Sony working on a FF?

Apparently, one of the Zeiss lenses coming out for the Sony supports
FF. Could this be Sony's pro model? It's a long shot though. None of
the other announced lenses appear to support it.

What I really do not get is why Sony has Nikon by the short and curlies with
regard to sensor supply.
There are other vendors with products ready to go or which could be ready
with reasonable development times.
Nikon's dependence on Sony makes even less sense given that Nikon is listed
as a subsidiary of Mitsubishi on the Mitsubishi web site
http://www.mitsubishi.com/php/users/...h_id=13&lang=1
as a vendor of "precision machinery."
Of course the relationships of large Japanese corporations is even more
complex and inbred than cousins in rural Arkansas.

RichA wrote:
Apparently, one of the Zeiss lenses coming out for the Sony supports
FF. Could this be Sony's pro model? It's a long shot though. None of
the other announced lenses appear to support it.



Two Zeiss lenses - 85mm and 135mm - are full frame. All the former
Minolta lenses being issued by Sony are full frame except three - 18-70,
18-200, and 11-18. They are reissuing the 24-105mm full frame, the 20mm,
the 16mm, 28mm, 35 1.4, 50 1.4, 50 and 100 macros, 70-200 2.8, 300 2.8
and 75-300mm (cheapie). The new Zeiss 16-80mm is APS-C only.

So far the mystery is what they are doing with:
100-300mm APO - one of the best former lenses, full frame, not yet
reintroduced
100-400mm APO - ditto
200mm f2.8
200mm f4 macro
400mm f4.5
600mm f4
24mm f2.8
28mm f2 (exceptional lens, but they are selling the quite ordinary 2.8
design)
35mm f2 (not seen for a long time, but excellent, and the 1.4 is a big
four-figure sum to buy)

But they say more lenses will be announced, which could mean revised
versions of some of these, maybe with SSM (ultrasonic) focus motors.

Even now the bulk of the lens line-up is full frame. They may say something.

David

bmoag wrote:

What I really do not get is why Sony has Nikon by the short and
curlies with regard to sensor supply.

They don't. Nikon could go elsewhere.

There are other vendors with products ready to go or which could be ready
with reasonable development times.

Of course. So what, in your opionion, is the problem?

Andrew.

On Wed, 23 Aug 2006 10:24:28 +0100, David Kilpatrick
wrote:

Even now the bulk of the lens line-up is full frame. They may say something.

I could be, and probably is, simple as this: They allready have FF
constructions, so why make new "crop models". Especially for lenses
from 50mm and up. There are more benefits on the wide angle side when
constructing new "crop" lens designs.

-espen
--
http://www.seland.org/

Espen Stranger Seland wrote:
On Wed, 23 Aug 2006 10:24:28 +0100, David Kilpatrick
wrote:

Even now the bulk of the lens line-up is full frame. They may say something.

I could be, and probably is, simple as this: They allready have FF
constructions, so why make new "crop models". Especially for lenses
from 50mm and up. There are more benefits on the wide angle side when
constructing new "crop" lens designs.

True, but there is a cost consideration all round. It is cheaper to
produce lenses meant for smaller formats to the same degree of
correction as FF lenses. I guess they'll balance off the cost of a
completely new design against the increased cost of FF lens production.

RichA wrote:
Espen Stranger Seland wrote:
On Wed, 23 Aug 2006 10:24:28 +0100, David Kilpatrick
wrote:

Even now the bulk of the lens line-up is full frame. They may say something.

I could be, and probably is, simple as this: They allready have FF
constructions, so why make new "crop models". Especially for lenses
from 50mm and up. There are more benefits on the wide angle side when
constructing new "crop" lens designs.

True, but there is a cost consideration all round. It is cheaper to
produce lenses meant for smaller formats to the same degree of
correction as FF lenses. I guess they'll balance off the cost of a
completely new design against the increased cost of FF lens production.

The reason they are making a cropped format camera is that 35mm sized
sensors cost 10X of what the APS sensors cost, the electronics are more
expensive etc. So the Canon 5D is probably at the low end of what a
35mm sized sensor camera would cost. How many will they sell? Canon had
a lot of folks waiting for the 5D, Sony doesn't have that sized
following yet. The Alpha is a so-so camera, they'd have to really pull
out all the stops to sell a $3K camera. How many $1000 and $1500
cameras will they sell compared to a $3000 + camera?

Tom

On 23 Aug 2006 06:09:53 -0700, "tomm42" wrote:


RichA wrote:
Espen Stranger Seland wrote:
On Wed, 23 Aug 2006 10:24:28 +0100, David Kilpatrick
wrote:

Even now the bulk of the lens line-up is full frame. They may say something.

I could be, and probably is, simple as this: They allready have FF
constructions, so why make new "crop models". Especially for lenses
from 50mm and up. There are more benefits on the wide angle side when
constructing new "crop" lens designs.

True, but there is a cost consideration all round. It is cheaper to
produce lenses meant for smaller formats to the same degree of
correction as FF lenses. I guess they'll balance off the cost of a
completely new design against the increased cost of FF lens production.

The reason they are making a cropped format camera is that 35mm sized
sensors cost 10X of what the APS sensors cost, the electronics are more
expensive etc.

cut

We know, but we're discussing lenses :-)

-espen
--
http://www.seland.org/

tomm42 wrote:
RichA wrote:
Espen Stranger Seland wrote:
On Wed, 23 Aug 2006 10:24:28 +0100, David Kilpatrick
wrote:

Even now the bulk of the lens line-up is full frame. They may say something.

I could be, and probably is, simple as this: They allready have FF
constructions, so why make new "crop models". Especially for lenses
from 50mm and up. There are more benefits on the wide angle side when
constructing new "crop" lens designs.

True, but there is a cost consideration all round. It is cheaper to
produce lenses meant for smaller formats to the same degree of
correction as FF lenses. I guess they'll balance off the cost of a
completely new design against the increased cost of FF lens production.

The reason they are making a cropped format camera is that 35mm sized
sensors cost 10X of what the APS sensors cost, the electronics are more
expensive etc. So the Canon 5D is probably at the low end of what a
35mm sized sensor camera would cost. How many will they sell? Canon had
a lot of folks waiting for the 5D, Sony doesn't have that sized
following yet. The Alpha is a so-so camera, they'd have to really pull
out all the stops to sell a $3K camera. How many $1000 and $1500
cameras will they sell compared to a $3000 + camera?

Tom

Few, but Canon seems pretty happy to be selling three bodies with
prices north of
$2500.00

We know, but we're discussing lenses :-)

-espen
--
http://www.seland.org/

OK, the new Zeiss lenses, BFD, I agree with ken Rockwell, they look
like generic off brand lenses, non of the nice finish they had with
Contax and Zeiss before. He also didn't feel they were any better than
the Nikon 50's in fact he felt they had an infereior build. Now to
determine if he actually has one to test.

Tom