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Fun With Sony Cameras

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Michiel Schierbeek

Well-known member
Re: Fun with the Sony A7 Series Cameras( all of them)

I am using the Kipon adapter. But it looks they don't sell them anymore. I can't find them anymore on Ebay. Very strange.
 

Professional

Active member
Re: Fun with the Sony A7 Series Cameras( all of them)

'Portland Head Light, study 3' - a7r / Zeiss Distagon ZE 21
Douglas, can you send me a map with a pointer to that location you posted a shot of? i will never give up until i visit USA Northwest including Oregon, and that lighthouse location is really amazing, would like to visit that spot one day
 

dwood

Well-known member
Re: Fun with the Sony A7 Series Cameras( all of them)

You can buy this one, although expensive but with autofocus.
Fringer's Contax N mount E mount (A7/A7r/Nex) full auto adapter-in Lens Adapter from Electronics on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

I don't care much for autofocus at least not for this price. I bought the Kipon for € 194. It is still listed on their site, so may be you can drop them an email.
Thanks for the link, Michiel. I wouldn't be interested in AF with this lens either. I'll look into the Kipon.
 

dwood

Well-known member
Re: Fun with the Sony A7 Series Cameras( all of them)

Douglas, can you send me a map with a pointer to that location you posted a shot of? i will never give up until i visit USA Northwest including Oregon, and that lighthouse location is really amazing, would like to visit that spot one day
Hi Tareq - this is on the east coast of the US...Portland, Maine. This Google map link should do the trick: https://www.google.com/maps/@43.623069,-70.208041,15z
 

Barry Haines

Active member
Re: Fun with the Sony A7 Series Cameras( all of them)

Sony 16-35mm F4 FE lens turned up late today.
Just managed to capture the last few rays of sunlight over at Looe.
As others have said before me, the 35mm FL looks to be the weak end of the zoom after a brief look at some of my other shots.
This image is taken at 34mm F4 (close enough to 35mm to give you some idea)...In other words this is about as bad as it gets!
BLENCOMO treatment to pep it up a bit...iso 50 Handheld, OSS on....This time I have added the “FULL SIZE” image link below...Cheers Barry





PLEASE SEE
FULL SIZE
 

W.Utsch

Member
Re: Fun with the Sony A7 Series Cameras( all of them)

Congrats Barry, i am sure you will not regret this lens. The 35 end is still perfectly useable for me.
Looking forward to more posts and impressions from you and comparisons with the WATE.
Here is one at 20mm:

"Tiefburg"




DSC01029-705.jpg by W.Utsch, on Flickr​
 

Barry Haines

Active member
Re: Fun with the Sony A7 Series Cameras( all of them)

Congrats Barry, i am sure you will not regret this lens. The 35 end is still perfectly useable for me.
Looking forward to more posts and impressions from you and comparisons with the WATE.
Many thanks Werner :) ...Obviously not had the lens long and no serious testing carried out yet in decent lighting conditions that is.
So I will give you and anybody else who may be interested in just my initial impressions (you obviously know most of this already Werner so please excuse).
Well the Sony lens is a fair bit larger than the WATE 335g but in terms of the weight itself it's about a draw by the time you add a Voigtlander close-up adapter 125g (to be on par with the Sony lens for focusing close up) and if you like to carry around the Leica filter holder (+ lens cap) circa 35g as an accessory as I do (Total...WATE 495g vs 16-35mm 518g).
The Leica lens filter is a royal pain in the ar$e IMHO with it's slots and rear lighting internal reflections, it needs to be blacked out to be truly effective on ANY camera IMHO...I have been through all this before so I won't repeat it all over again.
Both lenses feel reassuringly solid in the hand...I have never been a big fan of the Leica focusing tab as many are. I find it sticks in your hands after prolonged carrying it around all day (I personally prefer the more comfortable smoother nub on Zeiss ZM lenses although probably not as precise in guesstimating pre-focussing).
I'll cut to the chase regards the IQ of the two lenses optically the WATE is still king between 16-21mm from what I have seen so far to date (I still need to do proper testing in decent lighting to be fair to the Sony). I am more than familiar with the WATE's IQ which is better in the center and the corners in terms of resolution from what I have seen so far to date, it also handles flare better and shows less distortion and CA...although the latter two can be corrected later as we all know....BTW, I haven't got around yet to adding the 16-35mm LR Sony profile.
Now for the good news with the Sony!...All FL's are perfectly useable as you say Werner, although the sweet spot looks to be around 18-24mm which you mentioned earlier (I'm quite happy to sensor crop and lose some of the soft corners with the 36mp's of the A7R)...I rarely use 16mm on the WATE so that is good news for me (I purchased the WATE as I didn't want to lug around both the 18mm and 21mm Distagons).
I like the Zeiss colours better than the Leica but that is a personal taste.
Manual focusing with the Sony is very nice, the ring has a nice feel about it with some decent resistance (not jerky at all).
I have noticed in the past some colour shift creeping in on the corners at 16mm on the WATE...The Sony looks to be colour shift free in my short time with it.
My eyes are not getting better with age, so I now find myself relying upon AF more often than I used to....In poor lighting conditions (Night time and churches) I normally still open the WATE up to F4 to focus then stop back down to F8 and then recompose my image...The Sony focuses pretty accurately in the dark going by last night with no messing about, I was pleasantly surprised looking at the pictures later, likewise the OSS is a real boom for me as you know I'm not a big fan of using tripod's when it gets dark.
I find AF and the tilt screen just great for getting down low and focusing rather than relying on the DoF scales which are not that precise IMHO on the WATE.
As a walk around lens the "extra" 21-35mm is just great for convenience if you are happy to sacrifice some IQ over the primes...My Contax 28mm Distagon and Voigtlander do a "much" better job in terms of IQ than the Sony but the downside is carrying around all that extra weight!
Value for money the Sony is an excellent lens compared to the WATE (1/4 of the price). If I was being robbed I would hand over the Sony but probably fight to the death hanging on to the WATE! (Buy a Sony it could save your life :ROTFL: )...My intention was to sell one of them but I now find myself wanting to keep both of them!
The Sony 16-35mm makes a great versatile travel lens and is more fun to use than the WATE ...Personally I wish it had been designed as a 16-28mm with better IQ as I'm going to carry around a fast 35mm lens with me anyway.
So there you have it...I won't ramble on any longer hope that gives some insight into my thoughts so far...Cheers Barry

