Sony accessories & lenses

Sony: Alpha & NEX

When they presented the new Sony Alpha 560 and Sony Alpha 580, yesterday, Sony published a family photo for the two Alpha and NEX ranges. Nobody is missing.

But two products are obviously absent:

• The Sony Alpha 700 has been removed completely from the photo.
• There no longer is any 500mm f/8 mirror tele-lens (which was from the Minolta portfolio of AF lenses).

I would predict that this is disclosing what comes next…

Can you find some more absent friends?

Sony 18-200mm for NEX

Sony just announced that this lens awaited as a key item in the Sony NEX range will be available from September 10th, 2010 at the steep price of 99,750 yens, or about 920 euros.

Optical stabilization, focal range equivalent to 27-300mm, aluminium alloy finish; This should be a nice object.

As we all know, the upcoming Photokina in September is already the center of rumours coming from all parts. I have been trying to give an idea of what could be coming for the major brands in the DSLR market, concentrating mostly on the new bodies to be seen. But there is no end to the list of rumours about lenses. So, let’s try to make a summary of the most common ones, with no order or no probability figures.

photo credit: nhuhoai

• Samsung NX line would receive 3 new lenses according to Korean DDaily: Pancake 20mm, 20-50mm zoom and Macro 60mm lens.
• Canon could come with 3 lenses of its own: Possibly including an EF 16-50 f/4L H-IS.
• Panasonic already announced a 3D lens for the micro-4/3 (Lumix G-series). It should be visible in September and available in December.
• Samyang (the new company you should consider for compatible lenses) is readying a 35mm f/1.4 with manual focus, for the Samsung NX line. 8mm (fisheye) and 85mm have been rumored too.
• Nikon is said to be preparing at least three lenses: Nikkor AF-S 85mm f/1.4G N, Nikkor 24-120 f/4 ED VR N, Nikkor 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6 ED VR DX. They could possibly add a 18-200mm f/5.6 or a 28-300mm f/5.6.
• Sony has already said that we will see a 500mm f/4 G (big grey tele-lens for rich pro photographers) and a wide-angle lens Zeiss Distagon T* 24 mm f/2 ZA SSM, but the rumour has that it will not be the only lenses for the Alpha series. Sony could also present one or two lenses for the NEX line, on top of the 18-200mm already promised for mid-September 2010.

Of course, those could be announced a little before the Photokina show (brands try to steal the wind from the other by moving ahead of time).

Sony did not wait for Photokina to announce a batch of three new lenses for the Alpha line of DSLR photo cameras.

• The Distagon T* 24mm f/2 ZA SSM (SAL24F20Z) complements the already existing beautiful large-aperture wide-angle lenses from Carl Zeiss (Planar (SAL85F14Z) and Sonnar (SAL135F18Z)). It should be priced high but appealing for most experienced and serious photographers.
• The DT 35mm f/1.8 SAM (SAL35F18) is very specific but bring extra-large aperture, at a reasonable cost (no SSM, just SAM motorization of focus).
• The 85mm f/2.8 SAM (SAL85F28) should be a strong sell for portraiture photography. Compact and light (175g).

photo credit: davidgsteadman

When buying a photo camera, we often research in order to decide if this is the best camera, if its features will be goo enough, but will it be robust enough? Will it be useful or necessary to purchase a warranty contract extension? Will it fail very soon?

When somebody asks me these questions (and it happens quite often since I consider myself some kind of photography expert), I am usually without good answers; Nobody really speaks about this dirty little secret: Reliability of photo cameras is a taboo issue. In most cases, talking only happens for very extreme situations (I will not mention any pro camera events in the past few years). But on a daily basis, will my camera follow me everywhere? will it survive the bad treatment I will apply? Or will it fail at the sight of the first cloud (of dust or rain)? Preferably just a couple of days after the end of the warranty period?

(more…)

Finally, Sony told us some about the future of the Alpha line of D-SLR cameras. Unfortunately, it does not mean that we will see new cameras soon. The discontinued Alpha 700 will receive a replacement (who is surprised, really?) and it will come with a wide-angle lens Zeiss Distagon T* 24 mm f/2 ZA SSM and a big 500 mm f/4 G. And notice the prominent HD marking on the top of the mock-ups: HD video is coming now.

There also will be a new ultra-compact camera with interchangeable lenses. The presented mock-ups are quite small indeed:

When you use an expensive SLR camera you are often tempted to purchase a specialty lens like a ultra-wide angle (fish eye) lens.

But, apart from the rare occasions when you really need it, it’s too expensive for you and me. Why not build it yourself? Instructables does the demonstration with a Nikon D90, but it could be done with any other camera.

How to make a fish eye lens for a Nikon D-90 Digital SLR for $16

Since Sony took over the photo activities of Minolta, we observed a considerable evolution on the lens range. There were only lenses from the Minolta original range (mainly on the second-hand market), but Sony associated with Zeiss to build a full-spectrum offer covering more and more and providing a good answer to the needs from entry-level to pro (going through the expert/enthusiast amateur).

