Sony Electronics Announces a Compact Wide-Angle FE 16-25mm F2.8 G Zoom Lens

A constant F2.8 full-frame E-mount lens that offers high-resolution image quality, a wide-angle zoom range and excellent portability

SAN DIEGO. April 16, 2024 – Sony Electronics is pleased to announce the FE 16-25mm F2.8 G (SEL1625G), a large-aperture wide-angle zoom lens compatible with Sony’s α™ (Alpha™) E-mount cameras. This latest addition delivers sharp imagery from 16 mm through 25 mm while maintaining a maximum aperture of F2.8 over the entire zoom range. The FE 16-25mm F2.8 G is the smallest and lightest constant F2.8 zoom lens that Sony has produced to date. The compact design is a signature feature of Sony’s G lens series and makes it a highly portable lens option.

The FE 16-25mm F2.8 G’s wide-angle lens offers photographers and videographers an expanded range of creative expression, allowing them to capture a variety of subjects including landscapes, architecture, portraits, and selfie-shooting. This new addition follows the FE 24-50mm F2.8 G standard zoom lens announced February 2024, both offering many of the same characteristics including filter diameter, aperture, and compact size and weight.

“The FE 16-25mm F2.8 G was designed to offer creators a wide-angle lens option that perfectly balances large-aperture, compact form factor, and high-image quality. This is the 73rd addition to our E-mount lens line-up, and just another step in our commitment to providing photographers and videographers with the perfect lens solutions for their specific needs,” says Yang Cheng, Vice President, Imaging Solutions, Sony Electronics Inc. “The FE 16-25mm F2.8 G is a fantastic lens with high-resolution performance, beautiful bokeh, and high precision autofocus. It is a perfect companion to the Alpha 7C R and Alpha 7C II compact full-frame camera bodies, and together they offer an unbeatable lightweight set-up.”

Key Features of FE 16-25mm F2.8 G

The FE 16-25mm F2.8 G features an impressively compact and lightweight design with a width of 74.8mm (about 2.94 in), length of 91.4mm (about 3.58 in), filter diameter of φ67 mm, and weight of approximately 409g.

This lens incorporates advanced optical technology to deliver exceptional image quality across the entire frame. By incorporating three Extra-Low Dispersion (ED) elements and four aspherical lenses (including one ED aspherical lens), the lens design effectively minimizes various optical aberrations, including chromatic aberration.

The FE 16-25mm F2.8 G combines an 11-blade circular aperture and the optimization of spherical aberration to produce the signature smooth bokeh known to the G lens series. Moreover, it offers functional close-up shooting capabilities with a minimum shooting distance of 0.18m and a maximum magnification of 0.20x when using autofocus (AF)i.

The lens is equipped with two linear motors that enable exceptional autofocus performance, delivering high-speed, high-precision, and quiet focusing capabilities, even when capturing fast-moving subjects. These linear motors ensure swift and accurate focusing, allowing photographers and videographers to maintain sharpness and clarity in their images and videos, even in challenging shooting situations. Furthermore, it supports high-speed continuous shooting with AF/AE tracking of up to 120 frames per second, a feature capable of being used when paired with the Alpha 9 III full-frame mirrorless cameraii.

The FE 16-25mm F2.8 G excels in video performance, ensuring smooth and precise focusing even when shooting high-frame-rate videos such as 4K120p or FHD240piii. The lens is equipped with linear response manual focus (MF), allowing videographers to make precise focus adjustments with ease. Additionally, it supports in-body Active Mode Image Stabilizationiv and Focus Breathing to optimize video capture.

The lens is equipped with practical and user-friendly functionality including a customizable focus hold button, aperture ring, aperture click ON/OFF switch, and a focus mode switch. The FE 16-25mm F2.8 G’s design is dust and moisture resistantv, and includes a fluorine coating to further prevent dirt from sticking to the front surface of the lens.

