Cameras and Camcorders

Sony NAB Show 2016 Keynote Timed & Dated

by Sohrab Osati | Apr 14, 2016 | 0 comments

Sony has officially revealed that, come April 17 at 2:00pm, the company will take the stage in Las Vegas to present their NAB Show 2016 keynote. NAB is generally geared towards professionals and in turn, Sony traditionally makes announcements and reveals based around their cinema-grade cameras and equipments. However, Sony has curiously also invited a few people from the photography world, lending to rumors that they also plan on announcing new cameras as well.

With the keynote happening on Sunday, we luckily won’t have to wait long to find out. More after the jump.

Sony a6300 vs a6000 Comprehensive Comparison and Review

by Sohrab Osati | Apr 14, 2016 | 0 comments

The Sony a6300 is shaping up to be a camera that punches well above its price limit. Writing for Engadget, Edgar Alvarez had this to say about the camera during his review:

Sony has done a tremendous job with the A6300. It’s small, sleek, fast and, most importantly, captures impressive photos and video. Paired with the right lenses, the A6300 has no trouble matching up with its more expensive Alpha relatives or even some mid-tier DSLRs.

But before the a6300, there was the a6000 which was also well received. In fact, seeing how different the two cameras are in some ways, Sony for the time being is opting to sell both. Better yet, with the introduction of the new camera, you can find some pretty great prices on the a6000 which begs the questions, what are the differences between these two E-mount cameras?

After the jump, a video by Maarten Heilbronn which highlights some key differences between the two.

First Full-Frame Sony a99 Successor Details Leak

by Sohrab Osati | Apr 11, 2016 | 0 comments

You know the drill about leaks so if you haven’t already, have yourself some grains of salt prior to reading this. According to a source who has been fairly accurate in the past, the successor to the full-frame Sony a99 (pictured above) is bound to have some big impacts on the photography world.

The next generation flagship mirrorless camera from Sony will be a giant leap. It will drop a huge bomb in the imaging industry. It will not be A7III or A7RIII. It will be a new model above A7 series. I would say A9 (let’s name it as the new model). So the new A9 will have dual XQD card slot, no CFast version, only XQD. A9 can do UNLIMITED RAW burst, UNLIMITED. The camera wont pause for buffering

Many including yours truly believe that we’ll see a Sony a99 successor likely around September and this wouldn’t be a bad feature to kick things off with. Other obvious features to expect will be native 4K video and Sony’s 4D autofocus system which has been praised in the a6300. I do wonder if Sony will stick with their current naming strategy and call the successor the Sony a99 II or if we’ll see it as an entirely new camera.

Sony RX10 III – Super Slow Motion with Super Telephoto – “Ski”

by Sohrab Osati | Apr 1, 2016 | 0 comments

Sony unveiled their Cyber-shot RX10 III earlier this week. In addition to its massive 25x optical zoom, the new camera also boasts some impressive video capabilities like 4K video and the ability to shoot at high frame rate.

Realize the new imaging expression by the combination of Super Slow Motion and Super telephoto lens.

The stacked CMOS sensor enables shooting at an extrahigh frame rate up to 960fps (40x) high-speed shooting of exceptionally clear, smooth close-up action, all the way up the ultra-telephoto range, at sports events, etc. So the camera can capture great close-ups of faraway players on fields in arenas in super slow motion detail.

The video is after the jump.

Sony Wins 18 Red Dot Awards, Including Two ‘Best of the Best’

by Sohrab Osati | Mar 30, 2016 | 0 comments

Sony is no stranger to winning awards for their design and quality. Unfortunately for them, awards doesn’t usually translate to sales but it does mean that despite their much smaller scale compared to their competitors, Sony isn’t cutting any corners. At this year’s Red Dot Awards, Sony raked in 18 awards which includes two Best of the Best: the Sony Glass Speaker and RX1 RM2 camera.

After the jump, the list of Sony products that won a Red Dot Award.

Sony Full-Frame FE Lens (70-300mm and 50mm) Announced

by Sohrab Osati | Mar 29, 2016 | 3 comments

Ask and you shall receive is the motto today. Just hours after I ran the story about six new FE lenses coming in 2016, Sony announced the RX10 III camera with 25x optical zoom and two FE lenses:

FE 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 G OSS Telephoto Zoom
FE 50mm F1.8 Prime Lens

The new FE 70-300mm F4.5-F5.6 G OSS zoom lens represents the first Sony α E-mount lens to reach a 300mm focal length, featuring high resolution and excellent overall optical performance throughout the entirety of its range. The new 50mm F1.8 prime lens is extremely compact, lightweight and affordably priced, making it an ideal choice for those looking to explore the benefits of a large aperture prime lens at a reasonable cost.

