Imaging Resource posted a Q&A session with Sony. These are some of the most important info:
– Sony’s spirit is to create something new which never existed before. We (Sony) will keep on working to create that kind of product in the future, with that spirit.
– Every single RX1 lens-sensor gets adjusted with an accuracy less than one micron.
– There will be cheaper RX1 alike cameras
– Why are FE zooms that slow? Sony says “f/2.8 isn’t very reasonable, but f/4 is reasonable for every consumer in terms of pricing point, and also the size.”
– Sony is selling more QX cameras than expected
– The RX10 processor has less power consumption than the RX100MII. And therefore less overheating issues.
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Thanks Mistral for sharing the link!
46 Responses
When I was toting a giant Nikon full frame DSLR, I preferred the f/4 zooms universally. When I had the 70-200/2.8, Nikon’s amazing version of this lens, I still almost ALWAYS shot at f/4 or smaller aperture because of depth of field issues and occasionally due to peripheral shading.
So personally, I have no problems at all with the f/4 zooms as long as they are good quality.
Primes, on the other hand…
I’m with you there with the primes. When I need zoom I can settle for f/4, but when I don’t, I don’t want to settle for anything in terms of available aperture.
Yeah. F4 zoom is okay due to weight and price. 2.8 prime is too slow nevertheless. Both Nikon and Canon are able to release 1.8 prime with high quality optics and with friendly price tag. I hope Sony will be able to do so without Zeiss badge.
I agree with you, I’d rather have smallish f/4 zooms and fast primes than f/2.8 zooms that are bulky and not fast enough anyway
It’s hard to get excited about an F4 zoom when a kit lens is only slightly slower at its telephoto end, and especially when picking up the lens for an APSC body, but I absolutely agree with you there when it comes to using this class of lens on FF bodies. I’m a relatively new photography enthusiast and therefore have never shot with FF, but when I tried out the A7 cameras at the Photoplus Expo I was absolutely blown away with the shallow depth of field I could get with even just the kit zoom. That 1.5x really does make a difference for depth of field that I was previously unaware.
I think this is really the best compromise and right path Sony has taken with regards to their lens offerings. You have premium zooms at F4 for when you want convenience or perhaps just a single lens for the day, but then you can throw in a couple primes at 1.8 (plenty fast in my book) at various focal lengths when you want to get creative using that shallow DOF.
I wonder though, would an F2.8 zoom still not be reasonable if designed for an APSC body? Perhaps if they had to reduce the range a tad. That’s also one reason why those zooms tend to be large is just the fact that they have to cover a FF sensor as well as being a constant aperture am I right?
I will be getting the Zeiss 24-70 f/4 to replace my Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8 which I can sell for ~$900.
They are nearly equivalent in terms of zoom range and DOF. However, the A7 + 24-70 combo weighs 800 grams and the D7000 + 17-555 combo weighs 1500 grams, almost double!
Other than the weight and size gains, I’m getting stabilization and I’m expecting higher resolution from the Zeiss lens.
I could settle with f4 zoom as well, and I’m even planning on getting that FE24-70, but then comes a realisation that the price for it is really too much. There are many excellent 2.8 zooms for that price, like 14-24, 24-70 and 70-200, you could have 50-500 bigma or 100-400 canon for that much, and I believe those all cost more to produce and ship..
Let’s just hope that the quality will blow us away..
Actually, the price is ok for a 4.0 zoom. The other 4.0 zooms for Canon and Nikon are in roughly the price range. The 2.8 zooms are for Canon and Nikon are bit more expensive. I think my concern if Sony made Zeiss f2.8 FE zooms for the A7/A7r besides some handling issues is that their price range would be equivalent to the A-mount versions which is I thnk $1999.99 for the 24-70mm f2.8 and $2999.99 for the new 70-200mm f2.8.
They said that they want to keep the size down, so this and market demands are the reasons for both the “slower” zooms and primes.
It bit of a vicious circle though – release slow native zooms, customers buy these, therefore no demand for fast zooms… I think the real message is buy an a-mount or use an adapter if you want fast zooms (or primes, for that matter), but there’s no way they’ll say that in an interview.
Maybe it is. But if there is A-mount for the big lenses, as you point out and most users are satisfied with the slower lenses, then Sony is certainly doing the right thing. Anyway though, I do believe that this is simply the current strategy that makes sense for right now. There will be faster options in the future.
I think the long term options will largely depend on whether or not Sony decides to standardise on a single mount. We’ll probably see truly fast FE glass in the next year, but my money’s on it being off brand (I can’t see zeiss releasing own brand fast mf primes if they’re going green to be competing with sony/zeiss af primes)
I think you are right. Imo, a single mount is inevitable, but it will take quite some time to get there. Before this happens e-mount will quite probably be (and actually should be) developed almost completely.
Sony might release one f/1.4 lens on E-mount just to shut the whiners. But don’t expect anything serious beyond that.
And you can always adapt the Zeiss 24-70 2.8 A-mount to it.
Yes, Cybershot rules. A-mount wasn’t even mentioned.
I was disappointed by that too, considering AP forced the issue in their interview… I’m not reading too much into it as it makes sense to focus on the new toys in a marketing interview like this.
… for every consumer in terms of pricing point – lol!
That is a very interesting read with some questions and answers I have seen asked here at times.
