taoger wrote:
Here is a little experience with my copy.
My copy is perfectly centered from 24-60, peak resolution at 28-50. sharpness notably drops from 60-70 when shooting landscape but still extremely sharp for portrait distance. And I found a interesting phenomenon, at 70 end, F2.8 show no decentering issue. All 4 corners are decently sharp. but at F4 and 5.6 (worst), the astigmatism in low left (good Tan, but blurry Sag) increased in the corners although the center improves a lot. At F8, that corner get much better, and all corner are even. At F11, all corner get further improved to a pixel peeping level. I dont' find diffraction at F11 bother me since all details are there just a little loss in contrast, which is easy to fix in the post processing. ...Show more →
Thanks for sharing your experience. With my two copies even f8 didn't help as with copy No.1 all four corners were mushy and with copy 2 the lower left corner remained mushy and noticeably worse than the other three corners.
It's good to hear that there are plenty of good/decent copies out there. I'll wait and see what Sony has to say about copy No.2. I give them another chance at coming up with a decent version. If that doesn't work out, then I might as well go back to the 35 1.4, and just add an m-mount 75mm prime.
I understand and hope you get a good one this time. For 70mm, please do try F11. Much better than F8 in corners especially in mid-to mid-far distance. infinity they are close. It can be as sharp as other strong focal length at this aperture. Just need to add a little contrast and clarity in the post.
35/1.4 is another nice one that I loved a lot. Great color and resolution for landscape as well. They will be a great combo to shoot.
Chris_88 wrote:
Thanks for sharing your experience. With my two copies even f8 didn't help as with copy No.1 all four corners were mushy and with copy 2 the lower left corner remained mushy and noticeably worse than the other three corners.
It's good to hear that there are plenty of good/decent copies out there. I'll wait and see what Sony has to say about copy No.2. I give them another chance at coming up with a decent version. If that doesn't work out, then I might as well go back to the 35 1.4, and just add an m-mount 75mm prime.
taoger wrote:
I understand and hope you get a good one this time. For 70mm, please do try F11. Much better than F8 in corners especially in mid-to mid-far distance. infinity they are close. It can be as sharp as other strong focal length at this aperture. Just need to add a little contrast and clarity in the post.
35/1.4 is another nice one that I loved a lot. Great color and resolution for landscape as well. They will be a great combo to shoot.
Thanks. I'll try that, assuming I can get a copy that is reasonably centered.
My copy is perfectly entered but like all of them is not at it's best at 70mm towards the edges. Personally on the AR7II I have marked where 60mm ant tend to stop there for landscape work and crop a little if need be, Haven't really tried shooting at f11 so will give that a go. Otherwise a stunner of a lens
The store called me today, telling that Sony will get back to them tomorrow. I should know more then. If they refuse to exchange the lens, then I'll follow the advice from previous posters and check whether the lower left corner improves by f11.
If I still don't like the results, then I might go back to using several smaller primes and one big, fast lens (i.e. the 35 1.4). While I really would like the Cron 75, it's out of my budget at this point. Having experience with the Summarit 75mm and reviewing some infinity shots I took with that lens when I owned it, I think that I could live with that. The corners take a while to come along, but things look good by f8.
is 70mm really that bad or this one of those pixel peeping things? the canon 24-70mm 2.8 II seems to be the gold standard and is older but how could sony not make this "GM" better?
I've never owned the canon, I just have been researching 24-70mm lenses...
looks like I'm going to pull the trigger on buying this 24-70 GM this week.....and I'm getting nervous.
sumofall wrote:
is 70mm really that bad or this one of those pixel peeping things? the canon 24-70mm 2.8 II seems to be the gold standard and is older but how could sony not make this "GM" better?
I've never owned the canon, I just have been researching 24-70mm lenses...
looks like I'm going to pull the trigger on buying this 24-70 GM this week.....and I'm getting nervous.
I love my 85mm 1.4 GM
I have tested both these lenses side-by-side and the Canon 24-70L II is undoubtedly better at 70mm. (infinity distance)
Another update: Long story short, I'm getting a third copy later this week. May be the third time is indeed the charm with the 24-70 GM.