Details regarding each FE lens after the jump.

Sony RX10 III Camera with 25x Optical Zoom Announced

by Sohrab Osati | Mar 29, 2016 | 0 comments

Sony_RX10_III_5

Sony today announced their latest RX Cyber-shot camera, the RX10 III (DSC-RX10M3). All things aside, their new monster camera offers:

25x super-telephoto zoom lens with an incredible focal range of 24-600mm and silent shutter capability

which is absolutely insane. Other highlights include:

Featuring newly developed ZEISS Vario-Sonnar T 24-600mm F2.4-4 large-aperture high-magnification zoom lens
High-fidelity capture of image detail and fast readout with 20.1MP 1.0-type stacked CMOS sensor with DRAM chip and BIONZ X processor
4K recording with full pixel readout and no pixel binning and extensive video functions including S-Gamut/S-Log2 for compatibility with professional movie editing workflow
Ultra telephoto super slow motion recording at up to 1000fps
Fast Intelligent AF achieves 0.09-second fast autofocus to capture decisive moments

Let’s talk more details about the Sony RX10 III after the jump.

Sony Will Announce Six More New FE Lenses Within 2016

by Sohrab Osati | Mar 29, 2016 | 0 comments

Let’s put on our rumor tinfoil hats for a minute shall we?

A source (Thanks a lot!) told us that Sony will announced six new FE lenses within 2016. But this doesn’t mean all of those lenses will ship within 2016. As usual with Sony some of the announced lenses will ship much later (probably by Spring 2017). I should get first details about those new lenses soon!

Sony certainly hasn’t been shy about their camera ambitions. Along with talking about spinning off their Imaging Products and Solutions business which would allow them to be more nimble and aggressive with their product roadmap, Sony has gone on record that their 2016 cameras will be more impressive than their 2015 lineup which had no shortage of home runs.

At this point, the weakest part of the company’s offering is lenses – though the recent G Master Lens series will go a long way towards creating a more robust lineup. With more lenses on the horizon, whether it’s in 2016 or early 2017, Sony could stand to make incredible gains against Canon and Nikon. So while there is no doubt that Sony is working on additional FE lenses, it’s more of a question whether they can deliver them all in 2016 or if some will inevitably be bumped to 2017.

Sony a6300 Low Light Video Is Impressive

by Sohrab Osati | Mar 28, 2016 | 0 comments

Just last week, I shared an unboxing of the a6300 by John Sison. Since then, the avid photographer has released a new video showcasing the camera’s low light ability and it’s damn impressive. Alongside some incredible footage, thanks to the camera’s 23-megapixel image sensor, Sony has also crammed their latest with 4K video and a really cool Face Registration program that’s surely useful for professional (or family) use in crowded areas.

What I quite like about the video from John is that it’s real. He’s not using a tripod and other rigs to get the best possible quality from the camera which to me begin to wield unlikely results. Instead he simply grabs the camera and walks around the city and records footage which is likely what many of us would do. From John:

In this video I show you how well the Sony a6300 does in low light situations while filming video.

This was shot with the Carl Zeiss 16-70mm F4 lens in ISO settings between ISO 800-25600.

Shot in XAVCS HD at 25p 50M.

After the jump, the video.

Sony Exploring Spinning Off Its Imaging Products & Solutions Business

by Sohrab Osati | Mar 25, 2016 | 0 comments

If it worked in the past, why not try it again, right? That’s the theme, anyway, from corporate Sony, as the company contemplates spinning off its Imaging Products and Solutions business.

Sony Corporation (“Sony” or the Company”) has been engaged in the sequential splitting out of business units across the Sony Group, in order to reinforce the competitiveness of each business, and ensure clearly attributable accountability and responsibility.

As the company points out, they’ve already done this to quite a few of their divisions.

In addition to Game & Network Services, Mobile Communications, Pictures, Music and certain other Sony Group businesses that were already operating autonomously as subsidiaries, in July 2014 Sony split out its TV business, followed by its Video & Sound business in October 2015. The Company also plans to split out and establish its semiconductor business as a wholly owned subsidiary in April 2016.

And now it’s time to try that on another division.

Sony is also exploring the split out of its Imaging Products and Solutions Sector.

So what does all of this entail? Details after the jump.

Sony QX Lenses for iOS & Android to Be Discontinued?

by Sohrab Osati | Mar 25, 2016 | 9 comments

Chalk this one up from the rumor mill but it’s believed that the Sony QX Lens line for iOS and Android is going to be discounted in the near future.

A trusted source shared some insights about the Sony QX lens-camera strategy. He has been told by Sony that they will fade out the QX sales in Europe and USA. For now sales will continue in Asia.

