I found a bunch of nice third party lens reviews (tested on NEX cameras). Let’s start with the most expensive lens:

1) Leica 50mm f/0.95
Steve Huff (Click here) tested the $11,000 lens on the NEX-5. yes it’s not a typo…$11,000 or 10.000 Euro. Don’t believe me? See the scary auctions on [shoplink 6749 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. Got a heart attack? :)
That’s what he think about the combination: “This also made me wonder if there is anyone out there who bought an NEX-5 and a lens like the Noctilux to use with it. IMO, it would be a waste as the NEX sensor can not take full advantage of this masterpiece lens.”

2) Panasonic 14mm f/2.5
EosHD (Click here) tested a Micro Four Thirds lens on the NEX-3. You wonder how that is possible? With that adapter you can find on [shoplink 6750 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
EosHD says: “It covers the whole sensor just about with a slight light fall off. What’s interesting is just how extreme the distortion of the image is without the electronic image correction of Micro Four Thirds bodies. The optics really are very compromised on their own. But it’s a sharp lens, even wide open at F2.5 and very contrasty.”

3) Contax Zeiss Distagon and Planar
SonyAlphaNex (Click here) tested a bunch of (awesome) Contax lenses on the NEX-5!

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The famous “starblogger” Ken Rockwell stopped at Sony and tested the NEX-VG10 (Click here to read the full review). He usually reviews Nikon or Canon stuff so let’s see what he thinks about the VG10: “It’s about time someone made a large-sensor video camera dedicated for the video market, and it’s about time that Canon and Nikon SLRs got put to bed for video. SLRs were never made for video, and Sony knows video cameras better than anyone.“…”For those of you looking mostly to make video, I consider this a much smarter buy than a DSLR, and the NEX-VG10 includes a great lens for video; no need to use the interchangeable lens feature.”
Thanks Ken for posting a Sony review!
Check the VG10 price at [shopcountry 3058].

Imaging Resource (Click here) tested the Sony A580: “The only major fault we’d bring to the fore is the over-aggressive noise suppression in JPEG images, which strangely get worse in the red channel when you switch to Weak Noise Reduction mode. But there’s no arguing with our printed results, which show the Sony A580 able to produce good quality 20×30-inch prints from Large Fine JPEG images from ISO 100 to 400, and even the highest setting of 12,800 produces a good quality 5×7-inch print. ”
Check the A580 price at [shopcountry 4617].

Digitalcamerainfo (Click here) tested the Sony A33: “The Sony Alpha SLT-A33 did not blow us away in any specific area, but the camera did a passable job in all of our tests. If you’re overly concerned about image performance, then there are plenty of other cameras that will please you more than the A33 (like the Sony A55V). But, we found the A33 to be a handy shooter with a good set of controls, an intuitive menu system, and some fun features to boot.”
Chekc the A33 price at [shopcountry 3620].

Phase One released the new Capture One 6.2 which adds the support for the Sony SLT and NEX cameras. And Alpha Numerique tested the new software with the Sony A55 and NEX-5. The reuslt is that Lightroom is still better at High-ISO handling but Phase One is a very good tool for studio and landscape photography.

Cameras.co.uk (Click here) tested the NEX-3: “The Sony Nex-3 is not a cheap option, but it is a quality option. You can pick up the majority of features this camera has with an entry level Digital SLR and pay less if you prefer to. The main attractions are its picture quality and a portability that a Digital SLR simply cannot match. Overall The Nex-3 is an impressive camera.”
Check the NEX-3 price at [shopcountry 3000].

Low light test: FS100 F3 AF101 5DmkII from Philip Bloom

The well know filmmaker Philip Bloom just posted a bunch of new interesting videos made the two new Sony video cameras and the Panasonic AG-AF100 and Canon 5D markII. The Sony F3 is a PL mount camera and the Sony NEX-FS100 has an E-mount. Read the full preview and see all the videos on Philip’s website (Click here). It’s still to early to draw any final conclusion but it looks like the Sony cameras do deliver the best results! I for myself are strongly considering to buy the NEX-FS100. Want to carry it with me for my next trip in Ecuador in September. Let’s hope the camera release will be not delayed and be in Stock in July (Source: B&H).

Links to the other mentioned cameras:
– Panasonic AG-AF100 [shoplink 6087]
– Canon 5D markII [shoplink 6340]

P.S.: Had a very tuff day at work and I just saw that I did recieve many emails form readers. Will try to answer you all within the shortest time possible!

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Photographybay (Click here) tested the Sony A55: “The A55 gives the novice user plenty of room to grow in both the photo and video realms. The biggest limitations I found were the image buffer when shooting RAW files at high frame rate bursts and the unnatural feel of the fast AF in video recording. For an entry-level DSLR though, the Sony A55 will go toe-to-toe with just about any other comparably-priced camera out there.”

A reminder: The A55 like other Sony cameras is currently discounted in US:
And here is the summary of all US deals:
-$50 on the A580 at Amazon, Adorama, B&H and J&R.
-$50 on the A55 at Amazon, Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay.
-$50 on the A33 at Amazon, Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay.
-$50 on the NEX-5 at Amazon, Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay.
-$50 on the NEX-3 at Amazon, Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay.

We are all waitng Sony, Sigma, Tamron and Zeiss to release new high quality lenses for our NEX camera. But in the meanwhile we can only report about new lenses made by chinese companies.
The latest addition is the new 28mm f/2.8 Mitakon lens for NEX. You can see image of the lens on Flickr (Click here) and image samples at Xitek (Click here).
I don’t know where you can buy the lens. I searched on [shoplink 6533 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] where I could find Mitakon lenses but not for the NEX.

The other chinese lenses with NEX mount are the SLR Magic 35mm f/1.7 you can already buy on [shoplink 3514 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] and the soon to come fast prime 23mm (again from SLRmagic).
There are also a few reseller that do rework the mount so that it can fit on a NEX camera without the need for an adapter. An example: The Kowa 50mm f/1.0 you can find on [shoplink 6534 ebay]eBay US (Click here)[/shoplink].

What is the best 12Megapixel APS-C sensor in the world? Drumming…….it’s a Sony sensor on a Fuji camera :)
The new [shoplink 6075]Fuji X100[/shoplink] got tested by DxOmark and received an Overall Score of 73 points. No current 12 Megapixel APS-C camera can beat it. By the way, did you knwo the Fuji uses the same [shoplink 3228]Sony A700[/shoplink] sensor? Let’s hope the A77 and all other future cameras will be optimized to squeeze out the full Sony sensor potential!

P.S.: The Fuji X100 with the hybrid viewfinder concepts sells for almost the double original price on [shoplink 6075 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. Sony should take a look into that technology…