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Archive 2014 · Best 35mm lens for A7r + metabones EF to E

  
 
shirozina
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Best 35mm lens for A7r + metabones EF to E


The metabones is permanently bonded to the A7r and I need a good 35mm MF lens with EF adaptor. Main requirement is best edge and corner resolution at infinity at F8-11. I' m considering the Contax and OL 2.8's but is anything else worth a try. This is for deep focus all over detail at long distances so stuff like bokeh, wide open performance are not important. I've got the Contax 28mm 2.8 and 50mm 1.7 so something in the middle of these.


May 26, 2014 at 12:26 PM
johnctharp
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Best 35mm lens for A7r + metabones EF to E


Why not consider the 35/2 IS from Canon? It knocks the socks off of the 2.8/35 FE lens- and wouldn't the Metabones adapter enable IS?


May 26, 2014 at 12:29 PM
Tmuussoni
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Best 35mm lens for A7r + metabones EF to E


So what is wrong with going native? Looks like to me you don't need a fast lens (f/1.4) so going native is in my opinion the best choice. Sony Sonnar T* FE 35mm f/2.8 ZA is fantastic lens. One of the best 35mm lenses ever made. The Canon 35/2 IS is a great lens but to me when using the A7 it offers zero advantages over the native Zeiss. You get IS and 1 stop advantage but in my opinion it's rather insignificant on a wide angle lens. Sharpness wise they are similar with a small advantage to the Zeiss. But I prefer the Zeiss look (microcontrast) over the Canon and it is significantly smaller than the Canon 35/2 IS+ apapter combination. You really can't put a price how much smaller it is than the Canon. It's a joy to use such a small but capable combo. And you get faster autofocus.

Sony A7r + metabones + Canon 35 / 2 IS : ~1 kg vs A7r + Zeiss 35/2.8 = 585 grams. So it's almost 50 % lighter and smaller combination

Edited on May 26, 2014 at 02:43 PM · View previous versions



May 26, 2014 at 02:32 PM
shirozina
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Best 35mm lens for A7r + metabones EF to E


Can't go 'native' as explained in my first sentence.


May 26, 2014 at 02:40 PM
wfrank
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Best 35mm lens for A7r + metabones EF to E


You used glue?


May 26, 2014 at 02:45 PM
Tmuussoni
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Best 35mm lens for A7r + metabones EF to E


shirozina wrote:
Can't go 'native' as explained in my first sentence.


I apologize if I failed to understand your point. 'Permanently' bonded. Does it mean you have actually glued the adapter on the A7r? If that's the case, the Canon is a good choice for the price.

However, assuming you are able to detach the adapter from the body and you are looking for best edge and corner resolution at f/8-f/11, where shallow depth of field is not wanted nor nice bokeh, I still think the native Zeiss 35/2.8 is the best choice.



May 26, 2014 at 02:47 PM
Steve Spencer
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Best 35mm lens for A7r + metabones EF to E


If the adapter really is permanently attached why not go with a Zeiss ZE 35 f/2. That way you will be getting excellent performance and you won't be doubling up the adapter. I think for the resolution of fine detail the Zeiss is worth it.


May 26, 2014 at 02:54 PM
shirozina
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Best 35mm lens for A7r + metabones EF to E


Not glued but the adapter is bolted to a custom bracket extending from the L bracket on the camera to take the load of my bigger EF lenses like the 24mm TS-E II. It's too much hassle to unbolt it all to fit an E lens - easier to buy another body. Will look at the ZE though - thanks!


May 26, 2014 at 03:03 PM
johnctharp
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Best 35mm lens for A7r + metabones EF to E


Steve Spencer wrote:
If the adapter really is permanently attached why not go with a Zeiss ZE 35 f/2. That way you will be getting excellent performance and you won't be doubling up the adapter. I think for the resolution of fine detail the Zeiss is worth it.


DxO has the Canon as the sharper lens at all apertures, and as handling CA a bit better as well; it's also smaller, half the weight, and will have available AF (slow but accurate) and IS, and is half the price. On the balance, the Zeiss has a nine-bladed aperture versus the Canon's eight and significantly better handling and build, and the overall difference in sharpness and CA at DxO's test distance is almost negligible.

I'd say that it's a tossup, really. I'd personally love to own either or both lenses, but I'd have a hard time having to pick between them optically. From my perspective though, when used on the A7R, the significantly lighter weight of the Canon lens hanging off of the adapter and the intact IS (which is Canon's best) would seal the deal. The IS, in particular, really does mean not having to use a tripod so religiously for normal shutter speeds and would likely be ideal for getting the most of the 36MP sensor in the A7R.



May 26, 2014 at 03:18 PM
Steve Spencer
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Best 35mm lens for A7r + metabones EF to E


johnctharp wrote:
DxO has the Canon as the sharper lens at all apertures, and as handling CA a bit better as well; it's also smaller, half the weight, and will have available AF (slow but accurate) and IS, and is half the price. On the balance, the Zeiss has a nine-bladed aperture versus the Canon's eight and significantly better handling and build, and the overall difference in sharpness and CA at DxO's test distance is almost negligible.

