I received my Batis 40 on Tuesday and have not been able to get out for any serious shooting. However, I have done dozens of quick shots at various distances from infinity to closeups using the close focus setting. I can say with no reservations that this is an excellent optic. It is sharp at all aperatures right into the extreme corners. It balances very well on the A7RIII and the autofocus speed and accuracy is superb. I’m not a big user of eye af so I don’t really care much about that feature. My primary use for the lens will be landscape and travel photography. I’m a very infrequent portrait taker and I will usually be using my Batis 85 or 135 for individual or couple portraits anyway. I’ll do some more testing but I’m already happy enough with the sharpness, colors and general zeiss rendering to say it’s a keeper for sure. I’m planning to take the Batis 40 along with my new Sony 24 GM and Batis 85 to New York City next week for some holiday shooting in the city.
So I've had my copy for two days now and I know the following.
a) In both AF-S and AF-C with flexible spot, expanded flexible spot it focuses fast, silently and to me so far very accurately.
b) Face detection with AF-C appears to work very well.
c) Eye-AF right now with AF-C does appear to me hit or miss but I am not 100% sure what is going on. Been comparing to the 50mm f/1.4 ZA it does appear to be better but not getting 100% there either. Need to do some controlled comparisons.
d) All images appear to be very sharp.
e) The noctogonal shapes caused by the lens stopping down from f/2 to f/2.8 to f/4 depending on objects closer than 1 meter do not appear to bother me but I have not done specific test to cause that issue. Most of my shots are a greater than a meter but I do expect to use it for Close Focus so more testing is needed.
I did some preliminary coma testing with the B40 on my A7R3. Moonlight, high iso, and no tracking make it difficult to make a good assessment, but I'd say it starts to look usable at f/2.8, and good at f/4.0. No stretch towards the corners.
I will do proper tests with my tracker when the sky is dark and clear - judging by the weather forecast, it might take a while.
Kalainen wrote:
Good test! Also gives me ideas how to do come test in future.. :-)
Thanks! It's a quick and easy test that gives good enough results for casual astro.
However, I prefer doing my tests on a tracking mount, so I can have identical framing, lower iso, and round stars.
Isn’t the Sigma 40 supposedly going to be the crown jewel of the Art series? I do use eye AF frequently as most of my shots are family candids and environ portraits, so I’m trying to decide to wait on sigma or get the Batis. If the Batis focuses properly in face detect mode, then a subject’s eye should be in focus too in face detect though right? Sorry to bring up eye AF again, but the Batis pics look nice and if face detect is good enough, so be it.
I'm sure the Sigma's are as wonderful as the tests show. Just be sure you're ok holding a 2 1/2 pound (1.2 kg) lens for your family candids if you're considering the Sigma 40 f/1.4. YMMV, but I bought and returned a Sigma 50 f/1.4 not because it was optically inferior, actually it was superb, I just could not imagine carrying it around hand held.
Newtographer504 wrote:
Isn’t the Sigma 40 supposedly going to be the crown jewel of the Art series? I do use eye AF frequently as most of my shots are family candids and environ portraits, so I’m trying to decide to wait on sigma or get the Batis. If the Batis focuses properly in face detect mode, then a subject’s eye should be in focus too in face detect though right? Sorry to bring up eye AF again, but the Batis pics look nice and if face detect is good enough, so be it.
If you want to use Eye AF where there's enough DOF for it to miss it's always going to miss with the Batis so it (currently) isn't even an option if that's what you intend to mainly use it for. I haven't tested face detect but my first assumption would be it'll suffer from the same issue.
What I find appealing in the Batis is how well behaved it is optically, its handling and the close focus; based on that criteria the Sigma isn't really that appealing to me but that's a reflection of my priorities and not how good either lens actually is.
Newtographer504 wrote:
Isn’t the Sigma 40 supposedly going to be the crown jewel of the Art series? I do use eye AF frequently as most of my shots are family candids and environ portraits, so I’m trying to decide to wait on sigma or get the Batis. If the Batis focuses properly in face detect mode, then a subject’s eye should be in focus too in face detect though right? Sorry to bring up eye AF again, but the Batis pics look nice and if face detect is good enough, so be it.
So I've been looking at my photos taken inside with the 40mm f/2 at 1/60 to say 1/25 and f/2 to f/2.8 since the subject, my grand daughter, challenges the slow shutter speeds. I see some loss of sharpness but I can't tell of its motion blur or lack of focus sharpness or a combination of both. Need to put them on the computer to learn more. Also need to take some more images of controlled subjects to learn more.
Newtographer504 wrote:
Isn’t the Sigma 40 supposedly going to be the crown jewel of the Art series? I do use eye AF frequently as most of my shots are family candids and environ portraits, so I’m trying to decide to wait on sigma or get the Batis. If the Batis focuses properly in face detect mode, then a subject’s eye should be in focus too in face detect though right? Sorry to bring up eye AF again, but the Batis pics look nice and if face detect is good enough, so be it.
If you use eye AF extensively, then I would wait until more reports come in if that is a critical feature for you. I don't think the issues with eye AF are clear. I am sure that more people will be chiming in on both face detect and eye AF. Ultimately what is good enough, however, will be a matter that you will need to decide for yourself. I do hope people post some more pictures as Fred suggests, but I also hope Fred gets the lens soon and can share some of his tests
