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Archive 2017 · Thailand with Sony A7RII and Zeiss lenses

  
 
Bobu
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Thailand with Sony A7RII and Zeiss lenses


In January and June I spent altogether 4 weeks in different areas of Thailand. It was my fifth trip to Thailand and besides enjoying the great food there I wanted to explore some new areas.

My itinerary of the two trips was roughly:
Phuket
Krabi
Railay Beach
Phang Nga Bay
Nationalparks in the Phang Nga area
Phuket
Bangkok
Markets around Bangkok
Pattaya
Kanchanaburi (waterfalls, bridges and temple)
Bangkok

I rented a car both in Phuket and Bangkok to be as flexible as possible.

To Phuket I took the A7RII and the three Loxia lenses 21, 35 and 50.
To Bangkok and Kanchanaburi I left the Loxias at home and took the Batis 18 and 135 and the Sony-Zeiss 1.4/50.
Partly because I wanted to test the new (to me) Batis 135 and Sony-Zeiss 50 and partly because I thought AF could be useful on the markets.

I really enjoyed the Batis 135 and the AF of the Batis 18 proofed to be very useful on the markets. But the Zeiss-Sony 50 never felt right to me. It’s just too big and heavy for the A7RII and in most situation I preferred the rendering of the Loxia. Technically it’s a very good lens. But probably not the right lens for me.

You can find a blog post about my last two Thailand trips with some additional background information and some more images on my website:
https://wild-places.com/2017/10/08/two-trips-to-thailand/

Here is a selection of images from my last two Thailand trips. C&C welcome.

Boris


#1 (Loxia 35, f/8):
Railay Beach, Krabi, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#2 (Loxia 50, f/5.6):
Railay Beach, Krabi, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#3 (Loxia 50, f/8):
Railay Beach, Krabi, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#4 (Loxia 35, f/8):
Railay Beach, Krabi, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#5 (Loxia 50, f/8, ND filter):
Hat Phra Nang, Krabi, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#6 (Loxia 50, f/8):
Hat Phra Nang, Krabi, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#7 (Loxia 35, f/8, ND filter):
Hat Phra Nang, Krabi, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#8 (Loxia 21, f/8, ND filter):
Hat Phra Nang, Krabi, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#9 (Loxia 21, f/8, ND filter):
Koh Lao La Ding, Krabi, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#10 (Loxia 21, f/8, ND filter):
Koh Pak Bia, Krabi, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#11 (Loxia 35, f/8, ND filter):
Sa Nang Manora Forest Park, Phang Nga, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#12 (Loxia 50, f/8):
Phang Nga Bay, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#13 (Loxia 21, f/8, ND filter):
Phang Nga Bay, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#14 (Loxia 50, f/8, ND filter):
Khao Ta-Pu from Khao Phing Kan, Phang Nga Bay, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#15 (Loxia 35, f/8, ND filter):
Khao Ta-Pu from Khao Phing Kan, Phang Nga Bay, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#16 (Loxia 50, f/8):
Ko Panyi, Phang Nga Bay, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#17 (Loxia 50, f/4):
Wat Suwan Kuha, Phang Nga, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#18 (Loxia 50, f/5.6):
Wat Suwan Kuha, Phang Nga, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#19 (Loxia 50, f/8):
Phang Nga Bay from the Samet Nangshe Viewpoint, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#20 (Loxia 50, f/5.6):
Natai Beach, near Phuket, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#21 (Loxia 50, f/11, ND filter):
Natai Beach Bridge, near Phuket, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#22 (Loxia 35, f/8, ND filter):
Natai Beach Bridge, near Phuket, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#23 (Loxia 21, f/8):
Workshop, Old Town, Phuket, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#24 (Loxia 21, f/8):
Workshop, Old Town, Phuket, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#25 (Sony 50, f/5.6):
Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#26 (Sony 50, f/5.6):
Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#27 (Sony 50, f/5.6):
Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#28 (Batis 18, f/5.6):
Mae Klong Railway Market, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#29 (Sony 50, f/5.6):
Pattaya Walking Street, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#30 (Sony 50, f/8, ND filter):
Huay Mae Khamin Waterfall, Si Nakharin NP, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#31 (Sony 50, f/8, ND filter):
Huay Mae Khamin Waterfall, Si Nakharin NP, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#32 (Sony 50, f/5.6 ND filter):
Huay Mae Khamin Waterfall, Si Nakharin NP, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#33 (Sony 50, f/8, ND filter):
Huay Mae Khamin Waterfall, Si Nakharin NP, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#34 (Sony 50, f/11, ND filter):
Huay Mae Khamin Waterfall, Si Nakharin NP, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#35 (Batis 135, f/5.6, ND filter):
Sai Yok Yai Waterfall, Sai Yok NP, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#36 (Batis 18, f/11, ND filter):
Pha Tad Waterfall, Khuean Srinagarinda National Park, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#37 (Batis 18, f/11):
Wat in Sangkhlaburi, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#38 (Sony 50, f/5.6):
Mon Bridge, Sangkhla Buri, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#39 (Sony 50, f/11):
Mon Bridge, Sangkhla Buri, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#40 (Sony 50, f/8):
Mon Bridge, Sangkhla Buri, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#41 (Batis 18mm, f/11, ND filter):
Erawan Falls, Level 2, Erawan National Park, Erawan National Par by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#42 (Sony 50, f/11, ND filter):
Erawan Falls, Level 5, Erawan National Park, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#43 (Batis 18, f/8):
Phra That Cave, Erawan National Park, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#44 (Sony 50, f/8):
Tham Kra Sae Bridge, Death Railway, near Sai Yok, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#45 (Batis 18mm, f/8, polfilter):
Wat Tham Sua, Kanchanaburi, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

