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Zeiss on Sony

edwardkaraa

New member
The way I see it is that Sony will try to push its own G lenses at the expense of the ZA. I don't expect to see any further ZA lenses, the 24 rounding out the ZA line as in Sony's own release. I could be wrong but my gut feeling tells me otherwise.
 
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sinwen

Member
Since the A55 is showing up, I got interested then look at what was the lenses offer.
Beside the few Sony poor IQ, it seems there is virtually nothing from Zeiss or I am wrong ?
The Zeiss Alpha lenses are so big you loose big avantages of this small body, compactness and weight and if I read well not all Alpha lenses are fitting.

Would it be possible to fix Leica R lenses on this A55 ?
 

sebboh

New member
To be honest, Sony is not the best choice if you like Zeiss. Canon, Nikon and even Pentax have a better choice. It was understood from Zeiss press release that the 24/2 will be the last addition to the alpha mount. Even for Nex it is very revealing that from 3 lenses already available and another bunch announced yesterday only 1 is a Zeiss. This is a far cry from a couple of years ago. If the rumored mf lenses in A mount turn out to be incorrect I personally would loose any interest left in Sony.
i have to say, on paper for me, sony with leitaxed lenses looks much more attractive than using ZE or ZF lenses on canon or nikon. the big pluses for sony are a better viewfinder, image stabilization, and higher resolution. i should add that for me stop down metering is an advantage - i hate having to use dof preview to see what i'm getting at f/4 and faster (and i like having aperture control on the lens versus the camera). the only advantage for canon and nikon would be liveview for critical focus shooting landscapes. my only other issue would be my wariness of sony's commitment to FF.
 

douglasf13

New member
I'm not so sure, Edward. I think "rounding out" was just marketing speak attempting to illustrate how big their Zeiss line is, but who knows? I do know that, for the last two or three years, there have been questions about Sony's Zeiss commitment, and they always end up announcing one a year. I guess we'll see.

Sinwen, I'm not exactly sure what you're asking, but, yes, the Zeiss lenses, like most expensive DSLR lenses, are rather large. There are many smaller Sony lenses that are good performers, especially on APS-C. One of my favorites is the 50mm 1.4. You can adapt Leica R lenses by going to www.leitax.com.
 

edwardkaraa

New member
i have to say, on paper for me, sony with leitaxed lenses looks much more attractive than using ZE or ZF lenses on canon or nikon. the big pluses for sony are a better viewfinder, image stabilization, and higher resolution. i should add that for me stop down metering is an advantage - i hate having to use dof preview to see what i'm getting at f/4 and faster (and i like having aperture control on the lens versus the camera). the only advantage for canon and nikon would be liveview for critical focus shooting landscapes. my only other issue would be my wariness of sony's commitment to FF.
Agreed. That is exactly what I'm doing with the ZS lenses. I do prefer stop down metering as well, but for some types of shooting, it is a pain in the neck. The leitaxed ZF.2 could be a viable option.
 

edwardkaraa

New member
Douglas, I hope you're right. Anyways, I'm not dumping my Sony gear yet. I've just invested in 3 ZS lenses and the ZA 85 and 135 are too sweet to let go of. Let's see what 2011 brings :D
 
Douglas, I hope you're right. Anyways, I'm not dumping my Sony gear yet. I've just invested in 3 ZS lenses and the ZA 85 and 135 are too sweet to let go of. Let's see what 2011 brings :D
Edward, could you school me on the difference in Zeiss lenses? I understand the Compact Primes (they are amazing!), ZA = Sony autofocus, ZE and ZF = Canon and Nikon respectively, but I'm a little lost on the rest. Aside from the ZA lenses, are there any that allow proper metering (not stop-down) on the Sony?

Thanks!
 

edwardkaraa

New member
Hi Bill,

The ZA are the only ones with proper automatic aperture stop down, all the rest should be manually stopped down, including the CP.2 for the alpha mount. I use the ZS (M42 screw mount), there are also the ZK (Pentax K mount) just discontinued today, and the ZF.2 (Nikon electronic aperture control) and of course the ZM (Leica M) that can be used on Nex bodies. Chipped adapters will allow for proper SSS and accurate metering, as well as using aperture priority (only M mode is possible with non-chipped ones).
 

douglasf13

New member

roweraay

New member
The Zeiss Alpha lenses are so big you loose big avantages of this small body, compactness and weight and if I read well not all Alpha lenses are fitting.
The A55, when outfitted with the new 24mm f/2 ZA Distagon, should be a great combo, with the 24mm FL providing a roughly 35mm equivalent FOV on the A55. The combo should not be too large either. I hear the IQ of the lens, even on Full-frame, is just superb.
 
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