Not sure if this has already been mentioned, but in case not Haida have recently released a magnetic front-mount alternative to the Nisi S6 filter system for this.
With regards to my pursuit of a satisfactory copy of the lens I have now tried 5 copies, and unfortunately none are good by my standards across the whole range at wider apertures. The best one I've found is well centered between 14 and 24mm (each corner sharpens up nicely if focused on in turn), but does have mild swing in opposite directions at 24mm and 14mm. At 12mm one side is mildly decentered, as seems to be common.
I can confirm from having tested corner focus shift on three of the copies now that it is indeed substantial, and manifests all the way across the apertures I use i.e. f2.8 to f8. It is so strong that you simply can't focus wide open and stop down and expect your corners to stay well focused, especially at the wide end of the zoom range.
For me persoanlly, the bigger drawback of the focus shift is that for focus stacking you have to know where infinity is not only for different focal lengths, but also at each aperture My approach will be to have a table of best infinity in-camera focal distances at F2.8 (astro) and 7.1 (landscapes). Another FM member suggested a while ago I try focus peaking instead but it's totally useless wiht a lens this wide, and even more so in low contrast conditions.
On the plus side though, stopped down to my typical landscape aperture of 7.1, and using my known distances the focus stacked results I'm getting with this lens now are very sharp across the entire frame. Even at 12mm the results are very nice, albeit not quite as good as the rest of the zoom range in the extreme corners, and certainly way better than the CV12.
Not sure if this has already been mentioned, but in case not Haida have released an alternative to the Nisi S6 filter system for this lens.
With regards to my pursuit of a satisfactory copy of the lens I have now tried 5 copies, and unfortunately none are good by my standards across the whole range at wider apertures. The best one I've found is well centered between 14 and 24mm (each corner sharpens up nicely if focused on in turn), but does have mild swing in opposite directions at 24mm and 14mm. At 12mm one side is mildly decentered, as seems to be common.
I can confirm from having tested corner focus shift on three of the copies now that it is indeed substantial, and manifests all the way across the apertures I use i.e. f2.8 to f8. It is so strong that you simply can't focus wide open and stop down and expect your corners to stay well focused, especially at the wide end of the zoom range.
For me persoanlly, the bigger drawback of the focus shift is that for focus stacking you have to know where infinity is not only for different focal lengths, but also at each aperture My approach will be to have a table of best infinity in-camera focal distances at F2.8 (astro) and 7.1 (landscapes). Another FM member suggested a while ago I try focus peaking instead but it's totally useless wiht a lens this wide, and even more so in low contrast conditions.
On the plus side though, stopped down to my typical landscape aperture of 7.1, and using my known distances the focus stacked results I'm getting with this lens now are very sharp across the entire frame. Even at 12mm the results are very nice, albeit not quite as good as the rest of the zoom range in the extreme corners, and certainly way better than the CV12.
Not sure if this has already been mentioned, but in case not Haida have released an alternative to the Nisi S6 filter system for this lens.
With regards to my pursuit of a satisfactory copy of the lens I have now tried 5 copies, and unfortunately none are good by my standards across the whole range at wider apertures. The best one I've found is well centered between 14 and 24mm (each corner sharpens up nicely if focused on in turn), but does have mild swing in opposite directions at 24mm and 14mm. At 12mm one side is mildly decentered, as seems to be common.
I can confirm from having tested corner focus shift on three of the copies now that it is indeed substantial, and manifests all the way across the apertures I use i.e. f2.8 to f8. It is so strong that you simply can't focus wide open and stop down and expect your corners to stay well focused, especially at the wide end of the zoom range.
For me persoanlly, the bigger drawback of the focus shift is that for focus stacking you have to know where infinity is not only for different focal lengths, but also at each aperture My approach will be to have a table of best infinity in-camera focal distances at F2.8 (astro) and 7.1 (landscapes). Another FM member suggested a hile ago I try focus peaking instead but it's totally useless wiht a lns this wide, and even more so in low contrast conditions.
On the plus side though, stopped down to my typical landscape aperture of 7.1, and using my known distances the focus stacked results I'm getting with this lens now are very sharp across the entire frame. Even at 12mm the results are very nice, albeit not quite as good as the rest of the zoom range in the extreme corners, and certainly way better than the CV12.
Not sure if this has already been mentioned, but in case not Haida have released an alternative to the Nisi S6 filter system for this lens.
With regards to my pursuit of a satisfactory copy of the lens I have now tried 5 copies, and unfortunately none are good by my standards across the whole range at wider apertures. The best one I've found is well centered between 14 and 24mm (each corner sharpens up nicely if focused on in turn), but does have mild swing in opposite directions at 24mm and 14mm. At 12mm one side is mildly decentered, as seems to be common.
I can confirm from having tested corner focus shift on three of the copies now that it is indeed substantial, and manifests all the way across the apertures I use i.e. f2.8 to f8. It is so strong that you simply can't focus wide open and stop down and expect your corners to stay well focused, especially at the wide end of the zoom range).
For me persoanlly, the bigger drawback of the focus shift is that for focus stacking you have to know where infinity is not only for different focal lengths, but also at each aperture My approach will be to have a table of best infinity in-camera focal distances at F2.8 (astro) and 7.1 (landscapes). Another FM member suggested a hile ago I try focus peaking instead but it's totally useless wiht a lns this wide, and even more so in low contrast conditions.
On the plus side though, stopped down to my typical landscape aperture of 7.1, and using my known distances the focus stacked results I'm getting with this lens now are very sharp across the entire frame. Even at 12mm the results are very nice, albeit not quite as good as the rest of the zoom range in the extreme corners, and certainly way better than the CV12.
Oct 12, 2020 at 06:55 PM
Previous versions of rvh23's message #15373471 « Sony FE 12-24mm f/2.8 GM Review »
My approach will be to have a table of best infinity in-camera focal distances at F2.8 (astro) and 7.1 (landscapes). Another FM member suggested a while ago I try focus peaking instead but it's totally useless wiht a lens this wide, and even more so in low contrast conditions.