I'm really enjoying the images Phillip. Can you please show the lens with the camera at 16 and 70.
Phillip Reeve wrote:
I can return it for 30 days and got it directly from Sony.de so that shouldn't be a problem, someone mentioned that they know about their centering issues and are quite cooperative.
After realizing that my copy was decentered I was pissed off quite a bit so I didn't publish a 2nd test series I shot.
But as I have only shown the bad corner @70mm before it is only fair to show the better one as well.
While I trust and respect photozone, sometimes I wonder if they have a problematic/faulty NEX body (I am assuming they keep using the same body). Every time we test, we test the combination of a body plus the lens, camera bodies can be faulty/decentered too.
Please note I have no personal experience with NEX.
I've had some experience with Sony QC as well: I bought an A-mount 16-50 once, and as the first copy was slightly decentered, I returned it, hoping for a better copy. I shouldn't have done that. Copies 2-5 were utterly horrible - at no aperture were they even remotely as good as the first copy was already wide open (apart from a slightly underperforming left border at infinity). Copy 7 was about like the first one, and I accepted it, as for the intended main use it was quite good enough. I did check for sensor misalignment.
p.6 #10 · Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar E 4/16-70 ZA OSS
mudo wrote:
I've had some experience with Sony QC as well: I bought an A-mount 16-50 once, and as the first copy was slightly decentered, I returned it, hoping for a better copy. I shouldn't have done that. Copies 2-5 were utterly horrible - at no aperture were they even remotely as good as the first copy was already wide open (apart from a slightly underperforming left border at infinity). Copy 7 was about like the first one, and I accepted it, as for the intended main use it was quite good enough. I did check for sensor misalignment.
Good luck, Phillip!
wow, 7 copies thats pretty bad luck!
p.6 #13 · Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar E 4/16-70 ZA OSS
thank you for the pictures!
I received mine yesterday. I received two copies actually, that I will compare to each other and to other lenses I own. I will post samples. First impressions are rather good. The handling is good, it's quite small and light and the zoom ring is pleasant to use. Image quality seems quite good as well, but no copy seems to be perfect. We'll see.
p.6 #15 · Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar E 4/16-70 ZA OSS
Decentering is a common issue. I had several lenses from different brands that also were decentered. A few examples:
- Zeiss 21mm Distagon ZE
- Fujifilm XF 14mm
- Zeiss 35 Sonnar on my RX1 (I contacted Sony and there are no questions asked, I got a new one)
A guy that bought one of my lenses told me that his expensive Zeiss 15mm also had to go back because of decentering.
p.6 #16 · Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar E 4/16-70 ZA OSS
Ok, so after two days of testing I can confirm that both copies are slightly decentered. One is great from 16-28 but then shows weaknesses untill the long end. The other is perfect from 30 to 70, but is weak at 16 to 24, with f/8 being worse in the corner than f/4 (?).
It is a bit disapointing. Both are probably going back.
