Sony Issues Lens Firmware Updates
For all the fanfare that’s greeted the Sony A7 line-up since its release, there have been a few qualms users among its broad adoption base have had with the system, and arguably chief among which has been focusing speed. Among the native FE lenses, AF hasn’t exactly been DSLR grade, and the focus-by-wire approach has left manual focusing a bit wanting too. It is to address this that Sony has released these firmware updates for the following lenses – sort of…
I say sort of because the ‘focus’ of this update isn’t addressing the ultimate want of full frame alpha shooters, in that it’s not really addressing AF ability, but manual focus.
When using the camera continuously in MF setting at long period time, credibility of the focus position is improved.
If that wording seems a bit odd to you, you’re not alone, but translated that essentially is saying that the reliability of the focus points is improved during use and especially during extended use. Anyone who has used focus-by-wire manual focusing on an A7 knows that the motor which drives the changes in the lens isn’t anywhere near as quick as you’d have with a true manual focus lens, though arguably it can be smoother. With extended us they can, at times, really lag. Sure, most users won’t use manual focusing much, but the improvement here is certainly welcome. Find the firmware update for the 1.4 here, and 2.8 here.
Samyang ‘Blockbuster’ Summer
In a rather rare, if not also unprecedented move, Korean manufacturer Samyang has announced that they’ll be announcing a new lens each week for 5 weeks starting Monday July 18th. They’re calling the event a Samyang Blockbuster.
While cardinal brands like Canon and Nikon have traditionally been the typical lens-makers of choice, we’ve seen third party companies rise in quality and number of offerings over the past few years. Sigma, of course, is the poster child of this movement but other brands have been following suit and becoming a bit more mainstream – Samyang is sort of doing the same.
While Samyang may be most well known for cine lenses and the lack of Autofocus in their lenses, one only imagines that with such a large release both of these will be addressed. As it stands Samyang only have a single lens with AF ability and it’s a 50mm 1.4 for Sony FE. While we have no actual data thus far on what lenses Samyang will be releasing over the coming weeks, it wouldn’t be far fetched to think more FE mounts lenses are to come, or more AF lenses to come for DSLR bodies. We’ll have to wait and see but we’ll keep you posted.
Canon 5D MK IV Is Likely Arriving Soon
According to CanonRumors the Canon 5D IV has been officially registered with the Indonesian Certification Authority under the model nomenclature of Canon DS126601. While the series of numbers isn’t exactly riveting or sexy, the registration does appear to show that WiFi and GPS will be part and parcel of the 5D, and that is.
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The significance of being registered with this Indonesian Certification Authority is that historically there’s been a pattern where this happens, and the release occurs just a few months after. In fact, Leica has just had an ‘8854’ camera registered with the same authority.
That both of these have happened in the past week or so seems to suggest they’ll be unveiled at similar times, and given that Photokina in Cologne will be taking place at the end of September, it isn’t hard to put 2 and 2 together. It would seem Photokina is likely to be good to Canon users this year.
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