower focus system built in for just that purpose.
With A mount only they have a special adapter to allow fast focus but stabilization is deliberately left out.
We all already know you hate the E-mount Barry
You’re the biggest whiner in sonyalpharumors history
1700-odd comments of utter drivel.
Actually just the opposite.
I really like the product and would like to be able to add one to my system.
It is Sony bait and switch that I don’t like.
The bait..HERES THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY BEST CAMERA MADE TODAY. Your current lenses will all work with the appropriate adaptor.
The switch..IF YOU WANT FULL FASTEST FOCUS AND IMAGE STABILIZATION YOU NEED TO SWITCH TO NATIVE E MOUNT..only A mount is available with full speed focus via the LAEA4 but no image stabilization.
Actually the coninuation of A mount is necessary for Sony because otherwise a clever lawyer would file a class action lawsuit on behalf of A mount users that would cost far more than continuing A mount.
As I said though like most A mount users and many Canikon users I would actually like to be able to be fully included in this systen…rather than being excluded simply because Sony thinks they can make a bigger profit by switching users to E mount lense then by including everyone in thier newest technology.
That’s not a con if you know that info going in. The fact is that all of that info is known so there is no bait and switch. You can choose to buy E mount because it works for your needs or just not buy it because it doesn’t.
No lawyer in the world could successfully argue in a court that Sony has to continue A-mount indefinitely.
You live in a fantasy world.
Me, as a manual focusing expert that needs no AF, i can only say the e-mount made my day.
When NEX-7 appeared, I felt 40 years younger again.
How on Earth do you become a “manual focusing expert”? Did you just wake up one day and discovered “your gift”?
:-/
Barry, there is no con game at all here. You have 5 options: Switch to E-mount and enjoy a great camera, Stay with the camera type you have, and enjoy a great camera, buy E-mount as a second/first camera along with the camera you allready have or switch to a new brand/type of camera. All possibel!
And Stabilization was indeed deliberately left out of the adapter as it is technicly not possible to make an adapter without special lenses inside that change the features of the used lenses. (You need a lens element that stabilize the picture). Possible that it is impossible to do a stabilizing adapter at all without many problems in IQ.
Only the 28-135mm G and the 90mm G macro.
So no more E mount lens. Only FE mounts!!! This is too confusing for someone like me using Alpha E mounts (not FE mounts). The thing is I want to carry something small and if I wanted to carry big lenses then it would be more reasonable of me to carry FF lens.
So as a regular Nex user is Sony pushing me towards the A7 series or Amount series or pushing me to go towards other brands.
I think the last presentation at photokina was simply focussed on the FE lenses this time. Those FE lenses do all already exist in APS-C E-mount!
What specific lens are you looking for e-mount? I see everything covered from 10-210mm on APS-C. Maybe a longer and faster portrait lens, but that’s it!
There is no FE mount, never was.
And why you are pushed towards A7 is not understandable, as there are many Emount lenses out already for APS-C. What are you missing?
should be evident that in native E-world there is nothing longer than 210 at the moment! An absolute NO GO for wildlife photographer !
For a wildlife photographer there are enough A-mount lenses, since size does not matter there :)…
You are easily confused.
The 28mm, 35mm 1.4, 28-135mm G
I got the ZA 16-35mm 2.8 already so covered there even though needs an adapter.
none of them, because I use A-mount and refuse to buy E-mount body 😉 and I hate these strongly in-body corrected E lenses! Shoot RAW with E and you will notice what I am talking about. Sony give us a FF A-mount body comparable in price to EOS 6D. Now!
I use both and have no idea what you are talking about.
There already was a cheap FF way before canon and nikon: the a850… There is none right now, that is correct.
You talk about the 24-70 zoom regarding corrections. All other lenses are quite perfect and you know that. You are just another troll not taking any pictures.
I once used a Sony 18-55 mm for E-mount. At 18mm horrible barrel distortion and vignetting (in RAW) and body AF speed was far behind A-mount. I like A-mount, can’t see advantages in E-mount (except for Sony businesses)
Congrats. You ‘once’ used one of the worst lenses ever made for E-mount, a cheap kit lens, on an apparently pretty old body (since the 18-55 stopped being the delivered kit lens quite a while ago). Yes, that lens has horrible distortions and the AF speed used to be pretty bad on E-mount.
Try using a better lens on a newer body. AF speed of the A6000 might not be 100% on par with for example A77MkII, but the improvement compared to previous generations is radical. It’s just a matter of time until perceived AF speed on E-mount matches the speed on A-mount.
