Sony TidBits…

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a powerful smile from Mike Kobal on Vimeo.

Sony A7 for wedding photography at Hamburg-hochzeitsfotografen.
Sony Zeiss 16-70mm f4 review at ThePhoBlographer.
Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar T* E 16-70mm f/4 ZA OSS Sample Images (Photogrpahyblog).
Zeiss 55mm FE lens test at Fotopolis.
Zeiss 24-70mm FE lens test at Fotopolis.
Funny A5000 bag at DC.watch.
A7 vs A99 at Ronmartblog.
Hypothesis: DxO doesn’t actually test every lens with every camera (Leicaboss).
Sigma 24-105 Comparison by Lensrentals.

Robert:My name is Bob and I work at a photographic store in New York city. Everyday customers come into the store to try out cameras and most of the time they end up taking photos of me. I’ve started to assemble a collection of those photos and post them online. Recently a prototype of the Hasselblad H5D-50C was brought in for the medium format department to preview. A photo from that camera is the newest addition to my collection.
You can find it here: cameracounter.tumblr.com

Lisa Shu:I could not help informing you this great news for Camera360. The v5.0 has been finally released globally.
Please check the Android version by the link below:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=vStudio.Android.Camera360&hl=en
Please check the iOS version by the link below:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/camera360-ultimate/id443354861?mt=8

Graham: <“em>Like you, I’m a photographer and use Sony cameras. In fact, I bought the Sony A7R shortly after it was released, and just yesterday I finished a Sony A7R Review with Canon EF Lenses: http://www.A7Review.com YouTube video review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMOHrtFp2ko

Massimo:new impressions of the A7R with the 17TS: http://www.thevisualexperience.org/web/sony-a7r-canon-17-ts-e-iridient-developer/

Alexandre:Hello Andrea, My review of the Sony A7r / Zeiss 55mmF1.8 has already more then 13 000 views on Youtube. You can share it if you like. I included 12 photos samples (with Exif Data) and 5 video samples. I made as well a test of the famous shutter sound in 7 different environment with different levels of noise.
http://traveljournalist.com/sony-a7r-zeiss-fe55mmf18-review-unboxing/

Anonymous:Just came across this and thought it could be of some interest: “Sony digital SLR camera 2012 – Number of Parts 580”
http://intotheorchard.com/2013/06/11/whats-on-the-inside/

Bruce:Thank you, Andrea! BTW, I’ve been shooting Sony exclusively since dumping Canon gear almost two years ago. Here’s a video I shot with a NEX-7/Leica 90 f2 as well as an a99 with the Zeiss 135mm f1.8: https://vimeo.com/74488196

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50% off All Cameras & Camcorders in many Sony US stores!

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Last week we reported how Sony decided to close most of their Stores in USA. Today Sony Blog posted this:

Starting today, select Sony Stores will be offering up to 60% off some of your favorite Sony gear for a limited time only. Deals will include:

  • Cameras & Camcorders
    • 50% off All Cameras & Camcorders
  • eReaders
    • 50% off All eReaders
  • Media
    • 80% off Movies & Music CDs
    • 60% off All Accessories, Blank Storage Media & Software
  • Mobile Phones
    • 60% off All Cellular Telephones
  • PlayStation
    • 50% off All PlayStation Game Titles & Accessories
    • 25%  off All PlayStation Game Consoles
  • Portable Audio
    • 60% off All Portable Audio Products
  • TV & Home Audio
    • 60% off TV Stands & Wall Brackets
    • 50% off All TV & Home Audio/Video Components
  • VAIO
    • 25% off All VAIO Computers & Tablets

The list of stores offering thsoe deals can be found at Sony Blog

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Sony US deals roundup!

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Sony A99:
A99 with a free(!) grip for $2299 at Amazon (Click here), BHphoto (Click here) and Sony Store (Click bere).
Buy.com (now Rakuten) is selling the Sony A99 for $1,899.99 only. The offer runs out of time within the next couple of hours.

Sony A7 and A7r:
A7-A7r up to $650 savings are still running at Amazon (Click here), BHphoto (Click here) and Sony Store (Click bere).
You can trade it any camera you have (also a $10 cheap used compact) and get a $300 credit for the A7 or A7r purchase at Focuscamera (Click here) , Adorama (Click here) or BHphoto (Click here).

