Sony NEX SLR Magic Noktor 50mm Lens

Here is the SLR Magic x Noktor HyperPrime 50mm F0.95 for the Sony NEX E-mounhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gift. That is correct the maximum aperture is 0.95 similar to that of the very rare Leica 50mm Noctilux-M priced at $10,495. The Noktor is priced at $1000 which is very close to the Voigtlander 50mm f/1.1 Nokton. This fully manual lens, with an FOV of 75mm on the NEX, will allow plenty of light onto the sensor for low light shooting.

We are waiting for sample photos to see how this lens from the new Noktor company performs, recently acquired by SLR Magic.

For more information check out Noktor.com.

Tempus NEX Sony NEX Intervalometer Remote

Here is the Tempus NEX, an intervalometer infrared remote for Sony Alpha cameras including the NEX. The Tempus NEX was created by bymac.org and will be available on June 15th according to the Tempus NEX website. The Tempus NEX will cost $69, we're not sure if that includes worldwide shipping, it is being made in Portugal. Send an email to tempus@bymac.org if you are interested in this intervalometer for time lapse movies.

Here is a sample time lapse movie by bymac.org made with the Tempus NEX and a Sony NEX-5. The Tempus NEX will work with Sony Alpha cameras with IR remote receivers, e.g. A900 and SLT-A55.

Unfortunately the NEX-5 does not go into sleep mode when it is in Remote Shutter mode. The screen will be on and draining the battery while waiting for the IR signal. Have extra batteries ready when doing intervalometer shots.

We are hoping that the next firmware will allow us to turn off the screen as an option.

Sony NEX-C3 Preliminary Print Ads

Sony NEX-C3 Silver and Black

eddieaus posted some preliminary print advertisements of the new Sony NEX-C3. The black NEX-C3 with the silver top plate is looking very good, reminiscent of the classic rangefinder cameras. This is a good evolution of the Sony NEX-3 in aesthetics and ergonomics.

The NEX-C3 is a 16.2 MP interchangeable lens camera capable of 720p HD video with a tiltable lcd. It uses a 1.5x crop factor APS-C sensor, 23.4 x 15.6 mm, similar to the Sony A580, Nikon D7000, and Pentax K5. Read more about the C3 from our previous posts here, and here.

Please do not hold your NEX like the person above.

NEX with Minolta 90mm Rokkor-M Lens Test

Sony NEX-5 with Minolta 90mm Rokkor-M Lens

Here is a quick lens test of the Minolta 90mm f/4 Rokkor-M on the Sony NEX-5. In 1981 Minolta announced the Minolta CLE, the most advance Leica-M camera until the release of the Leica M7 in 2001. Minolta updated the Leica 90mm Elmar-C to produce the 90mm Rokkor-M for the CLE.

The 90mm Rokkor-M is very light and small for a telephoto lens which is perfect for the Sony NEX system. The lens is mounted to the NEX using a Leica M to E-mount lens adapter. The lens produces an equivalent field of view of 135mm when used with the NEX's APS-C sensor. This makes for a capable portrait lens.

The samples below are JPGs straight from the camera with very minor tweaks and resized before posting.

The Sony NEX-5 was placed on a table and a remote trigger was used to avoid shaking. The ISO was set at 200 and Aperture Priority mode was used.

Image 1. Minolta 90mm Rokkor-M at f/4.

Image 2. 100% Crop of Image 1 Lower Left.

Image 3. 100% Crop of Image 1 Focus Point.

Image 4. 100% Crop of Image 1 Right Center.

Handheld shots with Shutter Priority at 1/250.

Image 5. NEX ISO 1250 and Minolta 90mm Rokkor-M at f/4.

Image 6. NEX ISO 800 and Minolta 90mm Rokkor-M at f/4.

Image 7. NEX ISO 400 and Minolta 90mm Rokkor-M at f/4.

Here is the Freedom Tower being built on the former site of the World Trade Center Towers.

Image 8. NEX ISO 200 and Minolta 90mm Rokkor-M at f/5.6 .

