Digitaltrends reports that “Sony appears to have pulled the release of its latest first-party title, Gran Turismo 7, from the nation”.
This might be only the first step of a complete withdrawal from the Russian market. There is a fair chance they will stop selling cameras&lenses too.
Sony issued the following press text:
Donation to Humanitarian Aid in Ukraine Emergency
Tokyo, Japan – Sony Group Corporation (“Sony”) today announced the donation of a total of 2 million U.S. dollars to UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and the international NGO, Save the Children, in order to provide humanitarian aid to the affected populations in Ukraine and countries in the region.
In addition, Sony Group companies around the world will collect donations from employees and match the amounts raised.
These donations will be given to organizations including UNHCR and Save the Children for use in supporting humanitarian relief efforts in Ukraine and neighboring countries.
Sony sincerely hopes that this situation will be resolved quickly, and that peace will be restored in Ukraine and around the world.
Prtimes Japan reports that Skylum is likely to delay future software updates for the new Luminar Neo software. The company is based in Kiev and as you can imagine this caused all programmers to stop working.
If they are reading me I wish them all to be safe. I am not going into political arguments, as a deep pacifist I hope ceasefire is coming soon to stop this mad killing.
Lens at BHphoto and Venuslens.net (worldwide shipment).
Opticallimits tested the Laowa Argus 33mm f/0.95 lens and concluded
The Laowa Argus 33mm f/0.95 CF APO is trying the seemingly impossible by providing shallow depth-of-field capabilities similar to full-format to APS-c class users. And, surprisingly, they succeeded in this quest – mostly at least. The optical performance is on a high level, even at maximum aperture. The broader center is sharp straight from f/0.95 and the borders can keep up nicely. Only the corners are a bit soft. The background contrast is slightly reduced at this setting but this can be boosted via an imaging tool. Stopping down to f/1.4 results in quite a lift in quality even in the corners, and the peak performance around f/2.8 is very impressive indeed. Image distortions are very low and nothing to worry about. As you might expect the vignetting is very high at large-aperture settings. Lateral and axial CAs are well controlled, although they aren’t entirely as absent as the “APO” designation may suggest. RSAs are also something to be aware of. The technical quality of the bokeh is a bit of a mixed bag. Depending on the camera that you use, out-of-focus highlights can suffer from an odd mechanical vignetting effect up to f/1.4 and there are imperfections in the general blur as well. However, this isn’t quite as obvious in real-life conditions simply because the lens can produce an immense amount of out-of-focus blur in the right conditions at least. Flare can also be a weak spot so better mount the lens hood when shooting.
The mechanical quality of the Argus lens is, again, impressive. The all-metal construction feels very reassuring and the dampened control rings are a joy to use. The internal focus mechanism is appreciated and we are also a fan of the new hood design. It’s not all glory, though, because there’s no electronic coupling thus also no AF and no weather sealing.
Unfortunately, the lack of AF will be a showstopper for many photographers. Thanks to focus magnification and peaking, the lens is certainly usable without but it is probably more aligned to video use. The clickless aperture ring is also pointing to this. Overall it’s a competent and affordable lens within its niche.
Sony a7 IV vs a7s III vs FX3 – Which one to buy?
Today deals at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon FR, Amazon IT.
How Big of a Camera Can You Bring to the Big Game? (Explora).
Sony FX3 MUST HAVE Accessories – SMALLRIG MD 3490 XLR Handle Extension + 2071B Magic Arm (Mariusz Gajdzik)
Voigtlander 50mm F/1 Nokton review by Fred Miranda.
Photo Editing Styles: How to Find Yours (42West).
Sony Alpha 7 IV ausprobiert (Photoscala).
Fancy (and irrealistic) Canon EOS R1 mock-up (Mirrorlessrumors).
Personal photos and tests from SAR Admin Andrea on Instagram, Facebook, Flickr and 500px.
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Sony A1 group.
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Sony A7 series group.
The last Sony product announcement happened more than four months ago. The worldwide component shortage is forcing every company to reduce shipments. And here is another proof of this: The 70-200mm GM II will now ship mid June only accor4ding to BHphoto (Click here).
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P.S.: Luckily the Sony A1 is finally in Stock at BH.