Now wait for the next-gen FF E-mount cams. The FF chip should then have the same PDAF pixels as the current APS-C chip, which should bring AF speed to a nice level. Put a 55mm Zeiss on it and tell me again that distortions are horrible and the AF speed sucks.
P.S.: Everyone is free to choose his system and I’m not on a crusade for E-mount. But it’s just silly to bring nonsense arguments bashing E-mount if you’re frustrated about Sony’s recent lack of support for A-mount.
True. I own the A77 and my girlfriend the A6000 with the 35/1.8. Now, I’m a believer. The A6000 is such a great travel cam and its handling is a real pleasure. I really consider to go for the A7. All that stops me from doing so is the missing GPS – and a reasonable lens selection (especially a 24-70/2.8 ZA replacement). At least, I’m not afraid of a dead A mount. My A77 is complete. And my next cam will be a future version of the A7.
I am not frustrated as A-mount is not (yet) dead, but honestly have you ever seen a wildlife photographer shooting at 400mm with an E-mount body (old or new) if AF needs -2EV capability ? Maybe A7s is able, but at 12MP and $1000 more than EOS 6D this will not really be an alternative !
I have a Nex-6 with 16-50 and 35/1.8. The only lens I’m really likely to buy is the cropped 18-105/4.
If I got a small inheritance I might buy a camera specifically for available light, which I do quite a lot. With the A7S I’d likely get the 35/1.4. But I think that I’d more likely get a Nikon SLR and a stabilized Tamron 24-70/2.8 + the non-Art Sigma 50/1.4. Having an indoor zoom available is a huge bonus, and I think the Nikon AF + ergonomics will get the shot more often. If Sony did an A7S Mk 2 with a decent joystick for selecting the AF point, that might swing me back.
the 85 is a must for a system to breathe! a very fast one (1.4 as you suggest), not a 1.8..that would be meeh…
I dont get why the 35/1.4 came instead..its already a 3th 35mm in the FE mount. I hope they are done with 35ing already…
Honestly, I’d prefer a good sharp 85 f/1.8 to keep size down. But yes, an 85 is a must and I’m really surprised they didn’t introduce that instead of yet another 35mm!
because they already have an A mount Zeiss 85mm. Sony wants you to buy the leftover stock of the ZA85mm, before releasing a better E-mount one
a better one you say…cant imagine how can you better the already superb ZA 85 🙂
It has a gorgeous rendering on older sensors, but is much less so on the newer high megapixel sensors. It has a lot of issues until after f/2-2.8.
no issues on my A99. I love to use it wide open 🙂 Not sure what you mean by high megapixels? Using it via adapter on A7r?
84/1.4 doesnt need to be big, just have a look at the A mount version..not big at all. Certainly smaller than the massive 35/1.4…I dont understand the decision to do that lens :/
and again… no SMALL + bright or stabilized lenses… so I rather keep using my Pen F Zuiko 38/1.8 with the 85/2 MC Zuiko for day and the Canon 35/2 IS and the Canon FL 55/1.2 for night… Much smaller, cheaper solutions than what SONY is offering
28mm f2 is considerably smaller than the Canon 35mm f2 IS.
Cry me a river.
If you want small and bright, there’s plenty of mf options.
Depending on the January announcement, I might well pick up an a7 in March with the 55/1.8 and 90mm (and possibly the 28/2 if my budget permits)
55FE is still the best lens after all this. amazing.
For travel/street it makes a lot more sense than my current a77ii + 35/1.4 combination.
Absolutely. I’m happy just using the 55FE, to be honest. If it had OSS and maybe manual focus and aperture, I’d be completely set.
I have to get an E- mount body first. I would probably grab the 16-35 if I had one
Have ordered the Zeiss 16-35mm f4 FE lens
I want OSS primes. I’ll buy the video zoom for video work. And maybe the 50 planar.
You know what everyone here should know?
The fact that:
1) Almost every Sony camera owner here is entitled to Capture One Express (for Sony) for free.
2) Need the pro tools and don’t use any other camera brand but Sony? Well, for 23EUR (compared to 206EUR), you can upgrade to Capture One Pro (for Sony) which is the same software bar the compatibility with other camera brands.
I find it great…don’t you?
