So, what’s the optical performance difference between the $4,490 85mm f/1.4 Zeiss Otus and the $1,199 85mm f/1.8 Zeiss Batis? Almost none! Just check out the comparison between the two MTF graph (Click to enlarge).

While the MTF performance is very close the Zeiss Otus still has the advantage of being faster (f/1.4 vs f/1.8) and it has less distortion. See the MTF and Distortion files here:
Zeiss Otus at Zeiss.de
Zeiss Batis at Diglloyd.

As our reader Seeky stated it relly looks like the 85mm Batis is a sort of mini-Otus!

Both lenses are now available for preorder in USA and Europe (UK/Germany)
Zeiss Batis 85mm f/1.8 lens in US at Adorama, Bhphoto. In Eu at Amazon DE, WexUK. In Asia at Digitalrev.
Zeiss Batis 25mm f/2.0 lens at Adorama, Bhphoto. In EU at Amazon DE, WexUK. In Asia at Digitalrev.
Lens shade for 85mm at Adorama, Bhphoto.
Lens shade for 25mm at Adorama, Bhphoto.

DxOmark (Click here) just published the [shoplink 36056 ebay]Zeiss 28mm FE lens[/shoplink] results and writes:

Ranking third for all hybrid lenses, just behind two significantly more expensive Carl Zeiss options, is a great result for the Sony FE 28mm F2 lens. At a cost of just $498, and boasting a “fast” F2 aperture and solid results in most categories, it’s an affordable wide-angle solution for Sony A7 series shooters. It’s actually marginally ahead of the Zeiss wide-angle competition overall for sharpness, but isn’t quite as strong at F2.8, where the corners drop off a little. The main area of concern is Distortion, however, with quite heavy “barrelling” that landscape and architecture photographers will want to correct in post-production.

An absolute great performance for the money!
The FE 28mm is now in Stock for the first time in USA at [shoplink 36004 ebay]Focuscamera eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

Zeiss Distagon second best lens after the 55mm FE:
It’s also interesting to note that DxO also added the Zeiss FE 35mm f/1.4 to the database. With 38 points it scores as second best FE lens right behind the 42 points of the [shoplink 36054 ebay]55mm FE lens[/shoplink].
The 35mm Distagon is finally in back in Stock at Amazon US (Click here).

All new FE lens preorder links:
In USA at:
Zeiss 35mm f/1.4 FE at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, FocusCamera, Sony US.
Sony 90mm f/2.8 FE at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, FocusCamera, Sony US.
Sony 24-240mm FE at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, FocusCamera, Sony US.
Sony 28mm f/2.0 FE at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, FocusCamera, Sony US.
Sony Fisheye Conversion Lens for FE 28mm F/2 at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
Sony Ultra-Wide Conversion Lens for FE 28mm F/2 at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
Sony Fisheye Converter for E 16mm F/2.8 and E 20mm F/2.8 at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
Sony Ultra-Wide Converter for E 16mm F2.8 and E 20mm F2.8 at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
In Europe at:
Zeiss 35mm f/1.4 FE at Sony Germany, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, AT, CH, SE, FI, NO, PT.
Sony 90mm f/2.8 FE at Sony Germany, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, AT, CH, SE, FI, NO, PT.
Sony 24-240mm FE at Sony Germany, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, AT, CH, SE, FI, NO, PT.
Sony 28mm f/2.0 FE at Sony Germany, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, AT, CH, SE, FI, NO, PT.
Wide Angle converter at Sony Germany, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, AT, CH, SE, FI, NO, PT.
Fisheye converter at Sony Germany, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, AT, CH, SE, FI, NO, PT.
Wide angle converter for 16 and 20mm lenses at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, AT, CH, SE, FI, NO, PT.
Fisheye converter for 16 and 20mm lenses at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, AT, CH, SE, FI, NO, PT.
In Asia/Australia at:
Sony 24-240mm FE lens at Digitalrev, CameraPRO, Sony Australia.
Sony 28mm FE lens at Digitalrev, Sony Australia.
Sony 90mm FE lens at Digitalrev, Sony Australia.
Zeiss 35mm f/1.4 FE lens at Digitalrev, Sony Australia.
Wide angle converter for 16 and 20mm lenses at Digitalrev, Sony Australia.
Fisheye converter for 16 and 20mm lenses at Digitalrev, Sony Australia.

Quick note for Germans: Since today you can preorder the Batis lenses at Amazon: 85mm (Click here) and 25mm (Click here).

Digglloyd is the first site publishing the full graph of the new Batis lenses! Links:
Batis 85mm MTF at Diggloyd.
Batis 25mm MTF at Diggloyd.

Here are some of his early conclusions:

BATIS 85mm:
– Overall contrast is superb wide open, even into the corners.
– Stopping down a bit more delivers outstanding micro contrast at f/5.6, far exceeding most lenses and no less good than the very best Leica M lens.
Has some pincushion distortion. Seems that distortion was traded off for uniformly high sharpness and a smaller/lighter design, knowing that the camera can correct for it automatically (or the raw converter).

BATIS 25mm:
– Modest micro contrast at f/2. However, overall contrast is superb wide open, even into the corners, and that very high overall contrast is critical to visual impact of the image.
– Most notable, the performance is exceptionally uniform at all apertures from center to corner. This is highly unusual for a 25mm lens.