If the line doesn’t sound all that familiar, you’re not alone. Introduced in 2013, the Sony QX Lens was suppose to help bridge the gap between smartphones and compact cameras by providing a true external lens with optical zoom. In theory, the idea was brilliant. Already own a smartphone? Then great, just have one of these puppies in your bag for that awesome vacation and take pictures that you otherwise might not have been able to before.

Even better was that the photos you’d take would live on your phone (could also transfer to a microSD card), meaning that they’d be instantaneously accessible for you to share with others. Unfortunately, the whole thing never really panned out. Though hardware could be partially to blame, the problem for the most part was buggy software. The lens would transfer photos too slowly, each snap took far too long to complete, and a majority of your phone’s camera features (this is especially for iOS users which Sony heavily targeted) were not available as you’d have to use Sony’s poorly-written software.

More after the jump.

Unboxing the Sony a6300

by Sohrab Osati | Mar 24, 2016 | 0 comments

Many reviewers have already been praising the new E-mount Sony a6300 which was announced last month. As Edgar Alvarez wrote for Engadget, the a6300 is:

a step-forward for mid-tier mirrorless cameras

If you haven’t already, I’d recommend glossing over why Edgar has been so pleased about the new 4K-capable camera. All this of course begs the question, what’s in the box? Even if it doesn’t we’re all about to find out, thanks to a video unboxing by John Sison which can be found after the jump. For those unfamiliar with John’s work, he’s a self-described avid camera enthusiast and his work truly proves that.

Sony a6300 is a “Step Forward for Mid-tier Mirrorless Cameras”

by Sohrab Osati | Mar 22, 2016 | 0 comments

Here is Edgar Alvarez reporting for Engadget on the Sony a6300, their latest E-mount mirrorless camera:

Sony had the right idea with its A6000: It made a powerful mirrorless camera and sold it at a relatively affordable starting price. And people loved it, with Sony claiming it’s been the world’s best-selling mirrorless camera since it came out two years ago. Now the company is following up with the A6300, a $1,000 (body-only) shooter with top-of-the-line specs designed for photographers and videographers alike.

When it comes to specs, the a6300 really has everything a pro-consumer would want in a camera.

24.2-megapixel APS-C sensor
Bionz X processor
11-fps continuous shooting
ISO range of up to 52,000
4K video in Super 35mm format
4D Focus

That last one, as it turns out, is actually quite important.

Part of what makes the A6300 great for both stills and movies is Sony’s refined 4D Focus, which locks in on subjects in a mere five hundredths of a second, according to the company. The camera’s autofocus system is so fast that, at times, I actually had a little trouble keeping up with it.

And how about the competition when it comes to focusing?

Nevertheless, the prowess of the A6300 is helped by its 425 phase-detect points, compared to the 179 found on the A6000. That, combined with the 4D Focus, makes the A6300’s AF twice as fast as the A6000, according to Sony. And it shows. As someone who’s tested a handful of cameras over the past several months, Sony’s latest mirrorless shooter is definitely the fastest one I’ve tried. Canon’s EOS M3 and Olympus’ E-M5 Mark II are two solid alternatives to the A6300 (and cost about the same too), but don’t expect either of them to be quite as speedy as Sony’s camera.

More after the jump.

Sony G Master Lens (70-200mm) Release Date Announced

by Sohrab Osati | Mar 15, 2016 | 0 comments

The pricing for the Sony G Master Lens (70-200mm) might still be up in the air, but we now know its official release date. Sony Japan:

The new FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM OSS lens features a floating focusing system – implemented in an α zoom lens for the first time – that contributes to an impressive minimum focusing distance of merely 0.96m and ensures AF performance is optimized during both still and video shooting. The lens includes a SSM (Super Sonic Motor) plus dual linear motors that work together to move large lens elements quickly – a task that requires a high level of drive control and ensures focus accuracy. The new model also has built in Optical SteadyShot™ image stabilization for capturing sharp, blur-free subjects at all focal lengths and a rotating tripod mount that allows the camera to be quickly removed from a connected tripod as needed.

Release date after the jump.

Sony G Master Lens (70-200mm) Price Revealed?

by Sohrab Osati | Mar 14, 2016 | 0 comments

Before reading too far into this, make sure you’ve got a grain of salt ready but according to a Dutch photography site, the Sony G Master Lens 70-200mm will be priced at €1979. Many had feared that this new line from Sony would be priced well out of reach but for comparison, the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II is priced around $2,000. If the pricing holds true, it seems appropriate, given that this is a lens geared towards pro photographers. Let me know what you think after the jump.