(NOTE: I did know about the Express version for free but never seen the price difference between the Pro (for Sony) and the Pro (normal) versions anywhere until I just found out, literally, 10mins ago)
It is also worth noting that Capture One can read Sony ARW as well as Sony’s IDC (a very slow software but that can squeeze out more information out of an ARW than ACR or Lr)
How do you get them?
http://www.phaseone.com/PhaseOne/Online-Store/Sony-upgrades.aspx
Mind you, I am a Lightroom user and been exploring C1 for the last 24hrs since the new version 8 came out (it has many things it was missing that Lr has, like local adjustments and heal and clone) and I just found out about it. I find it great that Sony has partnered with these guys because C1 is one of the highest standards in RAW processing today.
Home run, in my opinion.
Think of Fuji, offering Silkypix, which is a very slow and tedious software (in my experience)
Same goes for Nikon Capture NX, which I found it not as compelling as Lr.
Never mind Canon’s own software…miserable.
I don’t know Olympus’ or Panasonic’s offerings.
thanks for sharing the information. time to switch back to capture one.
http://bit.ly/1r5NaPd
I am checking it out. Still Sony’s IDC is the only one that preserves the custom WB settings faithfully. None, including the Capture, do that. 🙁
This isn’t the case with Silky Pix and the cams it comes with. So, there is a clear distinction.
The C appears to be slow as a thick molasses and I do not want to forego
LR’s fantastic library function for what appears to be crummy one from
C.
Others have pointed out other issues with the free stuff.
Most likely, I will uninstall it soon.
I was not referring to the way camera’s instructions are kept in the raw developer. To my understanding, only IDC keeps the camera’s instructions.
All others ignore this because each developer wants to do it its own way.
Colour reproduction from the get go is also another point of contention among developers and “faithfulness” is something I can’t concern myself with since I neither shoot JPEGs to see what Sony does with colours nor I expect to chase a camera for its colours since RAW development today allows you to have whatever you want only depending on the file’s flexibility (and Sony’s file is greatly flexible)
While Silkypix does listen to camera instructions, as I said, this is not a concern to me. My concern lies with getting the most out of the file and ACR and Lr are a bit lazy with this. This is not to say that they are bad developers, because they are not. I am only mentioning this because IDC’s TIF file comes out with the most detail and great base to start working with.
As of my trials today, C1 can read the file very closely to IDC’s standard albeit from the get go, again, nothing looks similar….but you can get to IDC standard (basically better than Lr and ACR) to get more from your file. I believe, in my early trials today, that I can get maybe a stop or so of more ISO after 1600 with C1 but I need to dig this a bit more.
While I do appreciate, because I am a user of Lr for many years, Lr’s catalogue and other misc organizational tools and ease of tools, I am not finding C1 to be worse…just different.
Last, but not least, unless you do get Lr for free with your camera purchase…23EUR for C1 Pro is a bargain!
I just found this deal a few days ago and while I didn’t like Capture One 7 I gave a try to Capture One 8 Express and the results are visibly superior to what I can archive with Lightroom which I’m using since years. Even the colors are better for me and it processes the images faster too. The Pro version also seems to have a healing tool now which I was missing from CO 7 and the price of 23EUR seems like an amazing deal for me.
Are you guys interested in cataloging your Sony video files too? I’d be interested to know what functionality your seeing with AVCHD & XAVC-S video files in the Capture One catalogue. Are video files showing up for you?
I don’t import any of the video I make in either Lr and I don’t think I will do so with C1 (unless I find something really useful that attracts me to it)
What I do with video is just make a video folder inside the project/story folder I am working on and chuck everything there. Since the video counter resets every time you change cards and there is no EXIF data in the videos, I find it kind of pointless to import them to organize anything.
Usually, after my first card dump into the HDD (where, say, the last video file was 0004) I would then browse the card with Bridge where I can then batch-rename the following video files to the next number-sequence (0005 – etc) and then dump the files in the video folder.
I work exclusively on Premiere Pro for video so I don’t really do any cataloging with video.
What do you do? in case I find some workflow I find compelling enough to compel me to emulate it!
Up to now I’ve been an aperture user. Each year is divided into months, each job/client goes into their prospective month in a folder. Each job/client has meta data, so I can find either by year & month or by searching meta data.
As far as job/client assets are concerned they’ve all been referenced to their year/month/client folder, kind of like the old brown bag in filing cabinets of old, there’s a virtual video recording, some images and an audio recording. It worked very well within Aperture, everything was in one place virtually speaking.
My stuff is 50/50 right now stills & video, with lots of short 10-20 second clips. It’s a nightmare taking 3 or 4 large cards and trying to separate stills out from video and file separately. Apple are going to offer an easy way to do this via “Photos” but it’ll be crippled as far a RAW converter is concerned for a while no doubt, Aperture was OK there though.