Both lenses are now available for preorder in USA and Europe (UK/Germany)
Zeiss Batis 85mm f/1.8 lens in US at Adorama, Bhphoto. In Eu at Amazon DE, WexUK. In Asia at Digitalrev.
Zeiss Batis 25mm f/2.0 lens at Adorama, Bhphoto. In EU at Amazon DE, WexUK. In Asia at Digitalrev.
Lens shade for 85mm at Adorama, Bhphoto.
Lens shade for 25mm at Adorama, Bhphoto.

The very first full size image samples taken with the new 85mm and 25mm Batis lenses have been posted on Flickr by Zeiss:
Full set of 85mm f/1.8 Batis image samples (Click here)
Full set of 25mm f/2.0 Batis image samples (Click here)

Would like to know what you think about the quality delivered by those new lenses!

Both lenses are now available for preorder at BH and Adorama:
Zeiss Batis 85mm f/1.8 lens in US at Adorama, Bhphoto. In Eu at WexUK. In Asia at Digitalrev.
Zeiss Batis 25mm f/2.0 lens at Adorama, Bhphoto. In EU at WexUK. In Asia at Digitalrev.
Lens shade for 85mm at Adorama, Bhphoto.
Lens shade for 25mm at Adorama, Bhphoto.

A7s at [shopcountry 35949]

Vice News shot a series about Boko Haram and used the Sony A7s to record in complete dark scenes. You can see the full video on Youtube (Click here). That kind of reportage would be almost impossible to make without the A7s.

3Dkraft (article here):

“The video from the “Carnival of Venice 2015” is now public. It was recorded with Sony A7S, Atomos Shogun, Zeiss FE 16-35/4 OSS and Zeiss FE 1.8/55. The wideangle clips shot from tripod show the real potential of this combination. Unfortunately, the handheld portrait shots moving around the masks show the loss of quality due to the lack of stabilization of the A7S and the FE 1.8/55 even after digital stabilization (warp) in post processing. Scenes like that require a glidecam, brushless gimbal and additional OSS for professional demands. Irrespective of these little technical imperfections, this video shows the art and beauty of the masks and the scenery in Venice Carnival. Beside that, the article shows some zoomable images taken out as single frames from the video showing the quality of the 4K recording (still in process..).
YouTube (4K/2160p): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1sTOu1e6wk
Vimeo (Download of the original 4K file for Vimeo members): https://vimeo.com/124041563“

Sony A7s Supercut Review by Stronzvanderploeg:

Overall the Sony A7s an incredibly specced camera especially considering the relatively low price point. If you need low-light or mirrorless full frame, it’s definitely the camera for you but just know, you’ll have to deal with a lot of workarounds and you’ll have to learn and adjust to some of the backwards design decisions.

Mark:

I’m a long time reader of Sony Alpha Rumors (I’ve been using Sony since the A900), and would like to pass on my recent experiments with combining the A7s with a Microsoft Kinect for a mixture of 2D video and 3D animation. I put together a blog article and some example videos showing how to combine the two devices using DepthKit software, and thought it might be interesting for your readers:
DepthKit with Microsoft Kinect + Sony A7s
http://idezo.ch/depthkit-with-microsoft-kinect-sony-a7s/
DepthKit – NASA Space Sounds Experiment
https://vimeo.com/124230332
idezo Labs: DepthKit with Microsoft Kinect + Sony A7s
https://vimeo.com/124167201

Kay Burn:

“My name is Kay Burn and I shoot photos and video underwater (and aerial work too).  
I recently housed my A7s with a Metabones adapter and the Canon 100mm f2.8 IS L in a Nauticam housing and used a prototype port and focus gear to shoot some macro video in the Lembeh Strait in Indonesia. I thought you might be interested to see how it performs;
https://vimeo.com/124127993
More details are available on the vimeo page itself.“

Sony A7s store links:
Sony A7s in USA/CA at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Sony USA, Sony Canada.
Sony A7s in Eu at Sony DE, UK, ES, FR, IT, NL, BE, AT, CH, SE, NO, FI, PL. And Wex UK.
A7s Gariz leather case in [shoplink 27569 ebay]Black (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 27570 ebay]Brown (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 27571 ebay]Red (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 27572 ebay]Orange (Click here)[/shoplink].

This is a Guest post from Tomasz Kałużny. The text and images are copyrighted and have been reposted on SAR from the orginal authors site Darkshape.

Samyang 135mm f/2 first impressions and samples
by Tomasz Kałużny

Today I had a rare pleasure to lay my hands on an extraordinary lens: Samyang 135mm f/2. Thanks to the guys at infoto.pl who made this possible. It’s one of the latest releases from Samyang and I have been waiting for this for quite some time since the lens had a pretty good word of mouth right from the moment it was announced.

The Bulgarian Alphaforum (Click here) posted the very first full size image samples shot with the new A-mount lenses. Check them out!

–

New A-mount lens preorders:
Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 ZA SSM II at Amazon, BHphoto and at Adorama.
Sony 16-35mm f/2.8 ZA SSM II at Amazon, BHphoto and at Adorama.