The manual focusing is easy with a combination of the magnifier and the peaking (yellow). Is there any way to custom set a button to turn the magnifier on and off? Sometimes its easier to focus with the peaking, other times it's easier to use the magnifier. Currently the magnifier comes on as son as the focus ring is used and a custom set button would be ideal.
Otherwise the lens feels amazing in hand, the focus ring movement is very fluid and the resulting sharpness are easily on a par with my 16-35mm.
Tonzah78 those are great shots. Did you do any PP? I love how the mood is rendered. Scratch that, I love how all your shots on your flickr look. Any tips would be killer.
nycdude wrote:
Tonzah78 those are great shots. Did you do any PP? I love how the mood is rendered. Scratch that, I love how all your shots on your flickr look. Any tips would be killer.
Thanks!
Yes, I always process my shots in Lightroom. I'm trying to keep it simple not overdo it. I usually tone down highlights and blacks and push the shadows and whites. Varies quite a lot per image how I do it. As for color profile I mostly just use "Adobe Color" (really love that Adobe added that profile). For the tone curve it's usually some curve from VSCO packs (often I've used some of the Agfa Optima 100 II curves from VSCO pack 07) as basis. But I then tweak the main RGB curve a bit. Usually I raise the black end a bit and lower the white end. Softens the image a bit. If I don't use one from VSCO, I just use the medium contrast as basis. With the Sony A7III I haven't been touching the calibration sliders as much I used to do with A7II, as I find the color output from A7III to be close to perfect.
PS. Just found out that VSCO film packs for desktop are now discontinued. But I guess I'll take a look at Really Nice Images (RNI) pack next.
azhenley wrote:
Comparison of 1.2, 1.6, and 2.8 near MFD. A lot of glow wide open.
With an achromat close-up lens like the 58mm Marumi +3, images from the CV 40/1.2 wide open would look similar to your f/2.8 sample in terms of sharpness and haze (glow). This lens is optimized for mid-distance (>2m) and the achromat add-on will let you shoot at MFD with the lens set to towards infinity where it's optimal.
azhenley wrote:
Comparison of 1.2, 1.6, and 2.8 near MFD. A lot of glow wide open.
A lot of glow wide open and very focussed very close; the glow is pretty much gone by environmental portrait distances (1.5m) and further.
So it won’t worry most people at all most of the time, and is only really strong very close to MFD.
And as Fred says, there is a work around even for that using achromats.
But sure, it’s not a lens to buy if your main aim is shooting 40mm atbiwde apertures a lot at distances of 30cm to a metre. For that the Batis 40 for all its bad press is a better idea (though that won’t let you open up wider than f2,5 at close distance even with the new firmware) But that’s a relatively unusual principal use case.
Since I bought the 40 with the expectation of selling my 35 and 55, I did a comparison... CV40 versus Zony 55. Yes, I know they have quite different focal lengths.
Setup: tripod about 6 feet from a book shelf, 2 second delay, both lenses manually focused, two shots at each aperture and used the sharper one, re-focused after each shot. I tried to focus on the "of" on the hat, but even at max magnification it was difficult to see on the display.
I was really surprised at the 40's sharpness at wider apertures. Here are 1:1 crops from the center:
The 40 is really surprising wide open at medium distances. It's actually very sharp, even without factoring in the fact that you're shooting at f/1.2 on a tiny non-Sigma sized lens.
This one might really be a long term keeper for personal use.
azhenley, I say most will end up with one at some stage.
Looking aside from the sharpness difference, see how the CV imparts this subtle blueness to the hat, it shows greater depth of orange color, its images here crackle with life and shape. Extra brightness around the edge of the orange lettering, extra depth perception. These qualities attract the viewing eye on first sight, so they really matter. (I speak as a five year user of the FE55, needed for its AF in work now almost finished. It's still an excellent lens of course.)