Video is cut in FCPX, all still assets, video & audio assets are easily available via the inspector, it really is easy to find & import visually too, there’s a nice playback window just for that.
As far as Lightroom is concerned, I love the RAW converter, but organization of assets is lacking for me, noway to reference/catalogue audio files, but at least LR recognizes the Sony XAVC-S codec, Aperture won’t, so that’s a big plus. But when out on the road LR is hopeless for ingesting those video assists off a mixed card (stills & video) its simply way to slow. Capture One 8 is looking way better in that department BUT I’m not sure yet as to what exactly is going on reference video within the Capture One catalogue, XAVC-S isn’t showing up – yet!
I see. So you are using the program to do the importing?
In that case, my method then is fully manual. I browse the files as browsing folders. Yes, it is a pain to get the video files which are inside the Private-Stream..etc etc folder but it’s worth it for me.
I organize similarly to you, but in folders directly (no program) So, my folders are similar to yours: Year-Month-Subject. For example, I would have 2014-02-GEO and 2014-02-London and 2014-02-Misc (for anything) and inside each folder I will have two folders: Stills, Video. Inside Stills, all the stills and I ask Lr to create its folders inside the Stills folder. For Premiere, I tell it to create the project file inside the Video folder and then direct the scratch disks to that folder for “captured video” and “captured audio” and then select the preview scratch disks to a third HDD. That way I can dispose the previews after I finish a project and keep all the assets for video inside “Video” and all the assets for Lr inside “Stills”.
It really keeps all the scheisse together when you do back ups because then its only a drag and drop operation and regardless where the 2014-02-GEO folder is, when you navigate to the project file (.preproj for Premiere or .lrcat for Lightroom) the programs will find all assets and work as you would expect them to.
This way I don’t need a program to do the browsing, just the work. If, for example, I corrupt the .lrcat file (Lightroom catalogue) I can still rely on the .xmp sidecar files to view the changes in Bridge or when I create a new .lrcat file without loosing any of the changes (since the changes are recorded in the .xmp files)
Now, I don’t know how that will work with C1 since I am still in the experimenting phase with this. I still need to see what is C1’s logic of organization and whether I can still keep my manual folder-only habbit without the need to create catalogues that can hinder performance (like Lr…a bloody slow program after processing 10-15 photos….and I have 32GB RAM!)
Yes, I import everything via Aperture or Lightroom, each image gets tagged with my metadata on import as it goes into its prospective job-folder.
Problem is, with the addition of video (and its various codecs) plus audio. No one program, that I can find anyway, will handle all the assets, allowing for one import, and one tagging of meta-data. Aperture did, up until the new Sony XAVC-S codec.
I too am working with 32GB of RAM on a newer desktop machine. Lightroom on my location laptop when dealing with 64GB SD cards of compressed video is hopeless.
How are you dealing with Sony AVCHD video files on import? Out in the field, on a job, how are you importing these files manually and how are you verifying the data before wiping/reusing the cards?
I see. I don’t do metadata on video. Unless the client requires so, which they did once and I did it all in Lr (including renaming) and it was the same as writing metadata for stills. Metadata, for me, is always done post import. Why? Because the only sync-ed metadata can be: city, place, job name, author and copyright. All else (description, keywords, title) is manual and done on a per file basis. My job requires this so. I am a photojournalist and rarely two photographs have the same content so captioning is manual. Keywords, however, can be shared and Lr has a “button” like feature to click through the common keywords you used on your first couple of images manually.
I have a laptop with 32GB of RAM so it is my mobile workstation. I am using a Thinkpad W530 and I have set it up with 3 HDD (1 SSD for OS and programs, 2 7200 HDDs for files)
So, what I do is (imagining I am starting the project):
1) Insert SD into slot.
2) Create new master folder with project name in HDD 1
3) Create “Stills” and “Video” folder inside master folder.
4) Open SD folder -> open DCIM folder and import all stills 1st to “Stills” folder.
5) Navigate to video folder and import all video files to “Video” folder.
6) Repeat 4->5 until done for all cards.
8) Create Lr Catalog housed inside “Stills” folder.
9) Drag and Drop both, “Still” and “Video”, folders inside Lightroom (this will launch the “import” window.
10) Import all and check that Lr can read all files OK (basically, do a basic scroll through)
11) Copy all master folder from HDD 1 to HDD 2.
12) If all copied well, format SD cards.
Then…the next day, and the day after…repeat 4->5 and then do step 9 whilst in the “Library” module of Lr (which allows for the drag and drop operation) and make sure that “Do not import suspected duplicates” is ticked.
