First Sony A77 RAW stills for download. Will ship in late May in Canada and Europe. Full A77II presentation video.

Image courtesy: Quesabesde.

Quesabesde (google translation here) is the first site sharing original Sony A77II RAW files for download. Quesabesde is pleasantly surprised by the af speed (says could be the best af tested so far). They also write there is a low pass filter on the sensor

A77II ISO test images on Flickr.

You can also watch the full Sony A77II presentation on youtube (part one and part two).

Meantime also Sony Canada (Click here) is accepting A77II preorders and they say they will ship the camera on may 22 already (like the Sony European stores). Here is the updated preorder list:
Sony A77 body in USA/Canada at Amazon, Adorama, Sony Store, BHphoto and Sony Canada.
Sony A77 with 16-50mm lens at Amazon, Adorama, Sony Store and BHphoto.
Sony A77 body in Europe at Sony Germany, Sony UK, Sony France, Sony IT, ES, NL, BE, AT, CH, PT, NO, SE, FI and Wex UK.
Sony A77 in Asia at Digitalrev.

Mitakon 50mm F/0.95 FE lens test! Steve Huff hands-on video.

f/0.95 sharpness test

You can see a first sharpness test at all apertures of the new Mitakon 50mm 0.95 FE lens on Flickr (Click here). The lens is quite soft at full aperture and improves marginally at f/1.4. Of course the lens is sharp at other apertures but if you buy that lens you want it because of the f/0.95 aperture! So what do you say, are you happy with the results? Consider the lens costs 14 times less than the Leica Nocticlux 50mm f/0.95 :)

It will be available soon on eBay MXcamera. And you can save that search on Slidoo to get notified when it’s in Stock. This is Mitakons second E-mount lens after the [shoplink 14656 ebay]35mm f/0.95 lens for ASP-C E-mount cameras (they are on auction here on eBay)[/shoplink]

found via DicaHub.

And Steve Huff is playing with his 000001 marked Mitakon lens he got for testing:

Listen to the sound of the 12fps A77II.

Photoblog.hk posted that “soundcheck” of the A77II at 8 and then 12 fps. Quite Impressive! Remember that Nikon D7100 and Canon 70D competition can “only” go up to 7fsp. Meantime the A77II is slowly climbin the sales+preorder ranking at Amazon (Click here to see the hourly changing ranking). And here are the full preorder links:

Sony A77 body in USA at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Sony Store (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
Sony A77 with 16-50mm lens at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Sony Store (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
Sony A77 body in Europe at Sony Germany, Sony UK, Sony France, Sony IT, ES, NL, BE, AT, CH, PT, NO, SE, FI and Wex UK.
Sony A77 in Asia at Digitalrev.

A6000 reviews at CameraLabs and Photographyblog. And first SAR readers first impression roundup!

The Sony a6000 Extensive Highly Detailed Review

Well, time to focus on the A6000 again with a long list of links to new reviews and SAR readers first impression feedback.

Gordon laing from CameraLabs says:

The Sony A6000 is a good solid interchangeable lens camera with one major advantage over rivals: effective continuous AF which works pretty much anywhere on the frame for stills or movies. If you’re shooting stills, it also works at the top continuous speed of 11fps, and if you’re filming movies you can even fine-tune the AF speed and response time. This takes the A6000 beyond what any other mirrorless or DSLR camera offers at this mid-range price point, shooting it to the top of your shortlist if you’re after a camera that can confidently shoot or film sports or even just your kids running around.

Photographyblog writes:

The Sony A6000 is a full-featured, responsive compact system camera that delivers excellent images in a variety of situations, all at a very competitive price that significantly undercuts its main rivals.

Sony a6000 shooting experience and samples gallery at Dpreview.
Shooter’s Report Part I: Getting Things Fixed and Heavenly Light (Imaging Resource).

Rock:To share my album http://goo.gl/ylpHHV about A6000 with comparison to NEX-6 about features and ISO from 100 up to crazily 25600 just for fun! :)

Axel:I just got my a6000 from Amazon today, and to my disappointment it does not have an electronic level gauge (unlike my NEX-6 and 5T). I just hope that this is just a matter of fixing the firmware – the level gauge functionality is very important for me, and quite frankly I cannot understand why Sony has left it out.

Jeff:A5000/A7/A6000 lowlight af test http://youtu.be/G4gfAZgH0yM Continuous focus test http://youtu.be/DELBkI6kyeM AF-S focus test http://youtu.be/Lra77vXaxXs

Note: Don’t forget that Gariz is now shipping the A6000 leather case and you can buy it right now on eBay in [shoplink 26006 ebay]Black (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 26007 ebay]Brown (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 26008 ebay]Camel (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 26009 ebay]Red (Click here)[/shoplink].

Sony A6000 store link list with US and Europe links:
Sony A6000 at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonyStore. In Europe at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, AT, NL, BE, CH, FI, SE, PT, WexUK.
Silver A6000 at Amazon US, BHphoto, WexUK.
Sony A6000 with lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonyStore, Sony Canada, WexUK.
Silver A6000 with lens at Amazon US, BHphoto, WexUK.
Sony 70-200mm FE at Amazon, BHphoto, SonyStore. In Europe at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, AT, NL, BE, CH, FI, SE, PT

A7r IR photography. Guest post by Alfred Corrodi.

This is a guest post from Alfred Corrodi. To write articles for this site contact me (Andrea) at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com.