 
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Professional

Active member
Re: Fun with the Sony A7 Series Cameras( all of them)

Hi Tareq - this is on the east coast of the US...Portland, Maine. This Google map link should do the trick: https://www.google.com/maps/@43.623069,-70.208041,15z
Cool, thanks!

I thought it was in Portland of Oregon, but even Maine is another beautiful location in USA, so i will try in the future if i will have a long life to visit USA many times and give East and Mid individual separate visits so i can have long time in each part.
 

onaujee

Member
Re: Fun with the Sony A7 Series Cameras( all of them)

Received my a7s last week - I couldn't fight the GAS from this thread.... :D

I really enjoy using the a7s... such a fun camera to use

Took my 1yr old to the park yesterday, he really enjoyed the ducks/birds...

35 lux / 75 lux
 

Barry Haines

Active member
Re: Fun with the Sony A7 Series Cameras( all of them)

For those interested I made up today a few Leica WATE and Sony 16-35mm test comparison images at various apertures on a close up planar subject (full size)...You can draw your own conclusions but do bear in mind these are for a 2 dimensional planar subject...Handheld OSS on...You can see the colour shift corners of the Leica WATE and that it vignettes more than the Sony 16-35mm....The vignetting and colour shift can be corrected with a profile...Cheers Barry.
(Don't shoot the messenger if you don't like what you see)...All SOOC jpgs no PP.

FLICKR GALLERY...LEICA (WATE) 16-21mm F4 + SONY 16-35mm F4 FE

https://www.flickr.com/photos/54602555@N08/sets/72157649315551921/
 

Michiel Schierbeek

Well-known member
Re: Fun with the Sony A7 Series Cameras( all of them)

An impeccable set of lenses Barry!

I do have that Contax ring and hood as well, actually I have all of them, but for the 28 I always use a compact Minolta MD hood.

Thank you for your test shots. I never have the patience for this. :)
The Sony looks really good I think, as we have seen from Werner's photographs as well.
I will have to wait for a while because i am spending all my money on big prints for an upcoming exhibition. No real urgency because I have the 14mm Rokinon, the 18mm Zeiss Distagon and the VC Ultron 21 and enough good 24, 28 and 35mm lenses. I love the C/Y Zeiss Distagon 35/1.4 and bring it along on all my travels.
 

Michiel Schierbeek

Well-known member
Re: Fun with the Sony A7 Series Cameras( all of them)

Congrats with your new camera onaujee!

We had to be in Rouen again and I went into the cathedral again for a while. It somehow reminds me of Piranesi.
This was handheld ISO 2000.

 

Shac

Active member
Re: Fun with the Sony A7 Series Cameras( all of them)

Barry - thanks for the report on the Sony vs WATE - very useful for me (not that I was really contemplating a WATE but will still wait (sorry) in the hope that the Sony will drop a little in price
 

Barry Haines

Active member
Re: Fun with the Sony A7 Series Cameras( all of them)

Barry - thanks for the report on the Sony vs WATE - very useful for me (not that I was really contemplating a WATE but will still wait (sorry) in the hope that the Sony will drop a little in price
You are most welcome Shac...Glad it was of some help, You are probably right to wait awhile as I think the price might come down a bit :)
Cheers Barry

__________________________

onaujee....Likewise as Michiel, congratulations on getting your new A7S...Look forward to seeing more of your images. :)

__________________________
 

Barry Haines

Active member
Re: Fun with the Sony A7 Series Cameras( all of them)

An impeccable set of lenses Barry!

