Sony late with lenses??

[bossel]

I remember these articles from 2007, where it was said Sony will release 10 (or so) new lenses til the end of next year (that would be end of 2008). What did we get for 2008? The cs 24-70 and 70-300? 16-35 and 70-400 have been just announced and will probably not be available in 2008.

Aren't we a couple of lenses short?

[pakodominguez]

Vous etes presse, mon cher Monsieur?

what are you expecting for? I think you can find basically all that you need on the current line-up. I would like to see less expensive version of the 100/135 mm, 85mm and 50mm (f1.8 lenses) or a better version of the 24~105.

[Dr. Harout]

I remember these articles from 2007, where it was said Sony will release 10 (or so) new lenses til the end of next year (that would be end of 2008). What did we get for 2008? The cs 24-70 and 70-300? 16-35 and 70-400 have been just announced and will probably not be available in 2008.

Aren't we a couple of lenses short?

I think that was before the launch of A700. And if I'm right then you should add 16-105, 55-200, 18-250. Anyway, one way or another we are at a still less than the announced figure.

[bossel]

what are you expecting for?

Some affordable F2 primes, like 24,35,50,85, maybe 100
Some affordable F4 zooms, like 24-105/135

[PhotoTraveler]

Yes, they are late.

At PMA 2007, they stated all the lenses would be available within a year, and 5 of them by the end of the year. It hasn't panned out no matter how you do it.

We got the 18-250, 16-105, 55-200 in 2007, so they were short by 2 lenses. And none of those were part of "the case"

We got the 70-300G and 24-70ZA at the PMA lead up. That only got us 2 lenses from the Case at that point. Now granted PMA came early on 2008, but even by the time 1 year had passed, only 2 of the lenses had been announced.

Now we get 2 more, the 70-400G and 16-35ZA. But we are now 1.5 years post PMA 2007. So that's 50% over due with only 50% of the lenses announced. If they ever happen, it will now be into PMA 2009. Which basically means 2 years to do what they said they would have in 1 year. So no matter how you do the math, they are behind on their statements. The A900 is close enough, though when first announced it too was in the "within a year" statements, but that was refreshed to "by the end of 08" before to long, and they have done that.

The Lens thing is really starting to get on me. Since they can't even get that block of lenses out of the way, it makes you wonder about even further developments. Pentax just brought a Pile of lenses. Panny is bringing a bunch of new system lenses. And now Leica is bringing a whole new system with lenses, including a Tilt Shift lens!!! This is really starting to get on my nerves.

They better have some further announcements at Photokina. Showing the same mockups for the 3rd major show in a row is a bad sign (PMA 07, PMA 08, Photokina 08). They really need to announce some further specs and dates on those lenses, and start talking about what come beyond. I can understand if the 16-35 and 70-400 are in the pipe, while some of the others are ready but production hasn't begun yet and they will ship in the new year. Just say something. They started off so well cranking out lenses. Announce specs and give a time table.

[Greg Beetham]

Yep I agree,
Sony seems to be having problems not only getting lenses into production, but with QC as well, one wonders if it's just the shortage of skilled people, or was it that some of the critical skilled Minolta people walked when they heard of the Sony takeover...it just seems peculiar that smaller companies like Pentax and Olympus can get lenses designed and into production and on shelves with very little in the way of issues with QC, and Sony can't??....apparently.

Also I think you can cross the 18-250 and the 55-200 off the list of Sony production lenses (from the ground up), as these look more like restyled Tamrons, so that makes the list even smaller, of Sony accomplishments.

Speaking of Tamron I see they have announced a couple of new lenses.

AF18-270mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC LD Aspherical (IF) NEW

Model B003

AF28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 XR Di VC LD Aspherical (IF) NEW

Model A20

http://www.tamron.com/lenses/prod/all_in_one_zooms.asp

Greg

[[SiC]]

AF18-270mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC LD Aspherical (IF) NEW

Could be a nice walkaround/travel lens

[Greg Beetham]

Yes both of them look interesting, the 28-300 has the XR glass as well as the Low Dispersion glass....could be a high class lens, we'll have to wait for the reviews and see.....I see at the bottom of the features page it lists only for the Nikon mount and Canon mount also available, but if you go to the individual lens page and click on the specifications tab there is a "service update" link that says they are also available in Sony/Maxxum, Pentax/Samsung mounts as well.
Greg

[KevinBarrett]

I wonder how it compares with the 18-250, whether it is nearly identical, better, or poorly compromised?

[Greg Beetham]

Yeah Kevin,
hard too guess, the 18-250 was a better lens than the 18-200, so if the 18-270 is as good as the 18-250 it'll be definitely handy, but surely there is a point in these superzooms that is the limit of performance...one would think.....looks like the 18-270 is an APS-C lens and the 28-300 is a FF....probably with a price too match.
Greg