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Author Topic: Sony A7 system - search for a wide angle landscape lens  (Read 31868 times)

Paulo Bizarro

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Sony A7 system - search for a wide angle landscape lens
« on: June 17, 2015, 06:41:36 am »

As some of you may recall, I searched for a while for a wide angle prime lens for my Sony A7. Mostly to shoot landscapes. I have posted some thoughts on my blog

http://blog.paulobizarro.com/?p=194

In summary, I ended up with a Nikkor 24 f2.8 AIS lens, and I am happy with the results I am getting.

Rumour has it that Zeiss will come out with a wide angle Loxia this year, let's wait and see:)

Regards

Herbc

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Re: Sony A7 system - search for a wide angle landscape lens
« Reply #1 on: June 17, 2015, 01:28:10 pm »

Nice work, Paul- we are not close to a beach, and our temps are 95++ these days.
I have had some very good results with Leica R 24 and 28mm, which require a series 7 and series 8 polarizer if you need that.  I suspect the Batis 25 will probably replace them both.
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E.J. Peiker

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Re: Sony A7 system - search for a wide angle landscape lens
« Reply #2 on: June 17, 2015, 06:58:09 pm »

The new Batis 25mm f/2 from Zeiss is pretty killer based on early reports and lab testing and is native FE.
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Hening Bettermann

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Re: Sony A7 system - search for a wide angle landscape lens
« Reply #3 on: June 17, 2015, 07:38:24 pm »

Hi Paul,

concerning the Loxia, have you seen this:
http://www.verybiglobo.com/zeiss-loxia-biogon-352-review/2/

the 2.0/35 Loxia shows a clear reddish vignette, most visible in the overwiew image in comparison to the 2.0/35 G Planar. (Strangely, the overview image of the test chart comparing the Loxia to the Biogon does not have a slider, so it is not clear if this image is shot with the Biogon or with the Loxia). It seems that adding an aspheric lense in front of a Biogon is not enough to solve the color shift problem. And this is a 35! not a 24. Of course, this is an a7r, not r2 - it remains to be seen how much the new sensor tech helps.

Good light!

Paulo Bizarro

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Re: Sony A7 system - search for a wide angle landscape lens
« Reply #4 on: June 18, 2015, 04:13:00 am »

Hi Paul,

concerning the Loxia, have you seen this:
http://www.verybiglobo.com/zeiss-loxia-biogon-352-review/2/

the 2.0/35 Loxia shows a clear reddish vignette, most visible in the overwiew image in comparison to the 2.0/35 G Planar. (Strangely, the overview image of the test chart comparing the Loxia to the Biogon does not have a slider, so it is not clear if this image is shot with the Biogon or with the Loxia). It seems that adding an aspheric lense in front of a Biogon is not enough to solve the color shift problem. And this is a 35! not a 24. Of course, this is an a7r, not r2 - it remains to be seen how much the new sensor tech helps.

Good light!


Thanks, did not see that before, interesting stuff. I am waiting for a wide angle Loxia, hopefully it will be fully mated to the A7 series...

The Batis 25 is shaping up like a top quality lens (similar to the 25 f2 ZE), but I do not need AF or fancy displays:)

kers

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Re: Sony A7 system - search for a wide angle landscape lens
« Reply #5 on: June 18, 2015, 04:44:42 am »

I have three 24mm Nikon lenses - the problem with any of them -and i think will a lot of those 24mm lenses -are the extreme corners. Precise focus is crucial and you need d5.6-11
And if the extreme corners are sharp with some lenses the centrepart is less sharp- so you have to make a compromise.
Unfortunately the extreme corners are rarely tested as being not very important. But for landscape it usually is.
I am using a nikon d810 so 36mp...
An other thing is the way sharp areas are formed at different focus distances...
I have a lens ( 24mm1.4 nikkor)  that @ f2.8 i can make sharp from close to infinity but only in the centrepart. The slightest focus change makes a huge difference...
With that same lens @d11 it hardly makes any difference were to focus... everything will turn out sharp.
« Last Edit: June 18, 2015, 04:52:56 am by kers »
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Pieter Kers
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Paulo Bizarro

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Re: Sony A7 system - search for a wide angle landscape lens
« Reply #6 on: June 18, 2015, 10:26:48 am »

From what I see so far, shooting at f11 or f16 with my lens, sharpness is good, even in the corners. Which is good enough for me, that is what I use the 24mm for.

