Note: At 10am New York time the new FE lenses and the radio flash will be available for preorder here:
100mm f/2.8 STF FE at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama.
85mm f/1.8 FE at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama.
HVL-F45RM Wireless Radio Flash at BHphoto, Adorama.
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Sony announced two new FE lenses: 100mm f/2.8 STF FE at BHphoto and the 85mm f/1.8 FE at BHphoto. Now let’s take a close look on the exciting 100mm STF lens. Sony claims this is the Fe lens with the bext bokeh!

Short description:

Delivering both smooth bokeh and fine sharpness, the FE 100mm f/2.8 STF GM OSS Lens from Sony is a short-telephoto prime featuring a unique, yet sophisticated optical design. Separating itself from other portrait-length lenses, this 100mm f/2.8 features Smooth Trans Focus technology, which uses an apodization filter to realize notably smooth bokeh with rounded out-of-focus highlights in both the foreground and background. Contributing to a high degree of sharpness and clarity, the lens also incorporates one aspherical element and one extra-low dispersion element to suppress both spherical and chromatic aberrations. Additionally, a Nano AR coating has also been applied to reduce lens flare and ghosting for greater contrast and color fidelity when working in strong lighting conditions.

Lens construction and MTF graph:

Image samples (Click on it to enlarge):

More info about the new 100mm FE lens at Sony.net and BHphoto.

Preorders start 10am NYC time Thu Feb 9:
100mm f/2.8 STF FE at BHphoto, Adorama.
85mm f/1.8 FE at BHphoto, Adorama.
HVL-F45RM Wireless Radio Flash at BHphoto, Adorama.

Dpreview posted a set of hand-son pictures with the two new FE lenses.

Note: At 10am New York time the new FE lenses and the radio flash will be available for preorder here:
100mm f/2.8 STF FE at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama.
85mm f/1.8 FE at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama.
HVL-F45RM Wireless Radio Flash at BHphoto, Adorama.

Image on top shows the new 100mm STF versus the new 85mm f/1.8 FE and the current 50mm f/1.8 FE

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CameraSize added the new 100mm STF and the new 85mm FE lenses in their database.

Preorders start 10am NYC time Thu Feb 9: 100mm f/2.8 STF FE at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama. 85mm f/1.8 FE at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama. HVL-F45RM Wireless Radio Flash at BHphoto, Adorama.

Let’s check out a couple of size comparisons:

Sony 85mm vs Nikon 85mm

Sony 100mm GM vs 85mm GM

Preorders start 10am NYC time Thu Feb 9:
100mm f/2.8 STF FE at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama.
85mm f/1.8 FE at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama.
HVL-F45RM Wireless Radio Flash at BHphoto, Adorama.

This is the first time we see the new 85mm f/1.8 FE lens in “real”. On top you see the introduction video from BHphoto. And below a quick 85mm hands-on with Patrick Murphy-Racey:

And while Matt Granger seems to like the new 85mm FE lens he is not convinced by the 100mm STF lens:

But I would be cautious with judging a lens from the pure specs yet…

The following is a Guest Post from Austrokiwi and has been first posted on SonyAlphaForum.
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Canon “Dream Lens”

After almost two years of consideration I becamethe owner of a Canon 50mm F0.95 lens.I finally obtained onereasonably affordably when a Westlicht Auctions in Vienna( where I live) were auctioning one at a time that coincided with my bank account having enough in it for me to bid. Thisrarelens has a small but strong followingand is often found modified to Leica M mount. Exculding prototypes there are two variants a range finder coupled and a TV version. The version I have is Range finder coupled.

We got a new King in the Lens world! DxOmark tested the new Sigma 85mm f/1.4 ART lens and it beats the almost four times more expensive Zeiss Otus 85mm lens. While the Sigma is not available in A or E-mount you cans till use it adopted (and with AF!) on Sony E-mount cameras.

But what really matters t know here is this: Back at Photokina Sigma CEO Yamaki confirmed that they are working on new FE glass. And I bet a 85mm f/1.4 FE lens is high on their priority list….

This is a guest post from Alan:

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With temperatures here in Minnesota hovering around 0°F (-17°C) I used the Sony A7R2, Metabones IV and a Tamron SP 90mm f/2.8 macro lens to film soap bubbles in the act of freezing. This was over the course of 8 nights in an unheated garage. I felt it was best to leave the camera and lens out in the cold instead of subjecting it to large temperature variations. The A7R2 performed superbly in these cold conditions.

The footage was all filmed in 4k, then down-sampled and sometimes cropped into 1080p. I will let the footage speak for itself.

Thanks