#46 (Batis 18mm, f/8):
Wat Tham Sua, Kanchanaburi, Thailand by Boris Buschardt, auf Flickr

Edited on Oct 08, 2017 at 12:33 PM · View previous versions



Oct 08, 2017 at 10:50 AM
lostinjapan
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Thailand with Sony A7RII and Zeiss lenses


Absolutely a fantastic set of images! Thanks for sharing.

Ryan



Oct 08, 2017 at 11:17 AM
ocean2059
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Thailand with Sony A7RII and Zeiss lenses


Beautiful images! Thank you for sharing.


Oct 08, 2017 at 11:25 AM
chez
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Thailand with Sony A7RII and Zeiss lenses


Love the pics, but just too many to wade through. Maybe better to post a few and a link to more on your blog.


Oct 08, 2017 at 11:28 AM
Jonathan Brady
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Thailand with Sony A7RII and Zeiss lenses


Fantastic images! Well done and thanks for sharing!


Oct 08, 2017 at 11:33 AM
Bobu
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Thailand with Sony A7RII and Zeiss lenses


Thanks Ryan, Ocean, Chez and Jonathan!

Chez, on my website I can post only up to 960 pixel. I thought people might enjoy watching the images in a larger size. But since this is a lot of extra work for me I can easily skip this next time and post just a few images here with a link to my website.

Boris



Oct 08, 2017 at 12:06 PM
Ronny Olsson
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Thailand with Sony A7RII and Zeiss lenses


Absolutely a fantastic set of images Boris ! Thanks for sharing

Ronny //



Oct 08, 2017 at 12:15 PM
Gary Clennan
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Thailand with Sony A7RII and Zeiss lenses


Brings back memories. Thanks for sharing!


Oct 08, 2017 at 12:27 PM
virtualrain
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Thailand with Sony A7RII and Zeiss lenses


Great images... I wish I had the kind of time you had... you clearly made the most of it.

If you want a great 50 with AF that's similar to your Loxia line, consider the FE 55 f/1.8. I use it a lot for street and market shooting in Asia. The Batis 25 is another good choice with AF. The 18 is probably too wide for street/markets.



Oct 08, 2017 at 12:28 PM
davewolfs
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Thailand with Sony A7RII and Zeiss lenses


What a lovely set. The colors on the Loxia remind me why I enjoy mine so much. I’m curious did you ever consider the new 16-35 to substitute for the 18 and 21 or are these two in a league of their own.


Oct 08, 2017 at 12:55 PM
Bobu
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Thailand with Sony A7RII and Zeiss lenses


Thanks Ronny, Gary, Virtualrain and Dave!


Oct 08, 2017 at 01:02 PM
waterden
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Thailand with Sony A7RII and Zeiss lenses


I sold my a7rii because I found it too unintuitive to use. Too many buttons and overly complex choices meant I had to think too much about the camera rather than the subject. Not good. I've moved to a Leica SL which is magnitudes nicer to use and suits my Leica R lenses. However, I've kept a foot in the Sony camp, retaining my A7 along with a Loxia 50, the excellent E16-70, and the FE 35/2.8. The Loxia 50 is one of my all time favourite lenses and appears to be one of yours too. Some beautiful images with it here. I think those of us who started with MF only systems but were subsequently forced to embrace AF, whether or not it suited our photographic style, are greatly fortunate now to have EVF equipped cameras which make manual focusing so easy and so precise. The implementation of the Loxia lenses is a particular joy in this regard.


