Is Sony’s 4K Digital Cinema Sensor Better Than Film?

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It was only a matter of time until digital sensor would equal or even surpass the film quality. And with the recent announcement of the Sony F65 camera Sony stated in the F65 brochure (Click here) that this time has now come: “Through all the decades, our design goal has always been to match the photographic quality of 35mm film. But now we’re setting our sights even higher: to surpass the limits of human vision. The F65 image sensor is the first of this new breed”.

The new sensor has a 14 stop dynamic range and a much wider color gamut than film. See the graph below:

 

I cannot wait to see first video samples shot with the F65. And I do hope that soon the Alpha mount cameras can catch up with B&W film too! I hope the A99 Sony press release will sound as amazing as that F65 brochure :)

P.S.: A behind the scenes video is available here: pro.sony.com

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DxOmark: The Sony NEX-5n is the new king of the whole mirrorless world.

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DxOmark (Click here) just posted the full NEX-5n sensor review. The test measures the RAW sensor performance without to take into the account the actual resolution. What’s the result? The Sony NEX-5n results to have the best available sensor in the whole mirrorless camera world. With an overall score of 77 points it beats the rest of the world. Click the links below to see the comparisons:
NEX-5n versus NEX-C3 versus Fuji X100.
The NEX-5n also easily beats the new Nikon V1 and Nikon J1 camera sensor.
And it’s only one single point behind the A77.
No way for the Olympus E-P3 and Samsung NX11 to get close to the NEX-5n.

Really an amazing result. And that the NEX-5n is a hot-seller can be easily seen at the Amazon mirrorless camera/lens rankings (Click here). Guess who is on first place? :) Now let’s hope there will be no more “click” issues on the new stock of cameras. I am sending my NEX-5n to Sony service to make it repair.

Check the NEX-5n price and availability by clicking those links: [shopcountry 8452]. Also the external viewfinder is available in most stores: [shopcountry 9110].


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Sony A77 shipment delayed in US, Europe and Asia!!!

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I just got very reliable info from my sources saying that Sony Japan decided to delay the shipment of the A77 until very end October /early November. The new exact shipment date has still to be notified. Meanwhile SonyStore.com (Click here) removed the preorder option! Sony Uk (Click here) says the camera is “temporary unavailable”. Sony Germany (Click here) and Sony France (Click here) say that shipment will start in mid-November. It’s easy to guess that the reason for the delay are the issues with the current firmware. Sony Japan wants to ship the new cameras with the newer 1.03 firmware version which will fix the various bugs.

It hink that’s a wise decision from Sony! Now let’s hope they do not repeat the same mistake with “my” [shoplink 8454]Sony NEX-7[/shoplink]!

All new Sony cameras and lenses links:
A77 at [shopcountry 8461].
A65 at [shopcountry 8459].
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].

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Sony A65 release postponed (and news roundup).

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Sony A65 commercial

Sony announced that the new [shoplink 8459]Sony A65[/shoplink] will start to be shipped on November 11 (instead of October 14). Interesting, it looks like the A65 is not having the issues of the [shoplink 8461]Sony A77[/shoplink] so I don’t knwo why it has been postponed. ANyway, I collected some A65 related news from around the web:

Photoreview (Click here) posted a full A65 review: “Some performance differences between the SLT-A65 and the SLT-A77 were revealed in our Imatest and response time tests. For the former, the drop in resolution with the A65 can be largely attributed to the kit lens. Had we used the 16-50mm lens that was used for testing the A77, the resolution figures would probably have been much closer.”

There is also a Sony A65 hands-on at Dpreview Forum and some new image samples at Lowyat.

German Sony A65 review at Chip.de (The A65 is the best APS-C camera you can get for less than 1000 Euro!). And there is also a new test of the A65, A77 and Nex 5n in the German magazine Colorfoto 11/2011 (there is no online version). Interesting: The A65 compared to the A77 had better results throughout all ISOs.

All new Sony cameras and lenses links:
A77 at [shopcountry 8461].
A65 at [shopcountry 8459].
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].

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Steve Jobs passed away. What would have he done as chief of Sony’s camera division?

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Sad news today. Steve Jobs passed away. A visionary that had the talent to take tuff and revolutionary decisions. Not everything he has “invented” was successful or admirable but what I liked most about him was that he acted following paths that no others wanted to go.

Looking at the camera industry which is mostly driven by Asian companies I often see a very conservative and anti-risk inclined mentality. I am now guessing what Steve Jobs would have done now as chief of the Sony camera division. How would he develop the next camera? What would be the key features and innovations?

I am just guessing, but I suspect he would:
1) Introduce less cameras than Sony is doing right now.
2) Make camera usability easier and more intuitive.
3) Focus less on technical specs but more on real user needs (What the camera does…just works!).
4) The camera would have full connectivity to Internet and social medias
5) The camera an lenses would not be the center of the camera division, but just a medium of a whole system which has the (mass-)photographer in the center. He would probably create an APP store, accessories, make it easy for other companies to develop software and hardware for the Alpha system.

Those are just my ideas, but I am also honest enough to say that Jobs would probably go far beyond the points I have written here. What do you think?
Fact is I will miss Steve. No matter if you liked him or not, he definitely changed the computer industry.

UDPATE: Yes, Apple did once make a camera the [shoplink 9443 ebay]Quicktake (Click herer to see it on eBay)[/shoplink]. But it has been announced in 1994 before the comeback of Steve in 1996.

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Pancakes ideas for your NEX: Voigtländer Skopar 21mm f/4.0

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[shoplink 8851 ebay][/shoplink]

Introduction:
I am a happy NEX-5n user (and probably a future NEX-7 user too). But what I am missing in the current NEX lens lineup are pancakes! I’m googling around to find some nice pancakes I can use on my NEX and I thought it would be nice to share with you my findings!

The Voigtländer 21mm f/4.0:
If you are looking for a compact street photography lens the  [shoplink 8851 ebay]Voigtländer Skopar 21mm f/4.0[/shoplink] might eb your choice. You can use it on your NEX via Leica M to NEX mount adapter ([shoplink 8850 ebay]Click here to find them on eBay[/shoplink]). The lens itself costs around $500 and you can find plenty of them on [shoplink 8851 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. On your NEX this will become a 32mm f/4.0 lens. It’s an ideal walkround lens. Very compact, top build quality. The only thing you have to consider is that it is not very fast.

What I found:
A set of image samples from “Tam” taken with the NEX-3 on Flickr (Click here).
Another set of image samples from “Jeebus” taken with the NEX on Flickr (Click here).
Amazing night shots from “Jacknrain” taken with the NEX-3 on Flickr (Click here).
You can see a picture of the NEX with the Skopar attached at Tokyocamerastyle.

What do you think:

Choose the one camera Sony should absolutely release in 2018 to make you happy :)

View Results

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Ebay links:
[shoplink 8851 ebay]Voigtländer 21mm f/4.0 (Click here)[/shoplink]
[shoplink 8850 ebay]Leica M to NEX mount adapter (Click here)[/shoplink]

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Three Sony accessories in Stock

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Back in June Sony announced three new accessories along the new [shoplink 7207]Sony NEX-C3[/shoplink] camera. I don’t think I ever told you that all the three new items are in Stock. Here are the links:
Sony VCT-55LH Mounting Bracket with Accessory Shoe [shopcountry 9322].
Sony LCS-AMB/B Alpha Soft Carrying Case [shopcountry 9323].
Sony HVL-F43AM Flash [shopcountry 9324].

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