NancyP

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Re: Sony A7 system - search for a wide angle landscape lens
« Reply #7 on: June 18, 2015, 04:40:47 pm »

How sharp is that Nikkor AIS 24mm f/2.8 lens at close focus? I am looking for an all-mechanical lens to use for wide angle macro with short extension tube, and am looking at 24mm to 40mm for full frame. Almost had it with the wonderful little Canon pancake 40mm, but the darn thing is focus-by-wire. An option might be to focus at the near point, remove lens, put it on extension tube and back onto camera, but at that point (even with Kenko auto extension tubes) there is no focusing option, it just sits there. The other option might be to get a helicoid and stick the pancake 40 on the helicoid.
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Paulo Bizarro

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Re: Sony A7 system - search for a wide angle landscape lens
« Reply #8 on: June 19, 2015, 03:55:25 am »

Nancy, so far I have not tried the lens with the settings you are asking. I just shoot using hyperfocal. From the lens design, it does have a CRC floating element to ensure sharpness at close focus distances. Another AIS lens that has such element is the 28 f2 (if I remember correctly).

From my EOS days, I can recommend the Zeiss ZE 25 f2, that lens was really good at close focus distances. I suspect the new Batis 25 will be similar.

Telecaster

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Re: Sony A7 system - search for a wide angle landscape lens
« Reply #9 on: June 19, 2015, 04:49:06 pm »

Yesterday I went ahead and placed orders for both Batis lenses. I'm not much of a wide angle person these days, so it's the 85mm I'm most looking forward to…but I did use the Y/C mount 25/2.8 Distagon quite a bit in the late '90s/early 2000s and IMO managed pretty well with it.

BTW, the Y/C 25mm is a good performer on the A7r too. Not quite as sharp—or, to be more accurate, not as contrasty—in the center as my 24/2.8s (Nikkor, Pentax, Leitz) but better in the corners at wider apertures.

-Dave-
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Paulo Bizarro

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Re: Sony A7 system - search for a wide angle landscape lens
« Reply #10 on: June 23, 2015, 04:33:42 am »

Yesterday I went ahead and placed orders for both Batis lenses. I'm not much of a wide angle person these days, so it's the 85mm I'm most looking forward to…but I did use the Y/C mount 25/2.8 Distagon quite a bit in the late '90s/early 2000s and IMO managed pretty well with it.

BTW, the Y/C 25mm is a good performer on the A7r too. Not quite as sharp—or, to be more accurate, not as contrasty—in the center as my 24/2.8s (Nikkor, Pentax, Leitz) but better in the corners at wider apertures.

-Dave-

Indeed I am looking with interest to the Batis 25. I don't need AF, but I like the f2 aperture for starscapes...  I suspect that the Loxia wide angle will be either an 18 f3.5 or a 21 f2.8 (like the Distagon ZE/ZF).

The Batis 25 is about half the weight of the Distagon ZF 25 (~300 g), which is nice. What I wonder is if in manual focus mode there is a hard stop at infinity?

shadowblade

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Re: Sony A7 system - search for a wide angle landscape lens
« Reply #11 on: June 25, 2015, 11:47:11 pm »

The great thing about lenses for landscape use is that AF doesn't matter.

At the moment, among UWAs for landscape use, I have the Canon TS-E 17, TS-E 24 II, Nikon 14-24 and Canon 11-24.

What influenced your decision to go with the Nikon 24?
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Paulo Bizarro

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Re: Sony A7 system - search for a wide angle landscape lens
« Reply #12 on: June 26, 2015, 03:51:58 am »

The great thing about lenses for landscape use is that AF doesn't matter.

At the moment, among UWAs for landscape use, I have the Canon TS-E 17, TS-E 24 II, Nikon 14-24 and Canon 11-24.

What influenced your decision to go with the Nikon 24?

Indeed AF does not matter, but the issue is that then the MF is by wire, and there is no more aperture ring, DOF scale... the Batis overcomes some of this with the electronic readings for focusing distance and DOF scale on the lens' LCD. What I already read is that there is no hard stop at infinity; what I loved about the Zeiss ZE lenses on my Canon was that I could set the lens at infinity at a hard stop, and it would correspond to infinity; very useful for star trails. It seems that the Batis, when in MF mode, still reports the focusing distance and DOF in the lens, but it remains to be seen if the infinity mark still corresponds to infinity.

I went with the Nikon because it is a very good lens, it was cheap, as an interim "filler". I also like 24mm very much, hence my inclination and investigation about the Batis 25. There is also a Nikkor 24 f2, but the reports were less glowing. It is turning out that the little Nikon is a very good performer.