Happy to hear that Sony is selling more QX cameras than expected… Unless they set that sales goal low to begin with. Nonetheless, it can only encourage Sony to continue thinking outside the box and to not give up on these “pet projects” outside the typical product offerings.
These days, I look to Sony as the new Apple with their innovation and drive. I’ve been unenthused with Apple for some time now since each new product release or update is expected with nothing new or exciting anymore. Still great products of course, but they no longer have the it factor to me.
Agreed, if there’s a company in the camera industry that comes close to Apple, that’s definitely Sony. I disagree that Apple has lost their drive though 🙂
It’s YotaPhone now!
Ha, didn’t even know about that phone, was following the Jolla here. Very interesting!
True, lost their drive, no. Apple is and will be for time to come, a strong player and leader, but the vision and spirit that Jobs held, unfortunately, will be near impossible to replace.
I guess you are right. I imagine, right now, we are still seeing developments that were started under Jobs, but the more time passes, the more the company will be run differently (not necessarily for worse though).
I think people ask for too much. Apple is innovating constantly, that’s a simple fact, but innovation is only understood in its most radical forms, such as the iPod, iPhone, iPad. But, even at that scale, Apple delivers on a regular 2-3 year basis.
it is about time that Sony starts sealing its products. My A99 is but there are hardly lenses sealed. The new 50/1.4 which obviously is way to expensive and not interesting is. How about sealing the 35 1.4? Get the quality and durability in order first before developing any more stuff. It’s nice that Sony is catching up with technology but in terms of durability it still has to bow for Nikon and Canon.
wow thank you for that link Andrea, very interesting interview! What a great difference it makes to have innovative, visionary people in your company. Kimio Maki is for Sony imaging what a Steve Jobs jobs was for Apple. Such exiting times in photography, I’m really glad to live in those times. And thanks again Andrea for this great website!
–Sony says “f/2.8 isn’t very reasonable, but f/4 is reasonable for every consumer in terms of pricing point, and also the size.” —
This statement is a little worrisome for 2 reasons:
1) Without f2.8 Zooms, the simple truth is that the system will not truly be considered a ‘pro’ system. Losing the pro segment for this camera likely isn’t a big concern for Sony, but what they may not realize is that it will affect the large portion of the market who are advanced enthusiasts, and some day may aspire do be a pro, or do pro work.
2) It’s easy to extrapolate that statement and guess that Sony will apply this same strategy (placing emphasis on cost and size over image IQ) to their prime lens line-up as well. In which case, how long would it be until Sony shooters start lusting after the fast (autofocus) glass of Canon, Nikon, or even Fuji?
Please Sony, reconsider…
Good points, but arguable. The system might very well receive faster options in the future, but Sony is simply trying to address the largest portion of the market right now (and some of that audience will also be pros). If they put out faster lenses in the beginning, then 1, it will become more difficult to advertise the camera as being a smaller alternative to existing products, and 2, less people will buy, simply based on needs and cost.
I’d definitely be on-board with that strategy. Put out the (small, affordable) f4 zooms first… but don’t rule-out the F2.8 zooms for future.
They’re stuck between a rock and a hard place to be fair – rule out fast e-mount glass and you’ll frighten customers off, tell customers it’s on the cards and they’ll assume you’re killing off the a-mount…
F2.8 zooms are from times where ISO 800 was as good as ISO 6400 today, at only half the resolution. That little bit of extra DOF won’t make anyone’s photos “better”, Sony and Zeiss know that.
I think many ‘reportage’ photographers and photojournalist would disagree on that point (ie. F4 is NOT the new few 2.8?) 🙂
*Recent* Reuters exif data supports the fact that most PJ’s shoot the 70-200 at 2.8 more than any other aperture.
*Recent* Reuters exif data also supports that they don’t shoot with E-mount cameras. 😉
True 🙂 Reuters went Canon a few years back.
Agreed!
From Reuters: A single photograph captured using the most popular equipment and settings (for Reuters’ top 95 photos of 2012) would be shot using a Canon 1D Mark IV with a 16-35mm lens attached, set at 1/320s, f/2.8, and ISO 200.
The 16-35 is something really needed for A7r. I have my Canon 16-35 on Metabones on A7r. It is just BIG or BIGGER or even a joke!!
I don’t know why they would do that when they released a high end A-mount adapter. A-mount has fast Zeiss zoom (not zooms right? Anyway) so if someone really wants that, it’s already available to them. If they want to make a native one later, by all means, but that would be a bad business decision now especially regarding what Vlad said. It was extremely smart of them to release those two smart adapters with its release.
It’s helpful to have OSS in long lenses.
“Every single RX1 lens-sensor gets adjusted with an accuracy less than one micron.” – Reason why compacts always may be better and deliver higher image quality than interchangable lens cameras.
“create something new which never existed before”
How about an d4 / 1d alternative in a smaller package for sports shooters
I am the consumer. Sony is clueless. I need 2.8 at least or I don’t BUY!
Priority with lenses:
1 Quality
2 Size
3 Aperture speed
4 Prize
If I may
1. Quality wide open, as manufacturers can make a small fast aperture lenses but it’ll be crappy to unusable wide open if they wishes to do so (there’s also the price factor which will restrict the amount of exotic glass they can use in a design) 😛
Of course a cheaper version of the rx1 is possible, it was done, it’s just that Sony wanted to rip its users off instead with their typical BS prices.
rx10 is the real sony deal. Better in every regard in terms of value, size and function than A7/R. Why aren’t we talking this up more?