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A dearth of Auto Focus FE lenses...why?

Let's bury the consumer mindset and get seriously involved in the higher end market and give people that care more options.
If that's the plan, sending a SDK to Phase One with a bottle of wine, some flowers and a note that starts with 'please' and ends with 'thank you' would be a good place to start.
 

philip_pj

New member
Paul Pizzano (Manager from Sigma) - there is not a plan to make Full Frame E-mount lenses yet:

“Maybe one day but it would take a much larger commitment on the part of Sony. A full line of cameras and lenses with the FE mount, as well as the conversion of their NEX line to the FE mount. At the moment it is a very limited line and we are unable to invest in it when the parent company Sony seems reluctant to do so.”

Hmm. I think they would struggle to do better than either Sony or especially Zeiss given the FE need for 'excellent' AND 'small / light'.

Sony are three FE bodies worth of 'reluctant' also..
 

dandrewk

New member
Yeah, I wonder if something was lost in that "quote". The part about Sony's commitment is absurd.

Also... "conversion of their NEX line to the FE mount". ???. Unless I misinterpret, does he not know the FE lenses work quite well on NEX (APSC) cameras?
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Agree I think he got some things backwards and not looking to far into his comments. I will say the FE is still young in the world as far as growth but that will change as well. The S opens a lot of doors to lenses for video for them. That area alone might give them a push. Look at Rokinion right now with major push in video glass. I would agree with him market will determine there involvement, that only makes sense.
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
canikon lenses are easier to make, larger market, larger margins. you don't see anyone else make m43 lenses other than pana and oly. sigma dipped in only when they had lenses from the DP series to make a new mount for.
Micro-FourThirds (and FourThirds) before it are a bit different. Sony's published the spec for the E/EF mount and mount protocols. To get the spec for Micro-FourThirds you have to be a member of the consortium, and both Olympus and Panasonic have been holding the cards tight as they are both intent on filling out the lens portfolio ..

G
 
According to our regional sales rep, Sony is announcing five lenses for FE during Photokina. They usually ship pretty quick after announcement so we could potentially see 10 native FE lenses within a year (give or take a few months) of the A7 launch. I'm saying 10 instead of 12 because I think he is including the 2 recently announced lenses (the 16-15 and the power zoom) in that total.

Looking at other product line histories illustrates that this is actually a fairly aggressive rollout. Who knows if any of those lenses will be affordable but personally, I would rather Sony follow Fuji's roadmap of fast primes at the standard FOVs. If they are as good as the 55mm I'll pay a small percentage increase over what Fuji charges for their fast glass - which is about what the 55mm equates to compared to the XF 56/1.2
 

ThomasZ

Member
Any news about the rumored manual focus Zeiss lenses? I do not need AF for my style of photography, but the lack of exif data with manual lenses is a bit annoying. Also I'm wondering how these rumored lenses are constructed - are they simply versions of the existing ZE/ZF lineup with an integrated adapter or are they build from scratch?
 
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Chuck Jones

Subscriber Member
Zeiss, Sony, Sigma, and at least one other that I know of are announcing new FE lenses at Photokina. Including some wide surprises, from what I am hearing. Stay tuned for more news soon, and get your order in with Santa Claus for the end of the year:)
 

philip_pj

New member
It's been all quiet on the western front of late. I hope Zeiss give us a fair bit to chew on, such as their plans going forward for the manual FE lenses. Their QC and attention to detail have been really good of late. What will the lens range be called, after the 'Touits'? lol

thanks for the info, Chuck, the wireless is tuned to your frequency.
 

dandrewk

New member
Photokina is a long way off. If the road map is accurate, there should be at least two lenses released at the show or soon after, along with announcements of future releases.
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
I'm just buying time with the A mounts for now. My one huge reason which is better than anyone out there is these A mounts are AF but more important they manually focus incredibly well which ever other AF lens on the market pretty much has no feel at all to them. I love the 24,85 and 135 there like focusing butter with feel.
 
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