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WA for my A7r - conundrum

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Hi Asher,

I'd be careful with any Biogon design for a lens to be used on the A7R, a retrofocus design is much more likely to reduce edge/corner issues.

Cheers,
Bart



So, Bart,

Do you think that Zeiss will correct for that in their new 35mm lens that they are touting as pretty well spectacular? Actually, for me, artifacts in the periphery save me the work of blurring, vignetting and other ways to degrade the competing for eye-time with the center.

But I was wondering what the Zeiss folks were up to.

Asher
 

Ben Rubinstein

pro member
Seems to be something to wonder about, they don't seem to have changed the design much on the Loxia but are claiming it has been made with the A7/r in mind. I think we'll just have to see. For that price you can get a huge number of legacy 35mm lenses razor sharp in the centre. Heck for a fraction of that price.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Seems to be something to wonder about, they don't seem to have changed the design much on the Loxia but are claiming it has been made with the A7/r in mind. I think we'll just have to see. For that price you can get a huge number of legacy 35mm lenses razor sharp in the centre. Heck for a fraction of that price.

Rokinon, not a Biogon design, as far as I know, at 14mm is supposed to be a great lens for Canon and Nikon cameras. Now it's offered with a simple built-on extension and terminating in the Sony E mount. However, they appear to have actually just repackaged ~$400 lens.

The 35Mm Loxia lens, however, has a new element it seems that might possibly address the closeness of the rear of the lens to the A7/R sensor and it's cover glass.

"One element made from anomalous partial dispersion glass helps to suppress chromatic aberrations for greater clarity and color accuracy around subject edges throughout the aperture range." Source

Is this the key necessary difference perhaps?

Asher
 
So, Bart,

Do you think that Zeiss will correct for that in their new 35mm lens that they are touting as pretty well spectacular?

I have no insider information, but if they specifically design it anew for this type of (non-film) camera, with a positive rear exit pupil element/group, and given the modest wide angle FOV, they may get something useful. How close that would still resemble a true Biogon design, is open for discussion. A Biogon is usually a semi-symmetrical design with negative front and rear elements to achieve the typically wide angle FOV.

Cheers,
Bart
 

Ben Rubinstein

pro member
I would assume that the Samyang/Rokinon built in adaptor is a decent design and not just a cheap one stuck on. I have the novoflex adaptors for all my lenses. To be honest it's not a lot of extra money to stop having to worry about build quality and whether the mount is even on all sides.
 

Ben Rubinstein

pro member
Couple of pics from the FD 24mm f2 wide open. Fun lens to use. Not shot a bride for two years, was rather different shooting with all manual lenses but I had a very high success rate and the old lenses do have a lovely character to them.

mindy_008.jpg



mindy_009.jpg


 

Ben Rubinstein

pro member
That's without any corrections. Given that this is a bomb shelter though, can't promise that the lines were straight to start with! :) Emphasis is far more on big lumps of concrete rather than perfect plumb lines. What was funny was that although shot in candle light at iso 6400 on the A7r, I had to add huge amounts of grain in post to give a gritty look. Iso 6400 and you have to add grain to make it look gritty. Wow but what an incredibly long way we've come!
 

Ben Rubinstein

pro member
Another shot with the 20mm. It's actually not bad at all in the corners. Has a rather cool rendition to the images which doesn't give quite as creamy B&W's as I like. I went with a little bit of duo tone on this to try and achieve a more creamy tone. Meron, the school of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, author of the Zohar, the first time Kabbalah was comitted to paper some 2000 years ago which is when these ruins date to. Overlooking the city of Safed in the distance. It's on the top of a hill (overlooking his famous burial site) littered with broken stones from what was once a massive building. I literally had two people half carry me up and down the hill, my legs can't do that kind of thing any more. A7r 20mm f11, 1/60, iso 500.

_400805.jpg


shamai.jpg

Another from up a very tough 4x4 track, especially in the pitch dark. This is the burial site of Shamai whose difference of legal opinion with the school of Hillel is the subject of discussion during most of the Mishnaic (foundation of the Talmud) tracts. Shot in 'can't see your hand in front of you darkness'. A7r 20mm, iso 1600, 20 second exposure with the stones and hills behind light painted with my pocket flashlight chosen for its colour rendition. Very little processing at all actually. Couldn't believe I'd gotten the shot so right first time.
 

Ben Rubinstein

pro member
Fast forward a few months and I have the FE 16-35mm f4 OSS lens in my hand. The FD lenses neither gave an 'old' rendering to match my other lenses or gave a modern rendering for commercial work. I'd given up on my search for 'old' rendering wides with decent IQ so went for broke and decided to invest in a wide angle that could do anything commercial that I could throw at it. I had been thinking of the Zeiss 18mm f3.5 but the FE Zeiss zoom was the same price, far more lens and just a 1/3 of a stop slower. I'll be testing it soon at my usual test scene, weather permitting.

