Sony Product Launch! (NEX F3,a37,18-135mm A & 18-200mm E)

May 30, 2012

Sony Product Launch! (NEX F3,a37,18-135mm A & 18-200mm E)

Thanks to Sony Malaysia, I was somehow invited to their product launch which was held on the 29th of May at the Bridge Bar, G-Tower Hotel.

The Bridge Bar.

The products that Sony Malaysia Digital Imaging Division launched today were the new NEX F3, a37 DSLT, 18-135mm A-mount lens and 18-200mm black E-mount lens.

The crowd for the night.

The event was kick started by the emcee for the night giving brief introductions about the new products.

Emcee for the night

Then Sony's product manager John Shum gave his presentation to the audience about the new cameras in layman's term. Besides explaining the new DSLT technology used in the latest Sony cameras, he also did a brief comparison with other brands to convince people why Sony should be a better choice. xD

Sony is more valued for money! No. Sony is not paying me for promoting their brand :/

After the presentation, models came out to the stage to show case the cameras as well as their demonstrating their various functions such the Automatic Portrait Framing as well as Sweep Panorama which is the unique selling point in the new cameras.

Lucky draw session

And finally, it's my turn to play with the cameras and lenses. I won't be posting the specs here as it is readily available on dedicated tech websites. I will however talk about my 2 cents about the new stuff. :D

Let's start off with the NEX F3:

Apart from sporting a new sensor compared to its predecessor, the NEX C3, the F3 has a better grip and a 180 degree flip screen. The advantage of the new screen means that it's much easier to take self portraits, however the camera loses the advantage of taking high angle shots now. Anyway, since it's targetted for the ladies who love to take pictures of themselves this wouldn't be a problem. This camera + 18-55mm kit retails at RM1999. At RM2399 you can get the pancake 16mm f2.8 bundled in as well.

Self portrait :D

It comes in bright red too!

Moving on to the a37 (RM1999 with 18-55mm kit) and 18-135mm lens. The a37 now has a tilt screen which is a great addition compared to the a35. However it only sports a 230k LCD screen compared the F3 which has 920k dots. No idea what was Sony thinking though. Both cameras are effectively targetting the entry level users but why the F3 has better specs?

I was more interested with the 18-135mm lens though. The built of the lens was rather nice with a metal mount. Can't really comment about the sharpness as I was shooting with high ISO and the details are slightly smudged. One thing I would like to note was the autofocus sound of this lens was much more quieter than other SAM lenses that I have used before. Even though i placed my ears on the lens itself I could only hear it autofocusing ever so softly, of course compared to SSM lenses it still loses out. ~~Or maybe the music was loud at the time of testing~~

Shot with 18-135mm.

Last but not least, the 18-200mm E mount lens. I didn't really play around much with this lens but one thing for sure this lens is smaller than the silver 18-200mm, and it comes in black. The end.

18-200mm fully extended

Met some wonderful people on that night as well, notably Jason or more popularly known as smashpop as well as Aya from Sony Singapore. Didn't catch the other guy's name though :/

Now moving on the matters slightly unrelated to the launch event....

I had a chance to play with the Samyang 24mm f1.4 lens! Only played with it for like 5 minutes, but with focus peaking manual focusing has never been easier.