Alpha-Numérique has a good and clear summary panorama of this young but rich product line in a French post: La gamme optique Sony / Zeiss.

I just got a Sony Carl Zeiss 16-35mm f/2.8 ZA SSM zoom (Mfr# SAL1635Z) and I wanted to share with you my first impressions.

Sony Carl Zeiss 16-35mm f/2.8 ZA SSM

Obviously, this is a pro-level mechanical design. You immediately notice the weight of this zoom lens (at no less than 1.9 lbs (860g), this is not a cheap plastic lens). Some photographers may even find it too heavy for ease, but if you tend to use your wide-angle zoom on a tripod, you won’t notice it and it will bring some additional stability to the SLR Alpha-series camera body.

The bulk of the objective is in relation, but it offers several noticeable advantages:

1. The lens length does not change when you zoom
2. The front lens does not rotate when zooming or focusing (since you need very fine polarizers on such a wide-angle, it’s better that way)
3. the focus and zoom rings are wide, well located and easy to reach
4. The AF-lock button on the side is well located
5. The depth-of-field window is large and quite readable

Now, if you start playing with the lens, as I did on a Sony Alpha 700, the operation is very smooth. Obviously, the presence of the SSM motor is helping a lot and AF operation is nearly totally silent, while very fast.

Now, I could not yet evaluate the image quality (the lens is announced as having a high IQ), and I will provide some more info when I will be able to play with it (probably during my trip to Nepal next week).

Tamron rewrote its web site. This was the occasion to move the Lens Comparison Tool but it is still useful to compare a 400mm with a 500mm (or a 35mm with a 50mm).

Tamron - Lens Comparison Tool (based on focal length)

But you can also find a similar tool at Olympus (and it takes into account the specificities of 4/3 sensor format, of course): Perfect Lens finder.

Olympus Perfect Lens Finder

PhotoRumors is telling us about an anonymous leak describing a possible new Sony Alpha 800 with the following features:

• 16.2 MP full frame sensor EXMOR R (new technology)
• 100-25600 ISO
• 8 frame/sec
• SSI, same a900 OVF, new AF system,
• GPS and WiFi built-in
• 3.5″ LCD display
• Pop-up flash
• Flash sync: 1/500s
• Camera level
• 23 AF sensors
• Quick Live View
• Video Full HD
• Dust/splashes sealed
• Aluminum-magnesium alloy body
• Released early September 2009

It seems that everybody is now expecting Sony too announce/launch at least one more SLR camera (after the Sony Alpha 230, Alpha 330 and Alpha 380).

I am not sure this leak is real (it looks too much like the wet dream of a techno-geek maniac), but it’s worth waiting for a new SLR photo camera to go and replace or complement the existing Sony Alpha 700.

What seems certain: Sony promised to present two more high-end lenses in 2009 (one super-tele-photo, maybe a 500mm f/4.5, and a beautiful 28-75mm f/2.8 zoom); We expect both lenses and new body to be announced simultaneously.

The PMA 2009 fair in Las Vegas is opening its doors and it is time to confirm or correct the rumours.

• Nikon is concentrating on existing SLR products: Nikon D700 is king.
• Sony is not introducing any new SLR camera.
• Panasonic is advertising strongly the existing Lumix DMC-G1

So, where are the news? Here are some of the notable items:

• Samsung offers new compact point-and-shoot cameras (NX series) with an APS-C imaging sensor. Direct competitors for the SLR cameras, in the “Image Quality” category.
• Olympus E-620
• 6 new lenses for the Sony SLR cameras (one undisclosed Sony G Super Telephoto, 28-75mm f/2.8, DT 30mm f/2.8 Macro, DT 50mm f/1.8, DT 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6, DT 55-200mm f/4-5.6)
• A new Panasonic Lumix GH1 (improvement over the G1 in 12MP with 1080p video)
• 2 new lenses for the Lumix cameras (14-140mm & 7-14mm)

We will certainly conclude that this issue of the world photo event is going to be tagged as “consumer-oriented” or “entry-level sensitive”.

Sony lens - 'Hiding' by Scoobay

I recommend reading a nice little post titled “All lens tests are wrong” that concludes that the only good test for a lens is to use it during a full year.

Not wrong, but I still recommend to also check my list of web sites with photo lens reviews.

Jean-Marie Sépulchre made a test of the Sony 70-400 mm f/4-5.6 G SSM on a Sony Alpha 900 (24 MP Full frame camera). As this is a serious chunk of nice glass impatiently awaited by many (incl. wildlife photogrpahers like me), it was worth seeing.

The 70-400mm lens test draws the interesting conclusion that “this large very well-built telezoom lens provides high-quality images, and the slight decrease in definition above 300 mm will be compensated by a slight accentuation increase.” JM Sépulchre also points to the serious competition that the 70-300 mm f/4.5-5.6 gives it from inside the Sony lens range, for 30% less money.

