p.89 #1 · Pre-order: Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 GM ($1,399)
j4nu wrote:
All great guys, but 35GM was promised to be the holy grail:
* small
* sharp
* smooth .
At least that's why I waited for it, ordered it, returned 35i when it just got announced for it and was going to sell the Bigma for it. Not so sure any more.
Ech, I guess you can't win them all.
The Sigma looks sometimes a bit better wrt rendering because of the immense field curvature. When testing both against each other, the 35GM is pretty much flat field, only the corners change significantly (great for me). I linked to some images in the past after I tested the GM. Group shots at events required me to go to f2.8 and higher at times, I can now do it at f1.8.
I saw less severe CA.
Sharpness is a plus for the GM, too, especially the further you go to the borders of the frame.
The 35 GM falls of more slowly than the Sigma. You can see that in your remote control images, too. I used a ruler. I like that and for weddings etc. I need less stopping down to get people within the perceived DOF.
Size + weight is fantastic.
Focus is quiet and more accurate. I found CDAF to be faster.
Although my copies behaved nicely, many here needed FW 03 on the Sigma to work.
We still got images with "--" shown in the display and the lens not focussing from time to time.
Once happened at a wedding, we recognised it only later that day.
Is very rare, but I definitely trust the GM more.
So I see much more advantages than disadvantages. It is always easier to smooth an image in post if required, super easy and fast to do. Having now done most shootings in the past weeks with it I don't see a big difference in real life wrt rendering, but handling is much more fun!
p.89 #2 · Pre-order: Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 GM ($1,399)
'foreground rendering looks great' and the rather structured and fringed background bokeh reminded me of something I read yesterday:
'All lenses with incompletely corrected spherical aberration have a different type of blur before and behind the focal plane, in particular *in its close vicinity, and this includes all camera lenses with a large
aperture*.
Lenses with spherical under-correction, which is felt to be more pleasant, have a flat MTF curve in the background and a steeper MTF curve in the foreground.'
From Dr Nasse, maybe this is an issue makers are struggling with at present, as they work under pressure to make their lenses ever sharper. As always we don't know enough - yet. It might even be one reason Cosina/Leica prefer f2 for their high performance lenses, the trade-offs are just easier to control while you boost the MTF to the stratosphere.
p.89 #3 · Pre-order: Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 GM ($1,399)
I think I'll cancel my Voigt 35 APO plans and wait for this. That Summilux comparison is interesting.. would love to see more. Tough choice for me comes down between more 3D pop and 3 vs 500 grams.
p.89 #5 · Pre-order: Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 GM ($1,399)
LeeRatters wrote:
Got mine today!!
Glad these are finally coming in! Can’t wait to see what you produce with it. If you want you can post photos you would like to share in the new image thread:
p.89 #6 · Pre-order: Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 GM ($1,399)
B&H just moved my order to "Processing" and my card was charged. I ordered within the first minute pre-orders went live. Looks like it could come this week!
p.89 #7 · Pre-order: Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 GM ($1,399)
ketang wrote:
B&H just moved my order to "Processing" and my card was charged. I ordered within the first minute pre-orders went live. Looks like it could come this week!
p.89 #9 · Pre-order: Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 GM ($1,399)
j4nu wrote:
All great guys, but 35GM was promised to be the holy grail:
* small
* sharp
* smooth .
At least that's why I waited for it, ordered it, returned 35i when it just got announced for it and was going to sell the Bigma for it. Not so sure any more.
Ech, I guess you can't win them all.
one your 1:1 comparison shot, the bokeh of the gm seems pretty close to the bigma.
your later standalone gm samples bokeh does look a bit busy with quite some LoCA. Is the GM bokeh significantly worse or maybe the bigma behaves similarly.
I have the sigma f1.2 which I am perfectly happy with the IQ, just that it is too heavy...
p.89 #10 · Pre-order: Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 GM ($1,399)
Holger wrote:
The Sigma looks sometimes a bit better wrt rendering because of the immense field curvature. When testing both against each other, the 35GM is pretty much flat field, only the corners change significantly (great for me). I linked to some images in the past after I tested the GM. Group shots at events required me to go to f2.8 and higher at times, I can now do it at f1.8.
I saw less severe CA.
Sharpness is a plus for the GM, too, especially the further you go to the borders of the frame.
The 35 GM falls of more slowly than the Sigma. You can see that in your remote control images, too. I used a ruler. I like that and for weddings etc. I need less stopping down to get people within the perceived DOF.
Size + weight is fantastic.
Focus is quiet and more accurate. I found CDAF to be faster.
Although my copies behaved nicely, many here needed FW 03 on the Sigma to work.
We still got images with "--" shown in the display and the lens not focussing from time to time.
Once happened at a wedding, we recognised it only later that day.
Is very rare, but I definitely trust the GM more.
So I see much more advantages than disadvantages. It is always easier to smooth an image in post if required, super easy and fast to do. Having now done most shootings in the past weeks with it I don't see a big difference in real life wrt rendering, but handling is much more fun!...Show more →
Agreed, all valid points (well, I don't know about Sigma's field curvature).
I think I have to retract my statements about LoCA as I went through more shots and found some where one is better than the other and vice versa.
I didn't mention handling as I though it's kinda obvious. The GM is real fun to shoot, while the Bigma is cumbersome. Not to mention travelling, where I have already decided to leave the Bigma at home a couple of times for a big vacation trip because I couldn't justify the space it takes.
After more shooting, I find AF to be very reliable and blazing fast when small adjustments are needed (so also when tracking), it just slows down a bit when more distance needs to be traversed. In general though, it's probably a bit better than the Bigma's (and silent, while the Bigma is mostly quiet but sometimes you can hear it working).
