DxOmark published the full 50mm f/2.8 FE macro lens test and concludes:

Shooting full-frame, a 50mm prime is a really handy option for general use and portrait photography, as well as a relatively lightweight and portable lens. Adding 1:1 macro focusing, the Sony FE 50mm f/2.8 Macro offers greater functionality for Sony A7 series owners, making it an even more versatile optic at a sensible $499 price point. Sharpness is outstanding on the Sony A7R II, achieving 37 P-Mpix of the Sony A7R II’s total 42Mp resolution, and it’s the third-sharpest lens we’ve tested on this camera. It’s not as sharp as the Zeiss Sonnar T* 55mm f/1.8 and lets in half the amount of light using the maximum aperture, but it’s also half the cost of the $998 Zeiss and offers macro.

Sony FE 50mm macro lens is in Stock in USA at BHphoto, Adorama and Amazon and in Europe at Amazon.de, Amazon UK.

Highlights

• Lightweight and portable
• 1:1 macro focusing
• ED (extra-low dispersion) element
• Dust- and moisture-resistant
• Outstanding sharpness from f/4 to f/8
• Well-controlled chromatic aberration

Drawbacks

• Some corner shading at all apertures
• Expensive compared to the Sony FE 50mm f/1.8

Video above: Sony A99II Settings for Sports/Action Photography by Patrick Murphy-Racey
Video below: Sony A99II Hands On with this Powerhouse Alpha Camera by Dan Watson

Sony A99II preorders at BHphoto, Adorama. Amazon. PhotoPorst, Calumet Germany and WexUK.

A6500 Review – Is it worth it, or wait for the next one? By Max Yuryev

More and more testers are publishing their A6500 previews. Here are the ones published the last 24 hours:

24 hours with Sony’s A6500 mirrorless camera (Engadget).
Sony A6500 review-in-progress at CameraLabs
Sony a6500 Sample Images / Early Review (Photorec).
Dan Watson images and ibis test.
Sony a6500 – Hands-on Review compared to the a6300, a7S II, Gh4 by Videomaker.
Woof! Sony a6500 sample images are here (Dpreview).

A6500 at BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama. In EU at Amazon.de, Fotomundus, Calumet.de. WexUK. PCHstore.

Althaugh the new A99II is shipping in Europe there are still no full reviews out there. All we got today is the interesting first Look Review by Max Yuryev.

Imaging Resource posted a A99II Image Gallery. And there is a German first impression review by Fotomieten.

Sony A99II preorders at BHphoto, Adorama. Amazon. PhotoPorst, Calumet Germany and WexUK.

We don’t know yet if the new Sony A6500 will be the first Sony E-mount camera suitable for serious sport photography. But in the meantime you can check out that video to learn how to set the right settings.

The A6500 is now also available for preorder in Amazon Europe stores:
A6500 at BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama. In EU at Amazon.de. Amazon.fr. Amazon.co.uk. Amazon.it. Calumet.de. WexUK. PCHstore.

The folks over at TheCameraStoreTV posted their Great JPEG Shootout. They tested the Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fuji, iPhone, Pentax, Olympus, Panasonic cameras and found that Sony was the third worse after Pentax and the iPhone. Chris said the Sony colors are very natural but this is at the same time the downside as it doesn’t look “pleasing”.

The A99Ii is now shipping in Europe and above you can watch on of the first A99II unboxing videos. And an reader who prefers to remain anonymous sent me this:

“I just received my A99II this week. A wonderful piece of hardware so far !
The only disappointment is that I intend to use it mostly for wildlife photography with my Tamron 150-600G1 (A011 Version) and apparently this lens only supports the hybrid detection AF system and not both it and the focal plane phase detection AF module, meaning that I can only use the 79 Hybrid Phase Detection AF Points…
In the menu => Camera Settings1 => AF System => Auto / or Ddc Phase AF Only, when choosing „Auto“ on the Tamron 150-600, only the 79 AF Points of the dedicated phase detection AF sensor are usable.
I guess (hopefully) the G2 version will be able to use both sensors…”

Lars also got his A99II and writes:

“Well, I got my A99II today and I tried some of the AF modes:

1. Hybrid phase detect AF works only with Sony lenses (the compatibility list was postet a few days ago). The Sony Zeiss 135mm/f1.8 works like a beauty and so does the Sony 500mm f4 with some real fast AF. For these lenses you can do the AF micro adjust for the center and for each corner. Comes in Handy, when you set your focuspoint into a corner.
2. Minolta and all 3’rd party lenses I tested work only with the 79 phase detection AF of the dedicate phase detection sensor. Autofocus is quite fast even with an old Minolta 200mm/f2.8 or 600mm/f4. AF micro adjust works here only for the center. It is disappointing, that 3’rd party glass (even new ones) are not supported by the hybrid phase detect AF.
3. Eye AF, center lock-on AF and Lock-on AF works so far with all AF-lenses I tested. Minolta and 3’rd party only within the above restriction (see 2.).”

Sony A99II preorders at BHphoto, Adorama. Amazon. PhotoPorst, Calumet Germany and WexUK.