Many thanks to the contributors to this thread. I was hesitant to pick up this lens, but being a huge fan of my Loxia 2/50 rendering, I saw this as the big brother and had to try it out for myself. Wow, what a lens! As noted by Greggf above, its performance at f1.4 equals that of the Loxia stopped down a bit. The off-center performance even at f1.4 is fantastic. I'm generally a 35mm guy and the Loxia had me shooting 50mm more often than before. This lens has me exploring that focal length even more now, and I love it.
I'm extremely impressed with its quality, both IQ and build. I love the aperture ring with its slightly protruding ridges - much easier to use than the ring on FE35f1.4 so a nice improvement there. It's big, but I have smaller options for when I want compact.
As you can see in the photo below, wide open in these high-contrast conditions and color fringing is not even a concern - impressive!
What impresses me the most about the FE 50/1.4 ZA is the aberration control and contrast level when slighly stopped down. At around f/1.7 and f/2, I have not seen such high resolution/contrast at center from any other lens on the A7RII.
The lens is very flat field and from my tests, the only negative is astigmatism at mid-field where 'tangential' resolution shows a noticeably dip. I posted some crops here. The Loxia 50/2 shows stronger mid-field area but the edges suffer quite a bit due to astigmatism up until about f/5.6.
For landscapes, I much prefer shooting with the Loxia 50/2 but for general photography, the Zeiss 50/1.4 ZA is probably our best native option followed closely by the 55/1.8 ZA.
Anyone else noticing the new 50 is a bit wider than your average 50? I've only been able to check it against the latest Summicron-M 50 non-APO and the Minolta MD 50/1.2, but it's certainly wider than both of them. Maybe closer to a 48 or 47mm?
philip_pj wrote:
Thanks very much for the above comparos, suteetat, in very tough conditions. Wonderful hue separation, excellent depth perception from the Leica. Extremely good tone separation at the limit, which is my (individual) preference.
The f8 set are particularly revealing, though not a core role of this class of lens for many users. At f5.6 the APO 50/2 is doing ~80% for 40 lpmm everywhere, better than the Otus 55 IMO. It would be good to see other makers head down this design path some day - a center-focused lens at f2 leading to what you see below at f5.6-f8, all in a 300 gram package. ...Show more →
I'm not going to say that it is as good but I think that was the intent with the Zony 55 and for the most part it delivers. A little bigger and not quite as well corrected wide open but very close at f8 from what I've seen. The ZA 50 seems to be chasing the Otus (or maybe more so the Sigma) and optimized for wide open, fast shooting at the expense of some astigmatism that never really goes away.
So with Brooks the Eye AF only goes to his Left Eye. His right eye is a prosthetic eye. Interesting it actually reads the retina is my only explanation. I would love for the Sony engineers to explain this to me. He is due for a replacement this month as it is a little small now as he grows and the color change to his good eye.
I better play fair here or I will get in serious trouble with my daughter. This is Grandson Davis little brother to Brooks. Pop Pop needs to learn to focus.
After much contemplation I sold my 55 1.8 which just didn't see much use after i purchased my 85 1.4 and 35 1.4, With the 24-70 GM, I was convinced I did not need a 50... until I started following this thread........
Loved the images, loved the rendering!
I prefer my primes for on-location portraitures and I'd been really enjoying my combo of 35 1.4 & 85 1.4, The 50 1.4 will fit very well in this line up!
Just a quick snap shot, but loving what I'm seeing!
Quick question, since LR doesn't have profile yet what has everyone been using? I tried the 55 1.8 and 50 1.8 profile and I think the 50 1.8 seems to be decent at it..
I absolutely LOVE this Sony 50/1.4 FE Planar. For me, I prefer this lens over the Leica 50 Lux ASPH. I prefer the colors, the OOF rendering, the pop, the contrast....I'm not a "sharpness" kinda guy, but this lens is nuts sharp, but not in a harsh way. Hard to explain.
Tested corners for symmetry and a couple of shots in artificial light at f/1.4. This lens is incredibly sharp and the colors, contrast ... really impressive. Fred's Loxia 21mm and this thread have me hiding my credit card bills from my wife, but both of these lenses are special....