Sony 70-400mm

Lovers of Sony digital SLR cameras (Alpha 700 et Alpha 900, in particular) were awaiting eagerly to see Chasseur d’Images magazine testing fully the most recent additions to the Sony lens range. So, they will be delighted to discover in the March 2009 issue that the Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 Apo G SSM scores 5 stars on the Alpha 900 as well as the all-new and superb Sony 70-400mm f/4-5.6 Apo G SSM on the Alpha 700. This grey lens even gets the flattering comments of “nice surprise” (“belle surprise“) and of “bargain to get” (“coup à réaliser“). On the Alpha 900, about sharpness, CdI tells “this is certainly the best lens in its category” (“c’est assurément le meilleur de sa catgorie“).

Also tested on the Alpha 700 and Alpha 900 are the Sony 16-35mm f/2.8 ZA T* SSM and the Sony 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G SSM. No score is below 4 stars!

Fifteen other lenses from Canon (on a EOS 5D MkII), Nikon, Olympus and Tamron are tested in detail by Chasseur d’Images. 5 stars are also attributed to the Canon EF 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 II USM, to the Olympus Zuiko Digital 9-18mm f/4-5.6 and the Olympus Zuiko Digital 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5 ED II.

I got a nice little Sony GPS CS1 to track my photos. So, I decided to have look at the detailled operation. These are my first impressions.

Sony GPS-CS1

Operation

When you switch the unit on, it starts looking for GPS satelites. This is visibly the difficult part. My experience is that this takes a long time when you are in a city. In Paris downtown, I had a first one-hour trip where it took more than 15 minutes to get a first position and another 40-mn trip where the unit did not start tracking at all despite my walking into completely empty space like the Seine border. A bit disappointing.

But, if the initial point of a trip seems to be quite off-the-location (some 75m error), most of the recorded positions are precise enough (in a city, you can’t be sure which side of the street you were walking, but there is no doubt on the street itself). The main issue is that the device is subject to a lot of log breaks (suddenly no geo data is available and it needs to wait until some additional satellite data is tracked again, leaving long un-tracked paths).

However, during an open-air test of several hours, I as positively surprised by the precision of the positionning. Probably, the more satellites it can see/see and the best precision, even while driving fast.

Data storage

One of the interesting features of the Sony GPS-CS1 is that it uses a completely open data record. You may not recognize it immediately, but data is stored in clear text under the NEMA 0183 Data Format. The log files looks something like:

@Sonygps/ver1.0/wgs-84
$GPGGA,114941,4850.8962,N,00217.0071,E,1,03,05.4,00000.0,M,047.7,M,,*42
$GPGSA,A,2,16,21,22,,,,,,,,,,05.5,05.4,01.0*07
$GPGSV,2,1,08,03,78,296,00,13,,,27,17,,,27,16,40,177,33*75
$GPGSV,2,2,08,08,,,30,21,27,061,39,22,47,130,45,29,,,27*7F
$GPRMC,114941,A,4850.8962,N,00217.0071,E,000.0,113.7,291208,,,A*72


This may not seem readable to you, but it means that the future is protected, even if Sony fails to develop the right applications to exploit such a unit.

Photo-tagging

Speaking of applications provided by Sony, there are two of them:

• GPS image tracker
• Picture Motion Browser

GPS image tracker will allow to import data from the GPS-CS1 and apply geo-tagging (geographic information) to your photos. It is supposed to target the Sony cameras, but can be applied to virtually any kind of digital camera allowing EXIF tags (nearly all cameras producing JPEG files).

The application is objectively easy to use. It will automatically detect when you connect the GPS-CS1 to the computer, offer to import geo-data. On your part of the job, you have to drag-and-drop the images that you want to geo-tag. The software will locate them on a Google map. Then, you just have to press the button to tag the JPEG images. It couldn’t much easier than that.

Picture Motion Browser is supposed to provide a way to sort and organize movies and pictures (multimedia files). However, it is probably less able than many and its interface is clearly confusing until you understood its intents. The most unpleasant aspect seems to be that it tries to “import” many things before acting and you would probably not want to have it operate at the same time as another similar program like Adobe Bridge, for example.

Where to use it?

Obviously, this is not a product to track your walks in a city. This is feasible, but not its strongest point. However, I am fairly positive that using such a device to track open-air in-the-wild photography is great (Did you say “photo safari”?). Since it is very light and does not draw too much energy from its AA battery, you can use it when hiking as well as from a car (just don’t drop it at the bottom of the trunk if you want the device to see the satellites).

A neat technology gadget.

Additional references

• Mapping with a GPS and VB.NET
• Linux GPS Daemon

Thanks to Tamron, it is possible to easily compare photo lenses of different focal length and their effect on the size of an image.

Tamron focal length comparison (click on the image)

Tamron focal length comparison