Oct 08, 2017 at 01:07 PM
Bobu
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Thailand with Sony A7RII and Zeiss lenses


virtualrain wrote:
Great images... I wish I had the kind of time you had... you clearly made the most of it.

If you want a great 50 with AF that's similar to your Loxia line, consider the FE 55 f/1.8. I use it a lot for street and market shooting in Asia. The Batis 25 is another good choice with AF. The 18 is probably too wide for street/markets.


I was more interested in a usable apperture below f/4 with my 50 than getting AF (the Loxia 50 is ok at f/2, but needs to be stopped down to about f/4 for great corner to corner sharpness). The Sony-Zeiss 1.4/50 is great at f/2 just too big and heavy. And MF is not as nice as with the Loxia.

Boris




Oct 08, 2017 at 01:08 PM
Bobu
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Thailand with Sony A7RII and Zeiss lenses


davewolfs wrote:
What a lovely set. The colors on the Loxia remind me why I enjoy mine so much. I’m curious did you ever consider the new 16-35 to substitute for the 18 and 21 or are these two in a league of their own.


I will never sell my Loxia 21mm (at least not as long as I stay with Sony). It is that good. It was my main reason to change to the Sony system.

But I was thinking about the 12-24mm zoom as a subsitute to my Batis 18mm. Actually I just bought one last week and tested it yesterday against my Batis. Sadly it is decentered and soft on the right side, even stopped down. I will send it back tomorrow. And I'm very likely not willing to play the lottery again and stay with the Batis 18mm.

Boris




Oct 08, 2017 at 01:12 PM
Bobu
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Thailand with Sony A7RII and Zeiss lenses


waterden wrote:
I sold my a7rii because I found it too unintuitive to use. Too many buttons and overly complex choices meant I had to think too much about the camera rather than the subject. Not good. I've moved to a Leica SL which is magnitudes nicer to use and suits my Leica R lenses. However, I've kept a foot in the Sony camp, retaining my A7 along with a Loxia 50, the excellent E16-70, and the FE 35/2.8. The Loxia 50 is one of my all time favourite lenses and appears to be one of yours too. Some beautiful images with
...Show more

I absolutely agree. The Loxia 50 and the Loxia 21 are my favorites lenses at the moment. Great colors, very good microcontrast, nearly no FC, great haptics, small sizes (and small filter sizes).

Regarding the usuability of the A7RII and its menu system: yes it's definitely unintuitive to use. But by configuring the function keys with your most used functions you nearly never have to go to the menu. It's no SL but you can get used to it. And the sensor is better :-)

Boris



Oct 08, 2017 at 01:17 PM
Samuli Vahonen
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Thailand with Sony A7RII and Zeiss lenses


Boris, great set. I would disagree with chez; to me this is great way to present a location/trip - I would not post 46 images to Sony FE megathread, but this is not generic thread.

I agree that the kind of photos you take Loxia 50 rendering would be also preferred by me over FE 1.4/50. I was disappointed for just having one 135mm photo


CC:

  1. My favorite was #10, but it was hard to choose as I liked very much also #7, #8, #11, #13, #14, #31, #32 (this with Loxia 50 rendering style would have been my favorite), #33, #36, #42 (this is closer focusing distance and rocks actually have rendered very beautifully = not missing Loxia 50 so much on this one).
  2. Rendering style of Loxia 21/35/50 was great on all photos supported by your post processing, which doesn't seem to loose the punch and presense of your photos even presented on forum size. Both nature photos and urban photos looked great, even I don't like urban photos enjoyed long time looking #23 and #24.
  3. I did not like Batis 18 rendering style, sharp yes, but somehow all looks like plastic e.g. #42 cave rock formations do not look like rock to me, instead like plastic and #41 foreground log appears very flat and plastic looking, as well as background gold colored rock appear to be made from plastic to me, no rock look. I generic feel this way for Batis 18 rendering style, not only your photos. Only #37, #45 from Batis 18 photos did not look plastic, but it's still hard to form idea from textures about the shape and form of your subjects = images appear flat to me. Complete opposite to Loxia 21.
  4. I didn't like too harsh usage of "highlights"/"shadows"/"clarity" (I don't know which exactly caused it, some edit causing local contrast/brightness changes in any case) caused few photos to have unnatural bright edge of sky when it's close to mountain/dark "fore"ground subject. For example in photo #2 at center of photo where mountain and sky meet, the clouds are brighter and within some tens of pixels cloud is already normal looking. Like a halo around dark edges. This was present in #2, #3, #4 (to a smaller degree than two before). For some reason it was not present in many similar photos e.g. #8 or #13 do not have this halo. In #46 there is slight halo on edge of the golden "temple" (whatever the gold color thing is around the buddha statue), not agains the sky - or fog perfectly followed the shape on both sides. On #37 the sky visible from "holes" in tree on right appear to be brighter and having different white balance (more green=sky more cyan) - I would also assume this is somehow relevant to post processing.


