a little off original topic, but the subject of last several threads, one of the reasons I left Sony NEX camp (former owner of NEX 5n and 7) is that, a lack of quality fast lenses. The only lenses I liked on Sony were my 24/1.8 Zeiss and 50/1.8 Sony. That and poor AF that could not keep up with my 6-month-old. Switched to Olympus OM-D and all the problems are gone. I have Panasonic 7-14 - excellent. my primes: panaleica 25/1.4, Olympus 45 1.8 and 75 1.8 are excellent. Even my 14-150 Olympus superzoom is great. And having in-body 5-axis stabilization with ANY lens from ANY mfr is great. And AF is instant in ANY light and keeps up with my child!!!!!
The 10-18 and 16-50 were announced already after I made the switch... still, not a single native F/1.4 lens?? m43 has had 0.95 Voiglanders for a while.
absolutic wrote:
a little off original topic, but the subject of last several threads, one of the reasons I left Sony NEX camp (former owner of NEX 5n and 7) is that, a lack of quality fast lenses. The only lenses I liked on Sony were my 24/1.8 Zeiss and 50/1.8 Sony. That and poor AF that could not keep up with my 6-month-old. Switched to Olympus OM-D and all the problems are gone. I have Panasonic 7-14 - excellent. my primes: panaleica 25/1.4, Olympus 45 1.8 and 75 1.8 are excellent. Even my 14-150 Olympus superzoom is great. And having in-body 5-axis stabilization with ANY lens from ANY mfr is great. And AF is instant in ANY light and keeps up with my child!!!!! ...Show more →
Good for you if you've found something that you seem ideal for you needs. However, it seems that your criticism of the NEX line seems a bit dated.
The NEX is got PDAF now, so AF should be better. They've released (or are about to release) the superwide, the 35 1,8 and the normal zoom. It's true that m4/3 are a little more advanced, but then it had almost two years headstart, which seems quite a long time. Moreover, m4/3 are a consortium, aren't they?, so there are two companies innovating. Sony is doing a good job, considering.
Oh! and that bit about the Voigtlanders… Come on! You mean that the NEX line needs native manual lenses? When you can adapt whatever you like??
I would say that you lost your patience too early, but then it's good that you found something that suits your style and your ways. I don't think that you need to justify your decision unjustifiedly, though.
absolutic wrote:
a little off original topic, but the subject of last several threads, one of the reasons I left Sony NEX camp (former owner of NEX 5n and 7) is that, a lack of quality fast lenses. The only lenses I liked on Sony were my 24/1.8 Zeiss and 50/1.8 Sony. That and poor AF that could not keep up with my 6-month-old. Switched to Olympus OM-D and all the problems are gone. I have Panasonic 7-14 - excellent. my primes: panaleica 25/1.4, Olympus 45 1.8 and 75 1.8 are excellent. Even my 14-150 Olympus superzoom is great. And having in-body 5-axis stabilization with ANY lens from ANY mfr is great. And AF is instant in ANY light and keeps up with my child!!!!!
The 10-18 and 16-50 were announced already after I made the switch... still, not a single native F/1.4 lens?? m43 has had 0.95 Voiglanders for a while. ...Show more →
FWIW, F1.8 on NEX is approximately equivalent to f1.4 on m4/3. There is also now a very good 35/1.8 for Sony.
The Voigtlander is a manual lenses, and it isn't really any different than mounting a high speed manual lens on NEX, like the CV 35/1.2.
Too bad about the babysitter but that's the price you pay sometimes as a parent. Just got done running my initial tests of the 10-18 Sony and can say I'm definitely keeping it. At 10mm the lens is very sharp all the way to the extremities where at F8 it starts to get a little soft just in the corners. In the overall normal scene shots that I did the edge detail is not a factor. At 12 mm the lens becomes very sharp everywhere and even matches closely the Nikon 14-24 at 18mm on the D800e. Overall all the range is sharp, I tested it at 18mm against the Sigma 19 mm. The Sigma was just a tad sharper in the center but the Sony was sharper in the corners. In the studio environment that I was testing in the dreaded magenta edges on the NEX 7 didn't show their ugly head. Tomorrow I will try outdoors and see what happens. Another plus that I wasn't expecting is the ability of this lens to focus very close indeed. It really isn't as large or as heavy as it looks in its pictures, just a little bit bigger than the Sigma 19mm. I almost forgot to mention that the optical stabilization is working great with this lens even down to a 1/4 second. I tried it handheld against the Sigma 19 at f2.8 30th of a second and the Sony was much sharper at f4 @ 1/4 sec.
Is there anymore information about this lens? I'm getting an NEX-7 and was thinking about getting this lens as a nice UWA but am still a little worried about the magenta color shift.
I am very happy with this lens and it's handling. Haven't had any major issues issue with the purple edges that everyone seems to be obsessed with. From what I can see from the examples lightroom would be able to remove the fringing in just a few seconds. All my testing has shown an extremely sharp lens that will give me the ability to carry the NEX-7 and a two lens kit with me wherever I go. After lugging a Canon 5D2 around Europe last time, this will be a wonderful addition. Here's a shot that shows the edge sharpness that this lens is capable of. The optical stabilization is very efficient and makes up for most of them limitations of an f4 lens. I tested this against my Nikon 14-24 and was pleasantly surprised and its ability when compared to this great lens.
I like my copy, its plenty good and I look forward to my first trip without a SLR in over a decade...to Burma & Singapore tomorrow with just an NEX 7, 10-18 OSS and 55-210, and a DP2M for the middle range, perhaps the RX100 as backup. All fit, with a kindle fire, batteries, chargers, cards, tabletop tripod and cords in a bag that barely would hold a just a 5D and 24-105.
I have some shots from a trip to oregon, I'll see what I can get processed. I think I have a shot with some magenta in the sky, it was mostly cloudy though
?? m43 has had 0.95 Voiglanders for a while. 
