millsart - i realize it's of no use to you now, but it's easy to shim an adapter so that the focus scale isn't off (dof scale will still be off though). also the m39 version of the 12mm is only ~$600 and has a detachable hood. i agree the that the sony is great for the size and price, but using focus by wire and/or autofocus just never fails to piss me off. i guess it depends on what types of lens aberrations bother you too - vignetting doesn't bother me (i usually add it in post), and color shift seems pretty easy to correct with this lens. the way the 16mm transitions from in focus to out of focus on the edges bugs me much more, and from the shots i've seen the cv seems to have better local contrast even if sharpness is a wash.
The older version certainly is an option, your right. I'm not sure if it performs any worse optically, but know a lot of M users wanted the RF coupled version (as actually focusing the lens in itself made a difference in sharpness, go figure lol) so there could be some deals out there.
Really just have to try one and see is the best advice I can give, and the only way to really know what works best for YOU. Maybe I didn't have a good CornerFX profile made for it, I don't know, but I had some pretty strong color cast issues that I couldn't really get rid off.
I'm often a fan of a vignette as well, but with this lens its pretty strong, and usually doing it in post gives a bit more control, and is nice for those times where you might not want it.
Again though, Id say order one and give it a try. If it doesn't work, return it or if you bought used, resell it. I'd say to do the same with the 16 though because it might just surprise you. I've recommended it to a number of NEX shooters and I think as a whole everyone has been pretty surprised at the combo's overall performance and usefulness.
The 16 on its own is just a fun lens to shoot on that camera too, especially for its true pocketability (real word! lol)
If it was a $500 lens, I'd probably not being saying the same, but when you can get one for $175 or so, its a great value.
Never tried the FE adapter but always meant to. Another one that could be fun, at least for the $125 I believe it cost.
millsart wrote:
The older version certainly is an option, your right. I'm not sure if it performs any worse optically, but know a lot of M users wanted the RF coupled version (as actually focusing the lens in itself made a difference in sharpness, go figure lol) so there could be some deals out there.
I'll volunteer that some people prefer the LTM 12mm to the M-mount, because though not rangefinder-coupled, it can focus closer and has the removeable hood, plus an available 77mm adapter, which lets you shoot with a filter...though admittedly that's probably a bigger boon for film shooters than digital.
Reviving an old thread now that the NEX-5N is out - I put this lens on the 5N and it doesn't seem to have any color shift problems in the corners, even wide open. I haven't taken a huge range of shots, though, but I have a few here that show what I'm getting. I bought the screw mount version as a) that was all that was available, and b) it is just gorgeous I fell in love with how it looks (hey emotion plays a part in all this).
I love the lens on the NEX, and it has massive depth of field, even at f/5.6. The focus ring has detents, I mostly leave it in the 1 meter detent and wing it.
Obviously, these aren't test shots of a constant surface, but represent more real world usage shooting buildings and sky which is what I'll use it for quite a bit.
Gordie - thanks for confirming. Looks great on the NEX-5N. On another note, another lens that was horrible on the NEX-5 but now looks fine is the Zeiss 21 f/4.5 C Biogon. I just got this lens and took a pic of the wall last night.....no color shift.
rsolti13 wrote:
Gordie - thanks for confirming. Looks great on the NEX-5N. On another note, another lens that was horrible on the NEX-5 but now looks fine is the Zeiss 21 f/4.5 C Biogon. I just got this lens and took a pic of the wall last night.....no color shift.
When you say a picture of a wall, you mean close distance? How about at infinity? No color shift on the raw files, right?
I wonder how Sony has a fix for this for a variety of wides without the physical design changes.
shogo73 - an update. Yes, at close distance there is zero color shift on raw files. At infinity, there is some slight color shift....with heavy vignetting. See inifity shot below at f/4.5
rsolti13 wrote:
shogo73 - an update. Yes, at close distance there is zero color shift on raw files. At infinity, there is some slight color shift....with heavy vignetting. See inifity shot below at f/4.5
modenaboy wrote:
I love the lens on the NEX, and it has massive depth of field, even at f/5.6. The focus ring has detents, I mostly leave it in the 1 meter detent and wing it.
I also picked up this lens recently, the LTM version and love how small it is. I'm using it on an M9 though, but the purchase was in anticipation of adding either a NEX or GXR at some point soon. Anyway, I just wanted to mention you might want to test your preference for leaving it set to 1m as I found it will make a difference in image sharpness, even stopped down a bit, for distant objects. If your subject matter is always close, then 1m might be OK, but if it's often farther than that, you will probably get better sharpness if you leave it set to infinity. At least that is what I found.
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