On an average job I would be importing some 10-15 times into lightroom and every time I do a new import (essentially unloading all my SD cards) I will erase the back up master folder in HDD 2 and recopy all of the master folder from HDD 1 again (to have clean copies)
If it’s tedious to look at video files in Lr, which it can be, then use Bridge or use VLC to quickly have a glance since you don’t need to close VLC….you just drag and drop the video file you want to check and scroll through.
When I used to deal with Sony’s AVCHD, I used to decompress them with 5DtoRGB (free download) because it allowed a bit more leniency with Premire Pro and curves or using Colorista. Essentially, AVCHD, like a bad jpeg, easily overcooks beyond recognition with a few touches. After 5DtoRGB, it is like “decompressing” the jpeg into a TIF. No, you do not get NEW data…but it allows you to grade and correct with a bit more peace and less frustration. Mind you, doing the 5DtoRGB will increase file sizes by quite a bit if you are not careful with the options laid out.
Now I am using a hacked GH2 with Moon T7 patch so I can skip the 5DtoRGB, although storage still suffers.
My buddy is a UK based PJ, he won’t even look at Lightroom, he’s PhotoMechanic and Bridge all the way.
That’s one heck of a workflow, it’d certainly get the better of a dyslexic spaz like me. 🙂
Last time I was in London, I shot for PA, it was colour negative and the picture editor was Harry Aspey. How are the day rates now? Salaried guys were on 40,000 pounds, I think things have changed a little recently and not for the better…..
Ping me a link to your work mate, I’d love to see what you’re up-to. Enjoyed the chat! ~Chris
I do happen to have a colleague, based in Spain, though, who also uses Photomechanic (editing) and then PS for processing. It is a bit…much, for me.
I don’t know the situation with daily news people. I do know that those working freelance are getting paid squat for singles and daily stuff. So, if you are a staffer, good. If you are stringer/freelance/wire…I don’t know…but I am almost confident its not great.
It’s true, today, you know? PJ work is one of the most underpaid for what it does. Granted, a lot of people staffing for minor publications are not greatly talented but still, it is a job and it should cover your life well…but most of the times it doesn’t.
I do reportage pj. I work on extensive projects, shot over a period of time, then assemble a story and sell the story to different outlets. Think of it like this…you want to do a story about train immigrants from south america to the US. You go where they get on the train and you travel along with them until you all reach wherever you need to reach (or wherever you end up) and you edit all of those images into a coherent story that tells the story and pitfalls of these people’s lives doing such a journey. You come up with anywhere from 50-150 photos (depending on how much REAL material you have) and pitch the lot for publication. Pay, at that point, is made either as a whole purchase (the project to be run for as many pages as the publisher wishes) or per page given to your story.
Sadly enough, I can’t link to my work. This is a pseudonym for this site. I am not paid to say that I like my RX1.
PS: 40k p/a is not bad…but it can be difficult to raise a family if you are based in London and your partner doesn’t work. If you live somewhere else in the UK, you would be better off. If you are single…you can have a lot of fun.
Ping me a private link to your work, we may know some of the same people!
studio@chrisgibbs.com
No offense. I will have a think about emailing you. Saw your site. Great portraits!
I’m an admirer of anyone who’ll show their work publicly – I’m only critical of critics! Must be a British thing…… (:-)
I would buy a wide angle lens, 19/20/21mm, but not the Zoom for my A7R.
I will not buy until 7-7R, i need portrait lenses, 85 1.2 and 100 or 135 1.8 (2)
I would like to have 70-200 f2.8 for E-mount
I would prefer a 200mm f2
True, even f2.8 sharp prime 200mm will be good idea. Thinking about that great Minolta lens.
I would also like a flagship (ergonomics, focus system, buffer, sealing) E-mount body to mount it on.
Looking at the size and specs of the announced lenses, I would not be surprised if we see a larger, pro style E mount body. A9 anyone?
I guess there will be no more A99 II.
But there will be a A9 with larger body + new adapter with A77ii AF.
I agree with you. Being a99 shooter myself, I had great trouble to shoot a7. Mostly because of weird AF and totally new control ergonomics.
Ill try out the 28mm, 16-35mm and 85mm.. for macro i’d rather get the 100MP
I chose the 28-135 Powerzoom. For primes, I find I’m covered with my Leica-R set and do not want anything from the FE lineup.
I will buy the XF 56mm F1.2 R AFD. Then the FE 28mm F2. Seriously can we see some samples? I pray that it is good wide open!
