nhsonyshooter wrote: LBJ2 wrote:
I too am interested in continued practical use feedback on this lens. I own all the other other Batis lenses and enjoy using all of them. As is already well known there are some very fine attributes to all the Zeiss Batis lenses. I paused on the Batis 40 due to the now infamous wide open nonagonal bokeh ball shapes which turned out to be a symptom of the what I call the potential automatic stopping down behavior in some circumstances. The now much loved Eye AF feature also seems to be potentially problematic too. IMO, I think Zeiss may eventually address Eye AF if they can. The other what I will call less than desirables listed are probably permanent. Of note, is I don't think Zeiss has ever posted any firmware updates to their Batis lenses. Since the A9 first came out, I am still waiting for Zeiss to update some of the current Batis lenses to acheive AF up to 20FPS on the A9. I was told by Zeiss that this capability was under review over a year ago. Since there has been no changes since, my guess is they can't do it or decided otherwise.
Whether some see these listed characteristics of the 40mm as priority faults/issues or not is up to the individual. In the meantime, I am sure the overall Batis 40 IQ will perform just a well and maybe even better than some of the other Batis lenses. I fully expect many happy customers and beautiful Batis 40 imagery regardless and am looking forward to see what people do with this lens.
For me 40mm is a nice-to-have but not a must-have and frankly there are so many very good FE lens options to chose anyway. So I can be patient or redirect my attention and funds to the new GM 24 F1.4 I've had the pleasure to work with for about a week now ( Yep the GM 24 is really as good as what we've all read it is 😉
Agreed. I was looking forward to this lens but after receiving the 24GM and using it now for a couple weeks on my A7riii I am happy with the 36mm 18mp files it produces. I even compared them to my 40mm1.2 and they appear sharper at 1.4. At least my copy anyway. I may some day revist the Batis (just hate the over all design , in minority I know) but I think I will hold out for the 35mm 1.8 Sony that I think is finally coming this spring
I agree. I'm keeping my excellent 35/2.8 and 55/1.8, and I have a new Sony 35/1.4 inbound fom Adorama. That gives me much more versatility than the bloated Batis 40. I also get dependable eye AF and non-nonagonal bokeh balls.
At one point, I thought that I would have the entire Batis line. Here 's what happened:
Batis 18 - still have and love this lens, favorite Batis
Batis 25 - loved it but sold it for the 24GM which is a small bit better in every way except size/weight
Batis 40 - see above, no plans to get this one, a real disappointment in size, speed, and bugs/quirks
Batis 85 - still have this one, I like the rendering of the 85 GM better but too heavy and not that into portraits
Batis 135 - still have this one, I like the size and weight, great IQ but not a lot of "character"
nhsonyshooter wrote: LBJ2 wrote:
I too am interested in continued practical use feedback on this lens. I own all the other other Batis lenses and enjoy using all of them. As is already well known there are some very fine attributes to all the Zeiss Batis lenses. I paused on the Batis 40 due to the now infamous wide open nonagonal bokeh ball shapes which turned out to be a symptom of the what I call the potential automatic stopping down behavior in some circumstances. The now much loved Eye AF feature also seems to be potentially problematic too. IMO, I think Zeiss may eventually address Eye AF if they can. The other what I will call less than desirables listed are probably permanent. Of note, is I don't think Zeiss has ever posted any firmware updates to their Batis lenses. Since the A9 first came out, I am still waiting for Zeiss to update some of the current Batis lenses to acheive AF up to 20FPS on the A9. I was told by Zeiss that this capability was under review over a year ago. Since there has been no changes since, my guess is they can't do it or decided otherwise.
Whether some see these listed characteristics of the 40mm as priority faults/issues or not is up to the individual. In the meantime, I am sure the overall Batis 40 IQ will perform just a well and maybe even better than some of the other Batis lenses. I fully expect many happy customers and beautiful Batis 40 imagery regardless and am looking forward to see what people do with this lens.
For me 40mm is a nice-to-have but not a must-have and frankly there are so many very good FE lens options to chose anyway. So I can be patient or redirect my attention and funds to the new GM 24 F1.4 I've had the pleasure to work with for about a week now ( Yep the GM 24 is really as good as what we've all read it is 😉
Agreed. I was looking forward to this lens but after receiving the 24GM and using it now for a couple weeks on my A7riii I am happy with the 36mm 18mp files it produces. I even compared them to my 40mm1.2 and they appear sharper at 1.4. At least my copy anyway. I may some day revist the Batis (just hate the over all design , in minority I know) but I think I will hold out for the 35mm 1.8 Sony that I think is finally coming this spring
I agree. I'm keeping my excellent 35/2.8 and 55/1.8, and I have a new Sony 35/1.4 inbound fom Adorama. That gives me much more versatility than the bloated Batis 40. I also get dependable eye AF and non-nonagonal bokeh balls.
At one point, I thought that I would have the entire Batis line. Here 's what happened:
Batis 18 - still have and love this lens, favorite Batis
Batis 25 - loved it but sold it for the 24GM which is a small bit better in every way except size/weight
Batis 40 - see above, no plans to get this one, a real disappointment in size, speed, and bugs/quirks
Batis 85 - still have this ne, a good lens, I like the rendering of the 85 GM better but too heavy and not that into portraits
Batis 135 - Still have this one, I like the size and weight (for a 135), also great IQ but not a lot of "character"
nhsonyshooter wrote: LBJ2 wrote:
I too am interested in continued practical use feedback on this lens. I own all the other other Batis lenses and enjoy using all of them. As is already well known there are some very fine attributes to all the Zeiss Batis lenses. I paused on the Batis 40 due to the now infamous wide open nonagonal bokeh ball shapes which turned out to be a symptom of the what I call the potential automatic stopping down behavior in some circumstances. The now much loved Eye AF feature also seems to be potentially problematic too. IMO, I think Zeiss may eventually address Eye AF if they can. The other what I will call less than desirables listed are probably permanent. Of note, is I don't think Zeiss has ever posted any firmware updates to their Batis lenses. Since the A9 first came out, I am still waiting for Zeiss to update some of the current Batis lenses to acheive AF up to 20FPS on the A9. I was told by Zeiss that this capability was under review over a year ago. Since there has been no changes since, my guess is they can't do it or decided otherwise.
Whether some see these listed characteristics of the 40mm as priority faults/issues or not is up to the individual. In the meantime, I am sure the overall Batis 40 IQ will perform just a well and maybe even better than some of the other Batis lenses. I fully expect many happy customers and beautiful Batis 40 imagery regardless and am looking forward to see what people do with this lens.
For me 40mm is a nice-to-have but not a must-have and frankly there are so many very good FE lens options to chose anyway. So I can be patient or redirect my attention and funds to the new GM 24 F1.4 I've had the pleasure to work with for about a week now ( Yep the GM 24 is really as good as what we've all read it is 😉
Agreed. I was looking forward to this lens but after receiving the 24GM and using it now for a couple weeks on my A7riii I am happy with the 36mm 18mp files it produces. I even compared them to my 40mm1.2 and they appear sharper at 1.4. At least my copy anyway. I may some day revist the Batis (just hate the over all design , in minority I know) but I think I will hold out for the 35mm 1.8 Sony that I think is finally coming this spring
I agree. I'm keeping my excellent 35/2.8 and 55/1.8, and I have a new Sony 35/1.4 inbound fom Adorama. That gives me much more versatility than the bloated Batis 40. I also get dependable eye AF and non-nonagonal bokeh balls.
