dennishh wrote:
I tested the 32mm 1.8 Touit today on my NEX-7 but had trouble with the lens hunting focus. Did anyone else test this lens today and find this happening with it? This might have been a preproduction sample. I will be reviewing the files and posting some hundred percent crops later on. I also tested the 12mm 2.8 Zeiss against the Sony 10 -18 mm. My preliminary impressions are that the Zeiss lenses definitely have more micro-contrast and that's Zeiss look but as far as sharpness goes they do not blow away the Sigma 30 or the Sony 10-18 I've asked some other people to take a look at the raw files and see what they think. Has anyone looked at the other reviews that came out in the last couple of days? What as the consensus on the two lenses?
Thanks Dennis...Show more →
Ok, I have to ask, how is the 10-18 on the NEX-7? Magenta cast? Corners? There have been very few reports of about it on the 7, and the ones I've seen seemed to have decentering problems. It's still not clear to me whether 10-18 is good on the NEX7.
Hi Dennis, I would encourage you to post some comparisons as I believe your test shots are very valid. I believe the Zeiss to be the winner in both cases, even in resolution and sharpness, but it is correct to assume that it doesn't blow away the other lenses in this regard, probably because the Sigma and the Sony are excellent lenses. In fact in all the comparisons that we have seen on this forum between Zeiss and other well respected lenses, the differences have been rather subtle. And in this particular case, I can see that differences are a bit more decisive. I would personally declare both Touit lenses as the winners And many thanks to Dennis for showing me the test shots. I greatly appreciate it.
I agree totally with Edwards assessment and would be the first in line for the Touit 35 1.8 if it weren't for the hunting for focus issue with the NEX-7. I'm hoping that Zeiss or Sony will correct this in the next couple of weeks before the lens shows up at the dealer.
sflxn wrote:
Ok, I have to ask, how is the 10-18 on the NEX-7? Magenta cast? Corners? There have been very few reports of about it on the 7, and the ones I've seen seemed to have decentering problems. It's still not clear to me whether 10-18 is good on the NEX7.
I understand your concerns about the 10-18 all I can say is that I was lucky to get a version that is exceptional. I would recommend ordering two or three lenses and testing each one of them to see if there decentered and send the other ones back. Below is the test I did with the Zeiss Touit 12mm @f8 against the Sony 10-18 @f8 12mm as much as I hate reducing these two JPEG's. I think the 10 to 18 is slightly sharper than this at 10mm. I use this lens all of time not only as my carry around lens but on a few of my commercial jobs with great success. Lately I've been carrying my Nikon D800e with the 70-20 2.8 vr2 and the NEX-7 with the 10-18.
Those close ups look really good Dennis. The 12 has a bit of nervous bokeh as expected from such a UWA but both lenses seem to deal with the harsh highlights pretty well.
Thanks Edward. Here's another one showing the micro contrast big time that you were talking about. Shot with the 32mm Zeiss Touit, wide open at f1.8 and DMF.
dennishh wrote:
I agree totally with Edwards assessment and would be the first in line for the Touit 35 1.8 if it weren't for the hunting for focus issue with the NEX-7. I'm hoping that Zeiss or Sony will correct this in the next couple of weeks before the lens shows up at the dealer.
how was the manual focus feel with the lens? did you try any straight up manual focus with out dmf?
edwardkaraa wrote:
I would be pleasantly surprised if that would be true, but that is very very unlikely. Zeiss are unable to make more than 1-2 new lenses a year, so now we have 2 touits, 2-3 ZM, 1 ZA, 2 Z* high end, and 3 FF Nex?
Unless I'm missing the news, I don't recall any new ZMs coming out. And they are going to have 3 touits and 3 Z* high-end (but so far it might be just the 55/1.4 for this year and next). However, I agree that Zeiss has been slow to keep up with the demand lately. They're spreading themselves thin.
In Dennis' comparison shots of the Sony 10-18 with the Touit 12mm it seems like the 10-18 has some mild color shift (cyan cast in the corners) whereas the 12mm looks completely uniform.
sebboh wrote:
how was the manual focus feel with the lens? did you try any straight up manual focus with out dmf?
I did try manual focusing when I encountered the focus hunting. The focusing is smooth and accurate. Seems like a normal focusing lens and not fly by wire.
hiepphotog wrote:
Unless I'm missing the news, I don't recall any new ZMs coming out. And they are going to have 3 touits and 3 Z* high-end (but so far it might be just the 55/1.4 for this year and next). However, I agree that Zeiss has been slow to keep up with the demand lately. They're spreading themselves thin.
Zeiss mentioned 3 ZM lenses with wide apertures in process. They said at least one will be released in 2013, probably two.
Dennis, thanks for posting these shots. The last one really excites me, though I did not really have in mind to replace my ZM 35 f:2.0 with a Touit. And I am in line for a 12mm.
And many thanks to Dennis for showing me the test shots. I greatly appreciate it. 
