This is only a small rumor but at least it’s coming from top sources. Not only the 500mm f/4 G lens (picture on top) and the Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 SSM lenses will be announced along the A9x in Spring 2012. There is also another High-End Zoom coming. I have no exact specs yet but you should know the rumor is coming from the very top 😉
And I cannot exclude yet that there will be even more new lenses.
In the past we posted some rumors coming from unknown sources (not very reliable yet! It’s SR2 only). Here is a list of possible lenses:
14mm Distagon f/2.8
28mm Distagon f/2
35mm Distagon f/1.4
70-200mm f/2.8 G SSM
200mm ApoSonnar f/2
200 f/4.0 G macro SSM
100-400 f/2.8 G SSM
If you know more about the lens roadmap feel free to drop me a text at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com or use the contact form on the right sidebar (it’s anonymous!)
Current Zeiss fullframe lenses for Sony:
SAL-1635Z 16-35mm f/2.8 ZA SSM Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* AF SLR Lens [shopcountry 9773]
Distagon T* 24mm f/2 SSM Wide Angle Lens [shopcountry 9769]
SAL-2470Z 24-70mm f/2.8 Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* Autofocus Lens [shopcountry 9776]
SAL-85F14Z Telephoto 85mm f/1.4 Carl Zeiss Planar T* Autofocus Lens [shopcountry 9782]
SAL-135F18Z 135mm f/1.8 Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* Autofocus SLR Lens [shopcountry 9771]
SAL-135F28 135mm f/2.8 Manual Focus SLR Lens [shopcountry 9772]
Reminder (SR = Sonyrumor):
SR1=probably fake rumor
SR2=rumor from unknown sources
SR3=50% chance it is correct
SR4=rumor from known sources
SR5=almost certainly correct!
67 Responses
500mm F4 G for < $1000?????
\(T_T)/
<$10,000
(T_T)/
100-400 f/2.8 would be enormous in size.
Hopefully zeiss 85mm f1.4 ssm and zeiss 135mm f1.8 ssm (currently that i have) 🙂
200 f/4.0 G macro SSM, i need this…
That would be sweet. I see used Minolta 200/4 macros going for $3k now! If Sony released a new one, it would more likely be below $2k, in line with the Canon 180 and Nikon 200.
I paid about half that for mine. It’s just a matter of being patient and casting a wide net in your search.
+1
Is it not likely that if it’s a zoom it’ll be a mk2 version on something existing which includes weather sealing? The most logical might be a 24-70ZAii or a 70-200Gii. The G seems likely with rumors of a replacement knocking about.
Yes, I also think a refresh of the main focal length would be appreciated. It would also be a positive sign for eventual investors in the system. Personally, I would love a new 70-200 with weather sealing and new improved TCs.
All major lens makers updated their 70-200mm lenses on regular base. Last announcements from Canon and Nikon are really excellent. I also hope Sony is ready to update old Minolta 70-200mm design.
In Sony line is no FF zoom lenses in range of 24-105mm or 24-135mm f4 G.
f4 standard zooms in G flavour would be great. I agree.
i would love a Zeiss 35/1.4 and Sony will have a complete classical lineup of zeiss primes AF!!
24/2
35/1.4 (?)
50/1.4 (?)
85/1.4
135/1.8
but if its a zoom, i would like it to be a quality APS-C wide angle, it’s a major gap in our system, a 10-16/2.8 would be nice
I’d love to have that 50/1.4. The current Sony one is… well, not really a top performer.
100-400mm f2.8??! LMAO
what the HELL lens ….
but i no $$ to buy!
500/4 G Sony lens is still being rumored?! I would swear that rumor has been floating around for ages…..when did Sony take over Minolta? 😉
Silver 70200G F2.8 with weather sealing.
😛
Well, happy shooting fullframers 🙂
Could be the 18-250zeiss on the previous sony b&h video?..dreaming
What happended to the expected 24-105/4 G? Please, this is what I need.
+1
I’d also take a 24-120/4 😉
A 24-120mm F4 lens would be superb even for APS-C shooters!
Currently only Nikon has one.
C’mon, Sony, you can do it! Make your users proud and happy 🙂
How about a 24-135/4? It’d be like a spiritual successor to the 28-135/4-4.5.
Agreed–sometimes versatility trumps speed, even for pros.
When has it been expected? I do not recall any rumors for it; only the wishful thinking of enthusiasts.
