Sony NEX-5N with new E-mount lenses (Carl Zeiss 24mmf1.8/ 50mmf1.8/ 16mmf2.8).

UPDATE: The Zeiss 24mm for NEX is Stock at Sony stores online in Netherland (Click here), France (Click here), Sweden (Click here), Spain (Click here), Italy (Click here), Germany (Click here) and Amazon Germany (Click here).

Some guy at Mobile01 (Click here) already posted the first unboxing pictures (you have to click on the green links to open the pictures). Cnet Asia (Click here) posted a full lens review: “It isn’t cheap for an E-mount lens–or an F1.8 prime lens for that matter–but the new Zeiss on the block definitely has the potential to gain a fan base among more demanding NEX users who can appreciate a fast and sharp prime.” There is also a NEX-7+Zeiss lens test at Fengniao.

And than Luminous Landscape (Click here) added a new Zeiss lens test on their NEX-7 rolling review. He made an image comparison with the ultra-expensive [shoplink 10462 ebay]Leica 24mm f/1.4 Summilux (Click here to see it on eBay)[/shoplink]. Conclusion: "Given all of the above, the 24mm Zeiss stands up to the Leica Summilux very well indeed. It bests it in some areas, holds its own in some, and falls slightly behind elsewhere. Overall this is a stunning performance. With the 24mm f/1.8 Zeiss Sonnar Sony has produced a lens which photographers will find more than exceeds expectations. At $1,000 it isn’t inexpensive, but then considering how well it holds up to the industry’s benchmark, costing almost 6X the price, it actually is a relative bargain.”

Yeah, that lens gets highly recommended and it will ship to you that week! Here are ALL(!) preorder links I do check to see when the lens will be online:
[shoplist 8450]

Sony NEX-7. A Matter of Size from The Luminous Landscape on Vimeo.

PDN (Click here) reviewed the A77: “Throw in its remarkable ability to capture tack-sharp fast-action HD video and more surprising bells and whistles than an amusement park, and you have a Sony DSLR that should make Canon and Nikon users jealous. When was the last time you could say that?”

Luminous Landsape (Click here) made a video of the NEX-7 (you see it here on top of this post). And Steve Huff (Click here) posted a depth of field comparison. Also the New York Times (Click here) writes about the NEX-7: “This camera is gorgeous. Black metal, like something James Bond might carry. Yet here is, yes, a built-in pop-up flash. It won’t exactly illuminate a football stadium, but it’s fine for subjects up to about eight feet away.”

So many good reviews and no camera! but be patient, Sony is doing a 24 hours job to get back to full production. In January the cameras will be back in store!

A77 at [shopcountry 8461]
A65 at [shopcountry 8459].
Sony NEX-7 [shopcountry 8454].
Sony NEX-5n [shopcountry 8452].
Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 [shopcountry 8450].
Sony 50mm f/1.8 [shopcountry 8448].
Sony 55-210mm [shopcountry 8444].
NEX-5n viewfinder [shopcountry 9110].

The video on top shows an “S mode trick” to get the autofocus to work on video shutter priority mode for the Sony A77.

Here is a list of A77 news and reviews you readers sent me the last days:

Cephotography (Click here) posted an image comparison between the A77 firmware 1.03 and 1.04 images. Looks like there is a small quality improvement! Discussion at Dpreview forum.

Jimmartinphotoblog (Click here) madw RAW vs JPEG comparison with the now “old” 1.03 firmware.

1.04 versus 1.03 firmware at Lowyat.

Shutter speed priority mode at SonyAlphaLab.

Firmwar 1.04 image samples by Mike Kobal.

HDMI output test on the A77 and other cameras (Atomos). Interesting!

Jeremy sent me this: “I realized some video test between the Canon 5D and the Sony A77:
– Moire/Aliasing effect : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAAyO4JujTE
– Roller shutting effect : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDxej4PaIxA
– Noise management : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ziz764Vvkuc”

David sent me this: “I’ve also done a couple of comparisons between the a77 and NEX-5n in terms of noise.
http://soundimageplus.blogspot.com/2011/12/noise-comparison-between-sony-a77-and.html
and http://soundimageplus.blogspot.com/2011/12/noise-comparison-between-sony-a77-and_01.html”

John sent me this: “Here’s a video review that I did of the Sony a77. It’s also for a competition that if I win I get to go to CES in Las Vegas next year. Do you think you would be able to help me out with that? please please please! Heres the link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlVZdtOrUdY&feature=feedu
And the link to the page where you can vote for me:
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2011/10/experience-ces-in-las-vegas-report-for-gizmodo-australia/”
Of course all SAR reader will vote for our friend John or not? ;)

———

And where can you find the A77 in Stock? I will post my full shopping daily check list. But if you find the A77 in Stock in some other stores feel free to help other SAR readers by commenting this post with the link to the store! Thanks! And here are all A77 links:
[shoplist 8461]

[shoplink 10350 ebay][/shoplink]
Introduction:
Here is the next article about one of my possible future lens purchases. Generally what I am looking for are lenses with a high build quality (hate plastic lenses) and that are not too big. The NEX-5n isn’t exactly the ideal camera for big lenses. But what I also want is a lens that can cover a full frame sensor as I believe that we will not have to wait a long time until Sony releases a sort of full frame NEX camera. Unlike digital camera I feel very comfortable to spend my money on a good lens. Lenses do last forever and keep a reasonable value in time (sometimes they also gain value!). So after taking a look at the superb Zeiss Sonnar 50mm f/1.5 ZM lens (Click here to read the article). I searched and collected some reviews about the Zeiss Biogon ZM 35mm f/2.0 lens ([shoplink 10350 ebay]Click here to see it on eBay[/shoplink]). Of course this lens will work on a NEX via M to NEX mount adapter ([shoplink 8850 ebay]again here on eBay[/shoplink]).