Apparently Sony confirmed the obvious, but 1) it wasn't clear whether that resolution drop off in the lower left corner was within the range of what they deem permissible and 2) whether they could fix it. The store offered me the options of waiting another 1-2 weeks to see what Sony can (or can't do with the lens) or to get another copy of the lens, without waiting for further analysis from Sony. However, I won't be able to exchange that new copy. I decided that I'll get that new (my third) copy instead of running the risk of Sony telling me that this mushy lower left corner is within the limits of what they consider OK. New lens should be here on Friday.
p.48 #10 · Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM Rolling Review
Very happy with my 2nd 24-70GM but to be honest I do not shoot corners for testing, I use it under real conditions, if anything shows up on my 5K monitor right away I would be cautious.
Actually the great optical IQ of this lens excuses also some minor decentering.
p.48 #11 · Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM Rolling Review
Fred Miranda wrote:
I have tested both these lenses side-by-side and the Canon 24-70L II is undoubtedly better at 70mm. (infinity distance)
Hi Fred, I remember you not liking the Summarit 75's infinity performance. Just wondering, how did the Summarit compare to your copy of the 24-70 at 70mm? Looking at your test shots on the first few pages, even 70mm on the zoom looks very good (especially when compared to the two 24-70 GM copies I have gone through). Guy and several others also have good copies which makes me hopeful that I can find one, even though return policies over here are pretty strict.
p.48 #12 · Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM Rolling Review
Parariss wrote:
I tested 5. There is a material amount of variability, unfortunately.
I hope your saga ends with a great lens you're happy with.
Thanks. You sure have patience. I wouldn't go through five copies. I'll test No.3, when it comes in tomorrow and then either keep it or move on from that lens.
Mirror wrote:
Actually the great optical IQ of this lens excuses also some minor decentering.
This is what I keep hearing and the shots posted on this board are testament to the great performance of a decent copy.
May be it's really the 42MP sensor of the a7rii that just shows flaws more readily than previous sensor generations, but the corner/outer field softness of those two 24-70 GM copies was too blatant. I didn't have even to look for it, as the contrast between the soft area and the rest of the picture made even my slightly decentered 35 1.4 look good.
p.48 #13 · Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM Rolling Review
Chris_88 wrote:
Thanks. You sure have patience. I wouldn't go through five copies. I'll test No.3, when it comes in tomorrow and then either keep it or move on from that lens.
This is what I keep hearing and the shots posted on this board are testament to the great performance of a decent copy.
May be it's really the 42MP sensor of the a7rii that just shows flaws more readily than previous sensor generations, but the corner/outer field softness of those two 24-70 GM copies was too blatant. I didn't have even to look for it, as the contrast between the soft area and the rest of the picture made even my slightly decentered 35 1.4 look good. ...Show more →
Chris, I feel for you that you have to go through this ordeal. Just out of curiosity, does the drop off in performance in the lower left hand corner take place abruptly at the hard stop setting of 70mm or does it happen gradually, let's say, from 60mm setting and it gets worst at 70mm?
p.48 #14 · Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM Rolling Review
Chris_88 wrote:
Hi Fred, I remember you not liking the Summarit 75's infinity performance. Just wondering, how did the Summarit compare to your copy of the 24-70 at 70mm? Looking at your test shots on the first few pages, even 70mm on the zoom looks very good (especially when compared to the two 24-70 GM copies I have gone through). Guy and several others also have good copies which makes me hopeful that I can find one, even though return policies over here are pretty strict.
Chris,
I've never tried the 75mm Summarit, only the 90mm.
The 90/2.5 Summarit's performance at infinity is disappointing...at least with my copy. Others who own this lens have agreed with me though. At close range it's a very different lens and in fact it's superb.
The 24-70/2.8GM @ 70mm peaks at f/8 for the corners. I recommend this lens for those looking for an excellent performance in the 24-35mm range. 50-60mm is very good.
p.48 #15 · Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM Rolling Review
I have had great results at 70mm and sometimes not perfect . Agree it needs to stopped down some and had nice shots even at F 4 . What I really think that is going on and I have not really tested this out to any degree but I think it comes down to zooming to 70 and element groups shifting because sometimes it's great and sometimes it has trouble. I'm not sure what to think with regards to 70mm as I have trouble focusing both manually and AF at tithe 70mm and I mentioned this in my big bronco wall tests as it was hard to get focus. For me once I get in this range I just grab one of my 85s. That's sort of natural for me so I'm not bothered by 70mm
p.48 #16 · Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM Rolling Review
does anyone have links to video or written reviews that are recent on the 24-70GM? I'm talking within the last 2-3months recent reviews, not the old stuff. Just trying to get new information.
p.48 #17 · Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM Rolling Review
AGeoJO wrote:
Chris, I feel for you that you have to go through this ordeal. Just out of curiosity, does the drop off in performance in the lower left hand corner take place abruptly at the hard stop setting of 70mm or does it happen gradually, let's say, from 60mm setting and it gets worst at 70mm?