Sony RX10 and RX100II:
Save $240 on Select Accessories with the Purchase of the Sony RX10 Digital Camera at Amazon and SonyStore.
Save up to $550 on Select Sony Accessories with Sony RX1 Series Camera Purchase at Amazon.

“Old” NEX series:
Sony NEX-7 with two lenses and extras for $899 (substract the $100 gift card) at BHphoto (Click here).
NEX-3n with kit lens is again back in Stock for $299 only at Amazon US (Click here).

 

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Sony a99 with and without mirror at ISO 100 and 6400 (by Maxime Siegler)

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SAR reader Maxime Siegler tested the Sony A99 Image quality with and without the semitransparent mirror. yes, he removed the mirror fromx his camera :)

This exposure of “mirror, ISO 100, 6s, f/1.4” was matched to that of “mirrorless, ISO 100, 6s, f/1.4” by using the exposure slider (+0.5) in ACR >>> mirror match, ISO 100, 6s, f/1.4, +0.5
mirror, ISO 100, 6s, f/1.4
mirrorless, ISO 100, 6s, f/1.4

This exposure of “mirror, ISO 6400, 1/13s, f/1.4” was matched to that of “mirrorless, ISO 6400, 1/13s, f/1.4” by using the exposure slider (+0.5) in ACR >>> mirror match, ISO 6400, 1/3s, f/1.4, +0.5
mirror, ISO 6400, 1/13s, f/1.4
mirrorless, ISO 6400, 1/13s, f/1.4

His conclusions are that the “mirrorless” shots have:
* cleaner high ISO files, i.e., the noise pattern remains relatively smooth at ISO 6400 by ca. 1/2 stop (maybe slightly more).
* slightly more refined details.

This isn’t a suprise for none of us. We already knew there is some (negligible?) loss with the mirror. If Sony keeps developing the SLT tech I hope they will offer a mirror lockup feature on future cameras. Not impossible

A similar test made with the A55 SLT camera has been made years ago by Thesybersite.

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Sony announces ProRes and DNxHD support for F5 & F55. 4K photocamera coming later this year!

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The same source that told us the 4K camera would not come in April but much later this year also told us that Sony would give a ProRes update for the F5 & F55. Well, Sony just announced ProRes and DNxHD support for F5 & F55 camera. This means the source is likely also right on the 4K photocamera coming later this year :)

This is the official Press Text from Sony:

Sony has been at the forefront of, and has vast experience in developing advanced compression technologies that led to the visually lossless HDCAM SR, a standard in the production industry since 2001.
Based on our knowledge and experience in this area we then selected the highest Level and Profile of the H.264 standard as the core compression technology for the F5, and F55 cameras. Named XAVC, it offers exceptionally high quality, with the ability to scale from HD, 2K to 4K with very modest data rates, and with frame rates up to 180fps.
XAVC has proven robust, and is well accepted by “mission critical” genres such as Episodic Television, Documentary and feature film. The adoption of XAVC by commonly used platforms has been exceptionally fast, and as a result XAVC is supported by all major workflow applications in the fields of editing, grading, transcoding and media management.
Sony is firmly committed to the continued advancement of the XAVC codec with exciting developments planned for the future. Sony is also committed to our customers and with your feedback the need for diversity and flexibility to support codecs that have been used in our industry for some time.
Our mission is to continue developing the most feature rich cameras on the market. In so doing we are excited to announce support for ProRes and DNxHD codecs as a future hardware upgrade option for both the F5, and F55 cameras.

Stay tuned for more information!

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Competition news: Nikon 1 V3 has similar A6000 hybrid AF.

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Some news from the competition: Nikon announced their new flagship Nikon 1 V3 mirrorless cameras. First thing you will notice is that it can do 20fps in continuous AF mode and a very A6000 alike hybrid autofcus system with nearly 100% frame coverage. But they do not claim the AF to be as fast as the A6000.

Second thing you notice is the high price ($1,200 here at Amazon). Quite pricey if you consider the A6000 costs $400 less.

P.S.: Nikon 1 V3 Coverage at Mirrorlessrumors.com.

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