The following is a guest post written by Dierk topp. Please contact me (Andrea) at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com if you want to write an article to be published on SAR. Thanks!

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Test of the new Zeiss Vario-Tessar FE 4/24-79 ZA OSS on the Sony A7R

This is no professional test and was planed for my own judgment of the lens.  After looking at these images I hope, that we soon will get profiles included in the next Adobe Camera Raw!

Setup:
autofocus, tripod, horizontal control with  bubble level, IR remote control
LR 5.3 default development, export JPG 92%, sharpening for screen during export
OOC JPEG images with camera defaults (I never use JPEG out of the camera and did not adjust any settings)
focal lengths 24, 50 and 70mm, with f/4, f/5.6 and f/8
I found severe distortions in all focal lengths and apertures  in the RAW files. These distortions seem to be very good corrected in the camera JPEG with the effect, that you loose parts of the 100% image!
I added the OOC images with f/4 for these three focal lengths. EXIF is included in all images.

You find all test images in full resolution on my flickr album (Click here)
together with a set of the OSS test images, of course a complete individual result!

as example 50mm at f/4 from RAW

and OOC JPEG

P.S.: The new Zeiss 24-70mm is in Stock in USA at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS, and in Europe at Sony DE, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, SE, PT (Click on country name to see the lens site).

The Korean site SLRclub posted the full A6000 review. As usual they do post the text as jpg. picture and that’s why there is no english translation. But it’s worth to check out the site to see their youtube autofocus tests and the many image samples they posted.

For portueges&brazilian friend: An A6000 unboxing in brazilian portuguese  on youtube :)

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

SAR reader Maxime Siegler tested the Sony A99 Image quality with and without the semitransparent mirror. yes, he removed the mirror fromx his camera :)

This exposure of “mirror, ISO 100, 6s, f/1.4” was matched to that of “mirrorless, ISO 100, 6s, f/1.4” by using the exposure slider (+0.5) in ACR >>> mirror match, ISO 100, 6s, f/1.4, +0.5
mirror, ISO 100, 6s, f/1.4
mirrorless, ISO 100, 6s, f/1.4

This exposure of “mirror, ISO 6400, 1/13s, f/1.4” was matched to that of “mirrorless, ISO 6400, 1/13s, f/1.4” by using the exposure slider (+0.5) in ACR >>> mirror match, ISO 6400, 1/3s, f/1.4, +0.5
mirror, ISO 6400, 1/13s, f/1.4
mirrorless, ISO 6400, 1/13s, f/1.4

His conclusions are that the “mirrorless” shots have:
* cleaner high ISO files, i.e., the noise pattern remains relatively smooth at ISO 6400 by ca. 1/2 stop (maybe slightly more).
* slightly more refined details.

This isn’t a suprise for none of us. We already knew there is some (negligible?) loss with the mirror. If Sony keeps developing the SLT tech I hope they will offer a mirror lockup feature on future cameras. Not impossible

A similar test made with the A55 SLT camera has been made years ago by Thesybersite.

RX10 video review by TheVerge

The Sony RX10 keeps earning positive feedback by reviewers. This time it’s TheVerge that gave their thumbs up to the camera:

Point-and-shoots are dying because all they offer is better quality — and it seems no one cares about better quality when they’re just cropping things to a square and putting them on Instagram. But superzooms are a growing market because they offer what neither phones nor compact cameras posses: versatility. The RX10 works whether you’re on the field or in the nosebleeds, whether you’re on a sunny beach or a dark club. It’s a camera for everyone, for every situation. It’s easily the best superzoom I’ve ever used, and a camera that will satisfy just about anyone who buys it.

RX10 store links:
Sony RX10 at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony RX10 at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE.

Sony A6000 – movie AF test

The last couple of days new A6000 autofocus test videos have been tested by early reviewers. Here is a list of videos you can check:
http://youtu.be/RQKCztJHkvQ?t=1m14s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P80fKrazOEU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQKCztJHkvQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUEkMQ0xIDo
http://youtu.be/uHs-etevgCM
http://youtu.be/XwE4G-SSN-M

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

The new Zeiss 24-70mm F/4.0 is finally in Stock and shipping in many stores: In USA at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. And in Europe at Sony DE, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, SE, PT (Click on country name to see the lens site).

But how good is the lens?

Well DxOmark (Click here) just posted the full lab test results and writes:

Performance of the Zeiss Vario-Tessar is good overall but it’s not without some idiosyncrasies. On the one hand it has very good uniformity, barring a dip wide-open at 24mm, it’s sharp right out to the corners.
Control of other aberrations at the wide end – chromatic aberration, distortion and vignetting isn’t quite what we would expect, but at all other focal lengths the lens performs well. Given the not unreasonable price of the lens (and the camera body for that matter), Sony has managed to deliver a balance of performance and value, while at the same time offering something different to the mainstream options. There’s little doubt it’s an attractive combination, but it’s not quite the resounding success we believed it would be.

And here are more recent tests:

Zeiss 24-70mm lens test by Tim Ashley and this is what he thinks about it in very short:

It’s not perfect but I think it is the single most useful lens in the world right now. I really do. And it is a whole barrel load of fun.

And Leica Boss writes:

flexible zoom with a lot of very impressive qualities that will probably never dazzle me… but will certainly get the job done well.

Unboxing video by TheDigitalDigest: