AF definitely has it's place as does MF and but I think it depends on the individual whether they can extract the results they desire from either method. You can do all kinds of photography with both if you want to and get great results if that's your preferred style of shooting.
I've done portraits, events and sports with both AF and MF and didn't really find MF a hindrance to results, however AF takes less physical effort and the capture of quicker precise images, possibly better for "clutch" shots. If it was a paid assignment I would choose AF for these types of photography as getting as many critical shots is very important and would get more in focus than MF.
On the other hand with street photography, shooting from the hip I prefer MF for more control and being able to quickly setup the exact distance and DOF just by adjusting the lens. Street photography using MF gets me more keepers, AF is more fiddly.
I've done most of my shooting using MF lenses and prefer it as it's a more involved process and more satisfying just like driving a manual car, but sometimes it's nice to be able to eat a burger and shoot at the same time
In regards to these new lenses, I'll stick with the FE 55mm because it ticks all the boxes and will be my main workhorse for which AF is less stressful for fast paced situations where I don't have to make sure I nailed the focus every time. If they come out with a compact 50/1.2 or 1.4 for FE mount I would be much more interested in that for video.
I am very eager to see how the new 35/1.4 zm and 35 Loxia turns out, it'll be great to have more fast and compact choices in this focal length that work well which was lacking apart from the Leicas.
I skimmed through the thread but didn't see if the aperture is electronically controlled or are these lenses stop down metering & aperture. Zeiss' and B&H's description make no mention of electronically controlled aperture. The description from B&H leads me to think these are stop down metering & aperture -
The lens mount is fitted with an electronic interface that conveys all lens EXIF data to the camera and can also be configured to automatically activate the camera's focusing magnification function when turning the focus ring.
edwardkaraa wrote:
Indeed it was confirmed that the aperture is purely mechanical.
Am I correct in assuming that the Zeiss ZE/ZF lenses are auto-aperture? If that is so, were the Loxia lenses designed with both a mechanical aperture and the ability to switch to stepless aperture control mainly to optimize them for video shooting?
The ZE/ZF/ZF.2 are auto-aperture, on their native platforms, but adapted they are not, unless you have ZE/EOS lenses on one of those special Metabones adapters. I think there might be a cheaper Chinese electronic adapter as well.
The stepless function is almost certainly for the video crowd, but I would guess that the stop-down aperture is due to a lack of an electronic protocol from Sony for manually controlling a lens-based aperture ring.
carstenw wrote:
The ZE/ZF/ZF.2 are auto-aperture, on their native platforms, but adapted they are not, unless you have ZE/EOS lenses on one of those special Metabones adapters. I think there might be a cheaper Chinese electronic adapter as well.
The stepless function is almost certainly for the video crowd, but I would guess that the stop-down aperture is due to a lack of an electronic protocol from Sony for manually controlling a lens-based aperture ring.
Ah, I hadn't considered the possibility that it was due to a lack of functionality in Sony's electronic protocol. Thank you.
So, in a way, the Loxia lenses are optimized for shooters who have long been adapting legacy lenses for use on modern digital bodies.
genji wrote:
Am I correct in assuming that the Zeiss ZE/ZF lenses are auto-aperture? If that is so, were the Loxia lenses designed with both a mechanical aperture and the ability to switch to stepless aperture control mainly to optimize them for video shooting?
The stepless control is for video shooting, but the stop down aperture is because the lenses are purely mechanical. The only electronic connection is to communicate the exif to the camera and to activate magnified view when the focusing ring is turned.
edwardkaraa wrote:
The stepless control is for video shooting, but the stop down aperture is because the lenses are purely mechanical. The only electronic connection is to communicate the exif to the camera and to activate magnified view when the focusing ring is turned.
Recording the exif info would be handy but, if the Distagon 35/1.4 ZM rumor turns out to be true (and the lens performs well on the A7), I'll happily forgo the exif and (probably not so happily) pay the extra for the Distagon -- particularly if its rendering resembles that of the Contax Distagon 35/1.4.
carstenw wrote:
I think that the Zeiss 50/2 Loxia might be a very nice lens... The boke is better than the ZM50. I will still be waiting to see how it compares to my ZF.2 50 Planar before making any decisions, but I am cautiously optimistic.
I'm also curious how it'll compare to the 50/1.4 ZE/ZF. I'm still a big fan of that lens. The rendering at f2.8 is so beautiful and smooth. I'm not seeing that in the examples of the new Loxia so far. It seems to be punchier.
genji wrote:
Recording the exif info would be handy but, if the Distagon 35/1.4 ZM rumor turns out to be true (and the lens performs well on the A7), I'll happily forgo the exif and (probably not so happily) pay the extra for the Distagon -- particularly if its rendering resembles that of the Contax Distagon 35/1.4.
Being a leica M user, the new distagon would be like a gift from heaven
Can't wait to know more about it! I certainly hope it renders like the Contax!
Why is everyone into the Distagon? As far as I know, Distagon means retrofocus, which in my mind means very big, very complicated design. I went to mirrorless to get away from large Retrofocus lenses.
Sep 05, 2014 at 05:12 AM
Steve Spencer Offline • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: On
rishio media wrote:
Why is everyone into the Distagon? As far as I know, Distagon means retrofocus, which in my mind means very big, very complicated design. I went to mirrorless to get away from large Retrofocus lenses.
Distagon also means a longer exit pupil which should mean better corner and edge performance. That plus the Contax and ZE/ZF 35 distagons are very nice lenses makes a ZM distagon attractive to me. I don't think it needs to be as big as the SLR lenses they partly needed the size to clear the mirror. As I said in an earlier post I have hopes a 35 f/1.4 could have a diameter of 67mm and a length of 75mm and I would be fine with that size.
Unfortunately Sony seems to think that their interests clash with the small group of photographers, like you, who want the best of both worlds- small high quality manual lenses and small mirrorless cameras at a sensible price.
If Leica can, I'm sure that Sony is perfectly capable too of making a camera with a sensor friendly to M wides, but that won't suit their marketing strategy.
We can't blame them really. Their business is to make profits and these are hard times for everybody.
artur5 wrote:
Unfortunately Sony seems to think that their interests clash with the small group of photographers, like you, who want the best of both worlds- small high quality manual lenses and small mirrorless cameras at a sensible price.
If Leica can, I'm sure that Sony is perfectly capable too of making a camera with a sensor friendly to M wides, but that won't suit their marketing strategy.
We can't blame them really. Their business is to make profits and these are hard times for everybody.
It will be interesting to see how Sony proceeds with the sensor design in a successor camera to the A7 series. I also doubt that they will adjust the sensor design to get a better fit to third party (Leica especially!) rangefinder lenses. Sony's focus will be more on selling their own Sony/Zeiss branded AF-based FE lenses. Therefore I will not be one of the first buying whatever new Sony FF mirrorless camera might appear next year for example - especially since I prefer to use smaller MF lenses on my A7R. I am afraid they might make it even more difficult to use Leica rangefinder lenses on such camera - who knows. I am not too optimistic that we will get a better adaptation of (wide angle) M-mount lenses on Sony FF mirrorless cameras.
carstenw wrote:
Hey, John, it is you! Long time no see! What have you been up to? Which system are you on now?
Still the M gear - not much to write about there because not much new happens
Is there an "A" position (for auto) on the aperture ring, and then aperture is set electronically via the camera body and actuated electronically when the shutter is fired? The only pictures I've seen are the front view of the lens with the aperture ring set to F22, thus hiding the F2 marking. Availability isn't until December (according to B&H), so I guess things could change anyways.
