GMPhotography wrote:
Even though I have a great 15 and 21 I am thinking about buying this but more for reportage work. This and the 24-70 would be a nice AF combo. Last night I shot a event with the A6300 first with the Loxia 21 great but needed to be wider plus tough with manual. Than the 24-70 on the A6300 again needed to be wider but the AF worked a charm. A 18 would have done the trick. So this is a add not sell anything to get it. Be nice just to carry the 18,24-70 and 85 won and done on this PR stuff, plus it's fast. I could use it today and tonight too. Have to figure this budget wise. I would leave the 15 and 21 home on this type of work, maybe just add my 35 1.7 as backup and a fast lens. It's extremely small and light too...Show more →
We never believe you when you imply you're going to skip a new lens. We just assume it means you will talk yourself into it in a couple weeks
MJKoski wrote:
I tried 2 samples of e-mount 14/2.8 samyang two years ago and neither could focus to infinity. No matter where I set the focus. Performance was total cr*p. I had better luck with nikon mount version and novoflex adapter.
Don't throw away your 15mm distagon...it totally smacks samyang in the head wide open. Zeiss draws night sky beautifully.
Same here. No luck with the Sammy 14/2.8 and I tried more copies than you. Hopefully, the new E-mount will be better.
Fred
Vcize wrote:
We never believe you when you imply you're going to skip a new lens. We just assume it means you will talk yourself into it in a couple weeks
However, the Batis 18/2.8 should work great with the FE 24-70/2.8 GM as reportage/events 2-lens combo. They are both excellent wide open even in the corners. The zoom needs at least f/4 for the corners on the long end though.
I've tried many mid-range zooms and imo nothing touches the 24-70GM. The Canon comes close but the Leica R 28-90 is far behind.
Yea i think its my next lens just to add to the mix. Im not selling the 15 or 21 to get it either. I think the 18mm sits alone in my bag as a reportage type lens with the 24-70 which is a fabulous lens. Nothing i threw at that lens the last three days did not handle with ease. Im finally really happy with my kit, been a long road to get here.
GMPhotography wrote:
Yea i think its my next lens just to add to the mix. Im not selling the 15 or 21 to get it either. I think the 18mm sits alone in my bag as a reportage type lens with the 24-70 which is a fabulous lens. Nothing i threw at that lens the last three days did not handle with ease. Im finally really happy with my kit, been a long road to get here.
I know my Batis 18 & 24-70 f/4 have made a convenient little combo since the Batis came out...no doubt the 24-70 2.8 will make the combo even better.
gocolts wrote:
I know my Batis 18 & 24-70 f/4 have made a convenient little combo since the Batis came out...no doubt the 24-70 2.8 will make the combo even better.
Bobu wrote:
Today I did a similar test as Fred with my Batis 18mm and Loxia 21mm lenses. All images were shot from a tripod at ISO 100 with self timer, EFC, in uncompressed RAW and processed in LR with the same sharpening settings as Fred used (45/0.7/25/0).
To check for focus shift I shot all images twice with manual focus wide open and stopped down. Both lenses seem to have no focus shift. Focusing wide open always led to sharper images with these two lenses.
I also checked for field curvature and shot all images twice with manual focus on the corner and manual focus on the center.
Contrary to Fred’s findings there was no difference with my Loxia 21mm. At least with my focus distance of about 200m my Loxia showed no field curvature. At closer distances this could of course change completely. I have no idea why there is a difference between Fred’s an my results regarding FC.
My Batis showed a slight amount of field curvature. Focus on the corner led to better corner sharpness. Interestingly focus on the corner led to no visible degradation of the center sharpness compared to focusing on the center.
With both lenses but especially with the Loxia the slightest turn of the focus ring has a huge impact on sharpness. One degree on the focus ring often makes the differences between a sharp images and an unsharp images. Therefore you have to be very careful with these kinds of tests and best repeat the shots several times while focusing in-between and choose the sharpest image afterwards.
This is my test image/subject, followed by the 100% corner and center crops (since both my lenses are well centered I will show just one corner):
Thanks for sharing those. As this is a comparison thread I'm surprised no-one else has commented that the Loxia has some chromatic aberration in the corner that the Batis doesn't?
Thread has been quiet for a while. How are the long term reports for users. I am still debating between the two. I like the Loxia for the sharpness and color pop but I would like AF
My kit is CV10 (one of these two options Batis 18 or Loxia 21) 55/1.8 90/2.8 and 70-300 more nature wildlife landscape than street or people
eriet30 wrote:
Thread has been quiet for a while. How are the long term reports for users. I am still debating between the two. I like the Loxia for the sharpness and color pop but I would like AF
My kit is CV10 (one of these two options Batis 18 or Loxia 21) 55/1.8 90/2.8 and 70-300 more nature wildlife landscape than street or people
Frankly, given the focal length difference, AF vs MF, etc-- I wouldn't personally choose between these two lenses based on which edges the other out technically.
