The well known Dyxum forum user “ijsvogel” wrote that the new super tele 500mm f/4.0 could finally be announced in April 2012. That lens is floating around different shows since years! I am wondering what’s the reason behind all these delays.
This lens will cost a lot! The Canon 500mm costs $6,799.00 at Amazon (Click here) and the Nikon 500mm costs even more (Click here to check at Amazon). I am certainly not on the waiting list for that lens but I hope there will be other lenses coming along that one.
P.S.: My personal bet. it’s not coming in April…but at Photokina 🙂
32 Responses
Can’t wait for it!
Phased plasma rifle in the 40-watt range? 😉
I don’t know what else to thing about that lens and the “announcement”.. =/
It would be great for less than 6000 €
It won’t cost less than €100000.
I’ll believe it when I see it! I hope it does though.
Nice…
Canon and Nikon sell a good number of similar lenses; go to any major sporting or other “big” event and you will see the line of professional photographers with them, and I love that the finish is not Canon dirty white nor Nikon black.
Sony has the technical, financial and manufacturing resources to compete with Canon and Nikon for this business if it wishes and supply the market with enthusiast quality (cheaper) products at the same time and I wish them luck competing.
I’m looking forward to Sony releasing several new or revamped lenses this year and plan on purchasing to replace three or four of my older Minolta/Sony optics depending on what Sony does.
I can’t wait!
Most of those big lenses you are seeing are 400mm f2.8 lenses. Sony has yet to announce they will produce one of those. I prefer the 300mm myself though.
Even with the lack of pro customers, I’ve always considered the absense of any 400/2.8 to be odd, given its ubiquitousness as a pro sporting lens. Both Pentax and Leica made one.
mr ijsvogel is writing
well i only held it on a event , but i think it shall be better than the SAL 300mm ssm , because they made it with the last technology
i think the lens shall be come in april.
So he thinks that he come’s in April,he also is not telling that the announced in April 2012 is in Sydney.So were are the rumors from ?
Admin, a few days ago, you mentioned you were researching some good and some bad news. Is this the good news? (also hoping for a77 fw2)
I do not think this is the good news he was referring to.
Would love this lens. But considering the 300 2.8 SMM retails for $6999, no telling what the 500 f4 will go for.
What is the bad news?
Why should they announce this lens without a new professional body to go with it?
That’s my hope
wow, finnaly pro speciality lens has coming up 😀 well i think it’s become true because someone has trying that lense, my friend got EOS-1D X too a view month ago and he has test it 😀
@Admin, you wrote:
> I am wondering what’s the reason behind all these delays.
Just speculating, but I’m presuming it’s because of cost vs. demand.
Without a camera-body up to the demands of the users***(see below) who would buy such a lens, very few would buy a SAL of this spec; it would likely sell at a loss for Sony. Until now, there was no body to support such a lens (and, of course, if there HAD been such a body (but no lens), the lack of a lens like this would have steered many buyers to CaNikon… ) .
That’s very much a chicken-and-egg situation, but the a77 has shown, I think (more specifically, the market-response to the a77), that Sony has finally reached the camera-body level needed (indeed, one of the common refrains when the a77 was announced was, “where’s the super-tele for the sports/action shooters?”) .
With the enthusiastic response to the a77, and the presumably-even-better a99, I think Sony finally feels that they’ll be able to sell the 500/4 at a profit.
– Steve S.
***(this is “below,” see above) Typically, such a lens is a sports/action/wildlife lens, and most users in that space want VERY high AF-performance /and/ VERY high frame-rates (enter the a77, stage right… with the a99 in the wings, stage left… ) .
I basically agree. However, Sony initially intended to introduce this lens alongside the A77, and didn’t, they said, because of manufacturing difficulties. But the A99 will be a still better camera than the A77, with, I expect, both a better evf and a better AF, so I believe that played a role in Sony’s decision to introduce it in April.
My bet is that Gustav is right an Andrea wrong: the lens will be introduced in April.
Sony still hasn’t made a pro AF camera or AF module that works as good as best CaNikon ones, even the ones 5 years ago.
Also, there’s absolutely no incentive for CaNikon pro photographer to switch to Sony since tele lenses are not as good and choice is very limited.
500/4 might appeal to ambitious amateurs and birding enthusiasts, if it’s priced under $5k, along with high MP sensor could prove useful for biring while spending less money than for similar CaNikon version.
Sometimes people like to compare Sony to CaNikon where the Sony body is 50% of the cost. Sony’s allure is its lower cost and its intrepid technology approach. NEX and SLT are very attractive to some people (and not so to others).
You are aware that the AF module in the 5DMkII is trumped 100% by the A900/850?
You are aware that the A77 has the fastest auto-focus of any dSLR to date?
What on earth makes you think G and Zeiss glass isn’t as good as Canon L or Nikkor? I used to own a 5DmkII with 24-70 L and 70-200 L and I can tell you whole-heartedly that the zeiss 24-70 and sony G 70-200 are equivalent, if not in my opinion superior optics.
Amateurs, not even enthusiasts will spend $6K on a lens. Are you kidding me? This is clearly directed at professionals, and there are plenty who shoot sony- their professional consumer base is only growing.
Yup. a850/900 trounces the pathetic 5D2 autofocus
That middle spot will lock onto ANYTHING, and is super accurate even in low light with fast lenses
AF in 5D is actually better at low light focusing than the best at Sony (A77) using center spot.
However, 5D has one of the worst AF modules in an expensive camera, 7D, 1D has much, much better AF (only comparable to Nikon 51-point AF module in D300/700/3/4 series).
Every camera is going to AF well in good light and S-AF, but very few will focus well in low light and/or C-AF, and no Sony will.
The choice is limited, but Minolta’s telephotos were every bit as good as Canon and Nikon ones of the same vintage (in fact their MTF charts suggest they were often better).
The problem is that in the last two decades they only released four long tele primes (300/4, 400/4.5, 200 Macro, 300/2.8 SSM), whereas Canon probably has made 20+.
I’ll be sticking with my Maxxum 600 f4 thank you very much.
I debated between the Nikon 700 and the Canon 5D II and ended up with the A900 simply because I like the simplicity and ergo of the Sony. It’s a rock-solid build and though I would never buy a $5k+ lens, its nice to know that Sony is going to offer a pro-lens for their new FF 9xx that will compete with Nikon and Canon.
Hope they make an E mount version. Dat puppy would look sweeeeet attached to my NEX 5!
Cliff 😉
The SONY 500mm F4 G Lens will be present in April or lately in May 2012.
It will be available 2 months after the official presentation with the news
FF cameras !! I reserved mine for Olympics games in London ! 😉
oops, wrong post
We need a FF camera to put this on. I don’t want to go get an A900 off of eBay.
Morning Joe,
I bought my A900 ‘new’ from B&H just before Christmas. Its a crapshoot to whether it will be worth anything six months from now but I like it just the same. I’d be very interested in trying this big-ass 500 just to see if being a peeping-tom is all that I imagined (kidding).
Currently, I have the ZA 135 and its sweet and I can easily shoot within 10-feet but a ‘good’ tripod makes a world of difference. If I were stupid enough to buy this beautiful 500 lens, I would need another $2k for the tripod gear to support it.