Image 9. NEX ISO 200 and Minolta 90mm Rokkor-M at f/4.

Holga Wide Lens for Sony NEX Cameras

It looks like Holga is joining the Sony E-mount system. They are producing a very inexpensive plastice lens with a native Sony NEX E-mount. It is a 25mm focal length lens (37.5mm FOV for the NEX cameras) with a fixed aperture of f/8. It is a zone focus lens, practice telling distances at 0.7, 2, 6, and 10+ meters (2.3, 7, 20, and 33 feet) in order to focus. These are the distances you can select with the focus ring.

The official Holga part number is HL(W)-SN. The images and information is from Buy The Goods of eBay fame. The Holga Wide Lens for the Sony NEX recently went for $19.75 shipped from Buy The Goods and sold out.

In order to combat this Sony will be releasing the Firmware Version 04 with a Toy Camera filter effect.

Sony NEX-5 with Contax Zeiss Distagon and Planar

Here are my dream slr lenses on the Sony NEX-5. They are Carl Zeiss lenses made for the Contax SLR system. These lenses are on par with the modern Carl Zeiss lenses for Sony/Minolta, Pentax, Canon, and Nikon at a very reasonable price.

All the lenses were previously used on a Canon DSLR via a Contax / Yashica to Canon EOS adapter. They were mounted on the Sony NEX-5 using an EOS to NEX E-mount adapter. The direct way would be to use a Contax/Yashica to NEX E-mount lens adapter.

Here are the lenses mounted on the NEX and sample snap shots at wide open aperture and stopped down at f/5.6. These images are straight jpgs out of the NEX-5.

The first lens is the Contax Zeiss 28mm Distagon with a maximum aperture of f/2.8. This is a great landscape lens at a bargain.

Sony NEX with Contax Zeiss 28mm f/2.8 Distagon

Contax 28mm Distagon at f/2.8

Contax 28mm Distagon at f/5.6

The second lens is the Contax Zeiss 50mm Planar with a maximum aperture of f/1.4. The perfect normal lens, dreamy wide open at f/1.4 and tack sharp stopped down.

Sony NEX with Contax Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 Planar

Contax 50mm Planar at f/1.4

Contax 50mm Planar at f/5.6

The third lens is the Contax Zeiss 85mm Planar with a maximum aperture of f/1.4. The perfect portrait lens, dreamy with creamy bokeh wide open and tack sharp at smaller apertures.

Sony NEX with Contax 85mm f/1.4 Planar

Contax 85mm Planar at f/1.4

Contax 85mm Planar at f/5.6

The announcement of Carl Zeiss joining the Sony E-mount system with their rumored 24mm f/1.7 lens was great news to us. We are hoping that other Carl Zeiss lenses optimized for the Sony NEX are being developed.

More Details About the NEX-C3

Silve Sony NEX-C3 with 16mm Pancake Lens

Details about the new Sony Alpha NEX-C3, which replaces the NEX-3.

• There will be three (3) model designations:
  • NEX-C3A with the 16mm Pancake Lens
  • NEX-C3K with the 18-55mm Zoom OSS Lens
  • NEX-C3D with both the 16mm Pancake and the 18-55mm Zoom Lens
• The APS-C sensor as written on the NEX-C3 body is 16.2 MP which produces a 4912 x 3264 pixel image. The NEX-3 produces a 4592 X 3056 pixel image.
• The Sony NEX-C3 will ship with the new NEX firmware version 04 which includes:
• Focus Peaking
• Picture Effects
• The location of the memory card has been moved from the battery compartment. It now resides in a separate compartment closer to the center of the camera.
• The NEX-C3 will ship with the standard NEX flash and not the larger flash in this picture. This confirms that the older NEX-3 and NEX-5 can accept the larger flash.
• As we predicted the left and right direction of the wheel is now customizable. This gives us five buttons to to tailor the NEX-C3's user interface to our needs.

This is all from a Czech version of the NEX-C3 manual which we learned of from our friends at Sony Alpha Rumours. We do not speak Czech so it's a rough translation.