Pricing and Availability

The FE 16-25mm F2.8 G will be available for pre-sale April 17, 2024, and purchase May 10, 2024. It will retail for approximately $1,199.99 USD and $1,599.99 CAN, at a variety of Sony’s authorized dealers throughout North America.

i Maximum magnification is 0.2x (AF)/0.23x (MF) with a minimum focus distance of 0.18 m (0.59ft) (AF) / 0.17 m (0.56ft) (MF) at the 16 mm end of the range and 0.24 m (AF) (0.79ft) / 0.22 m (0.73ft) (MF) at the 25 mm end of the range for superb wide-angle close-up performance.
ii Sony test conditions. Maximum continuous frame rate may be lower in some shooting conditions. Continuous shooting speed may vary depending on the lens used in AF-C focus modes. Visit Sony’s support web page for lens compatibility information.
iii Depends on the camera used.
iv Compatible models only.
v Not guaranteed to be 100% dust and moisture proof.

Blackmagic Design Announces New Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K

Las Vegas, Nevada, April 12, 2024 — Blackmagic Design today announced Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K, a revolutionary new digital film camera that introduces new advanced technologies with total integration into the post production workflow. This new model includes a new large format RGBW 36 x 24mm sensor with larger photo-sites for 16 stops of dynamic range, interchangeable PL, LPL and EF lens mounts, and industry standard Lemo and Fischer connections. Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K comes with 8TB of high performance storage built in and also includes high speed networking for media upload and syncing to Blackmagic Cloud. Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K is available immediately from Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide from US$14,995.

The Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K will be demonstrated on the Blackmagic Design NAB 2024 booth #SL5005.

URSA Cine features a revolutionary new sensor designed for incredible quality images at all resolutions from 4K to a massive 12K. The larger sensor builds on the technology of URSA Mini Pro 12K with larger photo-sites leading to an astounding 16 stops of dynamic range. The unique RGBW architecture provides equal amounts of red, green and blue pixels. This means it is optimized to deliver incredibly rich colors at all resolutions and provide the ultimate in image quality and flexibility.

URSA Cine is designed to meet the demands of any high end production. The evenly weighted camera body is built with a robust magnesium alloy chassis and lightweight carbon fiber polycarbonate composite skin to help customers move quickly on set. Standard Lemo and Fischer connectors let customers control the camera remotely while providing power for lens motors and other accessories. Customers also get 12G‑SDI out, 10G Ethernet, USB-C, XLR audio and more.

The full sensor area gives customers a stunning 3:2 open gate image which lets customers reframe their shots in post production. Or customers can use the large sensor area to shoot anamorphic and deliver in a range of aspect ratios with 1.3, 1.5, 1.6, 1.66, 1.8 and 2x de-squeeze factors. Plus, customers can shoot in 4K, 8K or 12K using the entire sensor without cropping, retaining the full field of view of their lenses. There are even 9K Super 35 4-perf, 3-perf and 2-perf modes for full compatibility with classic cinema lenses.

Different projects require different lenses which is why URSA Cine features an interchangeable lens mount. Customers can quickly switch between PL, LPL, EF and Hasselblad mounts. Plus, each mount has contact pins to read lens metadata for monitoring and for use in post production.

URSA Cine lets crews work faster on set with multiple monitoring options. The fold out monitor has a large 5″ HDR touchscreen on one side and an external color status LCD on the other. On the right side of the camera, there’s a dedicated assist station with a second 5″ HDR touchscreen which allows crew to work around the camera without needing external monitors. There’s even a dedicated focus puller’s mode to help customers get perfect focus.

The wide range of industry standard connections on URSA Cine make it perfect for high end cinema production. The 7 pin Lemo and 3 pin Fischer connectors at the front provide record start/stop and 24V power so are ideal for on board accessories such as focus motors. Camera power is provided by a standard 24V 8 pin Lemo connection, plus there’s an additional 2 pin Lemo 12V connection at the rear for lower voltage accessories.

Blackmagic RAW files store camera metadata, lens data, white balance, digital slate information and custom LUTs to ensure consistency of image on set and through post production. URSA Cine records to the included Blackmagic Media Module 8TB, allowing customers to capture over 4 hours of Blackmagic RAW in 12K or a massive 20 hours in 4K.

