Amin
Hall of Famer
While the Sony RX1 has grabbed most of the headlines today, the NEX system has quietly grown up.
From the beginning, there have been three knocks on the Sony NEX system:
1) Lens lineup had gaping holes including the absence of a fast normal lens and ultrawide zoom.
2) No body image stabilization meant that unstabilized primes mean an unstabilized system (for prime shooters).
3) The kit zoom was large compared to the body size when compared to the smallest lenses from Panasonic and Olympus.
Today Sony addressed all three of those concerns. They announced a reasonably compact and light 35mm f/1.8 normal as well as a constant f/4 ultrawide zoom and made both of those optically stabilized. No other manufacturer has seen fit to issue a stabilized normal prime and ultrawide zoom, so this signals Sony's strong commitment to stabilization across the board. At the same time, they issued a new 16-50mm power zoom lens with a collapsible design and powered extension, making the combination of an NEX body and kit zoom very nearly as compact as their most compact MFT competition.
The NEX system remains less complete than Micro 4/3, missing options like faster zooms, telephoto macros, and super telephoto zooms, but as far as I am concerned, the most important gaps in the lens lineup will be filled once the newly announced lenses become available in November.
You can see the entire Sony NEX lens lineup here: http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/st...0151&langId=-1&categoryId=8198552921644718503
Importantly, both Sigma and Tamron are also making NEX lenses, filling such important gaps as having a quality 28mm equivalent prime (Sigma) and relatively compact megazoom (Tamron).
It's an exciting day for the Sony NEX system!
Reminder: We have a sister site devoted to Sony NEX users at TalkNEX.com.
From the beginning, there have been three knocks on the Sony NEX system:
1) Lens lineup had gaping holes including the absence of a fast normal lens and ultrawide zoom.
2) No body image stabilization meant that unstabilized primes mean an unstabilized system (for prime shooters).
3) The kit zoom was large compared to the body size when compared to the smallest lenses from Panasonic and Olympus.
Today Sony addressed all three of those concerns. They announced a reasonably compact and light 35mm f/1.8 normal as well as a constant f/4 ultrawide zoom and made both of those optically stabilized. No other manufacturer has seen fit to issue a stabilized normal prime and ultrawide zoom, so this signals Sony's strong commitment to stabilization across the board. At the same time, they issued a new 16-50mm power zoom lens with a collapsible design and powered extension, making the combination of an NEX body and kit zoom very nearly as compact as their most compact MFT competition.
The NEX system remains less complete than Micro 4/3, missing options like faster zooms, telephoto macros, and super telephoto zooms, but as far as I am concerned, the most important gaps in the lens lineup will be filled once the newly announced lenses become available in November.
You can see the entire Sony NEX lens lineup here: http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/st...0151&langId=-1&categoryId=8198552921644718503
Importantly, both Sigma and Tamron are also making NEX lenses, filling such important gaps as having a quality 28mm equivalent prime (Sigma) and relatively compact megazoom (Tamron).
It's an exciting day for the Sony NEX system!
Reminder: We have a sister site devoted to Sony NEX users at TalkNEX.com.