I went to CP+ camera and image show in Yokohama City on Feb. 12th, too many photos have been shot and have to be shared. First, talk about the Sony corner.
In fact, it is hard to call it a corner, Sony owned a Big area of the show. Maybe top 3 camera makers in CP+2015, the others of course Canon, Nikon.
Begin with the Sony A7 Mark II. This camera has been released for about 2month, however it was my first time to handle it with my own hands. Some reviews of A77 II I already have watched, clearly the key point is the 5-axis stabilization system inside and the new hand grip and dials outside.
By my feeling, the bigger grip feels great! A step forward from my A7. The dials, the front one looks comfortable but it feels not, the position still too low, my finger could not move comfortably on it. The rear dial is worse! hard to turn it, too small too slippery. No serious review of the in body IS system has been done.
Then, FS7, an E mount videocam. Almost all the reviews of it are positive. Surely it was nicely builded. 4K output was also exciting. But if I want to make movies seriously, because I am working alone, I still prefer mirrorless cameras like GH4 or A7s.
At the center of Sony show zone, there was a big tree and some lovely models, around them were the cameras and videocams. But here was not my point, just beside there, a exhibition of new E mount lenses was held.
FE24-240mm f3.5-6.3, super zoom lens for Full frame E mount camera. The weight is OK, balance was well on the old small grip A7 body.
The zoom ring is sooo hard to turn, maybe this was a preproduction lens, but still uncomfortable on my hands.
Thanks to the hard turning zoom ring, the lens need no zoom lock. but a little rubber point was on the bottom side.
The lens filter size of FE 24-240mm is 72mm, the coating showed a fantastic color.
FE 28-135mm F4 PZ lens. It was Big! the front filter diagram is 95mm. The feeling was solid, zoom always works by motor, even when turning the zoom ring.
The front focus ring can switch between auto and manual by push and poll. The feeling of the focus ring rubber is nice but the manual focus model did not show a perfect accuracy.
So many switches on the lens body, OIS on/off, Zoom mode, aperture lock, click aperture, power zoom lever.
SAM lens focus motor, for silent and smooth focus experience, design for video auto focus, also fast enough of still image.
SSM motor, Super Sonic Wave Motor, they are fast and only design for taking still image. Not very popular now I think.
Nano coating for the lens elements, to reduce internal reflections, flare and ghosting. Under the same LED light, obviously the normal lens without nano coating reflected more lights.
ED lens, could not see any difference from normal lens by my eyes. Anyway it could improve the optical performance.
The front element of 16-35mm f2.8 A mount lens, showed a big aspherical glass. Reducing spherical aberration and also reduce other optical aberrations such as astigmatism.
The 35mm full frame CMOS chip base board. Proud I could see from the image sensor maker Sony. Left side is a inbody 5-axis stabilization system demonstration.
Take a close look on the 35mm CMOS sensor chips.
Sony’s 5-axis inbody stabilization system, very similar to olympus’s design. However Olympus let you touch it on a show desk, Sony put it in a glass box.
Go on with the new lenses, FE 35mm f1.4. My impression was: big, heavy, solid, classic. The focus speed was great, bokeh is great. The focus ring was so big, I don’t think people need that size.
Accurately the lens feeled like a all metal Sigma Art lens, and aperture click switch button was on it which means it was also designed for video work.
The reflecting of the front lens could barely been seen, a nano coating?
FE 28mm f2.0, wide extension lens, fisheye lens. Mainly I tested the 28mm f2.0 lens. A nicely builded lens with fast auto focus, Perhaps it is the most possible lens I would buy. Filter size is 49mm.
With A7 II’s body, lens without OSS could be smaller lighter bigger aperture. And the bigger grip of A7 II suited the lens well.
FE 90mm f2.8 macro. Very funny lens, with push and pull focus ring. you can see an element moves inside the lens. My main feeling was the weight of the lens, all at the front end of it. So the balance was strange.
The OSS of the 90mm macro lens feels very efficiently, auto focus speed is OK but not decisively. Push the button on the lens body will stop auto focus process, it just worked fine.
The lens reflection showed a big difference from the 35mm f1.4 lens.
A funny function of the sony videocam, they could stream and record the multicam video by Wi-Fi connection. In the photo, the image on the handycam is shot by the action cam on the top.
Second floor was only for teleport lens, but Sony barely owns super long monster lens. As a result, not any exciting test has been done.
However the combine of the teleport lens with a 4D focus technology camera body was amazing! The auto focus tracking on the A77 Mark II was really an advantage over the other makers. Using the A77 mark II to track a electric flying eagle, almost 100% accuracy, just unbelievable.
Overall, Sony showed innovation and technology, I love the style of them.
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