Samuli



Oct 08, 2017 at 02:15 PM
Bobu
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Thailand with Sony A7RII and Zeiss lenses


Thanks Samuli for the very detailled and helpful answer.

Let me try to address some of your (very valid) points:

I also clearly prefer the rendering style of the Loxia 21 over the Batis 18. The question is only what's a better alternative? I tried the 12-24 Sony zoom and the Laowa 2.0/15 this weekend. Both lenses are in my opinion weaker than the Batis, especially their colors are not as nice. The Zeiss 15mm is too big and the FC of this lens was killing me. The tried 5 samples of the Voigtländer 15mm and all 5 were really bad.
I have some hope for the Samyang XP 2.4/14mm but I will wait until it is available in native E-mount.
Any other suggestions in the range 12mm-18mm?

Regarding the halos: this is typically a result of higher clarity values in LR (in your examples around 20). You have to reduce the clarity locally at critical areas, which I missend in the images you found. I've already adjusted the original raw images. They look now much better.

Regarding the color balance in #37: no idea. It has nothing to do with the PP. The lighter areas at the tree could again we the result of some clarity, but not the cyan shift.

Boris




Oct 08, 2017 at 02:38 PM
Bobu
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Thailand with Sony A7RII and Zeiss lenses


And regarding only one image shot with the Batis 135mm. In August I was in Namibia for 3 weeks and the Batis 135 was my most used lens there. I just have to process about 5000 images which will very likely take until next year.

Boris



Oct 08, 2017 at 02:42 PM
Jochenb
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Thailand with Sony A7RII and Zeiss lenses


Great set Boris, as usual!
Not the biggest fan of the colors, but that's just personal taste.



Oct 08, 2017 at 03:01 PM
Samuli Vahonen
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Thailand with Sony A7RII and Zeiss lenses


Bobu wrote:
I also clearly prefer the rendering style of the Loxia 21 over the Batis 18. The question is only what's a better alternative? I tried the 12-24 Sony zoom and the Laowa 2.0/15 this weekend. Both lenses are in my opinion weaker than the Batis, especially their colors are not as nice. The Zeiss 15mm is too big and the FC of this lens was killing me. The tried 5 samples of the Voigtländer 15mm and all 5 were really bad.
I have some hope for the Samyang XP 2.4/14mm but I will wait until it is available in native
...Show more
No idea, I don't have skills to do landscapes even with 21mm, so I don't even dream using 18mm or wider. I have 18mm but it's too wide for everything with my skills (and to be honest >90% of photographers based on their images; they just seem shouting wide wide wide and everything is really small but image lacks great idea & composition). So I'm not qualified to comment. I'm technically happy to ZM18+front lens, but due to not having A7r mkII I get the color cast, which requires to use FlatField-plugin - and naturally FlatField plugin usage requires extra effort (it only works with Lightroom and I don't want to use Lightroom, as it requires extra steps e.g. importing to library). The results are technically OK (artistically usually not...) when I'm not lazy and use the FlatField.

Bobu wrote:
Regarding the halos: this is typically a result of higher clarity values in LR (in your examples around 20). You have to reduce the clarity locally at critical areas, which I missend in the images you found. I've already adjusted the original raw images. They look now much better.

These are difficult, I struggle often with similar issue, but for me the local contrast/brightness issues are usually created by too much highlights/shadows sliders. I have started to use PhotoShop and luminosity masks (topic of which Jimmy McIntyre has created 1000+1 videos to Youtube) for the most difficult images.

I assumed that no one uses Clarity-slider, as it looks so horrible when used. I need to re-evaluate as your photos did not look horrible, quite the opposite, and you have been using Clarity.

---------------------------------------------

Bobu wrote:
And regarding only one image shot with the Batis 135mm. In August I was in Namibia for 3 weeks and the Batis 135 was my most used lens there. I just have to process about 5000 images which will very likely take until next year.

Ok, starting to hold my breath now

Samuli




Oct 08, 2017 at 03:23 PM
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