Paul Roark

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Re: Sony A7 system - search for a wide angle landscape lens
« Reply #13 on: June 26, 2015, 11:24:00 am »

I, too, vastly prefer a hard infinity stop.  With the Leica M optics on the Sony, I use a Voigtlander VM-E adapter.  It has a sliding lock for the infinity stop, and while it's not set right, it is reasonably easy to modify so that it does give the Leica M lenses the correct hard infinity stop.  (For the price, you'd think they would have done the job right in the first place.)  The close focusing ability is also nice.

I suspect some of the movement away from hard infinity stops is to allow more freedom in the lens designers to use glass that changes with temperature and designs that allow more focus shift with aperture.   With the 35mm f/2.8 FE lens, I use the distance readout in the viewfinder to set the lens to the pre-determined actual infinity point.  In practice, I find, using the magnifier, that actual optimum infinity focus point seems to vary quite a bit.

Paul
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Jim Kasson

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Re: Sony A7 system - search for a wide angle landscape lens
« Reply #14 on: June 26, 2015, 11:36:56 am »

I tested four 24mm lenses on the D810 (well, maybe three; one was a zoom) and the Sigma f/1.4 DG Art was the pick of the litter:

http://blog.kasson.com/?p=9768

The Sigma performs very well on the a7II.

Jim

Paulo Bizarro

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Re: Sony A7 system - search for a wide angle landscape lens
« Reply #15 on: June 26, 2015, 11:44:41 am »

I tested four 24mm lenses on the D810 (well, maybe three; one was a zoom) and the Sigma f/1.4 DG Art was the pick of the litter:

http://blog.kasson.com/?p=9768

The Sigma performs very well on the a7II.

Jim

Indeed, shame about the Sigma is the poor coma for stars...

MatthewCromer

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Re: Sony A7 system - search for a wide angle landscape lens
« Reply #16 on: June 26, 2015, 01:08:39 pm »

I tested four 24mm lenses on the D810 (well, maybe three; one was a zoom) and the Sigma f/1.4 DG Art was the pick of the litter:

http://blog.kasson.com/?p=9768

The Sigma performs very well on the a7II.

Jim

Jim, have you tested the Sigma Art versus the Sony FE 35 1.4 Distagon?
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Jim Kasson

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Re: Sony A7 system - search for a wide angle landscape lens
« Reply #17 on: June 26, 2015, 01:22:07 pm »

Jim, have you tested the Sigma Art versus the Sony FE 35 1.4 Distagon?

Sorry, no. I don't have access to the FE lens, and I'm unlikely to get it for myself.

Jim

David Anderson

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Re: Sony A7 system - search for a wide angle landscape lens
« Reply #18 on: June 26, 2015, 09:23:38 pm »


http://blog.paulobizarro.com/?p=194

In summary, I ended up with a Nikkor 24 f2.8 AIS lens, and I am happy with the results I am getting.


Thanks for the post.

I wonder have you tried the newer Nikon 28 1.8 G ?
When I switched over to Nikon I got the 14-24 for very wide stuff and bought the 28 as a lightweight travel lens for fishing photography and I'm very impressed, especially with the extreme corners.
IMHO, it's an amazing lens for the money.
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qwz

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Re: Sony A7 system - search for a wide angle landscape lens
« Reply #19 on: June 27, 2015, 04:47:52 am »

I was in Batis lens presentation few days ago.
Both are marvellous but both has focus-by-wire system and no hard stop.
OLED display scale is pretty neat, Zeiss representative says that lens somehow re-calculate DOF values for different camerasa (like A7s and A7r with much denser sensel) but in short time we unable to check it carefully.
Also i made a quick comparison with Sony-Zeiss 2/24 from a-mount - really good lens.
And i found that on a7R Batis is sharper on edges and corners towards F5 or so on. Distortion is very low, flare resistance is exceptional (a biggest flaw of the 2/24 Distagon is red flare over the sun's opposite side of the image), CA is pretty well controlled too.

And it twice as lighter 'cause they use more plastics and no lens-adapter.
Lens-shade is also plastic and looks very cheap (Zeiss confirmed it;-)

There some RAWs 24 and 25 side by side
https://yadi.sk/d/3LOMlXwlhTXLX
There is close-focus "brick wall" test files https://yadi.sk/d/QP454qA4hToiV

There is some out-of-focus and central area sharpness side-by-side
https://yadi.sk/d/dnNCnwvuhTojQ

And there is quick hand-held comparison wih high-contrast wide-angle scene - for CA and spherochromatism.
https://yadi.sk/d/Ur-E3R-WhTotf

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