Photokina 2010 Lens Mock-ups

[KevinBarrett]

Sony has displayed seven E-mount lens prototypes at Photokina 2010. I have taken the liberty of guessing at their roles in a kind of multiple-choice game with information from DPReview.

Any speculations as to each lens's specifications? How will these lenses factor into the Alpha system now that SAM and SSM lenses will be able to autofocus on NEX cameras via the LA-EA1 Mount Adapter?

[Birma]

Wow . That is a hell of a road map! I'm trying to remember how many 'Sony' lenses came out with the A100? Nex is going to be "mega" .

[Javelin]

They look like coffe travel mugs. let me dub the new Nex G zoom the coffee mug! (beercan was taken sorry)

[Greg Beetham]

Well for me, seeing as how they are all e-mount and don't fit my Alpha cameras I don't see how they 'fit' into the Alpha lineup at all. Anyway it's good too see that they will make at least 5 of em 'shiny' so that's sortof appropriate at least.
It was odd also to see Sony admit openly they wouldn't be able too compete with Canon and Nikon in the upper end of the camera market, with Sony's haphazard and fragmented approach in manufacturing, marketing, distribution and promotion of DSLR's and accessories, I for one would agree with that assessment. I'd almost be willing to wager a beer that most people in the USA for instance that had bought or maybe still own a Minolta or KM SLR/DSLR still probably don't even know that Sony continued on with the A-mount some time after Minolta ceased operations.
Greg.

[peterottaway]

I must admit that I took the the so called " roadmap " with more than a grain of salt. In fact if I repeated here what I said when I first saw the photos of the lens mockups I would be getting myself banned. As an indicator of anything at all it ranks with " Go west young man ".

If you look at the NEX camera mockups and then what was released then I think you get some idea of what Sony is doing at Photokina. They are providing hints but not enough to lay out the details to actual product.

By just accepting that the E-mount is Sonys new interchangeable lens mount for consumer cameras and that in the future both smaller and somewhat larger sensors may be developed for new camera lines you can work out what is probably coming in the new couple of years. It's likely that you will get E versions of the 30mm macro and the 35mm/ 50mm primes from Sony and the 60mm macro from Tamron. In zoom lenses there will be something like the 11mm - 18 mm and the 55mm - 200mm if not a version of the newly introduced Nikon 55mm - 300mm and for a prestige item a development of the CZ 16mm = 80mm. As to how many higher performance lenses soon, that would depend on whether in there will be higher end NEX cameras based on the SLT style in 2011.

If Sony decide to remain in the upper enthusiast / semi - pro market then a modified A-mount ( electronic not mechanical - electronic) does have a future as it could also be used for their pro spec video cameras. But you would have to accept that the older screw drive lenses are not going to be compatible with-in a few years with newer models.

[Dr. Harout]

...But you would have to accept that the older screw drive lenses are not going to be compatible with-in a few years with newer models.

I guess they would "with some restrictions". After all we do use M42 lenses now, don't we?

[David Kilpatrick]

These lenses are almost a blow-for-blow counter to the Samsung lens rollout for NX-100.

David

[KevinBarrett]

They look like coffe travel mugs. let me dub the new Nex G zoom the coffee mug! (beercan was taken sorry)

Let's see, there's at least a couple of lenses in there that are more "beercan-ish" than the beercan. There's also a sliced olive can, and a couple of condensed milk cans.

Overall, I'm encouraged by it, as the NEX system is a lot more attractive as a second camera than the budding "SLT" system--particularly now with the recent firmware updates.

[KevinBarrett]

I'm probably most curious about the three prime lenses, the Zeiss, the portrait, and the mid telephoto.

Since the Zeiss was not described as "ultra-wide" or "super-wide," I'll assume it's no wider than the existant 16mm pancake lens. It could hardly be called "wide" for APS-C if it was longer than 24mm also, and since there's just been a Zeiss 24mm announced, I'll guess that it's somewhere in between 16 and 24, probably towards the longer end, and it's definitely f/2 or faster.

Portrait? That lens is pretty small, maybe 60mm at the longest. I hope it's faster than f/1.8, since there are already a few choices with that kind of speed and SAM focusing motors.

The mid-telephoto lens is perhaps the most puzzling--there's just not much precedent in this area, not for APS-C anyway. Most "mid-telephoto" fixed focal length lenses now-a-days are either very fast portrait lenses or f/2.8 macro lenses. If it doesn't have either speed or modest close-focusing ability, I don't know how many NEX users are going to pick this lens out of the line-up.