I'd say that it's a tossup, really. I'd personally love to own either or both lenses, but I'd have a hard time having to pick between
...Show more

I really didn't want to talk more about the limitations of DXOs tests, but I fell like I have to say a bit more. First, the DXO tests are relatively close up, which is not the type of shooting that it seems the OP wants to do. Second, the DXO tests do not measure the resolution of fine detail and that I think for the type of shooting the OP is looking to do is important--or at least it would be for me. Third, the distortion measure that DXO uses is not standard and can produce some weird results. It is bizarre that they chose that as a measure of distortion. Fourth, their CA measure is taken in exactly this situation in which CA matter least, when there is even and not too bright of light across the frame. It isn't much of a guide to CA performance either. If you can't tell, I am really not a fan of software based tests like DXO and Imatest. It is not that they provide no information, but rather the information that they provide is not very useful and yet people often mistake it for useful information. For what the OP wants to shoot I don't really think these tests provide any useful information.

By the way, right now on the A7r IS can be quite tricky to use. The shutter shake problems seem to be exacerbated by IS, or at least the advantages of IS are negated by the shutter shake. Until that issue is resolved I wouldn't count on IS to be much help.



May 26, 2014 at 03:49 PM
crazeazn
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Best 35mm lens for A7r + metabones EF to E


I have the contax leitaxed to EF 35 1.4 for sale in the BST, that is another option if size isnt an issue...

another to look at is the contax 35 f/2.8 too.



May 26, 2014 at 04:05 PM
johnctharp
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Best 35mm lens for A7r + metabones EF to E


Sure- and I think that's also largely the same issue that you're seeing with the 2.8/21 Zeiss as well in the other thread. Definitely not perfect, but the information is there.

And since both lenses mentioned (as well as the 35 Art) have been tested at Photozone, you can kind of get a clearer picture. Photozone rates the 35 IS higher and complains about the 2/35 ZE's optics. However, they also provide test shots of the 35 IS, and the narrow-aperture landscapes look pretty good to me, for having been taken with a 5D II and JPEG'd up. There's definitely plenty of fine-detail potential for the A7R's sensor to capture.

And I hear what you're saying about the IS, too- but it'd still be useful outside of shutter-shake speeds, which you'd have to work around regardless of the lens used. I'd assume that the problem affects 35mm lenses fairly equally with minor variations based on lens weight and objective optic distance from the shutter. I'd personally rather have it than not, particularly based on my experience with Canon's also stellar 24/2.8 IS on my 60D and now 6D. That lens can't take a bad image .



May 26, 2014 at 04:08 PM
lostinjapan
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Best 35mm lens for A7r + metabones EF to E


It's big it's heavy especially on the a7 but take a look at the Carl Zeiss 35/1.4 Distagon. I prefer it over the Canon and the Sigma.

Ryan



May 26, 2014 at 05:24 PM
shirozina
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Best 35mm lens for A7r + metabones EF to E


I've got a 24mm TS-E II + EF extender MKIII which is pretty good with regards to image quality but it's huge and I want something much smaller like the 28mm 2.8 CY


May 27, 2014 at 02:09 AM
retrofocus
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Best 35mm lens for A7r + metabones EF to E


shirozina wrote:
Not glued but the adapter is bolted to a custom bracket extending from the L bracket on the camera to take the load of my bigger EF lenses like the 24mm TS-E II. It's too much hassle to unbolt it all to fit an E lens - easier to buy another body. Will look at the ZE though - thanks!


Sorry, but I don't fully get this. I am also using the Canon 24 TSE lens with my A7R, but I have zero issues detaching lens or adapter and replacing them with an alternative adapter/lenses. Regarding balance, when I attach the TSE lens onto the Metabones adapter, I simply mount the tripod on the Metabones tripod mount and not on the camera. Maybe you are using a special vertical bracket arrangement with your camera which makes the replacement somehow more cumbersome, but I still can't see how. I never used any sort of bracket on any of my cameras, never felt in need of any no matter which lenses I used.



May 27, 2014 at 07:26 AM
Lotusm50
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Best 35mm lens for A7r + metabones EF to E


Yeah. What Steve said, but I would point out that there are probably worse sites out there than DXO, like Photozone.


Steve Spencer wrote:
I really didn't want to talk more about the limitations of DXOs tests, but I fell like I have to say a bit more. First, the DXO tests are relatively close up, which is not the type of shooting that it seems the OP wants to do. Second, the DXO tests do not measure the resolution of fine detail and that I think for the type of shooting the OP is looking to do is important--or at least it would be for me. Third, the distortion measure that DXO uses is not standard and can produce some weird results.
...Show more



May 27, 2014 at 09:21 AM
ebookman
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Best 35mm lens for A7r + metabones EF to E


johnctharp wrote:
Why not consider the 35/2 IS from Canon? It knocks the socks off of the 2.8/35 FE lens- and wouldn't the Metabones adapter enable IS?


How is the user experience with a plain adapter. Does the Canon offer a good focusing ring for the manual lens user?



May 27, 2014 at 07:28 PM
killersnowman
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Best 35mm lens for A7r + metabones EF to E


I don't have any advise in terms of 35mm recommendations but i am very interested in seeing a picture of this custom L bracket


May 27, 2014 at 07:41 PM
banpreso
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Best 35mm lens for A7r + metabones EF to E


Lower budget: contax 35 2.8 is hard to beat for price and performance
Closer to the $1000 mark you have the amazing sigma and ze 35 f2



May 28, 2014 at 12:46 AM
Dergiman
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Best 35mm lens for A7r + metabones EF to E


I think the Contax Zeiss Vario-Sonnar 35-70/3.4 is among the best at 35mm / f8 and infinity.


May 28, 2014 at 02:01 AM





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