I do have that Contax ring and hood as well, actually I have all of them, but for the 28 I always use a compact Minolta MD hood.

Thank you for your test shots. I never have the patience for this. :)
The Sony looks really good I think, as we have seen from Werner's photographs as well.
I will have to wait for a while because i am spending all my money on big prints for an upcoming exhibition. No real urgency because I have the 14mm Rokinon, the 18mm Zeiss Distagon and the VC Ultron 21 and enough good 24, 28 and 35mm lenses. I love the C/Y Zeiss Distagon 35/1.4 and bring it along on all my travels.
Many thanks Michiel.
Those church steps remind me of the steps in the film "The Name of the Rose". Great shot BTW, it has a kind of an optical illusion with the converging columns next to the vertical white borders.

Contax lenses are rather nicely made and optically superb on the A7R. Well my 28mm is that's for sure!
I have a confession I don't use the hood as it's a bit OTT and awkward in the camera bag, the Contax rubber hoods are impossible to get in mint condition...Thanks for the tip with the Minolta hood variant.
The Sony 16-35mm lens is excellent but the WATE is still very slightly better in the corners on 3D subject renderings but it needs a lot more PP'ing to get the very best out of it, if you get my drift.
I likewise hate doing test shots but I thought it might be useful to some of the folks here...It's the sort of thing that I hope Tim does to save me the bother but he's been a bit quiet of late.
I have my eye still on the 35mm f1.4 Distagon but as a ZM version, it's pretty lightweight compared to the Contax version (which seems impossible nowadays to get in mint condition), hope to see a review of it attached to an A7R before perhaps getting one.
When you say large prints, what size are you roughly talking about?...Good luck with your exhibition...Cheers Barry

PS> I left a message the other day on your profile Re: Contax 24-85mm, not to worry now, I was out bid on ebay :cussing:
 

pegelli

Well-known member
Re: Fun with the Sony A7 Series Cameras( all of them)

I will have to wait for a while because i am spending all my money on big prints for an upcoming exhibition.
Michiel, can you share some details on when and where this exhibition will be? If it is public and somewhere in the Benelux I'd be very interested to come and see.
 

Michiel Schierbeek

Well-known member
Re: Fun with the Sony A7 Series Cameras( all of them)

Many thanks Michiel.
Those church steps remind me of the steps in the film "The Name of the Rose". Great shot BTW, it has a kind of an optical illusion with the converging columns next to the vertical white borders.

Contax lenses are rather nicely made and optically superb on the A7R. Well my 28mm is that's for sure!
I have a confession I don't use the hood as it's a bit OTT and awkward in the camera bag, the Contax rubber hoods are impossible to get in mint condition...Thanks for the tip with the Minolta hood variant.
The Sony 16-35mm lens is excellent but the WATE is still very slightly better in the corners on 3D subject renderings but it needs a lot more PP'ing to get the very best out of it, if you get my drift.
I likewise hate doing test shots but I thought it might be useful to some of the folks here...It's the sort of thing that I hope Tim does to save me the bother but he's been a bit quiet of late.
I have my eye still on the 35mm f1.4 Distagon but as a ZM version, it's pretty lightweight compared to the Contax version (which seems impossible nowadays to get in mint condition), hope to see a review of it attached to an A7R before perhaps getting one.
When you say large prints, what size are you roughly talking about?...Good luck with your exhibition...Cheers Barry

PS> I left a message the other day on your profile Re: Contax 24-85mm, not to worry now, I was out bid on ebay :cussing:
Did not notice your message, sorry but I send you an answer :)

This is for Pegelli as well:

It will be an exhibition of the Window dressing series and the prints will be 90 x 60 cm glued on aluminium sheet with a matte foil on top.

There will be an exhibition within of 12 pieces of the same series, because they are all shot in the same street in Amsterdam called the Nieuwe Spiegelstraat which means very suitable The New Mirrorstreet :)
These will be a bit smaller 60 x 40 cm with the same treatment.

It will be in PuntWG - PuntWG in Amsterdam from 8 januari – 19 januari 2015
Opening will be on the 10th's

Pegelli I will send you an invitation later on and may be provide more info here and on Facebook as well.
 

pegelli

Well-known member
Re: Fun with the Sony A7 Series Cameras( all of them)

Thanks Michiel, seems like an excellent excuse to visit Amsterdam again (the city where I was born 58 years ago :))
 
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