At least I expected it – that’s enough for me :-).
+2
I hope there is still a chance that it’s a 35mm f/2 and not f/1.4 .
A f/1.4 would be thrice the price of a f/2.
What happened to the 50 1.2? That had me salivating
Only seen or heard of in a patent. No rumors have materialized that it would be built. Only the groundswell of hope by the enthusiasts.
It did look like a nice lens. I guess Sony just bought into the idea that Zeiss lenses have some special pixie dust that one’s from the former Minolta designers lacked.
I think a 24-105 f/4 G lens would be a likely candidate
there is now way 70-200 to replace it because that lens perform very well n have a SSM, maybe prime tele lens 500mm, medium prime 50mm, and zoom 12-24mm 😀
but i hope new 35mm/1.4 or f2 would come too 😀
Nikon and Canon have make improvements and released new editions of their 70-200/f2.8
So why do you believe that Sony should not do the same. Most reliable tests show that the new Canon lens is sharper in the corners than the older Sony Minolta design.
Professionals do look at this and use these tests flawed or not to decide on the platform to operate their business on, and Sony if it cares at all to improve its standing in the professional photography industry must equal or better at every point possible.
Frankly improvements like these described are low hanging fruit and most be considered.
canon n nikon has improving their best lens because their line up lens has complete and their company brand has in top market. i think what sony priority now is fill the gap their lens line up and some improvement lens with SSM or SAM for SLT capability. after that maybe sony will consider to replace 70-200 G with new improvement while they build a top name on market 🙂
RVN,
I don’t claim to be a lens designer but I do know a few things about manufacturing and production management and see minor changes to an operational assembly line relatively easy to do as it doesn’t require a new line as it would with let’s say a 35/f1.4 or some other completely new product.
It’s likely that Sony can walk and chew gum at the same time,although I will agree to other views about Sony’s recent performance, anyway I don’t think it a zero-sum game requiring Sony manufacturing to full one set of goals before embarking on a second.
Sony is a big powerful design, manufacturing and marketing company and can do what it wants and went it wants to do it, so If Sony sees an opportunity to take an improved market position using its new EVF and related technologies I’m sure it can and performing a refresh of arguably the second or third most important lens carried by pro photographers as part of its big full frame push would be in line with that goal.
i hope so 🙂 everyone wanna best equipment for sure include me 🙂
most important things is i hope sony make a differentiation market in their product first so they can catch a market/people with limited budget on full frame, example 70-200/f4, 35mm f/2, 16-35/f4, 24-105/f4, etc 🙂
I love it 🙂 🙂 🙂
Depending on the reviews from qualified testers I would quickly purchase the 35/f1.4 and the the 70-200 replacement as I need to replace the one I own right now, and like other posters I’m hoping for weather sealing and improved optics and better sharpness wide open and around 70mm. The 200/f4 macro looks interesting as I was hoping to see a Sony version of the wonderful Zeiss 100mm lens.
Sony doesn’t need to match Nikon and Canon pro lens for pro lens, but it does need to cover the focal range with a family of quality, fast, sharp and fairly priced lenses. As we have argued before the number of new and refreshed lenses to do the job in the long run could be as little as eight or nine.
And before some start-in about expensive lenses, I’m talking about full frame fast pro level equipment and not the also and likley more important to Sony’s bottomline the midlevel group that Sony also needs to improve lens for lens with Canon and Nikon.
Gimme a Zeiss 70-200 F2.8 and I will have one 70-200G for the A77 and one Zeiss for the A850~ XD
a 500 f4 is a novelty lens. how many birders out there are going to pony up $10k for a lens that can been had on better birding cameras for $6k from canon???
now, if they had a true press camera and wanted to release a 400 f.2.8 that would make ripples in the press and sports camera waters.
It would be a novelty for “most” birders but its a important tool for a sports photographer.
Watch any major sporting event or other big important event and you will see a line of these big lenses being used.
And the Sony a77 and the older a850/a900 match up nicely with such a lens.
Most of those big lenses are f2.8 aperture ones, though. 300/2.8s and 400/2.8s. I doubt anyone shooting one would swap for a 500/4, especially given Sony doesn’t offer superior high-ISO performance.
They have the 300mm f2.8 and it is a fine lens by all accounts.
2012 will be interesting for sure.. And expensive as well. Would love to see an improved 70-200/2.8/g/ssm/weather sealed lens with improved optics and speed… But truth is, for those of us who just got the a77, another $2000+ purchase is a hard sell.
Though I’m sure the a9x holdouts will see the new body and lens combos as a boon. 🙂
Guess we’ll see what makes it out and what doesn’t. If the a9x bodies are good( read: much cleaner sensor data), it might be worthwhile to jump from a77 to one of the a9x(s)…
I’d love to upgrade to the Zeiss 50/1.4 from the Sony 50/1.4! Very nice indeed.
I’m curious… how do people even find their subject when fixed at 400 or 500mm? I mean even at 300mm I often have a hard time finding whatever I want to picture, I usually zoom out first, find my target and zoom in. I know it’s a newbie question, but please enlighten me! Is there a trick I’m unaware of or it’s just a matter of practice?
Practice practice practice. Try going to a firing range, it helped a friend of mine.
Still waiting for a Zeiss 16-80, f/2.8, SSM, full frame.
I don’t think anything like that exists in any mount. So it’s gonna be a long wait. 🙂
Prepare for a long wait 😉
Such lens world be very big, very heavy and very expensive…
The 100-400 f2.8 would be a nice replacement/complement to my 70-400G 4-5.6 lens.
I shoot soccer and Football and in both cases the 5.6 is just not bright enough.
But probably a dream but even F4 would be fine with me. The Nikon 200-400F4 is around 7,000$ :((
I was tempted by the Sigma 120-300mm f2.8 but the 100-400 would be my choice and more flexible than a 300mm f2.8. I need to put some money on the side.
A wide angle fixed or Zoom to complement my 24-700CZ f2.8 would be nice. The current CZ 16-35 has quiet some overlap and is rather pricey.
The 70-200f2.8 is on my wish list but may be replaced by the 100-400 if it does not weight 2tons to carry around
Yay! My 40-110mm f2 Portrait Slayer is on the way!
Thanks for listening Sony!
It’s nice to see we’ll actually get some new lenses next year, unlike the paltry offerings in 2011, but it sounds like there’ll be nothing that I’ll be interested in getting, again. It’s all rather depressing.
Am I the only one planning to purchase the 500 f/4 to go on my NEX with the LA-EA2? Why? Why not 🙂
http://photorumors.com/2011/11/29/zeiss-has-no-plans-for-a-digital-rangefinder-camera/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PhotoRumors+%28PhotoRumors.com%29
Could Sony be allowing Zeiss to release there large range of manual focus lenses in the Alpha mount?
Really hope 14mm f/2.8. And please make it SSM. Don’t really care if it is Zeiss or just Sony lens.
I wanna the new 50/1.4 ZEISS & new 70-200/2.8 G II.
500/4 will be a long wait for me, if i got budget & vacation to Africa. If there is a 600/5.6 Reflex SSM, it will be good for me…
To Admin:
About the High-End Zoom, is there any information about the focal length of it?
Is it wide, standard or telephoto? or even….wide to telephoto?
It says high end zoom. So no prime if this is true. I would think only two possibilities. 70-200 2.8 ii ssm and weather sealing or 24-105 f4.
50-200f4 woudl be my next want and woudl be good as next step for the 16-50f2.8 owners
i woudl hope cost less then the 70-200f2.8 and be a bit smaller
with the $ saved i could keep an eye out for a 300f4 or 400f4.5
while the 500F4 woudl be cool i know i ll never have the $$ for it and hardly ever a reall use (im not a pro birder )
The 500 was first shown in mockup form with the mockups for the a700 and a900. Before Sony made it clear they were a consumer camera company and not high end.
The 500 still leaves Sony behind. If it were a 600mm f4 then they might be doing a little catchup. And be more worth the huge price it will be.
They really should make some wide angle zoom lenses… refreshing that old 11-18mm or something
The 100-400 2.8 has to be someones idea of a joke. I cannot imagine Sony producing that spec. Nikon/Canon maybe. It would be HUGE and really, really expensive.
f0.75 85mm
The 100-400 f2.8 makes more sense to me than the 500 f4. Hope it isn’t the same price as a 3 bedroom home. The 500 f4 price is ridiculous. I can buy a Nikon D4 (when in stock) and their 500 f4 for around $1100 more (USD, Amazon Prices) than just the Sony 500 f4. Hope that information is getting back to your sources so they can let Sony know they may build these lenses, but not many people will buy them with such high prices.