I guess central sharpness doesn't impress me for an f/2.8 lens. There are some great 35/2.8 lenses from decades ago. Anyway, I was commenting more on rendering, which seems competent, but not beautiful. Too much DoF in many of those shots, with no way to improve it. I am really disappointed that Sony didn't make this an f/2 lens, even if it was then bigger.
carstenw wrote:
I guess central sharpness doesn't impress me for an f/2.8 lens. There are some great 35/2.8 lenses from decades ago. Anyway, I was commenting more on rendering, which seems competent, but not beautiful. Too much DoF in many of those shots, with no way to improve it. I am really disappointed that Sony didn't make this an f/2 lens, even if it was then bigger.
Look at that rope picture and keep in mind you're looking at a crop from a 36MP image: I don't think there's any 35/2.8 from a decade ago that would have that kind of resolution and lack of CA at f2.8.
I agree, f2 would be nice, but I guess I'm judging it as an f2.8 lens, so I'm not going to be disappointed if there's too much DoF. From these shots here, I think there's enough subject isolation for 90% of my needs (and I'd always have a big honking Sigma 35 for the other 10%).
carstenw wrote:
I guess central sharpness doesn't impress me for an f/2.8 lens. There are some great 35/2.8 lenses from decades ago. Anyway, I was commenting more on rendering, which seems competent, but not beautiful. Too much DoF in many of those shots, with no way to improve it. I am really disappointed that Sony didn't make this an f/2 lens, even if it was then bigger.
which the 35/2.8s are you thinking of? none come immediately to mind other than the summaroon. i agree that the rendering is super exciting though.
sebboh wrote:
which the 35/2.8s are you thinking of? none come immediately to mind other than the summaroon. i agree that the rendering is super exciting though.
The Contax, the Nikkor AI-S (has a bad rep, but I own one, and it is great, even on my D800), and there is another which slips my mind. Maybe also the ZM 35/2.8. None of them are quite as good as the Sony-Zeiss, but these are *ancient* and/or much cheaper lenses, and perfectly good for use with current cameras.
If you want AF or EXIF, if you like native lenses, then there are good reasons to buy this, but at 800 Euro (!!!) this isn't a no-brainer, by a long shot. This is barely less than the Sigma 35/1.4. At that price I would probably just get the ZF 35/2.
I swing back and forth on the usefulness of the A7/A7R as the basis of a kit, as opposed to an alt platform. I could imagine getting the RX1 and the A7 with a Summarit 75mm or something similar, but Sony has done that thing again where there are a couple of semi-interesting native lenses, a couple of slow zooms, everything with its own non-trivial compromises (speed and/or quality). It will be interesting to see how long it will take them to do what Fuji is doing, i.e. a nice, sharp 21/35/50/85 kit.
carstenw wrote:
If you want AF or EXIF, if you like native lenses, then there are good reasons to buy this, but at 800 Euro (!!!) this isn't a no-brainer, by a long shot. This is barely less than the Sigma 35/1.4. At that price I would probably just get the ZF 35/2.
The other obvious reason to get the ZE 35/2.8 is if you want a high performing compact and light lens.
I've got the ZF 35/2 and it's too big and clumsy on my Nex 7 and I can't expect I'll like it on my A7r. If you want a faster 35 and are willing to go with larger and heavier, might as well get the CV 35/1.2 or even the Pentax 31/1.8.
If I had to pay 800 Euro my tune might be different, but at $800 CAD I'm ok with the cost.
A faster 35 would have interested me, but for usefulness and rendering the FE35/2.8 doesn't evoke from me a "meh" response even if I do wish it were at least a stop faster. I would have paid for that in cost, size, and weight. I would not however be keen for a Sigma 35/1.4 sized package. Been there, done that.
Had Sony asked photographers who were more likely to buy the camera rather than merely sling arrows at it from afar over lens size, no doubt the optic would at least be a stop faster.
I haven't yet seen a ton of images from this lens that grab me, and early on I was thinking "meh", but after seeing more I'm liking it much more. I do like what I'm seeing in the Yodobashi series and look forward to seeing more from this lens now that it is out in the wild.
PS: I'll take that 21,35,(55), 85 series too. Maybe Sony will surprise all with a good 21 and 85 next year.
carstenw wrote:
The Contax, the Nikkor AI-S (has a bad rep, but I own one, and it is great, even on my D800), and there is another which slips my mind. Maybe also the ZM 35/2.8. None of them are quite as good as the Sony-Zeiss, but these are *ancient* and/or much cheaper lenses, and perfectly good for use with current cameras.
