New Sony a7III announced and nine FE-mount Sigma lenses

Surprised this was not on here sooner, E.J. must be away

https://www.dpreview.com/news/812889554 ... s-advances

Quite an appealing camera at that price point.

Sigma finally announce the development of FE-mount lenses:

https://www.dpreview.com/news/072609176 ... art-lenses

Shame the did not add a 500 f4 to that list

All Sigma seems to be doing is using the same lenses they make for Nikon and Canon and just adding the extension needed to get those optics to work into the lens barrel.  I agree that they are really missing an opportunity by not offering the Sport lenses.  The Sony system isn't lacking in wide, normal, and portrait lenses, it is severely lacking in Sports and wildlife optics.  The 150-600 and 500 would make Sigma the only game in town for Sigma FE users...

The a7 III is essentially the a7R III with the a9 AF system and a simplified version of the a9 24 mp sensor.

I agree E.J. the midfield is covered by very good Sony lenses and Sigma have missed a trick by not covering the longer end. Not like they have to redesign the lenses to do what they are doing already

It does seem a severe omission by Sony to leave out long lenses. For me, one of the significant advantages of Sony is the compact bodies. Maybe I'm out in left field on this, but in keeping with the size advantage, it seems there would be a market for a 500/600mm f5.6 lens. I'd buy such a lens in a heartbeat. The upcoming 400f2.8 will be an excellent lens I'm sure, but it's a monster, and personally, I'd love to see a 500 or 600 f5.6.
Many years ago I had a friend with the Nikon 600mmf5.6 and the size and weight savings compared to the f4 version were substantial(less than half the weight of the f4 version if I remember correctly).
Not to mention the cost savings and less complicated design?

Scott Fairbairn wrote:It does seem a severe omission by Sony to leave out long lenses. For me, one of the significant advantages of Sony is the compact bodies. Maybe I'm out in left field on this, but in keeping with the size advantage, it seems there would be a market for a 500/600mm f5.6 lens. I'd buy such a lens in a heartbeat. The upcoming 400f2.8 will be an excellent lens I'm sure, but it's a monster, and personally, I'd love to see a 500 or 600 f5.6.
Many years ago I had a friend with the Nikon 600mmf5.6 and the size and weight savings compared to the f4 version were substantial(less than half the weight of the f4 version if I remember correctly).
Not to mention the cost savings and less complicated design?

Nikon has filed patents for 500 and 600 f/5.6 PF lenses - now most patents are never productized and are often filed just to keep others from doing something but at least somebody is thinking about it.

My first big time telephoto lens was a Canon FL-F 500mm f5.6. It seemed massive until I later bought a 400mm f2.8, then I realized how small it was by comparison. With today's great high iso's I'd love to see a 500 or 600 f5.6 for the E mount.

This could tip me over to moving to Sony (from Nikon) for landscapes and portraits. I currently have a D850 and a D500. I'm just so tired of AF fine tuning lenses. I never have confidence that I tuning them as well as I should be able to. Also, for portrait work, Sony' Eye Auto Focus looks fantastic. So I'm thinking I might trade in my D850 for an A7RIII and keep the D500, for now, for sports and wildlife action. Maybe I'll trade the D500 in later for an A7III or A9. Many of my lenses are Sigma Art or Sport so I'll now be able to swap them out for Sony mount versions and not have to use the MC-11 adapter. I've just been with Nikon for so long, it's hard to pull the trigger.

Scott A. Flaherty wrote:This could tip me over to moving to Sony (from Nikon) for landscapes and portraits. I currently have a D850 and a D500. I'm just so tired of AF fine tuning lenses. I never have confidence that I tuning them as well as I should be able to. Also, for portrait work, Sony' Eye Auto Focus looks fantastic. So I'm thinking I might trade in my D850 for an A7RIII and keep the D500, for now, for sports and wildlife action. Maybe I'll trade the D500 in later for an A7III or A9. Many of my lenses are Sigma Art or Sport so I'll now be able to swap them out for Sony mount versions and not have to use the MC-11 adapter. I've just been with Nikon for so long, it's hard to pull the trigger.

That's basically what I do, a7R III with a7R II as backup for landscapes and travel and D500 with Sigma 150-600 and 500/4 for wildlife

E.J. Peiker wrote: That's basically what I do, a7R III with a7R II as backup for landscapes and travel and D500 with Sigma 150-600 and 500/4 for wildlife

E.J. have you ever tried the a6500 with Sigma 150-600? Could it substitute the D500?
I'm thinking about going that way as I moved from D810 to a7RIII and I don't like to maintain two systems...
I'm a bit worried about the small size of the a6500 and I'm not able to borrow one to try with the Sigma.

loremattei wrote:

E.J. Peiker wrote: That's basically what I do, a7R III with a7R II as backup for landscapes and travel and D500 with Sigma 150-600 and 500/4 for wildlife

E.J. have you ever tried the a6500 with Sigma 150-600? Could it substitute the D500?
I'm thinking about going that way as I moved from D810 to a7RIII and I don't like to maintain two systems...
I'm a bit worried about the small size of the a6500 and I'm not able to borrow one to try with the Sigma.

I have not.  I would need to have a Canon mount version of the 150-600mm Sport lens.  I have actually contemplated converting my Nikon mount version of the 150-600 Sport to Canon mount and then coupling that with the MC11.  But with Sigma's recent announcement that the Art lenses are eligible for their mount conversion service to Sony FE, I decided to hold off to see if they will extend the conversion service to the Sigma Sport lenses.

But I can speak a bit from experience on how I think it would do and that is this - For stationary, perched, or birds/animals moving predictably, I have absolutely no doubt that an a6300, a6500, a7R III, a7 III, and especially the a9 would have no problem at all.  What I don't know is how well it would do with a randomly moving subject and how well it work in Lock On AF - Flexible Spot mode.

Has anyone heard an availability date? I know they can be preordered, but I want to know when they will ship.

Scott A. Flaherty wrote:Has anyone heard an availability date? I know they can be preordered, but I want to know when they will ship.

Sony usually ships in small numbers at first so the first to preorder get the first cameras. The cameras are in short supply for the first month or two and even then it might take a while before the camera is readily available depending on good the reviews are and how popular the camera is. So knowing when the camera will first ship doesn't mean much unless you've preordered. Most reliable shops won't charge your card until they actually ship, so you can preorder and cancel any time prior to shipment without incurring any cost or penalty.

Ysigngrap wrote:

Scott A. Flaherty wrote:Has anyone heard an availability date? I know they can be preordered, but I want to know when they will ship.

Sony usually ships in small numbers at first so the first to preorder get the first cameras. The cameras are in short supply for the first month or two and even then it might take a while before the camera is readily available depending on good the reviews are and how popular the camera is. So knowing when the camera will first ship doesn't mean much unless you've preordered. Most reliable shops won't charge your card until they actually ship, so you can preorder and cancel any time prior to shipment without incurring any cost or penalty.

Actually, I was referring to the Sigma lenses.  :)

They haven't announced availability yet. B&H lists them around mid July.

I was wondering if the mount conversion is also available for Sports 150-600 and 500F4? When i check the Sigma UK website it does mention Sony....

update: i spoke  with Sigma and the lens conversion is only for short lenses and not for the 150-600 and 500mm.........


Rene

rene wrote:I was wondering if the mount conversion is also available for Sports 150-600 and 500F4? When i check the Sigma UK website it does mention Sony....

update: i spoke  with Sigma and the lens conversion is only for short lenses and not for the 150-600 and 500mm.........


Rene

Like I said, at this time it is only offered for Art series lenses, not Sport or Contemporary series lenses