No new product line would be complete without lenses & accessories to kit out those spankin’ new cameras. And yesterday’s Sony product launch was no exception to that rule.
Hand-in-hand with yesterday’s exciting camera announcements, were a number of new lens & accessory launches to accentuate all your new Sony shooting experiences.
In tandem with the new Alpha α65 & Alpha α77, a new DT 16-50mm F2.8 SSM zoom lens, a backpack & two soft carrying cases, LCD protectors and eyepiece cups were announced.
The 16-50mm f/2.8 Standard Zoom Lens (SAL1650), ideal for both portrait and everyday shooting, features a dust and moisture-resistant design, and offers a zoom range of approximately 3x range at constant wide F2.8 aperture. Optical performance is assured by aspherical glass and three ED lens elements to minimize aberration at all focal lengths. And an internal Super Sonic wave Motor (SSM) drive enables fast, quiet autofocus.
The SAL1650 lens will be available October 2011. MSRP: $800
Announced also was an optional dust and moisture-resistant Vertical Grip (VG-C77AM) for the α77 that not only offers comfortable handling in vertical shooting positions, but can house up to two two NP-FM500H InfoLITHIUM® batteries — in effect, doubling shooting stamina to approximately 1060 shots (via LCD monitor) or 940 shots (via Tru-Finder™ viewfinder) when using Memory Stick PRO Duo™ media.
The VG-C77AM Vertical Grip will be available October 2011. MSRP: $400
Other new A-mount system accessories include a back pack (LCS-BP2) and two soft carrying cases (LCS-SC21 and LCS-SC8.) The LCS-BP2 Backpack features four (4) padded interior dividers as well as an integrated rain cover, while the LCS-SC21 Carrying Case features five (5) padded interior dividers & a comfortable shoulder strap.
But the Alphas aren’t getting ALL the new toys. The growing choice of E-mount lenses, compatible with the NEX lineup, now includes the new Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* E 24mm F1.8 ZA (SEL24F18Z), E 50mm F1.8 OSS (SEL50F18) and long-awaited Telephoto zoom E 55-210mm F4.5-6.3 OSS (SEL55210).
Carl Zeiss® 24mm f/1.8 Lens (SEL24F18Z). This is the first Carl Zeiss® lens to be released in the Sony E-mount lineup. Aspherical lenses located on either side of the aperture effectively compensate for distortion, while an ED element suppresses chromatic aberration. The lens features seven aperture blades that form a near circle as well as a large large f/1.8 aperture – ideal choice for shooting interiors in low light, as well as for superb background defocusing. Direct Manual Focus (DMF) allows for direct manual focusing after autofocus lock-on without having to switch modes. And Smooth and quiet AF for video ensures smooth and quiet operation, minimizing noise and image jitter when shooting movies.
50mm f/1.8 Telephoto Lens (SEL50F18). Take advantage of the built-in Optical SteadyShot image stabilization system which provides around a 4-stop shutter speed advantage, making it significantly easier to achieve crisp, blur-free images and video. The fixed 50mm mid-range telephoto focal length and f/1.8 aperture allow for beautiful, dreamily defocused backgrounds and isremarkably compact and lightweight for a large-aperture mid-range telephoto lens.
55-210mm F4.5-6.3 OSS Zoom Lens (SEL55210). With its wide focal range of up to 315mm (35mm equivalent), this lens is ideal for sports or nature shots. Two ED (Extra-low Dispersion) glass elements help suppress chromatic aberration and color bleeding at all focal lengths providing excellent image quality throughout the zoom range.
The SEL55210 E-mount Telephoto zoom will be available October 2011. MSRP: $400. The SEL24F18Z Carl Zeiss Sonnar will be available December 2011. MSRP: $1,100. The SEL50F18 E 50mm F1.8 OSS will also be available December 2011. MSRP: $400
But lenses aren’t all that’s new! Sony has announced an optional Mount Adaptor (LA-EA2) — world’s first mount adaptor with built-in Translucent Mirror Technology™ — that allows phase-detection AF with the majority of A-mount lenses for both still image and video shooting. It’s equipped with an aperture drive mechanism and it enables AE with all A-mount lenses except Teleconverters.
Also announced was a new optional Electronic Viewfinder (FDA-EV1S), XGA OLED Tru-Finder™ display that offers a wide viewing angle, 2359K dots resolution and a high contrast ratio for high definition viewing and framing. It can also smoothly adjust from 0 to 90 degrees from the camera body to accommodate different shooting positions.
The new LA-EA2 mount adaptor and FDA-EV1S OLED viewfinder will both be available November 2011. MSRP: $450 (LA-EA2) & $400 (FDA-EV1S).
An enhancement to Sony’s lineup of recordable media was also announced with the launch of the new SDHC Class 10 memory cards. With a 22-megabytes-per-second transfer rate, they are now the fastest SDHC cards available from Sony. The cards will be available in 8GB, 16GB & 32GB capacities.
SDHC Class 10 memory cards will be available Fall 2011.