sony A7r for architecture - my lenses

[rainer_v]

after working now some months with the a7r i nearly completeted my lens setup for architecture, which is not so easy to find good lenses which are good enough .
i use now:

new sigma 12-24 ( i choosed one lens out of five samples to get a good one ).
its not so good corrected than the old version, but much sharper in the corners. the distortion is not difficult to remove for its simple form. the lense is ok and perfectly usable at 12mm, from 15-17mm its excellent, at 24mm not very good, but i dont use it on its longer end.

canon 17 tse
canon 24 tse verII
the canon tse lenses are just stunning, both of them

contax cy 35 PC
finally a good 35mm shift lens.at f11 its just excellent till the extreme corners if shifted.


zoerkendorf shift adapter for pentax645
pentax 55mm fa
pentax 75mm fa
both are excellent.

just added:
hartblei zeiss 80mm TS
hartblei zeiss 120mm TS
they are very good!

pentax 645 80-160mm (for details)
its not a bad lens. i rarely use the zooms, but sometimes they are very useful.
canon 80-400 (for some details)
this is much better than its fame.
its excellent corrected with soft barrelling, sharpness till the corners is very  ok at f8.


for aerial shootings i use:
all of them are great  lenses on the a7r which have not too much weight for usage on my drones as well.

leica tri elmar 16-21
canon fd 24mm 2.8 (stunning)
canon 35 mm f2 IS ( for lo light / dawn )
sony zeiss fe 35mm 2.8
contax g 45mm (stunning)
sony zeiss fe 55mm 1.8 (stunning)
olympus om 50mm f1.2 ( for lo light / dawn )
contax cy 85mm 2.8
olympus om 135mm 2.8

i use metabones and novoflex adapters.

[John Nollendorfs]

Rainer:
Really like your "drone" photography on your website. Are you using the A7r on that too? I take it, Europe does not have the restrictions on using drones for "commercial" photography work, like we do in the US? Or have you gotten a special permit?

[rainer_v]

not all which looks aerial on my website is done by drones. many of the higher views are taken with the help of cherry- pickers or larger truck based lifts, or with "real" choppers.
reg. drones the law is very different in europe. it depends on the country. in some its complicate as in french, in some easy as in switzerland, in some completely forbidden as actually in spain. in case of germany its different from state to state, although its one of the easier countries.
in general you need in germany  a license from the aviation control. this can be a general license or a single permit for each flight  in addition to the general license. this depends where you fly and on the weight of the drone. and yes,- i am using now the a7r on my drones, before the nikon d800e.

[David Eichler]

after working now some months with the a7r i nearly completeted my lens setup for architecture, which is not so easy to find good lenses which are good enough .
i use now:

new sigma 12-24 ( i choosed one lens out of five samples to get a good one ).
its not so good corrected than the old version, but much sharper in the corners. the distortion is not difficult to remove for its simple form. the lense is ok and perfectly usable at 12mm, from 15-17mm its excellent, at 24mm not very good, but i dont use it on its longer end.

canon 17 tse
canon 24 tse verII
the canon tse lenses are just stunning, both of them

contax cy 35 PC
finally a good 35mm shift lens.at f11 its just excellent till the extreme corners if shifted.


zoerkendorf shift adapter for pentax645
pentax 55mm fa
pentax 75mm fa
both are excellent.

pentax 645 80-160mm (for details)
its not a bad lens. i rarely use the zooms, but sometimes they are very useful.
canon 80-400 (for some details)
this is much better than its fame.
its excellent corrected with soft barrelling, sharpness till the corners is very  ok at f8.


for aerial shootings i use:
all of them are great  lenses on the a7r which have not too much weight for usage on my drones as well.

leica tri elmar 16-21
canon fd 24mm 2.8 (stunning)
canon 35 mm f2 IS ( for lo light / dawn )
sony zeiss fe 35mm 2.8
contax g 45mm (stunning)
sony zeiss fe 55mm 1.8 (stunning)
olympus om 50mm f1.2 ( for lo light / dawn )
contax cy 85mm 2.8
olympus om 135mm 2.8

i use metabones and novoflex adapters.

What sort of drone are you using that will carry full-size reflex cameras?

[lelouarn]

Hi,

For the Metabones Canon -> Sony FE adapter, did you have to test many or did you get a good one right away ?
I have zero experience with adapters, but have heard they can be tricky, especially to get a good planeity (i.e. symmetric focus at both sides of the images)

Thanks !

[Hening Bettermann]

Thank you for sharing info about your lenses!

[tho_mas]

after working now some months with the a7r i nearly completeted my lens setup for architecture, which is not so easy to find good lenses which are good enough .