Thanks, Joshua. Honestly, I didn't check. At 50mm, everything looked good, but unfortunately, I didn't check between 50mm and 70mm. I'll do that, when copy No.3 comes in tomorrow. Btw, does your copy of the GM also deliver corner to corner sharpness at 70mm f8 like Fred's or does it require further stopping down?
Fred Miranda wrote:
Chris,
I've never tried the 75mm Summarit, only the 90mm.
The 90/2.5 Summarit's performance at infinity is disappointing...at least with my copy. Others who own this lens have agreed with me though. At close range it's a very different lens and in fact it's superb.
The 24-70/2.8GM @ 70mm peaks at f/8 for the corners. I recommend this lens for those looking for an excellent performance in the 24-35mm range. 50-60mm is very good.
Sorry, Fred, my bad. I thought you had used the 75mm. I have the Elmarit 90 2.8, so I'd only be interested in the 75mm, since I kinda like this focal length, despite it being so close to my 55mm and 90mm lenses.
The two copies of the 24-70 GM that I've had thus far, were still very good at 50mm, the problem has always been the 70mm setting.
p.48 #18 · Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM Rolling Review
Chris_88 wrote:
Thanks, Joshua. Honestly, I didn't check. At 50mm, everything looked good, but unfortunately, I didn't check between 50mm and 70mm. I'll do that, when copy No.3 comes in tomorrow. Btw, does your copy of the GM also deliver corner to corner sharpness at 70mm f8 like Fred's or does it require further stopping down?
Chris, I used my GM lens a lot but mostly it was more at short to medium distance indoors. And 100% of the time the object didn't get to fill the entire frame all the way to the corners and these are 3 dimensional targets, too. Recently though, I used it for landscape and such,, I used it at longer focusing distances at 70mm FL. When I had the lens on my camera and I would like to get some compression effect and I just zoomed in using that lens when I didn't feel the need of changing lenses.
So, I selected a few images for this, but again, since these are real-life landscape shots I didn't put the focusing point all the way in the corners and as such, for sure, the corners are not in the plane of critical focus. But still, I am pleased with the results since the corners are sharp. Keep in mind though that this one was captured at f/8 and not intended as a test image.
The first one is the entire frame of an image and the second is a crop of the left hand side. Both left and right hand sides seem to be equally sharp to me.
p.48 #19 · Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM Rolling Review
Been doing some landscape's too, got 2 copies I'm testing.
70 has the biggest issue in the corners for me. Around f9 this starts to dramatically improve, by f11 all is good. However I was in fading light, and didn't want to bump the iso / ss, so I backed off, I tried for 65 (I actually got 63). I went for the shot at 5.6. Corners were fine. So somewhere between 63 and 70 it drops off. I don't know if it's gradual or just falls off a cliff at 69. Only one way to find out.... more testing.
p.48 #20 · Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM Rolling Review
AGeoJO wrote:
Chris, I used my GM lens a lot but mostly it was more at short to medium distance indoors. And 100% of the time the object didn't get to fill the entire frame all the way to the corners and these are 3 dimensional targets, too. Recently though, I used it for landscape and such,, I used it at longer focusing distances at 70mm FL. When I had the lens on my camera and I would like to get some compression effect and I just zoomed in using that lens when I didn't feel the need of changing lenses.
So, I selected a few images for this, but again, since these are real-life landscape shots I didn't put the focusing point all the way in the corners and as such, for sure, the corners are not in the plane of critical focus. But still, I am pleased with the results since the corners are sharp. Keep in mind though that this one was captured at f/8 and not intended as a test image.
The first one is the entire frame of an image and the second is a crop of the left hand side. Both left and right hand sides seem to be equally sharp to me....Show more →
Thanks for providing this sample shot, Joshua. Much appreciated. The crop of the left side looks really good to me. If my first two copies had been even close to that, I most likely wouldn't have gone through the hassle of exchanging them.
