p.2 #1 · Kolari Mod's Improvements: A Summary of Tests
hiepphotog wrote:
A7RII is infinitely better at reducing vignetting and color cast (slightly better than the A7S). You would be in for a treat. It's better than the native Leica with in-cam correction. I will also wait and see what Lloyd is going to say about the modded A7RII behavior. He hinted that the ZM 35/1.4 is still a disappointment. And that is the opposite of what I see. The lens has no induced field curvature after the mod. Lloyd has not returned his loaner yet so we'll see.
And that is the opposite of what I see. The lens has no induced field curvature after the mod
That's impressive. Thanks.
BTW, which lens did you use for your test in the other forum?
p.2 #2 · Kolari Mod's Improvements: A Summary of Tests
k-h.a.w wrote: And that is the opposite of what I see. The lens has no induced field curvature after the mod
That's impressive. Thanks.
BTW, which lens did you use for your test in the other forum?
You mean which lenses I have tested? I tested: ZM 15, G 21, Elmar 24, G 28, Cron 28, ZM 35/1.4, Lux 50 ASPH, Cron 50 APO, and G 90. I also tested FE 55 to see if there is any degradation. And I tested Contax 55/1.2 and 85/1.2 to see if there is any improvement on SLR lenses.
p.2 #3 · Kolari Mod's Improvements: A Summary of Tests
I also sent my A7 (an early unit) back for the A/R upgrade, but it's coming back with the v2 glass so I can make a set of profiles for it and share them. For those with v1 mod (BG39 filter), camera profiles are at:
to be picked up by Camera Raw or LightRoom. You might have to unhide the folders if you don't see the AppData folder in your user folder.
I recommend the Dual-Illuminant profiles. They give the same result as the single-illuminant profile under the proper lighting conditions, and the Daylight profile is pretty whacky under Tungsten light (as expected).
In my earlier post I commented that I thought the colors were a bit saturated with these profiles. After more extensive use, I think this was just me using Camera Neutral for a long time, which is quite unsaturated. I still dial back the saturation a little with these, but I think it's more about personal taste than absolute correctness.
p.2 #4 · Kolari Mod's Improvements: A Summary of Tests
In Roger Circala's attempts to build a rig to test E-mount lenses on an optical bench, he found that they (much more than DSLR lenses really need 2mm of cover glass for decent performance (it was noticeable worse even at 1mm).
Not a reason to not go Kolari if you prime use for an A7 series camera is as a platform for M glass; but it does look as if, for best results, you can't mix wider M glass and native glass on one the one body. More so at infinity I think: previous tests he did at shorter distances showed the native glass to be just a little bit worse in the corners with the Kolari mod.
p.2 #5 · Kolari Mod's Improvements: A Summary of Tests
DavidBM wrote:
In Roger Circala's attempts to build a rig to test E-mount lenses on an optical bench, he found that they (much more than DSLR lenses really need 2mm of cover glass for decent performance (it was noticeable worse even at 1mm).
Not a reason to not go Kolari if you prime use for an A7 series camera is as a platform for M glass; but it does look as if, for best results, you can't mix wider M glass and native glass on one the one body. More so at infinity I think: previous tests he did at shorter distances showed the native glass to be just a little bit worse in the corners with the Kolari mod....Show more →
Yes, that's always been understood. The best performance is when the sensor and lens design are matched. As always, longer lenses (larger exit pupil distances) are less effected, for better or worse.
The Kolari Thin Filter mod uses a filter stack the same thickness as Leica's M camera, and is optimized for lenses designed for that system. Of course, that makes it better for lenses designed for film than the stock camera, also.
p.2 #6 · Kolari Mod's Improvements: A Summary of Tests
mdemeyer wrote:
Yes, that's always been understood. The best performance is when the sensor and lens design are matched. As always, longer lenses (larger exit pupil distances) are less effected, for better or worse.
The Kolari Thin Filter mod uses a filter stack the same thickness as Leica's M camera, and is optimized for lenses designed for that system. Of course, that makes it better for lenses designed for film than the stock camera, also.
Michael
Yep; I was just reporting it because these recent tests make the degradation for native glass on a Kolari mod seem a little greater than it seemed on the previous tests, where of course the degradation was there, but looked like it might have been hard to pick in real life images, and something that many native glass users might have been happy to live with.
p.2 #7 · Kolari Mod's Improvements: A Summary of Tests
DavidBM wrote:
Yep; I was just reporting it because these recent tests make the degradation for native glass on a Kolari mod seem a little greater than it seemed on the previous tests, where of course the degradation was there, but looked like it might have been hard to pick in real life images, and something that many native glass users might have been happy to live with.
