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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · The State of lenses available for the Sony A7 Series Cameras Plus | |
I thought that I would report back some information of what I was able to come back with after attending PhotoPlus in New York City earlier today. Much or most of this is in reference to the Sony A7 series cameras and full frame lenses for these cameras.
I spoke with Richard Schleuning, National Sales Manager for Zeiss and I believe also Christian from Zeiss regarding the new 50mm and 35mm Loxia lenses for the A7 series cameras. He indicated that the Loxia lenses could be adjusted for 1/3 stops as the came, could be changed to 1/2 stops, or to have no stop points. Richard indicated that Zeiss was working to introduce additional Loxia lenses, but he was suggesting that the first lens may be a very wide or ultra wide angle lens probably followed by a short telephoto like an 85mm lens. Richard suggested that he was hoping to have the ultra wide angle lens for showing at PhotoPlus next year. When asked when he thought it would be available he suggested he would expect it soon after? PhotoPlus. He suggested that the short telephoto lens would probably follow the ultra wide angle lens. Richard also indicated that the ultra wide angle lens was going to be a problem and difficult to design; Zeiss was not going to be able to use any of their existing designs for these lenses for the Sony A7 cameras. He also suggested that Zeiss was not going to compete with Sony for native lenses for the A7 series cameras, and that they were going to work on prime lenses and most or all? of them were going to be manual focus. When asked about AF lenses he indicated that this might be possible in the future. When I asked him why Zeiss had manufactured the new Loxia lenses with the focus direction the same as the Leica and Canon lenses but the aperture ring operated in the opposite Nikon direction he indicated that he hadn't even noticed that and that I was the first to ask about this. He suggested that I speak with Christian? who I believe was part of the design team and was in charge of or responsible for the Loxia lenses (in the US?).
I spoke with I believe Christian of Zeiss regarding the focusing direction and the aperture directions of the new Loxia lenses and he indicated that this arrangement was made for the videographers who had the preference for this arrangement. Christian was surprised that I indicated that still photographers had some concern about this arrangement for working with the lenses and that had a preference for either the Leica/Canon operation direction or the Nikon operation direction, not a hybrid. Christian also indicated that Zeiss may either have a new Loxia lens either possibly be released before or announced at PhotoPlus of next year. Like Richard, he indicated that Zeiss was working on a number of Loxia lenses but it would be sometime before they would be announced and/or released.
I also spoke with people from both Sigma and Tamron regarding lenses for the full frame A7 series cameras and both representatives indicated that their companies had no plans at this point for these full frame cameras. But, they were watching and would possibly offer something in the future. But, neither company could provide any idea as to how many A7 series cameras would have to sell before they might design any lenses for the cameras.
I also looked at and handled the new Sony FE 16mm-35mm zoom lens. I did not take any photos with the lens but I did find that the lens balanced well on the A7r camera and focused and seemed to lock quickly on their targets. I found that manual focus operation to be smooth, but it did not really feel like a good MF lens like a Leica or Zeiss. The lens was substantially larger than the Leica 16mm, 18mm, 21mm Wide Angle Tri Elmar lens which Leica camera allowed me to mount on my A7r. This lens was substantially smaller, thinner, and lighter than the Zeiss FE 16mm-35mm zoom lens even taking into account the Phigment Leica M to Sony E mount adapter.
Additionally and this may be of interest to many Leica R users, Steffan of Leica Camera indicated that I should keep (and not sell) all of my Leica R lenses hinting that Leica may actually have something coming for the R lenses. But we have heard this before and Steffan would not provide any additional information or any idea as to when such a camera may be coming.
Finally, Brian Bell, the Leica National Sales Manager for Sports Optics (who I have known for years and has been with Leica USA for 24 years) agreed with me that the Leica M240 was designed as hand held camera and not really designed for usage on a tripod. Additionally he agreed that the Leica R lens usage for the camera was basically an after thought.
For those of you looking for native lenses then it seems that probably for the next year you will only be able to use Sony FE lenses and the 2 new Zeiss Loxia lenses. For ultra wide FF native lenses it appears that the only lens that will be available for the next year or so seems to quite possibly be the new FE 16mm-35mm zoom lens. Any other lenses that you want to adapt at this point appear to be SLR/DSLR or Leica or other M mount lenses. And for the time being, unless the new Sony FE 16mm-35mm zoom lens outperforms the Leica WATE, the expensive Leica WATE and a few even more expensive other Leica M ultra wide angle lenses are the best performing very wide and UWA on the A7 series cameras.
Rich
Edited on Oct 30, 2014 at 11:31 PM · View previous versions
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