I wish we could see some more full size images with these lenses, as it's hard to tell a lot from web reductions, especially on the 12mm. I was using my Fuji 14mm yesterday, and my lord, that lens continues to blow my socks off...the best wide-angle lens I've ever owned (I have not owned the Zeiss 21 or 15). Very sharp all the way to the extreme corners when stopped down a bit and still very good wide open. Is the Touit 12mm better? Maybe...I'd love to see it. Saying it's better than the Zeiss 21 is pretty high praise, but it's hard to verify from a web reduction. Can't wait to get my hands on these to review them.
Agreed Jman, but I have owned enough Zeiss lenses in my life to be able to recognize the pure pedigree of these lenses, regardless of their performance at 100% scrutinization. The Zeiss look is absolutely there.
Jman13 wrote:
I wish we could see some more full size images with these lenses
I've put up a few here: http://www.pbase.com/rcicala/nex7&page=all the full size are unaltered jpgs. The first 5 images are NEX 7 with Sigma 19mm or 30mm, but the rest are either 12mm or 32mm Tuoit on an NEX 7. It's just snapshots and a couple are a bit underexposed, but feel free to download if they're any use to you.
Thanks for the links kururu and Roger.
I agree with Edward. They do look Zeissy. Great colors, contrast and just nice overall look. The examples from Kururu's link look great, but are too small to judge. When I look at the fullsize 12mm examples on Rogers page I'm not really impressed though. Maybe it's not fair that I'm comparing it to my 21 distagon and maybe it's because of the jpegs (there are some nasty sharpening artifacts), but the corners look soft and the overall fine detail doesn't seem to be at the same level.
Jman13 wrote:
I wish we could see some more full size images with these lenses, as it's hard to tell a lot from web reductions, especially on the 12mm. I was using my Fuji 14mm yesterday, and my lord, that lens continues to blow my socks off...the best wide-angle lens I've ever owned (I have not owned the Zeiss 21 or 15). Very sharp all the way to the extreme corners when stopped down a bit and still very good wide open. Is the Touit 12mm better? Maybe...I'd love to see it. Saying it's better than the Zeiss 21 is pretty high praise, but it's hard to verify from a web reduction. Can't wait to get my hands on these to review them. ...Show more →
I also owned the XF 14mm and it's indeed an impressive lens! Close to the 21 distagon and even better at some things (the lack of distortion for example).
Thanks, Roger, for the samples. The 12mm looks to be a little soft around the edges of the frame to my eye. Was that your impression as well?
For comparison for those interested (which you may or may not be), here's a full size shot from my XF 14 from yesterday, to get an idea of the Touit 12's competition, straight from RAW with CaptureOne, defaults:
I definitely felt the corners were smearing on the 12mm, even the lateral edges a bit.
It's funny, when I heard about the lenses I was totally pumped about the 12mm and thought "oh, and a 32mm, too". After playing with them I'm much more pleased with the 32mm. I don't think there's a better choice for the NEX at 12mm that autofocuses, but the Fuji 14mm is pretty darn good and I don't think as smeary (not a good photography term - but it seems a combination of distortion, astigmatism, and perhaps field curvature so I can't think of a better one) in the corners.
On the other hand, the 12mm might be better on the Fuji. At the Zeiss release they showed slides and the distortion, vignetting, etc. was slightly different on the Fuji. It seems to be a combination of different flange-to-sensor distance and the Fuji RAW correction.
These kinds of comparisons, which are most important to choice, really need to be done in a somewhat controlled fashion, side by side for the same image subject matter.
This can give you both 100% crops if those matter more, and full image impact value (remember the full image) for those who see that as needing something more than a quick glossing over before forensically examining extreme corner content and other visible aberrations in such a wide (99 degree AOV) lens.
MTF corner definition IS lower at f2.8 - a noticeable decline typical of Distagons, but f5.6 looks very good, and the rest of the frame is fabulous with super contrast. And the fall off is gentle, a very good thing.
I've read everything from 'it's better than the Contax 21mm to it's less wonderful than a Fuji 14mm' and that is just today, lol. Time, and I suspect an enterprising Alt forum person, will tell. They ship in 1-2 weeks I have heard.
Jman13 wrote:
Thanks, Roger, for the samples. The 12mm looks to be a little soft around the edges of the frame to my eye. Was that your impression as well?
For comparison for those interested (which you may or may not be), here's a full size shot from my XF 14 from yesterday, to get an idea of the Touit 12's competition, straight from RAW with CaptureOne, defaults:
From what I've seen, the Zeiss 12mm is a very different lens than the Fuji 14mm. More Field curvature, more CA, and less sharp than the Fuji. But renders more Zeiss-y. Being of the uncouth sort who over-favors sharpness and lack of distortion, I'm far more impressed with the Fuji lens. Every time I see a full-size Fuji 14mm sample, I peer into the corners and go "oooooooooo."
Yeah, I shoot with it regularly and it still blows me away. On that shot above, which is sort of a throwaway shot for me (which is one reason I posted full size...I never post full size shots of my 'keepers'), I looked at the lower left corner and just stared. Crazy good corners.
Agreeing with Roger, I was a bit down on the Touit 32/1.8 when things were announced (and still think it's rather expensive for an f/1.8 normal), but it looks like it's a REALLY good lens.
Jman13 wrote:
Thanks, Roger, for the samples. The 12mm looks to be a little soft around the edges of the frame to my eye. Was that your impression as well?
For comparison for those interested (which you may or may not be), here's a full size shot from my XF 14 from yesterday, to get an idea of the Touit 12's competition, straight from RAW with CaptureOne, defaults:
At least from Roger's samples, the far extreme corners of the Zeiss 12 on the NEX-7 aren't necessarily better than what I see with the CV15 Heliar on the NEX-5N. However, like the CV, both seem to have excellent center sharpness and loads of microcontrast.
We'll have to see how the 12mm Touit plays on the NEX-7 successor. If they manage to remove the AA filter and keep the filter stack thin, the corners and edges may behave better, on both the Touit and the CV15 for that matter.
Looking at Roger's pictures (thanks, Roger!), one cannot but concur that there is some corner mush. Which means the 12mm Touit looks like it is an outstandingly sharp 14mm.
the blog link below is on nex's distortion correction. impressive. similar idea to the digital lens optimizer via canon's dpp? peripheral sharpening and etc.
