Sirui 75mm f/1.8 Anamorphic review by Marc Alhadeff

Get the new anamorphic lens in USA at BHphoto and Amazon.
In Europe at Amazon US, Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon FR.

Marc Alhadeff from SonyAlpha.Blog tested the new Sirui 75mm f/1.8 Anamorphic lens and concludes:

The Sirui 75mm F1.8 Anamorphic is a nice addition to the existing Sirui 24mm F2.8 Anamorphic, Sirui 35mm F1.8 Anamorphic, Sirui 50mm F1.8 Anamorphic to cover most situations.

This one is more focused on portrait and achieves its target with globally a nice rendering for portrait but inferior to a standard portrait lens .

  • Sharpness is OK wide open but you gain a lot by closing by one stop.
  • Color rendering is a good but not very neutral.
  • Background blur is good and soft in general but can quickly become nervous
  • Bokeh balls are quite small as min focusing distance is big : 1.2m

So very good for an anamorphic lens, average if you compare it to a standard portrait lens

Sony Alpha 1 meets Capture One 21

Guest Post:

Sony Alpha 1 meets Capture One 21

Last year, photographer Philip Edsel was one of the first in the world to test the powerful new Sony Alpha 1 – now he’s testing the images with the new Speed Edit tool in Capture One 21.

Before anyone knew about Sony’s incredible Alpha 1 camera – I took a flight to Los Angeles with very little information and a signed NDA that swore me to secrecy. Turns out, I was one of the few lucky photographers in the world to test out the new Sony Alpha 1 before its official release.

In this blog, I’ll give you a glimpse into how revolutionary the camera is – and how seamlessly it fits into my photo editing workflow with the new Capture One 21.

The Sony Alpha 1 is an especially exciting camera for me for a few reasons. First, it’s body is in the style of my favorite Sony camera to shoot with: the Sony A9. There’s nothing like a solid mechanical dial, and as someone that is often capturing a range of fast-moving action, as well as more intimate portrait moments, the drive and autofocus mechanical dial is a huge plus. Second, the specs are outrageous. 50MP at 30fps with no blackout? That type of performance was unheard of just a few short years ago. Combine that with 8K video in one mirrorless body and you’ve got the end-all be-all of camera technology. Finally, as someone who also shoots a lot of athletes and dancers with strobes, a 1/400th shutter sync is a big deal, even if it snuck under the radar on a stacked spec sheet. This camera can truly do-it-all. But combined with the power and efficiency of the new Capture One photo editing software? Forget about it.

I first started using Capture One years ago, after I’d heard they’d made a version specifically to handle Sony RAW files. I imported a few images, compared the un-edited image with the same file in Lightroom, and I haven’t looked back since. Most of my work is shot tethered as well, so using a software that is quite literally plug-and-play has been a lifesaver. These days it feels like every client wants more content in less time, so every second I can shave off my workflow adds up. Even with the Alpha 1’s 50MP files or the Sony A7rIV’s 63MP files, Capture One pulls in and displays image previews insanely quickly, so you can cull and make selects directly from the card if you’re in a hurry. This comes in especially handy when you’ve forgotten you were shooting 30fps at 50MP on the Sony A1 and you have a lot of large files to go through!

Of course, the things I’ve always loved about Capture One just keep getting better. Here are a series of images shot for a boutique fitness client in Chicago, graded entirely with Capture One. A few quick temperature and tint adjustments and we’re starting to feel pretty darn cinematic. And now with Capture One 21’s new ProStandard Profiles and modular color grading tools, creating edits like these are so easy. Like, weirdly easy.

All-in-all, I’ve been a believer in the beautiful relationship between Sony cameras and Capture One, but with the release of the new Alpha One and Capture One 21, the quality and efficiency of my workflow just keep getting better and better.

Get Capture One here.

Post by Philip Edsel with permission from Capture One.

14mm GM Field Test by Imaging Resource: “It’s a stellar lens”

Preorders: Sony 14mm f/1.8 GM at BHphoto, Adorama, Focuscamera, Fotokoch, Calumet DE, Park Cameras UK, Wex UK.

