Luminous Landscape (Click here) posted a full Sony DT 16–50mm f/2.8 and LA-EA2 adapter review: “As with all new Sony Translucent mirror equipped cameras there is a light loss of between one third and one half stop. Some people are concerned about this. Well, in this day of noiseless ISO 800 cameras, and decent image quality up to ISO 6400, if a third of a stop concerns you then you definitely shouldn’t buy an EA2 or any Sony camera using this technology. On the other hand, if you are a sensible photographer who is more concerned with practicing their art and craft then the loss of less than 1/2 EV shouldn’t be of concern.”

Soundimageplus (Click here) made a Sony NEX-C3 and 5n High ISO noise test: “However the NEX-5n is definitely “cleaner”. I thought at first that it had smudged more detail, but if you look at the middle word on the headstock, the 5n has actually recorded more detail.”

You can now download the new Image Data Converter v4 (Click here to download). DK from Photoclubalpha (Click here) explains you the changes.

I have heard that the Thailand flood will soon also affect the A77 shipments. There are plenty of A77 in Stock now in Europe and Asia but there might be a shortage of cameras in a couple of weeks. The only big country that has no A77 in Stock is USA. The good news is that Amazon US is shipping their A77 preorders (and has the A65 in Stock here).

Here are all the A77 links I usually check to see where the camera is in Stock. As usual click on the shop name to check the availability and price:
[shoplist 8461]

Sony HVL-F20S review

There is a new Sony Alpha NEX-C3 review at CameraLabs (Click here): “The NEX-C3 is smaller, lighter,and more fully featured than the first generation NEX models. It provides increased sensor resolution at little or no cost to its excellent image quality and delivers improved handling both for compact upgraders and enthusiasts. All-in-all, more than enough to gain it our Highly Recommended award“.

Sony E55-210 Vs Pentax F80-200 Brief Shootout (RiceHigh)

Sony 135mm f/2.8 lens tested on the A77 at Ctec.

Sony A65 image samples at Optyczne.

Sony A77 review at Kamera&Bild.

Test à hauts ISO des Raw du NEX-C3 développés avec Lightroom 3 (AlphaNumerique).

Sony NEX-5n review at Photographybay (Click here): “Once you become accustomed to the control scheme, the NEX-5N is fast, accurate and delivers solid images. The inclusion of a 1080/60p video capture is a huge bonus for those interested in overcranked footage for their 24p sequences. All-in-all, the NEX-5N is a great camera that is marred by an unfortunate problem with its audio recording capabilities“.

Sony 55-210mm tets iamges at DC.watch.

Sony VG-20 review at Slashcam (Click here to read the google translation).

Why you should chose SOny over Nikon/Canon (improvephotography).

The video on op shows a german NEX-7 presentation made by Chip.de.

Photoreview (Click here) posted a full NEX-7 review: “For an EVF, the NEX 7’s finder is quite impressive. It’s big, bright and information-rich – and also very sharp. However, its dynamic range is a bit restricted and, depending on the subject and how you’ve set the finder’s brightness, in sunny conditions you can find highlights or shadows being clipped. It also suffers from a slight (but perceptible) lag in refresh rates.” and “Colours in test shots appeared natural and even traditionally difficult-to-record blues and purples were handled very well, as shown in the sample images below. Imatest showed saturation to be well-contained but revealed a few hue shifts that affected mainly the warmer hues. Skin colours were a tad warm, which some people may prefer.”  About the noise: “Image noise only became visible in test shots  at ISO 6400 and it was mainly  the granularity of luminance noise.”
The camera earns an overall rating of 8.6/10 and gets the Editor’s choice award.

And here is a good news. A german SAR reader wrote:
“I live in Germany and today I got a phone call from a Sony employee regarding my preorder of the Nex 7.
They asked to change my Adress because they cant send to a p.o. box (Packstation in german) and that the scheduled shipping is 11.11 but maybe a bit erlier! I even asked about the flood and she confirmed once again : Shippig will be in first days of November, 11.11 beeing the last day of the shipping span. (for my preorderd Nex 7)
So good luck to everyone who preordered ! Btw: I preordered the Nex 7 Kit (incl. 18-55mm black lens)”

P.S.: Sony Alpha Nex-7 Camera test Shooting speed 10 fps (youtube) and Sony NEX-7 prototype video test at the Denver Zoo (Vimeo).

New NEX cameras and lens preorder links (Click on shopname to check price and availability):
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].

