A.Y.

Since the long-awaited 10-18mm is finally available everywhere, when can we expect a housing + lens port solution for this lens?

Three 24MP Full Frame (SLT-A99, NEX-VG900, & RX1) and three 16MP APS-C cameras (NEX-VG30, NEX-6, NEX-5R), as well as three E-mount lenses (10-18mm F4 OSS, 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 Pancake OSS Power Zoom, 35mm F1.8 OSS) had been officially introduced!

A99 and VG900 are the first two FF cameras to feature Phase Detection AF for stills and videos AND 1080 60p HD. RX1 is the first digital FF point & shoot and it's almost as small as a MFT GX1.

FF is 2.4X the size of APS-C = 1 stop better high-iso IQ
FF is 3.6X the size of MFT = 2 stops better high-iso IQ
FF is 7.4X the size of 1" = 3 stops better high-iso IQ

Autofocus with Peaking:

SLT-A99: Dual Phase Detection AF - SLT Phase Detection & Focal Plane Phase Detection
NEX-VG900: Focal Plane Phase Detection AF with Contrast Detection AF Assist
NEX-6 and NEX-5R: Sensor Phase Detection AF with Contrast Detection AF Assist
VG30: Contrast Detection AF, SLT Phase Detection AF with LA-EA2 Adapter
RX1: Contrast Detection AF

Video:

The new cameras all feature 1080 60p/50P/24p HD.
Uncompressed HDMI Output: A99, VG900

Sony Lens System:

20 Full-Frame A-mount lenses & 2 converters:

16mm F2.8 Fisheye
16-35mm F2.8 SSM Zeiss
20mm F2.8
24mm F2 SSM Zeiss
24-70mm F2.8 SSM Zeiss
28-75mm F2.8 SAM
35mm F1.4 G
50mm F1.4
50mm F2.8 Macro
70-200mm F2.8 SSM G
70-300mm F4.5-5.6 SSM G
70-400mm F4-5.6 SSM G
75-300mm F4.5-5.6
85mm F1.4 Zeiss
85mm F2.8 SAM
100mm F2.8 Macro
135mm F1.8 Zeiss
135mm F2.8 STF
300mm F2.8 SSM G
500mm F4 SSM G

1.4x Teleconverter
2x Teleconverter

A99 and VG900 will be able to use APS-C A-mount lenses in crop mode!

14 APS-C A-Mount Lenses:

11-18mm F4.5-5.6
16-50mm F2.8 SSM
16-80mm F3.5-4.5 Zeiss
16-105mm F3.5-5.6
18-55mm F3.5-5.6 SAM
18-70mm F3.5-5.6
18-135mm F3.5-5.6 SAM
18-200mm F3.5-6.3
18-250mm F3.5-6.3
30mm F2.8 Macro SAM
35mm F1.8 SAM
50mm F1.8 SAM
55-200mm F4-5.6 SAM
55-300mm F4.5-5.6 SAM

VG900 will be able to use E-mount lenses in crop mode!

12 E-mount APS-C lenses and 2 converters:

10mm Fisheye Converter for 16mm F2.8
10-18mm F4 OSS
12mm Wide Converter for 16mm F2.8
16mm F2.8 Pancake
16-50mm F3.5-5.6 Pancake OSS Power Zoom
18-55mm F3.5-5.6 OSS
18-200mm F3.5-6.3 Active OSS
18-200mm F3.5-6.3 OSS LE
18-200mm F3.5-6.3 Active OSS Power Zoom
24mm F1.8 Zeiss
30mm F3.5 Macro
35mm F1.8 OSS
50mm F1.8 OSS
55-210mm F4.5-6.3 OSS

I'm most interested in the phase detection video AF performance of the A99, NEX-6, and NEX-5R.

Hopefully, housings and lens ports for the new products will become available soon, especially the 10-18mm F4 OSS. The OSS on the 10-18mm will be great for stabilizing video.

FYI Mac users: iMovie`11 (version 9.0.4) will not import 1080 60p AVCHD 2 videos from NEX cameras directly. The easy workaround is to copy the video files to the hard drive and then rewrap the 1080 60p (mts and m2ts) videos into QuickTime (mov) movies, using ClipWrap. To prevent iMovie from transcoding the rewrapped videos into Apple Intermediate Codec during importing, follow these instructions to turn on a hidden ClipWrap feature BEFORE processing mts or m2ts files.

To export edited 1080 60p videos from iMovie, go to "Share / Export using QuickTime... / Options / Video" and make sure "Size / Dimensions" is set to 1920X1080 and "Settings / Frame Rate" is set to 59.94. Despite the fact that iMovie`11 "File / Project Properties..." show "30fps - NTSC", 1080 60p video can be exported and will play smoothly on Macs fast enough to handle the format.

Rewrapping AVCHD 2 video avoids the time-consuming transcoding into Apple Intermediate Codec, which can quadruple the video file size and cause IQ loss. I've not encounter problems with iMovie`11 so far and have always checked to make sure everything is perfect before presentation. BTW, I've not tried this on Final Cut Express yet!

Are there other solutions out there that work equally well?

5N's AF speed is much improved with the new firmware. Here's a video showing before and after firmware update: 5N AF speed comparison

I think all of the 5N users on this forum will be interested!