 

Imaging Resource published their field test and concluded:

Overall, there are mostly good things to say about the Sony FE 14mm f/1.8 GM, with very few drawbacks and downsides. The lack of a front filter thread or optional large lens hood with a filter thread are the only negative things I have to say about the lens, and even that is pushing it. Would it be nice if it could focus slightly closer? Sure, but there’s little use case for that. Is 14mm a niche focal length? Absolutely, but that’s not a knock on the lens itself.
The lens is a fantastic ultra-wide prime that exhibits great sharpness and impressive control over aberrations. In addition to performing better than the Sigma 14mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art lens, the Sony 14mm f/1.8 GM is smaller, significantly lighter and similarly priced. If you own a full-frame Sony mirrorless camera and you want or need a fast ultra-wide lens, the Sony 14mm f/1.8 GM is the lens for you.
Of course, you give up some versatility in exchange for that fast aperture. If you want a wide-angle G Master lens with some flexibility, the 12-24mm f/2.8 GM zoom is a great choice. If you want to use front filters, the 16-35mm f/2.8 GM is another outstanding option. What if you don’t need a fast aperture but still want ultra-wide focal lengths? The 12-24mm f/4 G is a great lens for about the same price as the 14mm f/1.8 GM. But if you really want the f/1.8 maximum aperture, the Sony 14mm f/1.8 GM is a fantastic option. It’s a stellar lens.

Sony Alpha 1 review by TheVerge: “everything nice at an expensive price”

Sony A1 at BHphoto. Adorama. Amazon. Focuscamera. FotoErhardt DE. Calumet DE. Fotokoch DE. Park UK. WexUK. Join the Sony A1 Facebook group here.

TheVerge reviewed the Sony A1 and concludes:

At $6,500, the Alpha 1 is a professional tool with a professional price tag. That is certainly not cheap, especially compared to the equally professional Canon R5, which sits comfortably under $4,000.
But the A1 earns its price tag with its massive sensor, high-spec video, all of the dials and buttons one could need, an outstanding AF system, and fast burst modes. It can work across many disciplines with all of these features — from professional video work to studio, strobe work, and even action photography. It’s like Sony took all of the best features of the A9 Mark II, the A7S Mark III, the A7R Mark IV, added the ability to shoot 8K video, and then put it all into a single camera.
For pros in the Sony system looking for the ultimate single-body tool, this is it. The rest of us might choose to buy a few extra lenses and go with a more inexpensive camera in the lineup, depending on our needs.
Still, I’ll be wishing I had the Alpha 1 in my hands the next time an opportunity to shoot a professional cyclist comes around.

Sony E 16-55mm f/2.8 G – Review at Opticallimits: “best APS-C standard zoom lens there is on the market today”

E 16-55mm F2.8 G at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, FocusCamera. In EU at Calumet DE, Park UK, WexUK.

Opticallimits tested the Sony E 16-55mm f/2.8 G lens and concluded:

Let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way immediately – the Sony E 16-55m f/2.8 G is not meant to be used without image auto-correction – Sony is making this clear in the settings as well. You can’t switch off distortion correction for JPGs. While this may be disappointing at this price point, most users won’t really care about this question anyway.
With activated image auto-correction it’s probably the best APS-C standard zoom lens there is on the market today. It shows no weakness in terms of image resolution and there are no CAs to speak of. The corrected distortions are – obviously – nothing to worry about. There is still some visible vignetting at f/2.8 but it’s not excessive and stopping down helps, of course. The quality of the bokeh is on a decent level for a standard zoom lens. Out-of-focus highlights are a bit busy but mostly circular and the general rendition is impressively smooth actually.

The build quality is very high but we expected no less from a G-class lens. Sony used quality materials and implemented sealing against the elements. The lens extends during zooming. This may not be ideal but if you want to achieve a decent optical quality, it’s still the way to go for all manufacturers. The AF is pretty speedy and silent. The biggest drawback is probably the lack of an image stabilizer. If you own an A6500/A6600 you won’t care but the vast majority of Sony APS-C users can’t use in-camera stabilization. That being said … if you can afford the rather expensive Sony E 16-55mm f/2.8 G you probably tend to have the latest and greatest camera body anyway. While Sony’s APS-C lens lineup is still far from being complete, it has now assembled an interesting gang of quality zoom lenses – the Sony E 10-18mm f/4 OSS, E 16-55mm f/2.8 G, and E 70-350mm f/4.5-6.3 G OSS represent a quite compelling compact and low-weight combo.