philber wrote:
Not everyone likes the Sony-Zeiss ZA 24. I don't. I tried two copies, and it was the frst Zeiss that I declined to buy. While it is unquestionably very sharp, and its performance up close is excellent, its performance at infinity and its colours were too disappointing for me to go ahead. And I know I am not alone in this. It is also not very wide, at 36mm equiv. on FF.
I guess it all depends on how lucky you get with the copy you happen to receive. I tested my 24 mm CZ NEX against my 16-35 A-mount and at infinity the 24 was so much better. The 16-35 was my second copy of that lens, I sent the first one back because the corners were just awful on the A900 I used back then ... A lot of copy variation everywhere.
Anyway, I sold the 16-35 and the 24 mm is just wonderfully sharp at all distances and I especially like the bokeh at close to medium range.
peterv wrote:
I guess it all depends on how lucky you get with the copy you happen to receive. I tested my 24 mm CZ NEX against my 16-35 A-mount and at infinity the 24 was so much better. The 16-35 was my second copy of that lens, I sent the first one back because the corners were just awful on the A900 I used back then ... A lot of copy variation everywhere.
Anyway, I sold the 16-35 and the 24 mm is just wonderfully sharp at all distances and I especially like the bokeh at close to medium range.
I loved the glass in the 24, I just hated what was wrapped around it. AF + focus by wire = funsucker.
What opened my eyes to it was the comparo a few weeks back with Leica's 24/3.8, an FF lens of serious quality, in the centre the CZ looked very close indeed, with fine imaging character. And it gives Sony eq of 18mm-35mm-50mm-75mm with the macro, all in CZ with AF.
FLM, you are out on the margins of the distribution re AF, lol. I agree that wiry focus AF is where fun goes to die.
It is of course too early to really tell how good the Touit are, but the pics I am seeing generally point to really serious glass and IQ, which means, for me (others are free to differ), a class above the ZA24. What drives that impression is the comparison with teh Sigma 30, a lens that is generally very well liked by the NEX crowd, and which, if the comparison is representative, can't hold a candle to the Touit 32 IMHO. If it is that good, I can imagine selling my 35 ZM f:2.0 for a Touit 32.
Peterv, I agree with what you write about the ZA24. Except it wasn't enough for me.
Philip, IMHO the colours of the Elmar 24 and the ZA are very different, and not in a way you can adjust for in post. The balance of contrast and clarity is also quite different, which gives the overall picture a very different look. Though I am not sure, I wonder whether that is not a matter of "the right lens for a given sensor", because the ZMs I have fit my 5N better than my 7 in those areas. I hope that the forthcoming 7N doesn't change the great compatibility of the 7 with Leica lenses.
Yes, philippe, plenty to be revealed in time, these ship soon I think...oh, I see bhphoto has 6-8 weeks so these must be 'special guest' early releases. I can't imagine Sony doing much to change the colour characteristics of the sensor, but we never know.
After the flurry with the D800 and RX1/a99 we can also then gauge the rate of improvement in APS-C for them. At some stage they will refine the body maybe have it grow a little larger etc. I think. You must be happy to have these extra options ;-)
I also don't like the 24/1.8 Sonnar, but these new Touit lenses seem to be much more to my liking. They'll make the NEX platform much more interesting IMHO. The lack of interesting native glass always kept me from buying a NEX camera.
philip_pj wrote:
Where is Roger, what has he got to report, lol.
Getting on a plane to go to New York. Show and tell starts at 3 pm, I'll post something tonight. I don't know what we'll get to shoot as far as targets, but I have been told we can keep images.
This guy is also posting sample photos (mounted on a NEX-7) on his flickr stream: link
They look annoyingly good
I owned a Fuji X-E1 with 14 and 35mm, but in the end I still prefered my 21 distagon + 50 planar. These touit lenses might make me sell them after all. We'll see.
Well, the new Nikon 32mm 1.2 lens for their "tiny" 1 retail $900. Make Touit not unreasonable price.
What is wrong with Canikon, are they out of their mind
RCicala wrote:
Getting on a plane to go to New York. Show and tell starts at 3 pm, I'll post something tonight. I don't know what we'll get to shoot as far as targets, but I have been told we can keep images.
zhangyue wrote:
Well, the new Nikon 32mm 1.2 lens for their "tiny" 1 retail $900. Make Touit not unreasonable price.
What is wrong with Canikon, are they out of their mind
Well, it's f/1.2 instead of f/1.8...a bit more exotic of a lens design.
The Touits do look to have great color and contrast, and the more recent images I've seen from the 12 look quite sharp. It does seem to have a fair bit of distortion, however. Wonder how easily it will correct...
Jochenb wrote:
This guy is also posting sample photos (mounted on a NEX-7) on his flickr stream: link
They look annoyingly good
I owned a Fuji X-E1 with 14 and 35mm, but in the end I still prefered my 21 distagon + 50 planar. These touit lenses might make me sell them after all. We'll see.
Damn, these are really good! Especially the 32mm shots are much better artistically and show off the optical virtuosity of this lens.
zhangyue wrote:
Well, the new Nikon 32mm 1.2 lens for their "tiny" 1 retail $900. Make Touit not unreasonable price.
What is wrong with Canikon, are they out of their mind
No, they know some will buy at a given price, and they try to cater to that for as long as possible. The difference between Canikon and Zeiss though seems to be that the big boys like to release high and then gradually discount after the early adopters have bought. AFAIK, Zeiss has never done that.
The annoying aspect of Canikon's approach is that if you really want/need to be early on a release, you have to accept that you'll take an additional 20-30% resale loss, whereas with Zeiss/Leica's steady prices, it's less of a concern. I suspect with Zeiss's desire to be a premium player in this segment, they'll keep pricing steady.
Another thought is that as this market segment erodes DSLR system sales, the manufacturers will want to make up the differences. Looking at lens pricing trends since around 2007 and I highly doubt we'll see much, if any, price easing going forward, no matter the system. Sure, there will be exceptions such as the Sigma 19/30 lenses, the Canon 40/2.8... but for the more interesting/exotic stuff - no.
philip_pj wrote:
FLM, you are out on the margins of the distribution re AF, lol.
Very true, and for me, it's entirely personal. I figure I can misfocus as well as any AF system, but when I nail it, I nailed it. It's so much more satisfying.
So I don't begrudge anyone their AF systems, but given the complaints I hear about new lenses (size and cost) AF seems like the most logical sacrifice to make to save on both.
These are outstanding MTFs. It looks like these lenses will be worth the price, IMO, but perhaps that is jumping the gun just a bit. Still the 12mm MTFs look way better than the 18mm ZE/ZF and it is less money.
