The Fotodiox Tough full metal E-mount replacement is shipping at Amazon (Click here to preorder). And finally we have a first serious review from David Kilpatrick (Click here). He writes

It looks a touch classier than the cheaply machined soft metal Sony original, it is a snug and perfect fit, and lens mounting has a slightly more solid feel without resistance or any scraping sensation.Everything worked perfectly as expected once fitted. Cost – $39.95 plus shipping. I consider it a good upgrade.

David just updated his review and added an important note:

Footnote – one day later – while Sony E mount lenses seem fine, some of my third party adaptors are not fitting well, and very short focal length lenses indicate that the infinity focus may not be accurately retained as they claim. Due to weather conditions I’ve not been able to check properly. If you use lenses 12mm to 20mm on adaptors, proceed with caution.

If you want it grab it now at Amazon!

Image courtesy: DSLRmagazine

DSLRmagazine (google tranlsation here) posted the MTF graph along other test images. The Loxia 50mm shows “superb resolution” straight form the maximum f/2.0 aperture:

Interestingly DSLRmagazine noted there is chromatic aberration correction on RAW files.

Also Vignetting and Distortions are well controlled. The conclusion is:

The lab test not only confirms the good results on the field, but certifies the superb technical performance of this light, both in itself, and especially in combination with the firmware of the Sony A7 R

The next short review comes from Dirk de Paepe on Flickr:

I took this shot to demonstrate the detail rendering power of the new Zeiss Loxia Planar 2/50. IMHO, this comes very close to Otus (really, I see no difference with my A7r), although the Otus 55 is of course the superior lens, with virtually no flaws at no matter what aperture. The Loxia has some flaws, although only very slight ones that in most cases are very easy to correct in Photoshop.
This was shot at the minimal focal distance of 45cm (the ZM Planar has 70cm mfd), to see how much enlargement one can generate, when looking at 100% (next picture).
Regarding its price, size, weight and extra functionality, I can only say: the Loxia Planar is without any doubt a stunning lens! Once this line will be complete, I expect the Sony A7x/Loxia combination to outclass the Leica M system on (almost) all fronts – all that really matter (to me) anyway.
When looking at full size, this picture doubles the real life size of this money on my 27″ iMac monitor (surface x4) – this is to give you an idea of the detail enlargement in the 100% crop of the next picture. When you click on “View all sizes” and choose “large 1024”, this picture pretty much shows the actual size of the €50 banknote (140x77mm).

Zeiss Loxia preorders:
Zeiss Loxia 50mm f/2 Planar T* Lens for Sony E Mount at BHphoto, Adorama., WexUK, CameraPro.
Zeiss Loxia 35mm f/2 Biogon T* Lens for Sony E Mount at BHphoto, Adorama, WexUK, CameraPro.
Zeiss Lens Hood for Loxia 50mm f/2 Planar T* Lens at BHphoto and Adorama.
Zeiss Lens Hood for Loxia 35mm f/2 Biogon T* Lens at BHphoto and Adorama.
Zeiss 52mm Front Lens Cap for Touit and Loxia Lenses at BHphoto and Adorama.
Zeiss De-Click Key for Loxia Lenses (5-Piece Set) at BHphoto and Adorama.
Zeiss Rear Lens Cap for Loxia E-Mount Lenses at BHphoto and Adorama.

Image courtesy: Mobile01

Note: UPDATED Zeiss FE 16-35mm preorder links list:
Zeiss 16-35mm FE at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Sony Store US.
Zeiss 16-35mm FE in Europe at Sony DE, UK, ES, IT, FR, CH, AT, NL, BE, FI, SE, NO, PT.
Zeiss 16-35mm FE in Australia and Asia at Sony AUS and Digitalrev.

—

The very first full Zeiss 16-35mm FE lens review has been posted by the Chinese site Mobile01 (bad google translation here). Note that google translation tool misses to load all images therefore click on the original korean link to see them all. You can download all images (RAW and JPG) here. Because the google translation tool sucks on showing the images I directly link you to the test images:

Sharpness test at 16mm (center left and corner right): image here
Sharpness test at 35mm (center left and corner right): image here
Distortion at 16mm: image here
Distortion at 35mm: image here
Vignetting test: image here
Cool “astral” test: image here
Flare test: image here
aperture dispersion suppression test: image here

These are some of the reviewer thoughts on the lens:
– Very high optical quality (good resolving power even on the edge). It only gets soft from f/16 towards at 35mm
– Slight flare issues in some conditions
– autofocus is slow on the A7s but quite reliable.
– Some purple fringing wide open (easily to correct in PS)- not really fast autofocus on the A7s
– no barrel distortion, results are perfect (and that’s one of the key reasons you buy a wide angle lens!).

Zeiss FE 16-35mm preorder links:
Zeiss 16-35mm FE at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Sony Store US.
Zeiss 16-35mm FE in Europe at Sony DE, UK, ES, IT, FR, CH, AT, NL, BE, FI, SE, NO, PT.
Zeiss 16-35mm FE in Australia and Asia at Sony AUS and Digitalrev.