Lens reviews on the Leica fullframe camera:
The Zeiss Biogon is a M-mount lens and there are plenty of reviews on the Leica M camera.
Ken Rockwell writes: “This Zeiss 35mm f/2 Biogon ZM is optically superb“. Daniel Valente writes: “I am happy to say that the bokeh is neutral and pleasant“. Diglloyd says: “It’s a no-brainer for any M shooter.” And Steve Huff also likes the lens a lot: “The lens is sharp, it has gorgeous rich color…and if you are one of those who love the 3D qualities of Zeiss then the Biogon will be right up your alley“.

Lens reviews and tests on Sony NEX cameras:
The lens performs extremely well on full frame cameras but how good is it on the Sony APS-C sensor?
The most important review has been made by Photozone: “The Biogon produced impressive quality figures in our lab. The resolution is good+ to very good at f/2 and reaches very good to excellent result beyond till diffraction is limiting the quality from f/11 onwards. Lateral CAs are well controlled and not overly field relevant. The bokeh fringing (LoCAs) is typical for such a fast lens. Distortions are basically absent. The most obvious weakness of the lens is the amount of light fall-off at f/2 which is quite a bit higher than average for a full format lens. The build quality of the Zeiss lens is superb thanks to an all-metal body and super-smooth controls.”
Björn Utpott just purchased that lens: “I finally know what my daily NEX-5N kit will look like: the Zeiss Biogon as my main lens with the Sony 16mm pancake in my pocket for the odd time when I need something wider.”
Image samples can be found on flickr made by kriswashington and shigerus.
Video samples can be found on youtube made by dai3smile and unboxing video made by denrusso.
To see how the NEX-5+Biogon combo looks check that picture on flickr. Ad here is the NEX-3+silver Biogon on flickr.

Conclusion:
Super sharp, super build quality and you can use it on any NEX camera (APS-C or FF) that will be available in future. It even works o my old [shoplink 10351 ebay]Minolta CLE[/shoplink]! This lens looks like a real winner!

Links:
Zeiss Biogon 35mm f/2.0 ZM on [shoplink 10350 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. I is available in black and silver.
M to NEX mount adapter on [shoplink 8850 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

P.S.: Feel free to send me your lens suggestions!!! Thanks!

And here we are. The NEX-7 shares the same A77 sensor. But are the results the same? Is the semi transparent mirror taking away some bits of image quality? DxOmark (Click here) tested the NEX-7 image quality and the answer is that the NEX-7 is by a tiny bit better than the A77. De facto it is the Sony camera with the best results to date (even better than the A900 full frame camera).

As you can see form the screenshot on top the NEX-7 has a slightly higher dynamic range an color depth than the A77 (but the difference is negligible). But High ISO results are visible better thna the A77. Only the A900 can beat the High ISO results of the NEX-7. Now imagine what a NEX-9 full frame camera could do :)

P.S.: Check for NEX-7 preorders at: [shopcountry 8454].

Luminous Landscape (Click here) updated their NEX-7 rolling review with a new image comparison: “the NEX-7 gives the photographer the choice of higher resolution and larger prints, or comparable resolution and comparable noise characteristics when compared to the NEX-5n, and both are presented at the same size. I should add parenthetically then in real-world photography, when shooting raw and doing a bit of NR in Lightroom, all ISOs up to and including 3200 are completely usable for most any purpose.”

And I agree withtheir lats editorial comment: “If you’ll allow, I’ll also make a small editorial comment on the whole question of high ISO noise. In my opinion too many people on brand discussion forums make too big a deal about high ISO noise. I suppose that it’s one of those things that lends itself to easy visual comparison, while topics such as dynamic range, colour gamut and fidelity are more complex, and less easily quantified outside of a lab.”

+1!!! ;)

P.S.: Here are the NEX shop links:

Sony NEX-7 [shopcountry 8454].
Sony NEX-5n [shopcountry 8452].
Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 [shopcountry 8450].
Sony 50mm f/1.8 [shopcountry 8448].
Sony 55-210mm [shopcountry 8444].
NEX-5n viewfinder [shopcountry 9110].

And Luminous Landscape (Click here) is writing a NEX-7 “rolling review”. It’s a very detailed and incredible useful ongoing test. An absolute MUST-READ!

One more NEX-7 news. I don’t know how reliable this info is but the Expensys website says the NEX-7 will be “Due Thursday 15th December”.

You can read a new complete A65 review at ePhotozine (Click here): “The camera has good battery life, and although there is no optical viewfinder with SLT cameras, the new OLED EVF is simply stunning and makes the view through the camera look excellent. Although it is difficult to show on the web, it would be well worth viewing for yourself if you still have doubts about switching from an optical viewfinder to an electronic viewfinder. Highly Recommended“.

Photographytalk (Click here) explains why the A77 was worty to wait. And there is an interesting “A77 myths and truth – diffraction test” post at Dpreview forum.

All new Sony cameras and lenses links:
A77 at [shopcountry 8461]
A65 at [shopcountry 8459].
Sony NEX-7 [shopcountry 8454].
Sony NEX-5n [shopcountry 8452].
Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 [shopcountry 8450].
Sony 50mm f/1.8 [shopcountry 8448].
Sony 55-210mm [shopcountry 8444].
NEX-5n viewfinder [shopcountry 9110].