First 400mm GM unboxing video and tests!

400mm f/2.8 FE preorder at BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon, FocusCamera. In EU at Calumet.de and ParkCamera.

Marc Alhadeff got his new Sony 400mm f/2.8 GM lens and posted a full review. The conclusion:

If you are a Sports or a wildlife photographer, the Sony 400mm F2.8 GM OSS is your dream lens.It delivers outstanding images and is highly versatile thanks to the 2 TC that can transform it into

  • 560mm F4
  • 800mm F5.6

Verdict

  • Outstanding sharpness at all aperture from centre to corners
  • No loss of speed or sharpness when used with TC1.4 TC2.0
  • Extremely fast and efficient AF when coupled with A9. Very good otherwise
  • Capable of capture very high speed animals : 1/32000 sec possible with A9
  • Very good blurry background most of the times and 3D effect
  • Lightweight for this kind of objective 2.8kg
  • Very well balanced , can be used handled for 30-60min without issue
  • Outstanding build quality
  • Very good usability : all preset function, special function ring to set a distance or enter in crop mode
  • Drop in CPL filter possible
  • Light but solid transport case including space for the 2 TC

Of course

  • It is pricey : 12000 Euros
  • You need to use high shutter speed to avoid blur
  • best used with monopod or Tripod with Gimbal

Points of attention

  • Lens hood fixation system : you need to attach it to the lens by screwing a knob. The Lens hood is in carbon fibre and can be sensitive to shock  (980 euros to replace the lens hood  if you break it!)
  • Sometimes not perfect blur with noisy background

 

And Patrick Murphy-Racey posted the very first unboxing video of this lens:

400mm f/2.8 FE preorder at BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon, FocusCamera. In EU at Calumet.de and ParkCamera.

First impressions of the LAOWA 10-18mm F 4.5-5.6 FE C-Dreamer Ultra Wide Zoom, a pre production sample (by Dierk Topp)

A few weeks ago we could read about a fascinating new UWA lens from Venus Optics.

on A7RII with L-bracket

About two years ago I had the chance to test a pre production LAOWA 12mm Zero-D. And now I am very lucky to get a chance to test the new LAOWA 10-18mm F 4.5-5.6 FE C-Dreamer Ultra Wide Zoom. It has a Sony E-mount and I don’t need an adapter as with the 12mm Zero-D.

Venus Optics is a very young company and they offer us very interesting and creative new lenses, that did not exist before. Great for all creative photographers.

I want to mention, that I am not a professional photographer but love photography since decades. And I my mother language is not English, so please be gentle :-)

Instead of just showing the lens with examples at various focal lengths and apertures and center and edge crops I want to concentrate more on the aspects of using such a wide lens with examples. At this focal length almost every mm in focal length makes a difference.

Read more

First test of the new Sigma 56mm f/1.4 E-mount lens

The new Sigma 56mm f/1.4 E-mount is an exciting ASP-C lens that will cost you 429 Euro only. One of our readers shared this first picture of the lens mounted on the Sony A6000. Below you can also see some lo resolution samples he shot with this combo. He told me this:

I was at the announcement yesterday. This lens is very compact. My initial impression is that the bokeh is very good as shown in the attached photos. It’s too soon to judge the image quality since I have no pc right now but it looks sharp on the camera screen and the longitudinal CA is quite low. However the autofocus isn’t the fastest. The hall is very dark so maybe it’s A6000’s fault. Today I have chance to play it again.