Roger just mentioned it but he didn't show any actual test data, so I'm not sure if it's greater than the previous Imatest. Of course, the most affected lenses would be on the WA/UWA side, which is also the troublesome side of rangefinder use on a Sony as well. From tests, more retrofocal UWA/WA RF lenses show performance on the modded close to the native M body. So I suspect the retrofocal Sony UWA/WA might not suffer that bad.
p.2 #9 · Kolari Mod's Improvements: A Summary of Tests
k-h.a.w wrote:
Which are those "retrofocal Sony UWA/WA" lenses?
Also, with a mod does one lose the dust shaker functionality?
TIA.
I assume all of the current Sony UWA/WA (28, 16-35, 25 and 21) lenses are retrofocal because of their size and in order to perform well on a digital sensor. Leica WATE, SEM 18 & 21, Elamr 24 are all retrofocal, just tuned for a different thickness.
Latest A7II and A7RII mod will retain the dust shaker functionality. Older model, you have to contact Ilija for that.
p.2 #10 · Kolari Mod's Improvements: A Summary of Tests
k-h.a.w wrote:
Many thanks for the update. I'll wait until Kolari has all that under control then I'll send in my cameras.
Question: Which one first, the A7r or the A7r2?
This is the answer I got today from Iljia:
"Right now we are not using the AR coated glass. We are looking for a new partner to do it, and I am unsure what the cost of it will be and whether we will be able to include it as a standard or as an upgrade option only. Best case it will not be ready for a few more months."
to be picked up by Camera Raw or LightRoom. You might have to unhide the folders if you don't see the AppData folder in your user folder.
In my earlier post (on the v1 profiles) I commented that I thought the colors were a bit saturated with these profiles. After more extensive use, I think this was just me using Camera Neutral for a long time, which is quite unsaturated. I still dial back the saturation a little with these, but I think it's more about personal taste than absolute correctness.
I just made these and have not tested them extensively. Owners with the humidity resistant glass filters, please give them a try and let me know what you find. People reported good results with the v1 profiles, especially improvements in blue skies.
Michael
Update Nov 9 - Did some shooting this weekend under difficult lighting with good results. Still needs a large Magenta shift (I need to understand why) in LR but good results overall.
p.2 #13 · Kolari Mod's Improvements: A Summary of Tests
Does anyone have any input on a CV 15/4.5 III vs ZM 18 for a modded a7rII? My v2 of the 15/4.5 isn't as good as I hoped. The posted ZM18 samples look great and I don't really need 15mm. Size and (used) price is fairly close...
p.2 #14 · Kolari Mod's Improvements: A Summary of Tests
mdemeyer wrote:
....Update Nov 9 - Did some shooting this weekend under difficult lighting with good results. Still needs a large Magenta shift (I need to understand why) in LR but good results overall...
p.2 #15 · Kolari Mod's Improvements: A Summary of Tests
hiepphotog wrote:
Are you using AWB?
I shoot JPG+RAW and my post processing is always from RAW, so I generally leave it on AWB for the JPG files. Although most commonly my JPG's are B&W. Bottom line is that the in-camera WB is not that meaningful to me.
p.2 #16 · Kolari Mod's Improvements: A Summary of Tests
mdemeyer wrote:
I shoot JPG+RAW and my post processing is always from RAW, so I generally leave it on AWB for the JPG files. Although most commonly my JPG's are B&W. Bottom line is that the in-camera WB is not that meaningful to me.
Michael
Michael, I think the problem is two-fold. The first thing is that the mod does change color response, so the built-in AWB would always get it wrong. Secondly, Adobe profile (just an okay profile to start with) was done on a stock camera.
So since you made your own camera profile, that solves the second problem. The first problem is still there. Have you tried ColorChecker WB or ExpoDisc to see if you still need that large magenta shift.
p.2 #19 · Kolari Mod's Improvements: A Summary of Tests
k-h.a.w wrote:
Thank you Hiep. I'll try it on our images. :-)
You're welcome . This DNG profile only works in Lightroom. And WB needs to be fixed (Auto would do most of the time). This profile does fix the tendency of shifting blue sky to purple and overall it looks nicer than the Adobe one.
