Night Time Bokeh Test with the Sony Zeiss FE 50mm f/1.4 Planar Lens in Honduras by Jason Lanier

Sony Artisan Jason Lanier posted four videos about the new Zeiss 50mm FE lens.

The new Zeiss lens will ship on Friday at BHphoto, Amazon, Focuscamera. Calumet.de. Cyberport.de. PhotoPorst. Jessops. WexUK.

Beauty Portraits in an Alleyway- using the Sony 50mm FE Zeiss f/1.4 in Tegucigalpas, Honduras

The Shoemaker- photo shoot using the Sony FE 50mm f/1.4 lens in Honduras by Jason Lanier

Sony Planar 50mm FE f/1.4 Zeiss ZA lens first shoot and initial thoughts by Jason Lanier

All new Sony FE lenses and wireless products will start shipping out today:

USA:
Sony Planar T* FE 50mm f/1.4 ZA Lens at BHphoto, Amazon, Focuscamera.
Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS Lens at BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama, Focuscamera.
Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter at BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama, Focuscamera.
Sony FE 2.0x Teleconverter at BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama, Focuscamera.
Sony FA-WRC1M Wireless Radio Commander at BHphoto, Focuscamera.
Sony FA-WRR1 Wireless Radio Receiver at BHphoto, Focuscamera.
Sony VMC-MM1 Multi Terminal Cable at BHphoto, Focuscamera.
Europe:
Sony Planar T* FE 50mm f/1.4 ZA Lens at Calumet.de. Cyberport.de. PhotoPorst. Jessops. WexUK.
Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS Lens at Calumet.de. Amazon Germany. Cyberport.de. PhotoPorst. Jessops. WexUK.
Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter at PhotoPorst. Jessops.
Sony FE 2.0x Teleconverter at PhotoPorst. Jessops.

What is it like to shoot with the Phase One XF featuring the impressive 53.7 x 40.4mm  100MP Sony sensor?

Luminous Landscape posted a detailed review and here are just a few notes:

“Image quality, as expected, was nothing less than incredible.The Highlight and Shadow recovery tools in Capture One easily helped to recover any of these, and allowed an image of incredible detail and light to dark range.  In many of my landscape images, I loved the subtle details in shadows that would have gone completely black with other systems. You have to experience the 100MP images as prints to truly appreciate the detail.

Image quality is not determined by megapixels alone.  While megapixels certainly play a part, it is the quality of the file that sets it apart.  Phase One’s 16-bit capture with a 15 stop dynamic range becomes very obvious when doing comparison images from some of the higher megapixel DSLRs.

Contrary to the many naysayers, medium format is coming to life again.  Pentax has a system, and Hasselblad has their system, and a new camera they just introduced, and rumors abound that even Sony and Fuji are looking into the medium format business.  Medium format is alive and well.”

With Sony working close with Phase One and Hasselblad I think it’s hard to see a Sony medium format camera any time soon. But for sure I would love to see Sony making a medium format mirrorless system camera just like Hasselblad did with the X1D!

This is a guest post from AnimalsBarry. To write a guest post follow the instructions on that page. Thanks!

Editor’s note: because of the large size of the original image samples I posted only low res samples in this post. To download the full size original samples click on that Wetransfer link.

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If you are fortunate enough to have Ruby Throated Humingbirds in your yard here is the method I used to photograph them, without complicated high speed multiple flash units

Camera…A6300
Lens….FE 70-300 F4.5-5.6

Over o a period of 2 years I began training the hummingbirds to pose for thier pictures.

New Zeiss 50mm FE versus the new Samyang-Rokinon 50mm FE autofocus lens. Image by Bruno Labarbère

LesNumeriques (Click here) posted a comparison review between the new Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 Planar and the Samyang-Rokinon 50mm f/1.4 FE autofocus lens. And the result seems to be quite strange as according to their tests the Samyang has a better sharpness performance:

and…

The google translated text from the original French article says:

“From the outset, hot, first finding emerges: in all openings, the Samyang leading the debate, with a center always has a better resolving power. The maximum dive is for both goals achieved at f / 8, but again, be it in the center, on the outskirts or in the corners, the Sony lets himself be dominated. Also, on our first tests, vignetting of Planar seems more marked us, which is not necessarily aesthetically unpleasant. Intuition specify when our field tests.”