Last time I checked, the XF 56mm F1.2 R APD was a Fuji X mount lens.
I need A-mount .. 🙁
Hope one of the remaining six slots is for a 24, 28, or 35 prime with OSS and an aperture of 2.8 or faster. We could also stand to have a faster normal zoom (to keep size and weight in check, it could be 24-50 or 28-70 rather than the pro DSLR standard of 24-70).
Yeah… this system definitely needs another 35mm.
OSS on a 35mm prime… would you like someone to carry your bags for you? Maybe hold the camera?
A very good thing fo E mount fans.
Sigmas new 150-600mm conteporary lens for A mount has fully finctional optical stabilization….therefore coupled with the LAEA4 adaptor this is one of the very few lenses made that are fully funtional for both A mount and E mount.
The contemporary version of this lens is lighter and less expensive than the sport version and is the only one available f ok r Sony.
The relatively lightweight and smaller size of this lens also makes it a good choice..also it is currently the ONLY long lens that will fully work with E mount.
Sigma has wisely decided to keep the stabilization functional on this lens unlke Yamron that foolishly disables thiers.
Don’t give sigma much credit. Every other recent lens if theirs omitted OS on Sony version. Also, I think they picked the wrong version for the Sony mount. We want the best.
For me and many other A mount users I would lrefer the S version……however for E mount I believe the C version is more appropriate since it emphasises smaller size and lighter wieght.
Sigma currently claims that optical performance is almost identical except for the corners at the longes focal length.
I await test results to se if that is true..
Looking at the schematiscs however…the front fld element appears split into 2 elements to reduce weight on the S version.
By reducing the diameter by 10mm and making a single fld element..it no longer needs to be split and the fomt element eliminates much of its bulk too.
This shortens the lens by about an inch so they probably have virtually no effect on image except the extreme corners at 600mm….with 21 more elemets available Im sure 3 could be eliminated or combined without hurting image quality much..if at all
So although I remain sceptical what sigma says does actually soun plausable and we may simply be sacrificing build quality while saving $800.
I never realized there were so many macro photographers.
Mind you, Phil Greenspun once said “macro photographers are the only happy photographers”, so maybe they just don’t post on blogs and forums.
Nikon has made an extremely vague rumor about a future professional level mirrorless camera system of very high quality…
I would assume this would be the same rumored 46mp Sony sensor rumored for January.
I repeat however this is a very vaque rumor so dont get too excited yet.
wow…
16-35 is the most wanted, im surprised !
if one target an expensive lense, you want the best and price become irrelevant,
so… why not buy the better 16-35 f2.8 A mount + adapter ( you even get A mount AF speed)
the other most wanted is the 90 macro ( and rumored 85 f.14) same old lenses that are everywhere and made by everyone
so… i dont get it, i understand sony taking time to design new lenses like the 28-135 or 24-240, but taking time to release last century designs like 90 macro, 85 f1.4 prime and 16-35 wide angle zoom… lol
sony releasing a native 16-35 its a clear indication that A mount its dead, next year will know for sure, but if last 7 unnanounced FE lenses ended up been like 16-35 (replace rather than complement A mount), its all written down.
there will be no a99ii, but an a9 (a99 pro body but E mount)
if a77ii sales were lower than expected thats another reason why it may be the last A mount body, but its clear no new lenses or new bodies will be made in A mount, at most just mark ii or version 3, in few words “small upgrades from current lenses and bodies”
sure “the write is on the wall” in 2 years only one A mount body and zero new lenses
as sad as it is (im A mount user) sony is doing the rigth thing, not a single company its doing good (financial speaking) in camera market, not a single one its succesfully supporting more than 1 mount, if sony had to chose between A and E, its a no brainer to chose E
1. mirrorless its a growing market, dslr its not, had not growth and propably will decline
2. sony its leader in mirrorles, a distant third in dslr
3. A lenses can be used in E, not the other way around
4. sony had stole more market share (or at least made canikons buy an alpha body) with 3 mirrorless bodies last year than with dozens A bodies last decade
5. mirrorles had keep matching or even doing better than dslr: design, features, sensor, lenses, etc. the only thing dslr still had, its AF (and looking what panasonic, samsung, aptina and sony are doing) i bet sooner rather than latter AF mirrorles speed will match or even surpras dslr, meaning that dslr will had zero advantege vs mirrorles, and that will be the point of no return.