They are such difference lenses in a lot of ways, and both perform so well.
Totally agree that things like AF vs MF, etc are the bigger differences.
I had the loxia but I'm not a MF guy at all, so the Batis suited me much better.
Around these parts, it seems the loxia gets all the praise (and as Bill points out, its shortcomings ignored) and the Batis is an orphaned stepchild, but I've really loved the Batis 18 and 25.
I'd think if your plan is to shoot landscapes on a tripod, you might be OK with MF, but having AF makes this a lot of fun to walk around with.
Maybe I'm a little old school but honestly I get more fun out of focusing my self on manual. To me it's a creative process and I believe I'm better at concentrating more on my Art . I guess in a way I feel AF takes over and maybe makes me sloppy in a way. My biggest issue with the Batis lens is the fly by wire on manual. I lose that sense of tactical feel and even though the GMs are fly by wire to me it has much better feel in the manual focus process. I guess I'm more about more our old manual focus lenses but with the advancements in mirror less technology . I like the gearing better in manual focus lenses but the GMs to me at least on manual feel very much the same. To me the Batis glass and I owned them both are great optical lenses but I feel on manual it feels like the focusing is just lose or has no drag to it to give the feel. Obviously personal preference here.
Theres been a lot in this thread and it took me a while to catch up. I currently own both the Loxia 21 and Batis 18 as well as the other Loxia and Batis focal length.
I'm a fan of both series but using AF on the Batis 18 for wide shots for me is often troublesome. A lot of what I want to focus on can be difficult to move the AF point and then focus so I find myself putting it in MF and then dealing with the focus-by-wire performance which, while good, does not give me the control you get with the Loxia 21. Personally I like 18mm a little better and the 25mm and 18mm are a great pairing for me the Loxia gives me MF performance I really want.
I haven't used the Batis 18 much in a reportage fashion and I will have to give it a try. I mostly use the GM 24-70 and live with that rather than swap lenses but maybe I need to explorer the 18mm more.
Want to thank the contributors to this thread as always. It makes exploring these new lenses a communal thing when I can see the experience of others.
I actually think between all the lens options these two are the hardest to make a call on. Neither one is perfect functionally but optically they are both very good. There are Pros and Cons here that make it a tough buy decision for either one. It's almost buy them both. I know I know it's a big money thing for me as well but I would rent here to make this decision easier for fence sitters. You really have to try them both.
GMPhotography wrote:
Maybe I'm a little old school but honestly I get more fun out of focusing my self on manual.
hence you would prefer the Loxia - although the people that prefer the Loxia's tend to be very quiet about anything negative - e.g. I found the ergonomics of the lens awful - the aperture ring too close to the mount, too tiny and very little separation with the focus ring. i also found the fact that loxia's didn't automagically stop down when shooting to be annoying (i would have liked to have been able to focus wide open but set the aperture and not have to go back and forth, especially since the aperture ring is so tiny and close to the mount).
the love_fest for the Loxia line a month or so ago even got so outrageous that the formerly shunned 35mm was all of a sudden being resurrected around here!
i find these discussions sometimes to be a bit much - people who otherwise claim "go out and shoot and create and have fun" are staring at 100% crops in corners at infinity (through haze and crappy lighting) to determine if one lens is better than another - both of these lenses are first class lenses, they are in a top tier. they have minor variations in foc len, rendering and IQ characteristics, but they're both great lenses. IMO, the biggest difference is do you want/need/prefer MF vs AF.
swldstn wrote:
I'm a fan of both series but using AF on the Batis 18 for wide shots for me is often troublesome. A lot of what I want to focus on can be difficult to move the AF point and then focus so I find myself putting it in MF and then dealing with the focus-by-wire performance which, while good, does not give me the control you get with the Loxia 21.
i use "lock on AF" and keep the focus point in center, then focus on my subject and re-compose while keeping the focus locked - no need to move the focus point with the touch pad.
Thanks for the comments....my latest concern is when I look at the lens groups on flickr the baitis appears to have muddy light stars where the loxia has great stars...anyone else notice this
eriet30 wrote:
Thanks for the comments....my latest concern is when I look at the lens groups on flickr the baitis appears to have muddy light stars where the loxia has great stars...anyone else notice this
i think that's been discussed quite a bit - 10 blades vs 9 blades, loxia is much nicer when stopping down for that effect.