Rainer - thanks so much for sharing your experience with your lens lineup. I'll certainly look for some of the lenses you've mentioned ... which I didn't know yet.
Totally agree about the Contax PC 2.8/35 - really sharp and very good contrast to the edges at full shift when stopped down to f11 on the A7R (even really good at f8).
As to the adapters the Novoflex CY/E leaks light due to the bayonet-lock. Beside the Contax PC I only use the Sony/Zeiss FE 2.8/35 and 2 manual Zeiss lenses on the A7R. For the manual Zeiss lenses the Voigtländer adapters are much better since they feature a real light trap. Unfortunaly the Voigtländer adapters are only available for Leica-M mount, though.

Thanks again!

[rainer_v]

i just added two hartblei / zeiss lenses. the 80mm and the 120mm ts. both are from the prototype serial from zeiss and are quite spectacular. they dont have a serial number but a nice "prototyp 18" and "protoype 19" engraving.

they want to be stopped down to f11 to be sharp till the shifted corners, but thats the same with the other ts stuff. the ts handling is very well thought and working.  its real fun to use the tilt with this lenses, what i cant say from the canon ts lenses. shift and tilt axes rotate 360" independent from each other.


i am always tuning the adapters , i glue some sleaze inside and check them carefull for internal reflections.

[rainer_v]

What sort of drone are you using that will carry full-size reflex cameras?

no problem to carry the stuff, of course the drone is not a toy ...
i`d put a lot of time, money and energy in this flying tripods.

[chiek]

Rainer.
How about your think of my concepts?
gx680/a7 combo
I want to hear architecture photographer's opinion.
Would appreciate any comments.

JK from seoul

[rainer_v]

i think its a great concept, also the new cambo looks very interesting.
 i already was thinking about your and cambos concept and if i`d`d like to shoot with it: i think at least for studio use it might be fantastic. for location shootings i should have to test it, how reliable are the zero settings, how stable is the constrcution and so on. i think it might be a very economic way to shoot, cause a bundle of pentax or hassy mf lenses will do the job. on the other side, if use the best lenses as the rodenstock hr or hassy fle`s you reach fast a similar price point than with individual ts lenses. or u dont buy the wides till 35mm and start with 45 or 50mm mf lenses on and still use the canons 17/24 tse and some 35mm lense. with short words: it looks very interesting to transform the sony to a real system cam, but i would have to work with your cam to see how it does its job and how convenient it may be in comparation to conventional ts pc lenses. u have longer shift-tilt ways with ur system, but this looks mainly for stitching interesting, cause 10mm of shift isnt bad on 35mm systems, more rarely looks good imo. the tilt function e.g. on the canon lenses is a bit flimsy, so it would be nice to get here a better and more precise handling ....

[chiek]

i think its a great concept, also the new cambo looks very interesting.
 i already was thinking about your and cambos concept and if i`d`d like to shoot with it: i think at least for studio use it might be fantastic. for location shootings i should have to test it, how reliable are the zero settings, how stable is the constrcution and so on. i think it might be a very economic way to shoot, cause a bundle of pentax or hassy mf lenses will do the job. on the other side, if use the best lenses as the rodenstock hr or hassy fle`s you reach fast a similar price point than with individual ts lenses. or u dont buy the wides till 35mm and start with 45 or 50mm mf lenses on and still use the canons 17/24 tse and some 35mm lense. with short words: it looks very interesting to transform the sony to a real system cam, but i would have to work with your cam to see how it does its job and how convenient it may be in comparation to conventional ts pc lenses. u have longer shift-tilt ways with ur system, but this looks mainly for stitching interesting, cause 10mm of shift isnt bad on 35mm systems, more rarely looks good imo. the tilt function e.g. on the canon lenses is a bit flimsy, so it would be nice to get here a better and more precise handling ....

Thanks for reply.
your comments has been a great help.

actually, I'm not camera maker or seller, Just a photographer.
but I'm seriously thinking changing my job. ;-)

[cdisho3dsi]

Hi!

Can you tell me what drone/gimbal and GCS you are using for your a7r?
Thank you!

Crystal

[rainer_v]

i have built the drones myself and use mikrokopter electronics and gimbals.
mostly i use a  X-koax machine with 8 engines.

[markd61]

Thank you for this information.
Have you found the image quality of the A7R that much better than the Nikon? Or are you attracted to the camera because of its ability to accept a range of lenses from other makers?

I am also interested in your opinion of the Dynamic range of the sensor and how visible that is on your final images.

[rainer_v]

Its about the variety of lenses which is the main reason to use the A7r. In the first place that i can use the two canon shifts lenses, what i couldnt with the nikon, but also i love  the leica tri- elmar 16-18-21 more and more.