For me the Batis family is great. I know some don't like the ergo and think they are fat but having a lens family that is built with the same approach on ergos and more importantly color and contrast is great to have. Fast AF is also a plus. The Loxia's are similar in that approach. So I have all five and just going to show some patience on the 40mm CF since the other four for me are really nice. Sure there are alternatives to the 25, and 85 but I want a family to have the same approach and I am willing to settle for the Batis 18, 25, 40, 85, and 135 which I own now. Bought them before Sony had their 85/1.8, 85/1.4, and 24/1.4. I own a few Loxia (used to own the classics on Canon and the ZM lenses for my Zeiss Ikon) so I am obviously a Zeiss fan.
swldstn wrote:
For me the Batis family is great. I know some don't like the ergo and think they are fat but having a lens family that is built with the same approach on ergos and more importantly color and contrast is great to have. Fast AF is also a plus. The Loxia's are similar in that approach. So I have all five and just going to show some patience on the 40mm CF since the other four for me are really nice. Sure there are alternatives to the 25, and 85 but I want a family to have the same approach and I am willing to settle for the Batis 18, 25, 40, 85, and 135 which I own now. Bought them before Sony had their 85/1.8, 85/1.4, and 24/1.4. I own a few Loxia (used to own the classics on Canon and the ZM lenses for my Zeiss Ikon) so I am obviously a Zeiss fan. ...Show more →
Same here, I am extremely happy with my Batis lenses and the 40 seems equally good once CZ have solved the glitch with EyeAF. I dont have the 18 as I am hoping for something wider in future, at present the CZ 16-35 f4 handles things nicely.
According to a post on DPR, Zeiss has reponded to an inquiring user that they are "waiting for Sony approval for the FW update through camera and that the FW should be available some time in February/March".
So no, the Eye-AF issue is not sorted yet and I do not think it would be a good idea to buy a lens now before knowing to what extent that FW update will actually solve the issue.
I've been meaning to join this conversation for awhile but got caught up in some other stuff so just I'll post some quick feedback with some photos here. FYI I've had the lens since shortly after it's release and I'm using it with my A7III. I haven't used the eye AF feature much yet so I can't comment in detail about it other than it's been 50/50 with the times that I have tried it (testing it on myself remotely through the playmemories app). I only have two native AF lenses for my A7III so I never got in the habit of using eye AF much in general and using the Batis 40 hasn't negatively affected my shooting yet. That said, the AF in general is snappy and accurate but I do find that it will sometimes hunt when trying to focus on horizontal lines in low light.
I picked up the Batis 40 as my primary travel lens because of Sony's lack of a true native 35/2 option that's relatively lightweight and compact. Not that the Batis 40 is small, but it is light and after shooting with the C/V 40 1.2 I've found that I like that focal length just as much as the 35mm FL. I recently took it on a quick trip to Tahiti and paired it with my Loxia 21 and Canon FD100/2 as a relatively compact and lightweight 3 lens setup. I'm pretty much a one lens shooter (I'll keep one lens on at a time and rarely swap) these days so this fit my style perfectly.
Anyways enough from me, here are some samples. Also apologies if they're too large...
Anyone thinking about making a lowball offer on Greentoe for the B40 and roll the dice that Zeiss solves the Eye AF issues?
I know the rational decision is to wait until we know if it is solved and I expect Zeiss will have to rebate the lens to move it given all the negative press around it. Real botched launch and I’m sure some product manager or QA/release manager is getting hell for letting this go out the door... seems like any QA test matrix for Sony mount lenses would include Eye AF!
But I’m tempted to make a lowball offer on Greentoe and see what happens. I see B&H still has the lens in stock - bet they’ve sold very few if any.
swldstn wrote:
For me the Batis family is great. I know some don't like the ergo and think they are fat but having a lens family that is built with the same approach on ergos and more importantly color and contrast is great to have. Fast AF is also a plus. The Loxia's are similar in that approach. So I have all five and just going to show some patience on the 40mm CF since the other four for me are really nice. Sure there are alternatives to the 25, and 85 but I want a family to have the same approach and I am willing to settle for the Batis 18, 25, 40, 85, and 135 which I own now. Bought them before Sony had their 85/1.8, 85/1.4, and 24/1.4. I own a few Loxia (used to own the classics on Canon and the ZM lenses for my Zeiss Ikon) so I am obviously a Zeiss fan. ...Show more →
Im still trying to figure out what i like best, so far the Batis 25 is my favorite
Thinking about lens filters and such in the future makes sense to stay in the same lens family
Im going to look for good deals on mint used lenses, probably will have to wait a while before the Batis 40 drops in price
I’m tempted still but like to see it against my 50 1.4 but it’s more about AF than look or character. I have the Cv 40 for that. The 50 is awesome but still maybe a touch slow with AF but what if a new body is faster which throws a curve in this. I’m tempted because it’s in stock but still no updates has me concerned as well. No hurry really
darrellc wrote:
Anyone thinking about making a lowball offer on Greentoe for the B40 and roll the dice that Zeiss solves the Eye AF issues?
I know the rational decision is to wait until we know if it is solved and I expect Zeiss will have to rebate the lens to move it given all the negative press around it. Real botched launch and I’m sure some product manager or QA/release manager is getting hell for letting this go out the door... seems like any QA test matrix for Sony mount lenses would include Eye AF!
But I’m tempted to make a lowball offer on Greentoe and see what happens. I see B&H still has the lens in stock - bet they’ve sold very few if any....Show more →
GMPhotography wrote:
I’m tempted still but like to see it against my 50 1.4 but it’s more about AF than look or character. I have the Cv 40 for that. The 50 is awesome but still maybe a touch slow with AF but what if a new body is faster which throws a curve in this. I’m tempted because it’s in stock but still no updates has me concerned as well. No hurry really
From my memory, the Batis 40/2 CF focuses faster compared to the 50/1.4 ZA but you would be giving up some blur. (And currently, accurate EyeAF)
At the same distance, the 55/1.8 ZA has about 1 stop more blur compared to the Batis 40/2 and the 50/1.4 ZA even more.
55/40=1.375x
40 f/2 x 1.375 = 55 f/2.8
I always thought that the 55/1.8 ZA has a cool cast but the Batis 40/2 is even cooler! I will post some side by side tests comparing their rendering soon. If I had the 50/1.4 ZA, I would compared them as well.
I currently have all three. The 55/1.8 ZA, 50/1.4 ZA, and the Batis 40/2 CF and will see if I can get some kind of comparison done here. Problem is everything mike look "cool" here since its currently 15 deg. outside
Fred or Guy what type of photo would you want to see for comparison?
Believe it or not I use them differently. My plan was to let go of the 55mm but its so small and light I just not sure I will part with it. The 50/1.4 is getting used for portraits and events. The 40mm is for more general walking around. Put it on as the first choice when leaving the house.
Oh why didn't Sony/Zeiss make a 35/1.8 ZA that was the equivalent of their 24/1.8 APS-C lens? Then none of the would have happened.
zeitlos wrote:
Still waiting for them to eventually make the eye af work.
No news is good news?
It's not if you need it fixed but they've committed to fixing it which is half the battle, what's disturbed me most about this thing was the lack of a response on their part; I should probably be more bothered that their customer support was non-existent but I can't really get worked up about it anymore.
It's not a done deal though, there's no guarantee that fixing Eye AF will also fix the issue with magnified view AF but hopefully they have the same cause and resolution.