URSA Cine includes a high performance, optical low pass filter that is precisely matched to the sensor. The OLPF also incorporates updated IR filtering that improves far red color response which, when combined with Blackmagic RAW processing for the URSA Cine, preserves color and critical image detail for new levels of image fidelity.

URSA Cine is the first digital film camera with ultra fast high capability Cloud Store technology built in. Blackmagic Media Module is fast, rugged and includes a massive 8TB of storage. The high speed storage lets customers record at the highest resolutions and frame rates for hours and access their files directly over high speed 10G Ethernet. Or customers can use the media customers already own with the optional Blackmagic Media Module CF, which has dual CFexpress slots.

Blackmagic Media Dock accelerates post production workflow by making it faster and simpler to start editing and color correction. Mount up to three Blackmagic Media Modules for high speed access to media from multiple URSA Cine cameras all at the same time. The four high speed 10G Ethernet ports allow up to four separate edit workstations to connect directly and it is extremely fast, even when a lot of users are connected at the same time.

URSA Cine supports creating a small H.264 proxy file in addition to the camera original media when recording. This means the small proxy file can upload to Blackmagic Cloud in seconds so their media is available back at the studio in real time. The ability to transfer media directly into the DaVinci Resolve media bin as editors are working is revolutionary and has never before been possible.

Now customers can live stream from film sets. URSA Cine features a built hardware streaming engine that supports RTMP and SRT streaming to major platforms or directly to clients. Simply connect to the internet via Ethernet, high speed wifi or even connect a 4G or 5G phone for mobile data.

URSA Cine supports the optional Blackmagic URSA Cine EVF to make outdoors and handheld shooting accurate and easy. Customers get an integrated high quality 1920 x 1080 color OLED display with built in proximity sensor, 4 element glass diopter for incredible accuracy with a wide focus adjustment. A built in digital focus chart ensures customers get perfect viewfinder focus setup.

URSA Cine includes an 8-pin Lemo power connector at the back of the camera that works with 24V and 12V power supplies. That means it’s easy to use the camera with existing power supplies, batteries and accessories. URSA Cine comes with a massive 250W power supply and B Mount battery plate so customers can use a wide range of high voltage batteries from manufacturers such as IDX, Blueshape, Core SWX, BEBOB and more.

URSA Cine comes with everything customers need to get started on set. Every camera comes in a rugged Pelican case with custom foam cutouts that precisely and securely fit the camera and its accessories. The PL lens mount comes preinstalled on the camera body, plus customers get an interchangeable locking EF mount for a strong and secure attachment when using heavier cine lenses. Customers even get a massive 8TB Media Module preinstalled, formatted and ready to record. Customers also get a top handle, antennas for high speed wifi, baseplate, 24V power supply and high voltage B mount battery plate for quick set up.

“We wanted to build our dream high end camera that had everything we had ever wanted,” said Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO, “Blackmagic URSA Cine is the realization of that dream with a completely new generation of image sensor, a body with industry standard features and connections, and seamless integration into high end workflows. There’s been no expense spared in designing this camera and we think it will truly revolutionize all stages of production from capture to post!”

Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K Features

• Cinematic large format sensor with a massive 16 stops of dynamic range.
• Lightweight, robust camera body with industry standard connections.
• PL and locking EF mounts included with optional LPL mount available.
• Blackmagic RAW for real time 12K editing.
• Generation 5 Color Science with new film curve.
• High performance OLPF for reduced moire and aliasing.
• Build in ND filters for shooting in varying conditions.
• Shoot up to 80 fps in 12K, 144 fps at 8K and 240 fps at 4K.
• High performance Blackmagic Media Module 8TB for recording included.
• Recording media compatible with the Blackmagic Media Dock.
• High speed wifi, 10G Ethernet or mobile data for network connections.
• Built-in RTMP and SRT live streaming.
• Optional Blackmagic URSA Cine EVF.
• Includes DaVinci Resolve Studio for post production.

Availability and Price

Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K is available now from US$14,995, excluding local duties and taxes, from Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide.