Heck I may have to pre-order one now. I have a really good copy of it. Lol
Fred Miranda wrote:
Guy just shipped his FE 85/1.8 to me and I will be testing it over the weekend. He seems to have a great copy and I will compare it against my 85GM and 85ZM. If it's really that good I may not give it back.
I didn't pre-order it and currently, it's hard to find one. Perhaps Sony didn't expect this success in sales.
Being a Sony lens you would think like Best Buy and so on would have these. Might be worth looking around in those places folks if your trying to get one. Mine was from B&H and I did not pre-order they seemed to have some left over from the first batch.
Also it's been a Jewish holiday for Adorama and B&H until Wednesday so there stock on line might not have been updated over the holiday. I ordered the Sigma 135 yesterday from Adorama so I hope that truly is in stock. I would look at both sites Wednesday for any stock updates.
Hmm . . second copy quick test (terrible weather for such testing) seems to show that it's fairly even for the 4 corners wide open. Need to re-take images of the Seattle waterfront to do a direct comparison with the previous copy. At least it's not obviously out of whack like the first copy.
Well, a quick review this morning of my 2nd 85/1.8 Sony sample shows:
Fairly even corner performance wide open at infinity
Not as good wide open performance across the frame as Guy's copy seems to show
Very very good performance at f/4, but slightly less then my 85/4ZM
Excellent sharpness across the frame at f/8
It appears to be less sharp wide open than my 1st sample, but at least it's even across the frame.
However, some quick candid shots of my girls this morning at ~1-2m distance @f/1.8 seems to show it passes the eyelash test - i.e., fine-detailed things like eyelashes at these distances and offset from the center by a typical portrait shot amount - with flying colors. Sharp and high contrast.
It would be nice to have a copy a bit more sharp, but I'll give it a good use over the weekend to see if it's a keeper.
I also shot some equal-ish shots with my 42.5/1.2 PL on my G85 yesterday as a more-or-less direct comparison (equal FOV and DOF) and will compare the two. My 42.5/1.2 is a super lens and if it's in the same equivalent IQ as the 85/1.8, then the Sony should do me fine.
Otherwise I might just return the Sony and put the store credit toward the 85 Lox.
jhinkey wrote:
Well, a quick review this morning of my 2nd 85/1.8 Sony sample shows:
Fairly even corner performance wide open at infinity
Not as good wide open performance across the frame as Guy's copy seems to show
Very very good performance at f/4, but slightly less then my 85/4ZM
Excellent sharpness across the frame at f/8
It appears to be less sharp wide open than my 1st sample, but it's even across the frame.
However, some quick candid shots of my girls this morning at ~1-2m distance @f/1.8 seems to show it passes the eyelash test - i.e., fine-detailed things like eyelashes at these distances and offset from the center by a typical portrait shot amount - with flying colors. Sharp and high contrast.
It would be nice to have a copy a bit more sharp, but I'll give it a good use over the weekend to see if it's a keeper.
I also shot some equal-ish shots with my 42.5/1.2 PL on my G85 yesterday as a more-or-less direct comparison (equal FOV and DOF) and will compare the two. My 42.5/1.2 is a super lens and if it's in the same equivalent IQ as the 85/1.8, then the Sony should do me fine.
Otherwise I might just return the Sony and put the store credit toward the 85 Lox. ...Show more →
I have his lens and can confirm that "Lucky Guy" has a perfectly centered copy!
It will be hard for me to send it back to him!
I've run some tests and compared it to the 85 GM and 85 ZM...will post results soon.
Great! My tests yesterday were not ideal since it was late evening here in Seattle and the lighting was changing quickly, thus making direct comparisons not very easy.
Yep, it's a winner for portraits wide open - off-center sharpness is very good to excellent (if you have a good copy that is).
First image is a slight crop.
Second is 100% image of her eyes with my usually default minimal sharpening in ACR, but no further sharpening. Default profile in ACR takes care of any PF.
It passes my wide open eyelash test at typical portrait distances.
This lens may be more optimized for closer-in focus distances rather than at infinity.
I returned my decentered copy and tried another one. Again decentered.
Again not just very mild decentering, but very pronounced.
