Ron, I'll post some other comparisons that show the effect of a wide range of aperture settings as soon as I can find some time this weekend, with some nearer and far subjects too.
A completely different item on my wish list - one improvement I'd like to see would be better low light LCD / EVF gain. Maybe the A16 might help in that regard but I'm guessing the body is a limiting factor that will have to be resolved before any significant improvement is realized.
When I think about the NEX-5N and GXR this is the one area when using the GXR that I run into that makes me think the word "compromise". It can be quite a challenge using the mode 2 focus aide in lower light situations. One example: trying to focus on a near by object sitting quite a few stops below a distant night time city scape. The flashlight in my bag saved the day there. True, even the NEX would have some issues but it has so much more gain available for these situations that I think I might have avoided pulling a flashlight out. An optical EVF might have been less workable too. Maybe the AF module is what I really need... but am holding fast on that for now.
A night street scene on the other hand is relatively easy to manage with the GXR given the greater illumination.
Another example would be trying to grab a shot of my wife hanging ornaments on the lit tree in a purposely dimly lit room, throwing all but her out of focus to some degree with f/2 stop - you'll find that the focus aide isn't as useful in those lighting conditions. It can work - with practice even in the gain-hampered VF you'll find the focus point, but you need still or patient subjects. Or grab another camera, although my DSLRs AF isn't a champ in the dim or dark either.
Yeah, if Ricoh brings a higher quality EVF and tilting LCD, I'll probably jump on one quickly. I pretty much shoot the 5N like a Hasselblad, meaning waist/chest level with the LCD tilting up, and sometimes using the tilted up EVF if needing to check focus (or if it's sunny.) In fact, if I had to give up one tilt, it would be the EVF, like the NEX-7, but I really like having both tilt. The lack of a tilt EVF was one of the main reasons I cancelled my 7 preorder.
Yes, tilt EVF is handy, for many a shooting occasion.
Focusing in available darkness is always a challenge. I found it easier on Sony as a whole. On Ricoh it is very lens dependent with some lenses being quite easy, some quite hard in low light.
On a custom cinema room I built, with black walls and black leather chairs I could hardly see what I was shooting at - but the result was impressive.
I think, good as the NEX7 EVF seems I prefer the external solution for the same reason as Douglas. Also, I find a tilt LCD very handy, saves on the back/neck for many shots.
EDIT:
Ron, missed your post. Some more samples from another GXR user has popped up on Fl*ckr. Some good samples. Maybe the Biogon-C isn't that obnoxious on digital.
I must admit that I'm becoming an external EVF convert now too... much to my surprise. The GXR version doesn't even snag as much in my bag which surprised me given the overall camera is bigger.
When I started down this journey (with the X100) it was the built in EVF that convinced me to overlook the dictatorship imposed by a single lens camera, against all my instincts and past. That was bone headed, although it was still fun to shoot it for a few months.
Well, I have started wearing glasses again, though I can manage without them I can't remove the eye cup, since for the most part I keep the glasses on. The NEX finder was great with glasses, the VF2 Ricoh is not too bad either, though clearly a notch behind in all aspects. The VF2 is an ugly duckling but I find the rounded contours keeps it from snagging and it looks bigger than it handles.
Note: I'm going to edit this post and add more comparisons.
With all of these the only adjustment from default Lightroom import will be white balance normalization. If anyone wants the original DNG files because they have an undying love for brick walls, just ask. These images are sitting in an application on my server and will probably load a little slowly. I need to change how I serve up big files but in the interest of expediency, here they are...
Until specified otherwise, focus is on the large block grey bricks; the crops include the entire right hand side of the frame. I adjusted my position to provide roughly the same area of view. Not sure if I'll be able to do that with a 50mm and 75mm though... poor location planning on my part!
First up, GXR Mount A12 hosting the Zeiss ZM 25/2.8 Biogon, click the image for 100% crop (~4mb file).
Next, ZM 35/2 Biogon (~6mb file):
I think I may have posted this one before a couple weeks ago - NEX-5N showing 100% edge crops at wide open and f/5.6 onliy for ZM25, ZM35, and a 30 year old Yashica ML 50/2 SLR lens.
Wide open the the ZM25 performs much better at the edges on the GXR. Stopped down some, the differences largely disappear or at least you need to go hunting for them. I think at infinity the differences in resolving ability show up more at all aperture openings. There appears to be some colour cast on the NEX-5N/ZM25 images at wider aperture openings - the full files make this more obvious.
In the post above I also added a wall study I'd done a couple weeks ago showing the ZM25 and ZM35/2 on the Sony NEX, same wall. At the time I only shot samples at wide open and f/5.6 for that examination - I'd noted some smearing in regular use of both lenses and was trying to get a handle on it. Ultimately it was these issues that drew me to move to the GXR.
I wonder which'll come first, someone removing the AA filter on their NEX7 and it possibly drastically improving corner performance (which'll make me reconsider the NEX7) or the A16 module being released.
I'm sure Sam will post a thread here at FM somewhere with these results or at least link to it, but if curious to watch him post his big review of the GXR + Mount A12 from a NEX-5N shooter's perspective, see what Sosua has been up to over on dpreview:
Cross posting this here since it is relevant to the thread;
Zeiss ZM18/4 wide open performance on the GXR M mount, no in camera processing and no color cast or vignetting removal in post pro. (There is none )
At f4:
Top right corner all the way wide open no corrections applied;
Bottom left corner all the way wide open, no corrections applied:
My usual apologies for the Photob*cket uploading issues with files. No matter how I prepare them they are mauled so I just upload them straight and hope for the best.
Wow. I think, one looking at the 18/4 and thinking its sort of slow may give it a second look considering how usable it is wide open. That's pretty amazing.