When I started evaluating the GM,I just concentrated on sharpness, smoothness and some LoCA as these are the things that I notice the most when shooting (I mostly like flare and vignetting so those are not a big deal for me, distortion correction I always have enabled since I acquired 85 DN some time ago ).
p.89 #11 · Pre-order: Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 GM ($1,399)
wind30 wrote:
one your 1:1 comparison shot, the bokeh of the gm seems pretty close to the bigma.
your later standalone gm samples bokeh does look a bit busy with quite some LoCA. Is the GM bokeh significantly worse or maybe the bigma behaves similarly.
I have the sigma f1.2 which I am perfectly happy with the IQ, just that it is too heavy...
Huh, it's difficult to say without shooting the same scene with both. That's why I think the best comparison is the one I posted, you can download fullsize jpegs and compare every area of the frame then. I find the Bigma to be smoother under such hard conditions.
In the standalone shots, I think the Bigma would also show some busyness, just with less outlining, maybe with more LoCA. So, it would not be perfect, because it was a heavily lit scene with branches, twigs, etc. and 35mm simply does not blur enough in this case.
I'm not such a bokeh aficionado as Fred Miranda or @Nehemiahphoto@, but I've learned to value smooth rendering here. The GM is of course capable of smooth rendering, but it's less capable of handling challenging scenes. See, below 3 shots with different focus distance. To me, they are all smooth enough. This is again a heavily backlit scene with the setting sun on border of the frame. Fringing is also minimal for such a difficult scene imho.
If you saw Fred's recent 35mm comparison, I'd say that the GM looks closer to an even sharper but less corrected CV 35 APO than to 35i in its output.
EDIT: Fred tested another copy of the APO, which performs better in the corners so I guess we have to wait for a direct comparison @f2.
p.89 #12 · Pre-order: Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 GM ($1,399)
The comment about the CV 35 APO, was it his first copy you were looking at, or the revised shots with his new copy that looks completely different in the corners?
p.89 #13 · Pre-order: Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 GM ($1,399)
tsdevine wrote:
The comment about the CV 35 APO, was it his first copy you were looking at, or the revised shots with his new copy that looks completely different in the corners?
First, indeed now I see there was an update... So, I guess we have to wait for Fred's test @f2 to know for sure.
p.89 #15 · Pre-order: Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 GM ($1,399)
Let’s wait for the announced Sigma 31 1.4 ART DN to see if they have been able to coniugate the Bigma rendering and bokeh with reasonable weight/dimensions.
In my very personal opinion this GM is not a killer lens.
p.89 #18 · Pre-order: Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 GM ($1,399)
tsdevine wrote:
Gotcha. Yeah, the GM should have the advantage because the CV is wide open. But that CV shot looks pretty darn good.
Guess we'll see when Fred gets his GM 35.
Yes, CV is exceptionally sharp, but so is the GM in my experience. I think only a direct test done by somebody knowledgeable like Fred can give us the answer (and then, there is still copy variation).
I know I'm done with posting any comparisons here, whatever I write I think is my observation, some people get more or less angsty.
I like the GM, but it's not as smooth as I'd hoped and in that way it's not a complete replacement for the Bigma I wanted it to be...
On the other hand, I got pretty much perfectly centered copy, which rarely happens and it's pure joy to use (and excels at my favorite use for 35mm: snapshots of my kids lives at various points in time) so I don't really want to let it go back.
Then, 35i gets a bit soft at close distances I like to shoot at, so it's not a complete Bigma replacement either.
So, I guess in the end we all knew the answer to the quest for perfect 35mm: one does not exist.
p.89 #19 · Pre-order: Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 GM ($1,399)
Didn't mean to come across like I was giving you angst. I would 100% agree that based on the first CV 35 samples the GM 35 should win handily. The GM still should have the advantage, and it could very well be sharper at f/2. It's just that CV 35, based on the new samples, has at least a shot. So I'm agreeing with you.
Yeah, the 35i trades some MFD sharpness near WO for smoother rendering and I can see that as a negative for someone who does a lot of shooting up close and wide apertures.
j4nu wrote:
Yes, CV is exceptionally sharp, but so is the GM in my experience. I think only a direct test done by somebody knowledgeable like Fred can give us the answer (and then, there is still copy variation).
I know I'm done with posting any comparisons here, whatever I write I think is my observation, some people get more or less angsty.
I like the GM, but it's not as smooth as I'd hoped and in that way it's not a complete replacement for the Bigma I wanted it to be...
On the other hand, I got pretty much perfectly centered copy, which rarely happens and it's pure joy to use (and excels at my favorite use for 35mm: snapshots of my kids lives at various points in time) so I don't really want to let it go back.
Then, 35i gets a bit soft at close distances I like to shoot at, so it's not a complete Bigma replacement either.
So, I guess in the end we all knew the answer to the quest for perfect 35mm: one does not exist. ...Show more →
p.89 #20 · Pre-order: Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 GM ($1,399)
tsdevine wrote:
Didn't mean to come across like I was giving you angst. I would 100% agree that based on the first CV 35 samples the GM 35 should win handily. The GM still should have the advantage, and it could very well be sharper at f/2. It's just that CV 35, based on the new samples, has at least a shot. So I'm agreeing with you.
Yeah, the 35i trades some MFD sharpness near WO for smoother rendering and I can see that as a negative for someone who does a lot of shooting up close and wide apertures.
Sorry, this was not meant to be directed at you, just venting my frustration a bit I guess .
.
