This week SAR readers photos selection.

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Marc Galer on SonyAlphaForum
I am of the firm belief that there is no such thing as ‘good weather’ for taking a photograph. Even a grey day with drizzle offers an opportunity to capture an interesting image. This was captured with Sony’s FE24240. A great choice as a walkabout lens when you don’t really want to be changing lenses when it is raining :-)

1) Submit your picture with a message and picture here: facebook.com/sonyalpharumors or on the SonyAlphaForum image section.
2) Like and comment the pictures from other readers here: facebook.com/sonyalpharumors/photos_stream?tab=photos and on SonyAlphaForum.
3) A selection of most liked pictures by the community and by me SAR admin will be posted weekly on SAR.

Note: When sending a pic feel free to also add a link to your site to promote yourself!

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New Sigma US lens deal: Up to $300 off!

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Sigma60mm_macro

Sigma launched big rebates on A-mount and one single E-mount lens:
$300 Instant rebate on the 105mm F2.8 DG OS Macro HSM at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
$200 Instant rebate on the 18-250mm F3.5-6.3 DC OS HSM at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
$200 Instant rebate on the 70-200mm F2.8 DG OS HSM at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
$150 Instant rebate on the 10-20mm F3.5 DC HSM at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
$150 Instant rebate on the 17-50mm F2.8 DC /OS at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
$150 Instant rebate on the 50-500mm F4-6.3 DG OS HSM at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
$100 Instant rebate on the 50mm F1.4 EX DG HSM at Amazon.
$100 Instant rebate on the 24-70mm F2.8 DG HSM at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
E-mount: $30 Instant rebate on the 60mm F2.8 DN at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.

More Sony US rebates:
Hasselblad Lunar E-mount camera just got a massive $5,500 off at BHphoto (Click here).
Price drop and lot of free stuff on the A7II at FocusCamera.
Price drop and lot of free stuff on the RX100 at Adorama.
Price drop and lot of free stuff on the A5000 at Adorama.
Sony Alpha a7II (Body Only) for $1,498 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore.
Tamron mail-in(!) rebates on A-mount Tamron lenses at Adorama (Click here).
$30 off the Tokina AT-X 11-16mm II DX at Adorama (Click here).
Sony Alpha a7II with FE 28-70mm OSS Lens for $1,798 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore.
Sony Alpha a7 (Body Only) for $998 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore.
Sony Alpha a7 with FE 28-70mm OSS Lens for $1,298 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore.
$100 off on the A6000 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore.
Price drop and lot of free stuff on the HDRCX405 HD Handycam at FocusCamera.
Special Mother’s day deals at BHphoto (Click here).

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Meikes new vertical grip for the A7II now available in Europe and USA too!

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[shoplink 36072 ebay]A7II_meike[/shoplink]

Two months ago Meike released the new MK-A7II battery grip for the new Sony A7II. And it’s now finally available via European and USA stores too:
Plenty of Asia/European stores are shipping it through [shoplink 36072 ebay]eBay (Click here to see the list)[/shoplink].
In USA it’s available at Amazon US (Click here).

Also the A7II Gariz case is in Store via European and US sellers:
In Asia/Europe/USA it’s available through [shoplink 36075 ebay]eBay (Click here to see the list)[/shoplink].
In USA it’s also available at Amazon US (Click here).

Official product description:

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Sony Tidbits…

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Focus Tracking Differences between Sony’s E-Mount and A-Mount Cameras by Gary Friedmann

Gary (video on top):As I mention in my blog (friedmanarchives.com where this video first appeared), there are a lot of people for whom this situation may never come up. My purpose with the video is to let people better understand how the cameras evolved, and to touch on the strengths and weaknesses of each platform. It’s always useful to know under which circumstances your equipment will hit its limits, even if you never push it that far.

For Germans: Gold Box on the RX1R (via DL) and A6000 (via DL).
Zeiss Loxia 35mm lens random thoughts by Sony Artisan Michael Wayne Plant.
State of the Camera Market (Diglloyd).
Sony Alpha A7 Family – Which One To Choose? (Verybiglobo).
Sony FE 24-240 tested at Dutch Pixelmania.
New kind of QX lens mount patent (Egami).
My review of the B-Grip Camera Holster for CSC’s and DSLM with my A6000 and A7R (Richardfoxphotography).
The Mighty Fifties – Zeiss 55mm f/1.8 vs Loxia 50mm f/2 vs Sigma 50mm f/1.4 (Ilovehatephoto).