6. you can use almost any lense made to date in sony mirrorles bodies
7. plain simple, its just the future, and in that future i doubt canikon will remain (or any other that dont go mirrorless)
Sony, are you there? Where are companions to ZA 55/1.8 like ZA 85/1.8 (or f/2), 24/2 and 35/1.8? ZA 35/1.4 is your monster mistake. Are you going to make second monster mistake with FE 85/1.4? You had better make ZA 85/2. You completely forgot A7 is mirrorless.
Mirrorless FF compact does not mean, like compactness take 1.5 сrop and Sel 50 1.8 OSS or Sony RX
I need mirrorless camera with a good close grip and fast lenses and I hope it will be Sony….. and i Like a7R with Battery Grip and FE 85 1.4 =)
I want 85 1.8 too. I was thinking about pulling the plug on the 85 A mount version, but been hearing about the E mount. If that happens, I don’t think I will buy another A-mount and just stick to the E. And I hope it has OSS.
If it’s Zeiss it definitely won’t have oss. If it’s Sony G oss is a possibility, given the macro has it.
I agree. I want an 85/1.8 and a 35/1.8. If they are smaller but offer better image quality, then why not! 1.8 is plenty fast, and the IQ benefits are pretty great. Too bad Sony slipped up and created a messy lineup of lenses that don’t belong together. What a shame.
SAR is the ONLY site in the photo world that talks about A mount! The one and only. Have you ever thought about why?
Nikon rumors today gave vaque hints of a new line of professional very high quality mirrorless camera line..
Since Nikon will use Sony sensors that likely means the January surprise will be Sony 46mp mirrorles new technplogy A mount camera and possibly a similar Nikon product.
I would also expect Canon to unviel its own 46mp mirrorless new technology product…not necesssrily all on the same day but not far apart either.
Lesser players will not be left out and will also have similar products some with Sony sensor but possibly some with thier own.
SLRs and SLTs may not be around much longer.
I do not know that 46mp will be the number but that is the number that they are talking about.
A lot of this is speculation on my part but based on bits and pieces and whispers, not on solid rumors yet.
Yeah, I saw that. Nikon is very conservative unlike Sony which is full speed ahead in mirrorless because they’ve pretty much tossed in the towel on DSLRs so have little choice.
The nice thing about Nikon is they’re not likely to tell their DSLR owners “Was nice knowing you, now spend thousands on our new stuff or go pack sand” like Sony is doing when Nikon starts rolling out mirrorless. Cannibalization and accelerating abandonment of DSRLs won’t be their marketing strategy.
Canon is a step behind and appears to be pondering a similar strategy in cropped sensors as Nikon did with Nikon 1. Put out something smaller than APS-C which won’t directly compete with DSLRs. While I like the potential of the Nikon 1 system as a complement to FF/APS-C Nikon still hasn’t got the formula right to make the Nikon 1 a compelling complement to anything I own. Going M43s as Canon is pondering (how seriously, really, since they already started an APS-C mirrorless system) is a nice compromise because at some point Nikon will be forced to support mirrorless in either M43 or APS-C leaving them with 3 systems to support.
I’m surprised you haven’t considered a Nikon 1 with their new Nikkor 70-300mm VR f/4.5-5.6. It reaches out to a 810mm equivalent. The Aptina 1″ sensor isn’t going to be as good as anything Sony puts out but Nikon 1/Nikkor 70-300mm combo is light.
I have not actually looked at any of the smaller format ILC cameras.
What do you think is better…this 300mm nikon 1 or a 300mm on an m43 system…make some suggestions.
Well, if I just said, yeah, run off to Nikon 1 I’d be a hypocrite because I haven’t seen it ready for me to pick up though I’ve been tempted to get one of their cheap fire-sale refurbished consumer-grade J1/S1 deals that were flooding FleaBay as a point and shoot replacement for casual photography.
The IQ of the Nikon 1 Aptina sensor clearly isn’t as good as the Sony 1″ sensor. Not sure why they went that way especially with their serious Vx models which are expensive so even if cost were a factor it shouldn’t be on the high end. In turn, 1″ sensors aren’t quite up to snuff compared to Sony’s APS-C but the Sony 1″ is quite good in the few comparisons I’ve seen.
However, since you mainly shoot wildlife to draw images from not to make images, I assume, to show off to people or make huge prints maybe the Nikon 1 system renders enough detail for your purposes.
I showed a sample which would appear decent for your purposes. You can search Flickr or the internet in general for more samples.
I’d blow off M43s. IQ is a hair weaker than Sony’s APS-C and you might as well get a Sony adaptor with an a6000 which gives you decent (not great) AF capabilities to use your existing glass.
