Dunno, from the SA Blog's images I find this Brighting Star's rendition to jar somewhat, especially slightly stopped down, in a way which I do not see with the Syoptic. I'll have to admit to still preferring the TTArtisan 50mm 1.4 to all of these. I know it's not as fast but it seems to handle rendition the best throughout the range.
bemei wrote:
Dunno, from the SA Blog's images I find this Brighting Star's rendition to jar somewhat, especially slightly stopped down, in a way which I do not see with the Syoptic. I'll have to admit to still preferring the TTArtisan 50mm 1.4 to all of these. I know it's not as fast but it seems to handle rendition the best throughout the range.
The TTArtisan 50/1.4 is the best budget fast 50 by a long shot but f/1.4 just doesn’t cut it with the uber-fast crowd.
I received a review sample of the E-mount version today and will check in the coming days what are the differences, update the review and also keep you guys here updated.
I already checked sharpness infinity and see no differences here.
What is very important though: the weight declared in the eBay offer was very much wrong.
The E-mount version (withoud hood and caps) is only 389g, the M-mount version is 405g.
The eBay offer falsely stated 523g. This is a very big difference.
If anyone is interested here's a quick update on the Syoptic Z-mount version.
Despite several of the eBay ads stating it's f/1.2 the aperture range is marked f/1.1 to f/16: Hooray! Close focus is 0.35 m. It looks virtually identical to the E-mount version and seems very robust, well made, nicely finished and comes complete with a metal screw-in hood and front cap with plastic rear. Amazingly, the serial number is marked S.N. Z0001! Is this really first off the production line?
Easy to use and focus on the Z body with peaking and magnification where necessary.
I'm not one to do extensive testing but I'll hopefully be using it in the way I intended over the next month or so and will report back here with my conclusions and images.
EDIT - Apologies, I have corrected the first line which erroneously read "...Syoptic M-mount version.
nehemiahphoto wrote:
Ordered mine off eBay about a month ago…just says paid, no updates.
I ordered my Z-mount version from Syoptic via eBay on the 30th January. On Monday 28th February I had notification from eBay that it had been posted from China and I received the lens today Wednesday 2nd March.
I received a review sample of the E-mount version today and will check in the coming days what are the differences, update the review and also keep you guys here updated.
I already checked sharpness infinity and see no differences here...
I really prefer the design of the Sony version, thanks for sharing!
Some further information:
The E-mount version (and I am pretty sure this is the case for all the non-M-mount versions) shows a little less optical vignetting in the corners. The difference is not huge, but it is there.
Due to the bigger rear element I expected something like this.
M-mount:
E-mount:
The light fall off difference is more significant.
The M-mount version showed about 3.4 EV at f/1.1 (on Leica M10):
Whereas the E-mount version only shows 2.3 EV at f/1.1 (on Sony A7rII):
Interestingly stopped down the Leica lens is ~0.2 EV better, this is probably due to the different sensor design in Leica M10 vs Sony A7rII.
So if you are not going to use this lens on different camera systems I would rather recommend to get the appropriate version instead of the M-mount one.
Some further information:
The E-mount version (and I am pretty sure this is the case for all the non-M-mount versions) shows a little less optical vignetting in the corners. The difference is not huge, but it is there.
Due to the bigger rear element I expected something like this.
Interestingly stopped down the Leica lens is ~0.2 EV better, this is probably due to the different sensor design in Leica M10 vs Sony A7rII.
So if you are not going to use this lens on different camera systems I would rather recommend to get the appropriate version instead of the M-mount one....Show more →
This is helpful—thanks Bastian. Do you have a real world sample to show the difference in optical vignetting between the e and m versions? That would help me understand much better.
My e-mount arrived today. Shipped on February 28 and received today. Not the same quality as a Voigtlander but better size and weight than the 40 1.2. Feels better in hand. Need to try if the sharpness and the bokeh is as nice as the m-mount from Bastian... the focus throw is longer than I prefer but looks like a great lens to use a dayly carry lens. The vendor Syoptic was so responsive, recommended too.
nehemiahphoto wrote:
Do you have a real world sample to show the difference in optical vignetting between the e and m versions?
Not yet, it will also hardly be a meaningful difference (meaning I will have to look hard for a scene where it actually shows), whereas the light fall off difference is very significant.
BastianK wrote:
Not yet, it will also hardly be a meaningful difference (meaning I will have to look hard for a scene where it actually shows), whereas the light fall off difference is very significant.
Exactly—I wanted to know just how small the difference is. Sounds fairly minute. And yes—that vignetting amount is considerable.
@BastianK just wanted to double check if the link in your review was accurate, as the title displayed on the Ebay store is "Syoptic FULL FRAME 50mm F1.2 Lens Sony E NEX d Chinese Planar Design Brilliant".
Plan on picking up an E-mount version at some point. This is the first niche lens for E-mount where I really feel like it's a bargain for how much I'd actually use it.
Thank you for the great review (as always)!
Typical, just when I had decided to buy one they are all sold out. Wonder how long it'll take before they are back in stock.
I shot my copy a bit. The glow is pretty minimal compared to my vintage glass, and the bokeh and contrast WO are also better, so it doesn’t have an old school draw, but it does have a very smooth modern pleasant look. Therefore I see it as a complement but not replacement for older glass. Great for the price/size/specs. Funny how a 3rd party figured this out—you’d think a propriety maker would make this (small 50/1.1, acceptable sharpness with smooth bokeh all over) and sell like hot cakes.
The fake hood and filtering (on the m-mount) is dumber than I thought, and more axial CA than I anticipated. Great lens otherwise.
nehemiahphoto wrote:
Funny how a 3rd party figured this out—you’d think a propriety maker would make this (small 50/1.1, acceptable sharpness with smooth bokeh all over) and sell like hot cakes.
