Looks like they are starting to ship in the US. B&H have just shipped mine so I'll have it for the weekend. Will definitely be testing it with an eye to returning if it's a poor copy but I'm hoping not. With the 10-18 Sony, a couple of tilt/shift adapters with wide lenses and a fast 90mm this helps make a small versatile package for me.
LensRentals has one in, too. I would not mind renting one for a week... Would have been perfect this weekend when the Fall colors are hitting their peak.
I received a copy of the 16-70 lens on Friday and had a chance to use it over the weekend.
Sorry for not posting images directly but I loaded up a couple of full size jpgs to help anyone who wants to peep I'm working on a very slow laptop for the rest of the week with no PS, so no easy way to post paired crops either.
The 1st 4 images on page 1 are the full size files (2nd has a very slight crop, sorry about that, but it only excludes the OOF trees in the foreground). The 1st pair compares the 16-70 to a Minolta 35-70/3.5 macro @70mm, the 2nd pair compares to the 10-18mm Sony @16mm. File numbers *2*** are the 16-70, *9*** are the other lenses (taken on 2 different 5N bodies so I didn't have to keep swapping the 16-70).
The photos in the woods were taken on a tripod with OSS off. The rest of page 1 and 1st 10 of page 2 were hand held with OSS on.
Yes, mine is going back. I had higher hopes for it. I'll keep my eye on test reviews in case I got a cr*ppy copy though (might buy again later). I was hoping that this, the 10-18 and a 90mm would be all I needed. I'm looking forward to the Nex 7 replacement as a primary body when I don't want to schlepp my SLRs.
mcbroomf wrote:
Yes, mine is going back. I had higher hopes for it. I'll keep my eye on test reviews in case I got a cr*ppy copy though (might buy again later). I was hoping that this, the 10-18 and a 90mm would be all I needed. I'm looking forward to the Nex 7 replacement as a primary body when I don't want to schlepp my SLRs.
Mike
Mike,
At least for now as was mentioned in comments from Andrea (SAR administrator) it seems there is no NEX 7 replacement coming soon. What he thought to be the replacement due to confusion by Sony is the FF A7r.
p.7 #11 · Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar E 4/16-70 ZA OSS
mco_970 wrote:
Yeah, the 10-18 looked really good against the Zeiss, too. Are you using the 35-70 as your primary mid range zoom?
I'm spoiled for choice (or just spoiled ... ) I have the Minolta, C/Y and F4 Leica. I chose the Minolta over the weekend because it's a tad smaller than the C/Y (much smaller than the Leica).
p.7 #13 · Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar E 4/16-70 ZA OSS
naturephoto1 wrote:
Mike,
At least for now as was mentioned in comments from Andrea (SAR administrator) it seems there is no NEX 7 replacement coming soon. What he thought to be the replacement due to confusion by Sony is the FF A7r.
Yes, not liking the sound of that Rich. For a while he was saying that there would be an APSC and FF announcement in October, but could well just be the 2 FF bodies. I could wait, or try one of the FF bodies if they play with RF wides, but then lens compactness goes out the window as I'll no doubt end up using several of my FF lenses.
p.7 #16 · Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar E 4/16-70 ZA OSS
mcbroomf wrote:
Yes, not liking the sound of that Rich. For a while he was saying that there would be an APSC and FF announcement in October, but could well just be the 2 FF bodies. I could wait, or try one of the FF bodies if they play with RF wides, but then lens compactness goes out the window as I'll no doubt end up using several of my FF lenses.
Mike
Mike,
As Andrea has mentioned in SAR the new FF A7 and A7r are also supposed to accept the APS-C lenses in a cropped form (and depending upon the lens, larger than the NEX size may be possible depending upon the lens' image circle). So, if many of us are understanding this correctly, this may make sense for some. A big question with this option is this where Sony is planning to direct its efforts for the E-mount (FF cameras??) and also for the DSLR type designs that they have started to introduce.
p.7 #17 · Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar E 4/16-70 ZA OSS
Yes. I'm not optimistic though that the corner quality will be there beyond APSC with an APSC lens. Illumination maybe. And if not then cropping the 36mm FF sensor to APSC yields the same result (16MP) as the 5N, so to my mind it's a body to take FF lenses when I'm out (ie why carry both FF and APCS lenses?)
The good news is we have some great choices coming up, even if we have to wait a little.
PS. A little OT, but one BAD thing about this mount (ie E mount FF) is that I don't think the throat is going to be large enough for useful tilt/shifting using medium format lenses. I think it will block the rays after only a few mm of shift. Tilt may be OK if adapting an EOS lens which rotates around the aperture, but a mirex type tilt just makes the lens droop and I think the same problem will happen.
p.7 #19 · Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar E 4/16-70 ZA OSS
Looking through, it's hard to tell from the smaller images, but it looks better at middle zoom range? Does this correlate with what you are seeing, Mike? Still sending it back?
ps. I could not get the 2nd full size image to download... It's probably just me, though.
p.7 #20 · Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar E 4/16-70 ZA OSS
mco_970 wrote:
Yeah, the 10-18 looked really good against the Zeiss, too. Are you using the 35-70 as your primary mid range zoom?
From what I've seen so far the 10-18 is a little better at f8 but at f4 the Zeiss is clearly better.
Would have been perfect this weekend when the Fall colors are hitting their peak.
I hate you, McBroom.