I actually require much more resolution for my refferrence than current cameras provide and comensate when possible with a series of composition shots , extreme close ups , stitching or mosaicing whenever pissible.
The small format would only be for opportunities I would otherwise miss and could never replace a real camera.
You got me thinking about it but at this point just thinking..not buying.
Since the 150-600 c version is more compact if I get that one I will see it is portable enough to carry everywhere??????????????
Well, I hope the Sigma 150-600mm C works for you. One thing the MTF doesn’t show us on the S version is how good it is stopped down a bit to, say, f/8. Maybe that’s where of all of Sigma’s “pro” hype is coming from.
I know you just bought and a77II and aren’t looking to bail to something else which will cost you a lot of money. Hopefully, the C will be good enough to keep you going for a while even if Sony’s a-mount future is pretty much abandonment.
Even wide open the mtf on center looks very good…particularly usefull use on C sensor and or 1.4x….I cannot get the new one for sony but I already have both of the older sigma apo converters. If sigma is being truthfull and only corner performance is effected Im ok with that. I have seen comments on a canon site that indicates otherwise though..I really would like enough data to make a better decision. The more I think about it though the less apealing the smaller formats seem.
But the sharpness falls off to mid and drops like a rock. Doesn’t the MTF point out to significant CA as well towards the edges? I’m talking wide open. Anyway, I’ve got to run. Have a nice day.
Note that the charts show both axial and meridian contrast..one is excellnt the other drops off at the edges…there how sharp an image appears will differ depending on whether the detail is parrelel or perpendicular to the center.
The geometric chart is theoretical and similar to the type of chart most manufacturers use.
Base on this contrast is much better than Tammy on center then drops off on the edges in a manner similar to Tammy…of coarse I am talking about 600mm which is all that concerns me..
The diffusion mtf chart is sopposidly unigue to Sigmaand is more indicative of actual performance..interestingly enough this chart almost exactly matches the mtf chart for tammy but here we are comparing actual to ttheoretical.
Therefore based on the charts and schematics/components alone I would expect/Guess the S version to outperform Tammy.
As for the C version I have too little data to even make a reasonable guess at performance.
I would still buy Sigma over Tamron for the fact that Sigma has funtional OSS and Tammy has deliberately disabled thiers…I would only buy Tammy if there was no competing product.
Earl
I just located a used Sigms 170-500 f5- 6.3 apo for sony.
Its a Maxim era film lens and therefore is subststantionaly smaller and lighter than modern lenses.
Since I am currently waiting for a new 150-600 to be available I thought I might use this on my a77II till its available.
Once the new lens comes out I thought I might keep this in my trunk on a C size camera for unexpected opportunities..instead of carrying a smaller sensor camera
Of course the new lens would be my workhorse as soon as I get it.
What do you think
BTW…answer quick..its a used lens so I need to make a quick decision.
Ever visited Dyxum? Seriously, you have no clue. Most review sites like DPReview cover everything that’s news. Rumor sites? Not even true since SAR gets his stuff from them, too. Even if SAR was the only Sony rumor site covering a-mount. Yeah, so what?
Sony 28mm f/2.0 G
Is the 28mm really a G lens?
No its definitely a regular Sony lens.
16-35mm is number one on my list , 90mm macro is straight after it , other than that .. Minolta MD and Konica hexanon lenses are stunning.
I enjoy manual focusing with the A7 thanks to focus peaking , my old legacy glass arsenal is :
Konica hexanon 21mm f/4
Konica UC hexanon 28mm f/1.8 (super rare lens)
Minolta MD 85mm f/1.7
Konica hexanon 57mm f/1.2
Minolta MD 50mm f/1.2
And many more … But those are the greatest IMO, if you can buy one of those and you don’t mind manual focusing , then just go for it you will definitely love them.
NONE. NEVER. AT ANY PRICE.
Sony got to hurry on developing new FE lenses. Main reason is that Canon and Nikon will have a huge advantage WHEN they enter Mirrorless camera market!
1 Signes are quite clear the will enter Mirrorless within 6 month
2 they can easily develop a “Metabones” from their own mount to their new mount with fast AF
3 they will have NO Slt problem. No LAEA that steals light
4 their lenses for mirrorless system will just have to be a handful from 16 to 85. The rest is their mormal mount where size is no problem
5 Sonys dilemma is that the A mount can’t compete Due to Slt and that Canon Nikon got a much more modern, broad line of glass.
Hurry on Sony!
24-240 with stabilization like Panasonic Mega OIS and with powerzoom.