I am not sure but I think they maybe got a wrong calibrated lens sample from Sony? I find it almost impossible the Samyang can be better than the new Zeiss! Also because just recently Lensrentals said about the Zeiss 50mm FE that “the center sharpness in particular is unheard of in a 50mm lens“. So please take the Lesnumeriques test results with a grain of salt….

Samyang 50mm f/1.4 FE autofocus lens is now available for preorder through BHphoto.
Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 FE Planar preorders at BHphoto, Amazon, Focuscamera. Calumet.de. Cyberport.de. PhotoPorst. Jessops. WexUK.

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All new Sony FE lenses and wireless products are now listed on one single page at BHphoto (Click here).

USA:
Sony Planar T* FE 50mm f/1.4 ZA Lens at BHphoto, Amazon, Focuscamera.
Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS Lens at BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama, Focuscamera.
Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter at BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama, Focuscamera.
Sony FE 2.0x Teleconverter at BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama, Focuscamera.
Sony FA-WRC1M Wireless Radio Commander at BHphoto, Focuscamera.
Sony FA-WRR1 Wireless Radio Receiver at BHphoto, Focuscamera.
Sony VMC-MM1 Multi Terminal Cable at BHphoto, Focuscamera.
Europe:
Sony Planar T* FE 50mm f/1.4 ZA Lens at Calumet.de. Cyberport.de. PhotoPorst. Jessops. WexUK.
Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS Lens at Calumet.de. Amazon Germany. Cyberport.de. PhotoPorst. Jessops. WexUK.
Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter at PhotoPorst. Jessops.
Sony FE 2.0x Teleconverter at PhotoPorst. Jessops.

The new Samyang 50mm f/1.4 FE autofocus lens is now available for preorder through BHphoto (Click here).

Yes, suddenly we have plenty of FE lenses to choose in the 50mm focal length range. We have the superb 55mm FE, the “cheap” 50mm f/1.8 FE, the new Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 and the new Samyang 50mm f/1.4. The latter just got reviewed by ePhotozine:

“Samyang’s lenses have always looked interesting. Now, with the arrival of AF, they move into new territory and this first offering is a beautiful lens that performs to a very high standard. The cost has been a fairly large and relatively heavy lens, but that may be a small price to pay for an optic that can deliver such beautiful results.”

Links to all current 50mm FE lenses:
Zeiss 55mm f/1.8 at [shopcountry 37736].
Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 at [shopcountry 49848].
Sony 5omm f/1.8 at [shopcountry 49849].
Samyang/Rokinon 50mm f/1.4 FE autofocus lens at BHphoto.

DxOmark (Click here) tested the new Sony A68 A-mount camera:

With some of the best features of the SLT Alpha 77 II and a competitive price, the Sony SLT Alpha 68 looks promising on paper. However, while the sensor is a good performer on the whole, being particularly suited to landscape work or any work at or close to base ISO, it’s less impressive at higher sensitivities where rivals have an advantage. That’s somewhat at odds with the pro-level features, and where the performance of the SLT Alpha 77 II sensor is a little stronger. While Sony’s translucent mirror technology is a limiting factor in that respect, the benefits of adopting a fixed mirror more than likely outweigh the slight disadvantages in the SLT Alpha 68, which still puts in a good performance at this price level.

The Sony A68 was originally scheduled to ship in USA in May. But due the Kumamoto Sony sensor facility damage the camera will now ship on August 4 according to BHphoto.

Sony A68 store links: [shopcountry 47723]

DxOmark posted the full RX10m3 sensor review. The sensor performance as good as the rest of the RX cameras. But there is more than just sensor performance to take into account on the RX10m3:

At first glance, the RX10 III looks like a simple upgrade, but after a quick look at the specifications (and particularly those of the lens), it is so much more than that.  While rivals are still scarce in this segment, the new Sony can be thought of as challenger to both the Canon PowerShot G3 X and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ1000. The Sony offers the best features of both models, such as the high-ratio zoom, EVF, and 4K video capabilities, and marries those with the class-leading 1”-type BSI CMOS found on the RX10 II and RX100 IV. At $1500 or thereabouts, it’s not a casual purchase, but given the potential,s it is a tempting option when space and weight are restricted.

[shopcountry 48252]