BTW, I also tried the 24-70 GM again and yes, you can already guess it. Same story. Badly decentered at most focal lengths.
It's certainly not my camera, because my lenses that are fine were also fine on my previous A7 series.
I'm REALLY losing my patience with Sony. Their lack of quality control is a disgrace.
I envy the people here that hardly ever get faulty gear.
I quite like the FE 85/1.8, but for now I went for a refund.
Sorry to hear that Jochenb! It really sucks when you get multiple copies that aren't good...
I just got my FE85/1.8 from the mail. The weather here in Stockholm turned cold and grey today, so I might not take it out for a spin today but wait for tomorrow morning.
I took some infinity shots from the window though and would be really grateful if some of your would take the time to look at them and give me your honest opinion.
Manual focused on the center of the frame at the brick wall building and then recomposed for the corners. Camera set to Manual everything, so nothing changed between shots.
Jochenb wrote:
I returned my decentered copy and tried another one. Again decentered.
Again not just very mild decentering, but very pronounced.
BTW, I also tried the 24-70 GM again and yes, you can already guess it. Same story. Badly decentered at most focal lengths.
It's certainly not my camera, because my lenses that are fine were also fine on my previous A7 series.
I'm REALLY losing my patience with Sony. Their lack of quality control is a disgrace.
I envy the people here that hardly ever get faulty gear.
I quite like the FE 85/1.8, but for now I went for a refund.
Rant all you want. Hopefully the right people are listening
Jochenb wrote:
I returned my decentered copy and tried another one. Again decentered.
Again not just very mild decentering, but very pronounced.
BTW, I also tried the 24-70 GM again and yes, you can already guess it. Same story. Badly decentered at most focal lengths.
It's certainly not my camera, because my lenses that are fine were also fine on my previous A7 series.
I'm REALLY losing my patience with Sony. Their lack of quality control is a disgrace.
I envy the people here that hardly ever get faulty gear.
I quite like the FE 85/1.8, but for now I went for a refund.
Fred Miranda wrote:
Same here with the copy I got. We may have better luck with the Batis.
I'm sorry to hear that Fred. Funny that you mention the Batis, because I said to the people in the store that there would be a high chance that the Batis would be better (after testing the second bad FE 85/1.8 and 24-70 GM). So they handed me one, which I also tried on my camera. No decentering.
However, I didn't feel like spending almost double the price for a lens that's optically very similar to the Sony. A good copy of the Sony that is.
nampramos wrote:
Sorry to hear that Jochenb! It really sucks when you get multiple copies that aren't good...
I just got my FE85/1.8 from the mail. The weather here in Stockholm turned cold and grey today, so I might not take it out for a spin today but wait for tomorrow morning.
I took some infinity shots from the window though and would be really grateful if some of your would take the time to look at them and give me your honest opinion.
Manual focused on the center of the frame at the brick wall building and then recomposed for the corners. Camera set to Manual everything, so nothing changed between shots.
Your copy doesn't look perfectly centered to me (the upper left corner looks better than the other corners in my eyes), but at least it's milder than the two copies that I tested.
I seem to have received a very good copy. I have mostly been shooting portraits and some travel photos in Chicago, and I haven't noticed any issues. Today was the first day I did any sort of testing with it. I really only tested because this thread made me curious. Since it's late, I only did some simple unscientific tests: an ISO chart taped to a flat wall, a keyboard and looked at key sharpness, etc. The corners on my copy all look roughly identical in flat scenes wide open at f/1.8. Certainly sharp within my abilities
There is definitely CA from f/1.8 - f/2.2 in certain light. I usually shoot it around f/2.2-2.8 to avoid it, but it's certainly usable even at f/1.8. My copy is razor sharp like so many examples in this thread. Eyelashes are amazing with this lens, even wide open.
I ordered mine at B&H on release day. I didn't pre-order, just ordered while they were in stock for a short period of time that day.
Very sorry to see the troubles many are going through. I hope Sony gets their act together on QC soon. Best of luck to all!
Well, my second copy is certainly not perfect at infinity off in the corners or extreme borders, but so far, when I've been able to nail the focus, up close for candids this lens is impressive.
I'm not really an AF guy, so my settings are sometimes not quite optimal, but it continues to pass my eyelash test for candid portraits.
