dpreview made an interview with Sony’s Kimio Maki, Senior General Manager of the Digital Imaging Business Group. They talked about great features and advantages of the recently announced Sony Alpha a7RII (Amazon | B&H | Adorama ), RX10 II (Amazon | B&H | Adorama), RX100 IV (Amazon | B&H | Adorama).
When talking about 4K video recording features compared with Canon EOS 5Ds & 5Ds R, Sony manager Kimio Maki said:
We wanted to overcome the idea that has been prevalent since as long as there have been digital cameras, that you can have one virtue [resolution] or the other [sensitivity] but you can never have both. Look at the Canon EOS 5DS. A maximum ISO sensitivity of 6400, and crippled movie capability. Canon says that it intentionally created the camera to fit the requirements of certain photographers, and [has thereby demonstrated] that the material science of their device technology [cannot] accomplish both objectives.
Kimio Maki also said Sony will make more upper end lenses in the near future, including a new line of f/2.8 fast zoom lens, more super telephoto zoom lenses, more large aperture prime FE lenses:
We have already made a 35mm F1.4 and 90mm macro – both were based on customer’s requirements, and also we have a full F4 zoom lineup, so our next lenses will be at the upper end of the lineup.
KM: Exactly. And also aperture. A F2.8 lineup is necessary, and brighter [primes].
When talking about PDAF can be used with Canon EF lenses on the a7R II (via a Metabones adapter), Kimio Maki said that they will make more high quality native lenses better than EF lenses with adapter:
KM: I hope that our native lenses are better! But it will happen. I see people using Sony a7-series bodies and third-party lenses all the time, for video and for stills, because they already own the lenses. It works, but our native lenses are much better and that’s the process [we see a7-series buyers going through]. Of course we’re not putting them under any pressure, but in order to make them shift, we have to guarantee the quality of the lens. Our lenses have to be better than [those from other manufacturers]. That is my mission.
Read full interview at dpreview.
Yay, this was my main reason for not yet choosing Sony for my main kit. I’ve used Nikon and Canon as a photojournalist for over 30 years. Very important to have fast lenses. Should a real collection of fast glass come from Sony, an a7RII and a host of lenses will be bought. Note – I’ve been using a RX1 since they’ve come out, best camera I’ve ever used based on image quality, the stealth factor is just icing on the cake.
There is gonna be one more A99 coming this year. And that will be the last of the a-mount cameras. They will then drop the a-mount when they have f.2,8 Zooms for e-mount. And when they release the 16-35, 24-70, and 70-200 in e-mount f.2,8. Then they are gonna release the A9, that will release the a-mount cameras. And then the a-mount will be dead
Nope. A mount is here to stay, because it’s the DSLR shape that some people still want. What they’re gonna do is to get rid of the SLT when the tech is gonna be good enough, or build an SLT that can be flipped up to give the sensor that 20% more light. So Sony’s gonna give customer an A-mount mirror less (or with the mirror flippable out of the way) because a “bulky” body has still a little edge (talking comfort here with big lenses) over any new A7II body, thou the A7 has become much better in this respect.
Let’s wait and see.
Zooms 2.8 will be they stabilized or not. I am afraid for the price