Sony announces the new 16-35mm GM and the 14-24mm G lens!

Sony made us the pleasant surprise to not only announce one…but two wide angle zooms! Here they are:
Sony 16-35mm f/2.8 GM at Bhphoto, Adorama and Amazon. In Eu at Park UK.
Sony 12-24mm f/4.0 at Bhphoto, Adorama, and Amazon. In Eu at Park UK.

It has to be mentioned that the new Sony 12-24mm is particularly interesting as it weights only half the Sigma 12-24mm. If the Quality is there with the Sigma this sure can become a winner for Sony!

And this is the full press text from Sony:

Sony Introduces Two New Wide-Angle Full-Frame E-Mount Lenses

New 16-35mm F2.8 GM Completes the E-mount F2.8 G Master “trinity”; 12-24mm F4 G covers widest angle among all full-frame E-mount lenses

 SAN DIEGO, May 17, 2017 – Sony Electronics, a worldwide leader in digital imaging and the world’s largest image sensor manufacturer, has today announced two new additions to their growing lineup of full-frame E-mount lenses.

The new lenses include the FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM large aperture wide-angle zoom lens (model SEL1635GM) and the FE 12-24mm F4 G ultra wide-angle zoom lens (model SEL1224G).  The FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM lens brings the incredible high-resolution and beautiful bokeh of Sony’s flagship G Master series to a wide 16-35mm focal length for exceptional landscapes, cityscapes, portraits and more, while the 12-24mm F4 G, Sony’s widest full-frame E-mount lens to date, offers a dynamic new perspective for all Sony E-mount shooters.   In total, Sony’s full-frame E-mount lens lineup now covers from ultra-wide 12mm to super-telephoto 800mm (with teleconverter) focal length range.

New FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM Wide-Angle Zoom Lens

The new FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM wide-angle zoom joins the acclaimed FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM and FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM OSS to round out Sony’s lineup of F2.8 large aperture zoom lenses.  Equipped with a variety of Sony’s most advanced lens technologies, it is the first wide-angle G Master model, making it ideal for an extensive variety of shooting situations – landscapes, architecture, close up portraits, sports, action and much more.  It is also exceptionally lightweight and compact, maximizing portability and usability.

The new lens features exceptional corner-to-corner sharpness, with an optical design that includes five aspherical elements, two of which are Sony’s original XA (extreme aspherical) elements that reduce aberration and delivers the ultimate resolution throughout the entire zoom and aperture range.   The front XA element on the FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM is the largest XA element ever produced, ensuring optimum quality.  Additionally, two ED (Extra-low-Dispersion) glass elements keep chromatic aberration to a minimum while maximizing resolution, and Sony’s original Nano AR coating suppresses internal reflections to ensure excellent image contrast and clarity.

The lens features a near circular aperture shape at all settings, and the combination of the aforementioned XA element with its 11 blade aperture design produces images with sharply focused subjects and beautifully defocused backgrounds or “bokeh”.  It also has two DDSSMs (Direct Drive SSM) that compose a floating focusing system and ensure that AF acquisition is speedy and quiet, making it an ideal choice for shooting still images as well as movies.

The FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM is also dust and moisture resistant1, has a fluorine coating on the front lens that helps to both prevent dust or grease marks and remove them easily if they do become a trouble.  There is also a customizable focus hold button and a hood release button.

New FE 12-24mm F4 G Ultra-Wide-Angle Zoom Lens

            A uniquely designed ultra wide-angle zoom lens, the new FE 12-24mm F4 G lens produces outstanding image quality in a compact, lightweight design, weighing in at approximately 20 oz.  Sony’s widest full-frame E-mount lens, it offers a dynamic perspective for landscape, architecture and interior photography, and is well-suited for both stills and video shooting.

The lens features an innovative optical design with four aspherical elements that ensure excellent corner to corner sharpness and resolution.  Additionally, the lens has three ED glass elements and one Super ED glass element that minimize chromatic aberration throughout the entire image, and also includes Sony’s original Nano AR coating.

The new FE 12-24mm F4 G lens includes a DDSSM (Direct Drive SSM) for fast, quiet and precise AF performance, plus a customizable focus hold button and focus mode switch.  It is also dust and moisture resistant 1.

Pricing and Availability

The new FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM Wide-angle Zoom Lens will ship this August and will be sold for about $2,200 US and $3,000 CA.

The new FE 12-24mm F4 G Ultra wide-angle Zoom Lens will ship this July sold for about $1,700 US and $2,300 CA.

A variety of exclusive stories and exciting new content shot with these new lenses and other Sony ? products can be found atwww.alphauniverse.com , Sony’s community site built to educate, inspire and showcase all fans and customers of the Sony ? brand.

Content is also available at the global Sony Photo Gallery and the Sony Camera Channel on YouTube. Detailed information pages within Sony.com for the new products can be found at:

Canon Full Frame mirrorless is coming in late 2018 only (and it has EF mount)

Well, we may finally getting some clue about what’s Canon plan with mirrorless. And as rumored by CanonWatch before it really seems like Canon will be veeeeery conservative and stick to EF mount on their mirrorless cameras too.

CanonRumors says the first Canon FF mirrorless will be announced at earliest at Photokina in September 2018. And it has the classic EF mount which I personally find disappointing. Of course it make sense from a cost point of view. But they will be stuck to a large flange distance and will not be able to make cameras as compact as the competition. More over you will not be able to use most of the existent third-party glas. The rumored details are:

  • EF mount will be native
  • New exclusive image sensor for the camera.
  • New sensor technology required for the EF mount in a mirrorless application
  • There will be no new “dedicated” lenses, but mirrorless will be “considered in all future EF lens design”
  • 4K video is considered a necessary feature in all full frame cameras going forward
  • One full frame mirrorless camera body to start
  • There is testing at Canon of a more hybrid approach between DSLRs and Mirrorless cameras. What that looks like we don’t know.

Maybe all this isn’t true and Canon is just hiding their cards…

 

Again new Olympus and Sony rumors…

Seems like Olympus and Sony are the companies that still will give us some stuff the upcoming months. As I reported yesterday the new Olympus TG-5 (image on top) and the Sony 16-35mm FE lens will be announced within days or weeks.

But there seems to be more to come. We now got reports about possible announcement from both companies in June-July too…

P.S.: Still not A7rIII or A9r coming any time soon folks….

Sony A9 Eye-tracking test video

Sony is now showing the A9 on different in store events around the world. Of all the hands-on test videos we are showing you this simple A9 Eye-tracking performance test. This is probably the one feature that will be used by wedding photographers. And it’s nice to see how well it works on the A9!

More A9 tests by Jan Tichy, Jason Lanier, Cameraland and Photoscala.

The Sony A9 will start shipping on May 25 at BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon, BestBuy. FocusCamera. Calumet.de.