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And this is just one of the great images posted at Mobile01:

Image courtesy: Mobile01

Colby Brown (Click here) got the new 16-35mm FE Zeiss and posted his first impression review:

When you hold it in your hand, it doesn’t feel cheap. It feels solid. Why? Because instead of using plastic like many camera/lens manufacturers these days, they use a metal finish, both for the lens body itself and for the focus ring, which truly does make a difference when you are holding it in your hands. On top of this, the lens is listed as dust and water resistant, a feature I plan on putting to the test since a hurricane is currently moving through Hawaii as we speak.

Other reviews so far from Brian Matiash from Photofocus and at Techbang (google tranlsation here). Image samples at Mark Galer’s Flickr page (Click here).

Zeiss FE 16-35mm preorder links:
Zeiss 16-35mm FE at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Sony Store US.
Zeiss 16-35mm FE in Europe at Sony DE, UK, ES, IT, FR, CH, AT, NL, BE, FI, SE, NO, PT.

A couple of years ago this would have been impossible: Canon using Sony sensors :)
Well the new Canon G7x “unofficially” uses the same 20 MP sensor from the RX100. And the guys from TheCameraStoreTV compared it against the new Sony RX100M3. Wanna know if Canon managed to beat the cam? Watch the video :)

RX100M3 store links:
RX100M3 in USA at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Sony USA and FocusCamera.
RX100M3 Eu at Sony DE, UK, ES, FR, IT, NL, BE, AT, CH, SE, NO, FI, PT. And Wex UK,
RX100M3 in Asia at Amazon Japan and Sony Australia.
R100M3 leather case in [shoplink 27483 ebay]Black (Click here)[/shoplink] or [shoplink 27484 ebay]Brown (Click here)[/shoplink] on eBay.

Image courtesy: DSLRmagazine

The Zeiss Loxia 50mm is now shipping in some countries ([shoplink 29858 ebay]like in here in Germany[/shoplink]) and first reviewers are testing it:

Diglloyd writes:

I now have the 35/2 and 50/2 Zeiss Loxia lenses in hand. From an ergonomics standpoint alone they are terrific, and these are the lenses I would choose as a Sony A7s/A7/A7R shooter for many purposes. The Loxia lenses are extremely well built, an entirely better feel in the hand than the plasticky Sony/Zeiss 35/2.8 and 55/1.8 designs.

Verybiglobo also tested the lens and writes:

While Sony FE 55/1.8 is optimized for high resolution and contrast at wide apertures, Loxia is rather oriented to smooth rendering wide open. But stopped down, to f/5.6 and smaller, Loxia probably even surpass Sonnar FE 55 in terms of sharpness. In fact, you have too lenses in one – nice portrait lens where due to some coma and bit of SA, you can notice characteristic bokeh and unique subject isolation, while stopped down it is great multipurpose and landscape lens.

Spanish DSLRmagazine (translation here) writes about the 50mm Loxia:

We can at least confirm that this Planar 50mm f/2 performs as well as expected, a nice optical use, simple in concept and convincing results.

UPDATE: Real-world comparison between the new Zeiss Loxia 2/50, the ‘old’ Sony Zeiss FE 1.8/55 and the Mitakon 50mm f/0.95 at Backgroundblur.

There is also a Japanese Loxia 50mm review at Kasayapa (translation here). Overall the lens looks to be more interesting than expected. A great alternative of the 55mm FE if you want to focus…on manual focusing :)

Zeiss Loxia preorders:
Zeiss Loxia 50mm f/2 Planar T* Lens for Sony E Mount at BHphoto, Adorama., WexUK, CameraPro.
Zeiss Loxia 35mm f/2 Biogon T* Lens for Sony E Mount at BHphoto, Adorama, WexUK, CameraPro.
Zeiss Lens Hood for Loxia 50mm f/2 Planar T* Lens at BHphoto and Adorama.
Zeiss Lens Hood for Loxia 35mm f/2 Biogon T* Lens at BHphoto and Adorama.
Zeiss 52mm Front Lens Cap for Touit and Loxia Lenses at BHphoto and Adorama.
Zeiss De-Click Key for Loxia Lenses (5-Piece Set) at BHphoto and Adorama.
Zeiss Rear Lens Cap for Loxia E-Mount Lenses at BHphoto and Adorama.

Fuji lover and not so Sony lover Kai from Digitalrev compared the stylish Fuji X30 versus the Sony RX100M3. The news here is that even Kai had to admit the Sony is the better camera ;)

P.S.: I am joking Kai ;)

RX100M3 store links:
RX100M3 in USA at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Sony USA and FocusCamera.
RX100M3 in Eu at Sony DE, UK, ES, FR, IT, NL, BE, AT, CH, SE, NO, FI, PT. And Wex UK,
RX100M3 in Asia at Amazon Japan, Digitalrev and Sony Australia.
Gariz announced the new RX100m3 leather case and you can have it on eBay in [shoplink 29804 ebay]Black (al auctions here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 29805 ebay]Brown (all auctions here)[/shoplink].