Sony 28-70mm f/2.0 review by SonyAlphaBlog: “an ideal choice for wedding photographers”

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SonyAlphaBlog tested the new lens and concluded:

The Sony 28-70mm F2 GM is a surprisingly lightweight (918g) F2 zoom lens that is suitable for everyday use. Except for the drop in performance at the corners of the 28mm, it excels in most areas, including resolution, color rendition, micro-contrast, and smooth bokeh. It is an ideal choice for wedding photographers.

Also PCmag tested the lens and concluded:

The Sony FE 28-70mm F2 GM matches the flexibility of a zoom with the image quality and background-blurring power of a prime, and somehow doesn’t break your back in the process.

Sony A1II at  BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama, BestBuy, FotoErhardt, FotoKoch, Calumet, WexUK, Clifton, CameraPro. Sony Australia.
Sony 28-70mm f/2.0 GM at BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama, BestBuy, FotoErhardt, Fotokoch, Calumet, WexUK, Clifton, CameraPro. Sony Australia.

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Aiarty Image Matting: AI-Powered Precise Background Removal and Image Blend (Christmas Special Offer)

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Press text:

Aiarty Image Matting: AI-Powered Precise Background Removal and Image Blend (Christmas Special Offer)

Photographers, particularly those working on commercial or creative projects, often need to remove or swap photo backgrounds. This is often driven by practical requirements and creative vision. For instance, platforms like Amazon mandate a white background for product images to maintain uniformity and focus on the product itself. Beyond these practical demands, manipulating backgrounds offers significant creative potential. A blurred background, for instance, can effectively draw the viewer’s attention to the subject, while a textured background can evoke a specific mood or feeling. However, manually removing and replacing backgrounds can be a time-consuming and challenging process. It requires carefully selecting the subject, creating the mask, feathering the edges… Despite the effort, the outcomes can sometimes disappoint, especially when your photos come with intricate details or semi-transparent elements.
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Fortunately, the AI industry is offering new possibilities for photographers and everyone alike with Aiarty Image Matting. Powered by state-of-the-art AI models, it allows users to accurately remove image backgrounds, naturally matte different foreground subjects, and seamlessly integrate subjects into new scenes, all with a simple click.

Get Aiarty Image Matting Free: Limited Time Giveaway of All Features
To help SonyAlphaRumors readers, photographers, and anyone remove backgrounds from images effortlessly, Digiarty Software is giving away a fully-featured version of Aiarty Image Matting in this exclusive Special Giveaway Event. This is your best chance to experience professional-grade background removal and replacement for free.

You can also supercharge your multimedia editing capabilities with Digiarty’s Christmas deal. For just $129 (62% off the original $343), you’ll get a lifetime license to a bundle of four AI-powered tools, allowing you to upscale and enhance your videos and images, remove backgrounds, and more.

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Just announced: New Voigtländer Nokton 28mm f/1.5 FE lens!

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Today Cosina Japan announce the new Nokton 28mm f/1.5 FE lens. There is no pricing info and preorder will open in January only. A couple of image samples can be found on that official product page.

Press text:

Compatible with Sony E-mount
Equipped with electronic contacts, the lens usage status is reflected in the Exif information of the shooting data. In addition, since it has a built-in distance encoder, it supports 5-axis image stabilization on the camera body. It is also possible to enlarge the viewfinder by operating the focus ring.

Optimized Optical Design
In addition to ensuring a full-size image circle, the optical design is optimized for Sony E-mount sensors, maintaining high resolution even at the edges of the screen and suppressing phenomena such as color casting.

The minimum shooting distance is 0.28m
The minimum shooting distance from the subject to the imaging plane is 0.28m. The perspective unique to a wide-angle lens and the maximum aperture of F1.5 enable images with shallow focus, especially in close-up areas.

Beautiful bokeh with 12 aperture blades
A 12-blade aperture is used to make the aperture shape closer to a circle, resulting in natural depiction of out-of-focus areas and soft bokeh of point light sources rather than polygonal shapes.

Manual focus for precise focusing
The all-metal helicoid unit is machined and adjusted with high precision, and the use of high-quality grease that produces just the right amount of torque makes focusing feel smooth and allows for subtle focus adjustments.

Aperture click switching mechanism
The aperture click switching mechanism allows the aperture ring to be opened and closed steplessly without making a clicking sound. This eliminates the need to worry about the sound of the aperture ring being picked up during video recording, and also enables precise depth control by fine-tuning the aperture ring.

Main Specifications

  • Mount: Sony E
  • Format: Full size
  • Focal length: 28mm
  • Lens construction: 10 elements in 8 groups
  • Maximum aperture: F1.5
  • Minimum aperture: F16
  • Aperture blades: 12
  • Minimum shooting distance: 0.28m
  • Maximum magnification: 1:6.9
  • Filter diameter: φ49mm
  • Size: φ62.6×55mm
  • Weight: 320g

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PetaPixel 2024 camera awards: Sony wins everything!

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PetaPixel has just published the Camera Awards 2024, and Sony has clearly come out on top:

Camera of the Year: Sony a9 III (Amazon / BHphoto)

In a time where most cameras are simply iterating on existing technologies, the a9 III is the only camera in 2024 that allows photographers to capture photos that were before this camera existed, impossible.

Prime Lens of the Year: Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM II (Amazon / BHphoto)

Everything that photographers complained about in the original Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM has been addressed in this new version and the result is a near-perfect prime lens.

Zoom Lens of the Year: Sony 28-70mm f/2 GM (Amazon / BHphoto)

It’s a fabulous technological achievement and Sony deserves praise. It is one of the best lenses ever made.

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New Sony A1II tests by Dan Watson and Manny Ortiz

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Sony A1II at  BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama, BestBuy, FotoErhardt, FotoKoch, Calumet, WexUK, Clifton, CameraPro. Sony Australia.
Sony 28-70mm f/2.0 GM at BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama, BestBuy, FotoErhardt, Fotokoch, Calumet, WexUK, Clifton, CameraPro. Sony Australia.

Dan Watson and Manny Ortiz gave further insight into the Sony A1II, also addressing the point of criticism with complete honesty. Still, I think the Sony A1II is the best Alpha camera in the lineup. The only real flaw is the higher price compared to the competition. But for professionals, some of the features are worth the price. So it really depends on your needs!

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Curiosity: Sony shares hit highest price since listing in 25 years

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As noticed by DClife Sony shares hit highest price since listing in 25 years:

Sony Group’s stock price closed at 3,362 yen today, but rose to 3,398 yen at one point, reaching a new record high since listing for the first time in about 25 years, and has become a hot topic. Looking at economic news articles, the focus is on entertainment businesses such as “movies, animation, and music” rather than semiconductors. *The chart above is a screenshot from Google Finance .

By the way, Sony Group’s stock price has increased by +28.7% since the beginning of the year. *As of December 11, 2024

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