If you want AF or EXIF, if you like native lenses, then there are good reasons to buy this, but at 800 Euro (!!!) this isn't a no-brainer, by a long shot. This is barely less than the Sigma 35/1.4. At that price I would probably just get the ZF 35/2.
I swing back and forth on the usefulness of the A7/A7R as the basis of a kit, as opposed to an alt platform. I could imagine getting the RX1 and the A7 with a Summarit 75mm or something similar, but Sony has done that thing again where there are a couple of semi-interesting native lenses, a couple of slow zooms, everything with its own non-trivial compromises (speed and/or quality). It will be interesting to see how long it will take them to do what Fuji is doing, i.e. a nice, sharp 21/35/50/85 kit....Show more →
ha, seems i wrote that i thought the rendering of the FE 35/2.8 was super exciting – i meant to write "isn't super exciting".
neither the contax nor the nikkor are terribly good performance wise – certainly not near the level the new FE appears to be. those lenses are also much much bigger. the c-biogon appears to be similar size and performance for the same price. i'm curious to see how the v1 cron and summaron will perform on the a7(r).
the idea of pairing the rx1 with an a7(r) + 75 summarit has been my line of thinking since the announcement. owning the rx1, i have no interest in the FE 35/2.8. i'm sure once i have one of the cameras though i won't be able to resist picking up a 35 with a different rendering style from the rx1. probably the lux pre-asph, but we'll see.
I think they'll have the kit soon enough, but I think it'll be MF and made by Zeiss and not Sony
carstenw wrote:
The Contax, the Nikkor AI-S (has a bad rep, but I own one, and it is great, even on my D800), and there is another which slips my mind. Maybe also the ZM 35/2.8. None of them are quite as good as the Sony-Zeiss, but these are *ancient* and/or much cheaper lenses, and perfectly good for use with current cameras.
If you want AF or EXIF, if you like native lenses, then there are good reasons to buy this, but at 800 Euro (!!!) this isn't a no-brainer, by a long shot. This is barely less than the Sigma 35/1.4. At that price I would probably just get the ZF 35/2.
I swing back and forth on the usefulness of the A7/A7R as the basis of a kit, as opposed to an alt platform. I could imagine getting the RX1 and the A7 with a Summarit 75mm or something similar, but Sony has done that thing again where there are a couple of semi-interesting native lenses, a couple of slow zooms, everything with its own non-trivial compromises (speed and/or quality). It will be interesting to see how long it will take them to do what Fuji is doing, i.e. a nice, sharp 21/35/50/85 kit....Show more →
Well, that's worth waiting for. Maybe without AF they can actually release a good 35/2 (could be small without AF), which would be awesome. A 35/75 kit with an A7 would be something worth owning.
Thanks for those, Herb (and it's great to see you here on FM again)! Is the 24 Elmar correctable with flat-field or cornerfix at, say, f/5.6? Or...is too much detail lost due to the massive color shift and vignetting (or even smearing)?
I noticed the 35 Lux FLE has vignetting and some corner shift on the a7r, but there is no smearing, so it's easily correctible for sky shots, and probably doesn't need it at all for other shots...
BTW, any chance you can upload larger sample images on your future shots? They are pretty tiny on my iMac
Very Carsten... I like the S-Bahn train in the second image after having seen the first one. Too bad the MB star turned away from you.
...and Carsten also wroteI swing back and forth on the usefulness of the A7/A7R as the basis of a kit, as opposed to an alt platform.(...)
Isn't that again a matter of patience? It can't be too long until Sony releases improved versions of the A7(r), just as they have done with the Nex series.
I'll be perfectly fine with my RX1 for quite some time. In fact, when people are looking for the good 35mm lens for the A7(r) All I need to do is having a look at the RX1 images. It's as effective as a cool shower. At the same time I don't doubt I'll be lining up for a second generation of the A7(r).
sebboh wrote:
the idea of pairing the rx1 with an a7(r) + 75 summarit has been my line of thinking since the announcement. owning the rx1, i have no interest in the FE 35/2.8. i'm sure once i have one of the cameras though i won't be able to resist picking up a 35 with a different rendering style from the rx1. probably the lux pre-asph, but we'll see.
I understand the love for the RX1, but carrying 2 cameras, one limited to just 35mm, makes no sense...