Bernhard:I started a little blog about my recent switch from my Canon 5DMKiii to a Sony A7s: http://www.wimair.at/WP/?page_id=3760. It’s written a little “personal”, to tech charts – only real life experiences. And it’s german only, so it may not be interesting for you.  As you sometimes post blogs of readers I thought you may like it.

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New Tamron/Tokina lens mail-in rebates. Mother’s day deals and FE 28mm in Stock in US.

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Bildschirmfoto 2015-05-01 um 08.56.48

28mm FE:
The new 28mm FE is now in Stock in US at [shoplink 36063 ebay]KenmoreCamera[/shoplink], [shoplink 36064 ebay]Buydig[/shoplink] and preorders are shipping out at Amazon, Adorama, BHphotoFocusCamera, Sony US.

Mother’s day
You can find an extremely long list of Special Mother’s day deals at BHphoto (Click here). Note that some deals only work when using the coupon code “MOMDAY15“.

Tokina-Tamron:
You have the following lens mail-in(!) rebates on A-mount Tamron lenses at Adorama (Click here).
– 16-300mm: $50 savings
– 18-270mm: $100 savings
– 24-70mm: $100 savings
– 70-200mm: $100 savings
– 70-300mm: $100 savings
And there is also a $30 off the Tokina AT-X 11-16mm II DX at Adorama (Click here).

Crazy Hasselblad deal:
Hasselblad Lunar E-mount camera just got a massive $5,500 off at BHphoto (Click here).

More Sony US rebates:
Price drop and lot of free stuff on the A7II at FocusCamera.
Price drop and lot of free stuff on the RX100 at Adorama.
Price drop and lot of free stuff on the A5000 at Adorama.
Sony Alpha a7II (Body Only) for $1,498 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore.
Sony Alpha a7II with FE 28-70mm OSS Lens for $1,798 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore.
Sony Alpha a7 (Body Only) for $998 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore.
Sony Alpha a7 with FE 28-70mm OSS Lens for $1,298 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore.
$100 off on the A6000 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore.
Price drop and lot of free stuff on the HDRCX405 HD Handycam at FocusCamera.

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Impressive! New Batis 85mm almost matches the Otus 85mm MTF performance!

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batis_vs_otus

So, what’s the optical performance difference between the $4,490 85mm f/1.4 Zeiss Otus and the $1,199 85mm f/1.8 Zeiss Batis? Almost none! Just check out the comparison between the two MTF graph (Click to enlarge).

85mm_otus_vs_batis

While the MTF performance is very close the Zeiss Otus still has the advantage of being faster (f/1.4 vs f/1.8) and it has less distortion. See the MTF and Distortion files here:
Zeiss Otus at Zeiss.de
Zeiss Batis at Diglloyd.

As our reader Seeky stated it relly looks like the 85mm Batis is a sort of mini-Otus!

Both lenses are now available for preorder in USA and Europe (UK/Germany)
Zeiss Batis 85mm f/1.8 lens in US at Adorama, Bhphoto. In Eu at Amazon DE, WexUK. In Asia at Digitalrev.
Zeiss Batis 25mm f/2.0 lens at Adorama, Bhphoto. In EU at Amazon DE, WexUK. In Asia at Digitalrev.
Lens shade for 85mm at Adorama, Bhphoto.
Lens shade for 25mm at Adorama, Bhphoto.

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New Sony FY2014 financial report: Less compact cameras sold. Good income with high profit model.

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Bildschirmfoto 2015-04-30 um 09.20.20
Sony just released their new Q1 financial report (files can be seen here). There are many good news:

1) Sony is recovering quickly from the big crisis and is making money again
2) Despite the collapse of the fixed lens compact camera market Sony is still doing money with the Imaging Segment
3) Sony is selling less fixed lens cameras and less video cameras. And the forecast is that it will sell less cameras the next months. But it’s shifting the focus on high value models and the strategy seems to work. Therefore they still expect to keep making profit with the business.

And this is what Sony writes

Bildschirmfoto 2015-04-30 um 09.24.48

More graphs (Click on it to enlarge)

Bildschirmfoto 2015-04-30 um 09.21.59

 

Bildschirmfoto 2015-04-30 um 09.21.54

There is no info about a particular digital camera strategy or future products. But it’s good to hear Sony is one of the few companies still making money with cameras :)

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