Sony Nex-7 HD Video Samples – AZ State Fair 2011 (Steve Huff).

Steve Huff (Click here) posted his full NEX-7 review. It is a very long, detailed and personal view on the NEX-7. There is a lot to read, analyze and see. And I couldn’t agree more with Steve when he says: “all in all, this is a killer camera system and the NEX line has now matured into a camera that most of us have been asking for over the past 2-3 years. This will be a big one for Sony. Mark my words!“. The NEX-7 is indeed the hottest camera announced this year. Let’s hope the Thai flood will not delay the release for a very long time. George Boyd, a spokesman for Sony, told the BBC: “However, we are taking measures to move production to our third factory in Thailand which is operational and also to other sites“.

A couple of more NEX-7 related news:
Focus Numerique (Click here) posted a NEX-7 image gallery. New NEX-7 Photocomment poadcast (Click here). One more thing: For unkown reasons we noticed a huge price drop on the NEX-7 at Sony France (Click here). -100 Euro!!! A bit weird if you think that it is not even in Stock!

The NEX-7 can be preordered at [shopcountry 8454]. ALong that two amazing new NEX lenses, the 50mm f/1.8 at [shopcountry 8448] and the Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 at [shopcountry 8450].

I bet many of you already preordered the [shoplink 8454]NEX-7[/shoplink] (like I did) and you are certainly not happy to hear that you will have to wait a couple of months more before to get your hands on the camera. But there are many lucky reviewers out there having the NEX-7 for testing. You might ask them if they sell you the testing model? :)

Justin Nystrom posted that vimeo video you see on top (Click here to visit his site). And he says: “Not great art, but more of an equipment test. At a very cool event sponsored by Mike’s camera in Denver on October 15, I had about a half an hour to test out a prototype model [shoplink 8454]Sony NEX-7[/shoplink]. My impression is that this is an interesting little camera. All of this was shot in 24p mode because the event only had class 6 cards for sale. As you can see, the autofocus is a little slow. I used the [shoplink 8450]Zeiss 24/1.8[/shoplink] lens on this, no color correction, and this is exported out of FCP7. Sorry now that I didn’t wait to test the A77, but I cannot stand zoos. The color banding that appears in this showed up in one other clip as I panned across the sandy-brown cement and rocks. Ideas?”

First we have the guys from Focus Numerique (Click here) that just posted a new NEX-7 noise test (JPG not RAW!). As you can see the [shoplink 8452]Sony NEX-5n[/shoplink] is much better at High ISO. At low ISO the NEX-7 does a pretty good job. And anyway, the reviewer said that “the sensor of the NEX-7 does wonders at 6400 ISO sensitivity” suggesting that for a camera with that resolution the NEX-7 actually does a decent job at high ISO!

There is a second short ISO test posted by the Chinese website Zol (Click here).

New NEX-7 image samples have been posted by DCresource and Steve Huff (Full review from Steve is coming soon).

Fashion photographer Nathan Lee Bush (found via Noisycamera) tested the NEX-7: “the NEX-7 is a revolutionary leap forward in the race to put compact interchangeable lens cameras in the hands of serious photographers. It is the first uncompromised alternative to enthusiast and semi-pro DSLRs whose price point it shares, and could conceivably be a first camera for serious enthusiasts and pros, rather than a second, carry-everywhere addition to their existing system“.

Editor’s note: Sony may will take the chance and use the 1-2 months production delay to fix some early “issues” of the NEX-7. So….please improve the JPEG engine and no banding issue on my NEX-7…ok? Thanks! :)

And here are the preorder links. As I told you yesterday, there are plenty of NEX-5n in Stock and the amazing Zeiss 24mm and Sony 50mm lenses will be soon in Stock!
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 you know it will take a lot of time before the [shoplink 8454]NEX-7[/shoplink] will be in Stock. Sony is currently transferring the production from the submerged area in Thailand to another factory that usually produces other audio stuff. Here is the official press release from Sony: “Operations of our factory in Thailand have been temporarily suspended due to flooding, supply chain and transportation difficulties.  The flooding at the STT-A [Sony Technology Thailand – Ayutthaya ] factory, which manufactures Alpha / NEX camera bodies and interchangeable lenses, began on October 14th, and some equipment has been partially damaged.  We’re currently investigating the impact to overall supply chain and future product launch timing“.

So here are the links to the NEX-5n: [shoplink 8452]. As usual click on the shop names to check the availability and price of the camera. The viewfinder is also in Stock: [shopcountry 9110].