My first AF lens for my A7r, the AF isn't as bad as I was led to expect, the ability to tune focus point size is nice and the spread and amount of focus points is utterly amazing, so very useful with an UWA lens. The only really annoying thing is that the back wheel/button arrangement is such that you're clicking the AF point around then the camera decides that you're rotating the wheel instead and you're changing AF point size. Not the only thing that makes this wheel/button combination so annoying to use, scrolling around a magnified image is as annoying. Heck Maybe I'll just gaffer the wheel to stop it turning.

The lens itself is smaller than I thought from pictures and balances nicely on the camera. The zoom wheel turns the nikon direction (which surprised me) and the knurling is extremely fine, to the extent that I'm going to stick a rubber band on it just to give more friction on my fingers. The fine knurling is also annoying in that it's hard to find the zoom ring without 'looking' compared to on a Canon/Nikon lens. The focus ring right next to the zoom ring, touching it almost. Far too easy to turn by accident when zooming. Honest opinion? It's a very sleek design aesthetically but not the most practical design. The zoom ring is very stiff, the focus ring too loose. I'm assuming the zoom ring will loosen with use but for the price I'd expected better to be honest. Lacking is both an AF/MF and OSS on/off switches and distance scale. All of which are accessed through the menu. Again aesthetically pleasing but not practical or ergonomic.

I haven't done any testing but one thing is immediately apparent even in the viewfinder. The contrast is on another level compared to any of my Pentax or FD lenses. So much clearer and sharper. This looks to achieve what all the reviews have said about it.
 

Ben Rubinstein

pro member
Just tried the gaffer tape mentioned above, worked perfectly! I have that rear wheel disabled anyway and now when I press it to navigate, it doesn't turn and mess things up any more!

It's funny just how many workarounds we use with this camera...
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Fast forward a few months and I have the FE 16-35mm f4 OSS lens in my hand. The FD lenses neither gave an 'old' rendering to match my other lenses or gave a modern rendering for commercial work. I'd given up on my search for 'old' rendering wides with decent IQ so went for broke and decided to invest in a wide angle that could do anything commercial that I could throw at it. I had been thinking of the Zeiss 18mm f3.5 but the FE Zeiss zoom was the same price, far more lens and just a 1/3 of a stop slower. I'll be testing it soon at my usual test scene, weather permitting.

My first AF lens for my A7r, the AF isn't as bad as I was led to expect, the ability to tune focus point size is nice and the spread and amount of focus points is utterly amazing, so very useful with an UWA lens. The only really annoying thing is that the back wheel/button arrangement is such that you're clicking the AF point around then the camera decides that you're rotating the wheel instead and you're changing AF point size. Not the only thing that makes this wheel/button combination so annoying to use, scrolling around a magnified image is as annoying. Heck Maybe I'll just gaffer the wheel to stop it turning.

The lens itself is smaller than I thought from pictures and balances nicely on the camera. The zoom wheel turns the nikon direction (which surprised me) and the knurling is extremely fine, to the extent that I'm going to stick a rubber band on it just to give more friction on my fingers. The fine knurling is also annoying in that it's hard to find the zoom ring without 'looking' compared to on a Canon/Nikon lens. The focus ring right next to the zoom ring, touching it almost. Far too easy to turn by accident when zooming. Honest opinion? It's a very sleek design aesthetically but not the most practical design. The zoom ring is very stiff, the focus ring too loose. I'm assuming the zoom ring will loosen with use but for the price I'd expected better to be honest. Lacking is both an AF/MF and OSS on/off switches and distance scale. All of which are accessed through the menu. Again aesthetically pleasing but not practical or ergonomic.

I haven't done any testing but one thing is immediately apparent even in the viewfinder. The contrast is on another level compared to any of my Pentax or FD lenses. So much clearer and sharper. This looks to achieve what all the reviews have said about it.

Beni,

I am so impressed with your doggedly searching for the right lenses for your work. I am starting to print for exhibition and now it does make a difference what my camera is. I have not as yet printed from any wide angle, but the 55 mm quality and the A7R beats the Canon 6d at 24x36 easily for portraits. I'd love to get your experience for prints looked at from 12-18" using this new Zeiss zoom. Do you just set it to AF then once it is "in focus" switch to manual using the button inside the lever that turns for AF/MF/AEL?

Asher
 

Ben Rubinstein

pro member
When I've shot some tests I'll post up the links. I have that button mapped to 'focus settings' i.e. to move focus points around. I'll have to see if I can find a spare button for switching to manual focus, I've got it set up in the Fn menu for the moment.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
When I've shot some tests I'll post up the links. I have that button mapped to 'focus settings' i.e. to move focus points around. I'll have to see if I can find a spare button for switching to manual focus, I've got it set up in the Fn menu for the moment.


Thanks! BTW, those two guys schlepping you up the hill, they have got to be really fit. You're so ambitious and unstoppable.

Asher
 
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