A7r IR photography by Alfred Corrodi

I admit, I am a camera hedonist (sounds better than gear head, I guess). My personal “mission”, besides admiration for craftsmanship and technology, is that I constantly look for the tool which lets me shoot the situation at hand the way I interpret it, there and then.
This is a purely personal, subjective interaction between me and the gear. When using my Leica M’s, for instance, I approach a situation differently from when I use my Medium Format gear (yes, I am a bit “older” so naturally I progressed through MF and still use it much of the time). I am all digital now, 35mm format and MF, have been for the last 10 years. The creative freedom that digital originally brought is now, in my humble opinion, greatly enhanced by the Sony A7.
I am not doing a gear review here. Everything written about the gear I use, at least the stuff written by sensible people, about Leica M and S, Hasselblad H, Nikon D’s and Sony A7 and its near and far siblings, is correct. Nothing to add.

The point I am making here is, that I like creative freedom, and that the first truly high quality (IQ) solution of its kind in the respective segment of “versatility”, the Sony A7(R), has just added to it. That is what I try to express here.

I first bought a couple of A7 and R’s as an all-inclusive “backup” solution experiment, for my Leica M’s (M9 and mostly 240’s) and all the lenses I collected over about 30 years (including Leica R lenses).
But then after a while, loving my Leica Monochrom but craving for an EVF for instance, I took the plunge and had one A7R body converted to infrared only for a try and step towards a better BW solution (*). The infrared conversion is relatively easy to do, that is why we started with it. It is a >830nm IR conversion, so pure IR. Next will be a pure black and white conversion, which usually destroys a couple of sensors to get it right (aka it is a bit expensive …).

Why do it? What about that creative freedom? See for yourselves. Anybody reading this ever shot infrared film? I did. What a pain.
Doing such things with the Sony’s is relatively cheap (mind you, I shoot Leica M and S and Hasselblad H5 … ), gives you phenomenal IQ, comes in a small package to add to my bag, and the purpose of it all, gives me great fun in what Ming Thein may call pushing the shooting envelope, at least in one direction. In short, it adds to creative freedom easily and affordably.

The conversion was done by Dan Llewelyn of LDPnet (www.maxmax.com). Great guy, great job, he does such things a lot and knows his trade. I use the beta version of AccuRaw https://sites.google.com/site/accuraw/ to develop those files (thanks Sandy and sorry for some stupid questions along the way). It lets you fully control the raw process and bypass de-bayering for instance.

As a final remark, after having used the stock A7’s with some native lenses I sold all my Nikon gear (D800E, D4) or retired it to my shelf for display with all the pro gear back to the 60’s F’s. No use anymore for a DSLR between MF and A7’s, and I don’t shoot sports.
And yes, despite the fact that: The A’s menus stink, the shutter vibration on the R is bad enough, battery life is embarassing, firmware upgrade a scary process, raw compression inexcusable, auto ISO lacking and dumb, … but no gear review here …

Sign of the times for DSLRs, perhaps?

Alfred

PS: you need a good live view for IR shooting as IR light focuses on a different plane from visible light and lenses behave a bit differently in the spectrum, too.
For truly remarkable cover of the topic, consult Lloyd Chambers http://diglloyd.com/index-dip.html

(*) and a standard A7 body to no anti aliasing filter “hot rod”, which is pointless btw, as the filter is very weak to begin with

Some more image samples from Alfred Corrodi (Click on it to enlarge).

Specs and Store Links in US and Canada:
Dedicated Sony announcement page at Amazon US (Click here).
Sony A7r body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. TheCameraStore Canada.
Sony A7 body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. TheCameraStore Canada.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. TheCameraStore Canada.
Sony RX10 at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 24-70mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 35mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 55mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
70-200mm A-mount at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony A-Mount to E-Mount Lens Adapter at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
Sony A to E adapter with mirror at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
A7/A7r leather case at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
A7/A7r vertical grip at Amazon, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony W Series Battery Charger at Amazon, BHphoto.
Sony FA-CS1M Off-Camera Shoe at BHphoto.
Semi-Hard LCD Screen Protector for A7-A7r at Amazon, BHphoto.

Specs and Store Links in Europe:
Sony A7r body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE.
Sony A7 body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR.
Sony RX10 at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE.
Zeiss 35mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT,
Zeiss 55mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT
Zeiss 24-70mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, SE, PT
Sony G 28-70mm lens at Sony DE, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO.

Asia:
A7r at Digitalrev.
A7 at Digitalrev, Amazon Cina.
A7 with 28-70mm lens at Digitalrev.

New A6000 review roundup!


Sony A6000 Review in Iceland! By Jimmy Fok

While everyone is talking about the Sony A7s lately you don’t have to forget that another quite revolutionary camera is now shipping: The Sony A6000 with the worlds fastest af of any system camera yet! At least, that’s what Sony claims are :)

So let’s see the latest reviews:
On top you can watch the video of the A6000 tested in freezing Iceland.
Techradar posted the full camera review and writes: “Sony has come within touching distance of creating the perfect compact system camera, but it’s not quite there yet. Fantastic image quality, a small and sleek system, customisable buttons are all great to have, but there are a couple of niggles keeping it from true greatness.
Gordon Laing added some ISO video tests on his Vimeo site (Click here).
Sony A6000 Image Quality Analysis—our take on how this hot camera stands up to the competition (Imaging Resource).
The video below shows you how much Tony Northrup loves the new A6000 :)


Sony a6000 Hands-on Review: An $800 mirrorless camera with the world’s fastest AF by Tony Northrup.

Sony A6000 store link list with US and Europe links:
Sony A6000 at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonyStore. In Europe at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, AT, NL, BE, CH, FI, SE, PT, WexUK.
Silver A6000 at Amazon US, BHphoto, WexUK.
Sony A6000 with lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonyStore, Sony Canada, WexUK.
Silver A6000 with lens at Amazon US, BHphoto, WexUK.
Sony 70-200mm FE at Amazon, BHphoto, SonyStore. In Europe at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, AT, NL, BE, CH, FI, SE, PT