Sigma’s 85mm ART lens beats the Otus and is the world’s best FF lens yet!

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….

Frozen Worlds

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

Dpreview tests the A99II and says “the mirror’s impact on image quality is remarkably small”

Dpreview just posted the a99II first impressions review. And there is one very interesting part about the “Light loss” caused by the presence of the fixed semi translucent mirror. And the news are very good indeed:

Raw
Let’s get to it and answer the biggest question: how does the mirror of the a99 II impact image quality of the 42MP sensor from the a7R II?
At base ISO, the differences between the two are virtually imperceptible, save for resolution dropping due to the lens used. That means between the a7R II and a99 II (center) resolution and detail remain largely the same, as does moirè.
Switching to low light we see a very small noise cost due to the mirror. We were surprised by just how small this noise penalty was, so we performed a more controlled study with the a99 II and a7R II both mounted to the same lens to minimize variables. Here, we found the a99 II to be about 1/3 EV behind the a7R II, closer in line with the expected 1/2 EV noise cost expected and reported by DXO. All in all, the mirror’s impact on image quality is remarkably small.

JPEG
As far as we can tell, the a7R II and a99 II share similar JPEG engines. There’s just a hint more NR at lower ISOs on the a99 II, perhaps due to the slightly increased underlying noise thanks to the mirror in the light path. That means users will continue to enjoy class-leading sharpening and very good high ISO detail retention. Unfortunately, Sony’s typical color issues persist, with greenish-tinted yellows and slightly cool greens.

Dynamic Range
The mirror’s effect remains shockingly small even in our ISO-invariance and Exposure Latitude tests, where while the sensor performs largely like it does in the a7R II. That means while it isn’t entirely ISO-invariant, it still offers an extremely low noise floor that can cope with some very strong processing, much like the a7R II.

Sony A99II at [shopcountry 54828].

Sports Photography test: A99II vs D5 & 1DX Mark II

Sport Photographer Davey Wilson (article at SLRlounge) tested the [shoplink 54828]new Sony A99II[/shoplink] and compared it with the “classic” sports professional tools like the Nikon D5 and Canon 1DX Mark II. The conclusion is:

The Sony A99ii has been a camera we’ve been excited about since PhotoPlus last fall. On paper, it’s a veritable powerful taking the best of mirrorless and DSLR’s and compressing those features into a compact SLR-style body. It’s not perfect, no camera is, but it’s nice to see a company like Sony listening to its longtime users and delivering a high-resolution performance driven camera that actually appears to be as advertised.

Sony A99II at [shopcountry 54828].