I don't know how much interest there is regarding this lens. It arrived today and I went and took some initial pics. I will do some more picture taking over the weekend, but thought I would post some pictures in case others are debating about this lens. I know there is a topic on the lens already, so if this should go there, perhaps Fred can move it. I did not want to clog up that topic with a bunch of pics. Anyway, here goes. My initial take is that I am impressed! Lens is not small nor light, but it has a good feel, a lens cap that conveniently fits both the lens and the metal hood, and seems like it may be a keeper for me, tho time will tell. My copy seems centered (I will spare you those shot) and I took it to a local bridge (Jackson Street Bridge) in Atlanta which is a famous view of downtown. I took pics in unfortunately fading light with the Loxia 50, CV 65/2, Leica 75/2, and Loxia 85. The test favors the earlier lenses as the light was fading so more testing is needed. I also took one (one!) pics of a photographer I met at the bridge and one quick semi-macro to get an idea of how close it will focus. NO post processing on these shots. Here goes:
This post will be wide open shots with all four lenses. Next post will be F 5.6 shots.
First the scene with the Loxia:
Scene with the CV:
Center crop F2 Loxia:
Center Crop F2 CV:
Center Crop F2 Leica:
Center Crop Loxia 85 F2.4:
Upper right F2 Loxia 50 (weak point for loxia):
Upper right CV 65 F2 (and this is more in the corner than for the Loxia:
Looking at the above tests, I am concerned that the focus may have been off a hair for the Leica, but I include the results for what it is worth. Bottom line is that the CV 65 is a fine optic.
Here is a quick pic at ISO 640 I took of a fellow photographer (lightly processed) at F2:
hiepphotog wrote:
Actually, you have some of the best APO lenses out there. So it would be cool to see how the CV 65 stacks up against those just in the CA control.
I will do more testing but I note in the left side of the frame for the center crops, especially wide open, the CV shows less CA than the other lenses--especially compared to Loxia 50 and Leica. The differences are much less at F5.6.
I was frankly surprised at how well this lens did at infinity wide open. It is marketed as a 1:2 macro, but seems like a really fine all round optic. The focal length is unusual and regrettably is not on the IBIS menu for my A7r2 (60mm and 70mm but no 65). The lens is also beefy for its focal length and being manual focus. Still, it is extremely well corrected and extraordinarily versatile at it seems equally well at home at macro or infinity. It does have cats eyes in the bokeh, but bokeh overall seems pleasant to me. More testing is needed, but my first reactions to this lens are very favorable.
GMPhotography wrote:
See landscape for me could be nice with this . 12-24,25,35,65,135. As I hate 50mm but 65 might be nice. Nice sun stars too
I have the Sony 85 1.8 and a great copy but this would be better at landscape. The 85 is my studio lens
Okay, so who has dibs on buying Guy's copy of the CV 65/2 apo once he buys it and sells it?
Seriously, that sounds like a good plan tho for me, I do like 50mm and would miss it but then I normally carry too many lenses.... For landscape, do you need the 25mm with the 12-24? I also think you might want to try the GM 100 STF for studio if you have not tried it.
Really don't need the 25 actually for landscape I could leave that one home. The 100 is really just to slow all around . I got the 85 and 135 that would be great in studio
It could replace my loxia 50 + ZM 85 for landscapes. Above 65mm, I would use the VS 100-300. (Which I already carry)
So it may replace 2 of my lenses with great sunstars and macro as a bonus.
Luvwine wrote:
I was frankly surprised at how well this lens did at infinity wide open. It is marketed as a 1:2 macro, but seems like a really fine all round optic. The focal length is unusual and regrettably is not on the IBIS menu for my A7r2 (60mm and 70mm but no 65). The lens is also beefy for its focal length and being manual focus. Still, it is extremely well corrected and extraordinarily versatile at it seems equally well at home at macro or infinity. It does have cats eyes in the bokeh, but bokeh overall seems pleasant to me. More testing is needed, but my first reactions to this lens are very favorable....Show more →
Luvwine -- Looks like a great copy of the CV! Thanks for the comparisons, and looking forward to more of your shots with this lens.
On a different note: it looks to me like something is wrong with your Loxia 50, if it wasn't simply mis-focused. Mine is much sharper than that, and not so much CA fringing on high contrast edges. You might want to look at that lens' performance more closely.
Also, with regard to the IBIS settings: simply go the next lowest setting (60mm) to get best performance. I really learned a lesson when I set the telephoto zoom focal length too high, the camera over-corrected and made the images blurry, but under-corrected the images were sharp. On zooms, I choose at or just above the lowest focal length, such as setting a 70-200 to "85mm" in IBIS.
Luvwine wrote:
I was frankly surprised at how well this lens did at infinity wide open. It is marketed as a 1:2 macro, but seems like a really fine all round optic. The focal length is unusual and regrettably is not on the IBIS menu for my A7r2 (60mm and 70mm but no 65). The lens is also beefy for its focal length and being manual focus. Still, it is extremely well corrected and extraordinarily versatile at it seems equally well at home at macro or infinity. It does have cats eyes in the bokeh, but bokeh overall seems pleasant to me. More testing is needed, but my first reactions to this lens are very favorable....Show more →
Gunzorro wrote:
Luvwine -- Looks like a great copy of the CV! Thanks for the comparisons, and looking forward to more of your shots with this lens.
On a different note: it looks to me like something is wrong with your Loxia 50, if it wasn't simply mis-focused. Mine is much sharper than that, and not so much CA fringing on high contrast edges. You might want to look at that lens' performance more closely.
Also, with regard to the IBIS settings: simply go the next lowest setting (60mm) to get best performance. I really learned a lesson when I set the telephoto zoom focal length too high, the camera over-corrected and made the images blurry, but under-corrected the images were sharp. On zooms, I choose at or just above the lowest focal length, such as setting a 70-200 to "85mm" in IBIS.
I will test the 50 for centering again. I hope it is okay as I just had to send in my Loxia 21 for warranty work, sigh. The 50 in my experience is really sharp in the center but needs stopping down to F4 or F5.6 or so to be really really sharp across the frame. Once stopped down, I liked it better than the FE55/1.8 (which I then sold). I am not at home now and don't have access to the files to look in detail, but from my brief look at the files, I thought the 50mm shots at 5.6 looked really good across the frame. Are you sure that at infinity wide open you cannot demonstrate any CA? This scene was a pretty tough test and even the "Apo" Leica did not pass wide open. Focus could have been off as I did the test fairly hurriedly, but I focused at F2 or F2.8 and did not change focus as I stopped down so that the F5.6 image was with the same focus as the wide open image. Also, don't judge the sharpness of the "scene" as for some reason I used the Loxia at F2 but used the CV at F5.6. The overall images that started the post were only meant to give an idea of where the subsequent crops came from.
