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Loxia or FE 55?

ryc

Member
Im ready to pull the plug and am having a hard time deciding. Anyone here have the loxia and 55 ? I have not evaluated them and am looking for feedback.
 

CharlesK

New member
The FE 55 on both the A7r and A7s is an amazing lens in its own right. I feel the Loxia 50 is a lens you purchase afterwards for difference style of look/rendering IMO.
 

iiiNelson

Well-known member
I agree that there is room for both if you love the focal lengths. I have the ZM 50/2 Planar and have used it on the A7 and A7r (as well as my M9's.) It has more of a classical Zeiss rendering but is plenty sharp. The 55 is more clinical perfection with some classic Zeiss cues thrown in for good measure. You won't be disappointed with either I don't think. The question is more of preference of rendering.
 

ryc

Member
i had the 55 at one time and stck with the 50 ZA because it was so good and worked on both cameras. I may end up with the loxia as a dedicated E mount lens. I lik ethe manual focus aspect of it and the size seems rather conforming.
 
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Vivek

Guest
i had the 55 at one time and stck with the 50 ZA because it was so good and worked on both cameras. I may end up with the loxia as a dedicated E mount lens. I lik ethe manual focus aspect of it and the size seems rather conforming.
Why not go with thereal Zeiss, the OTUS 55mm than dealing with Zeiss badged lenses?
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
i had the 55 at one time and stck with the 50 ZA because it was so good and worked on both cameras. I may end up with the loxia as a dedicated E mount lens. I lik ethe manual focus aspect of it and the size seems rather conforming.
You selling the 50 1.4 ZA. I maybe interested
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Dang I have the 85 now but like you in serving 2 mounts and this would be a great match. I like the look if Zeiss so I'm trying to stay in it in the 50. The 55 1.8 is very sharp but a touch clinical. The Loxia 50 sounds more classic looking. When are these hitting the streets
 

iiiNelson

Well-known member
Dang I have the 85 now but like you in serving 2 mounts and this would be a great match. I like the look if Zeiss so I'm trying to stay in it in the 50. The 55 1.8 is very sharp but a touch clinical. The Loxia 50 sounds more classic looking. When are these hitting the streets
There were a couple Zeiss Loxia 50's on Amazon a couple weeks ago so they are trickling in.
 

CharlesK

New member
Yes the FE 55 maybe a touch clinical, but wide open for portraits it is excellent! The FE 55 combined with the A7s seems to be a great match. I am usually not one for AF, but the AF with A7s will virtually focus in total darkness, and it is very accurate.
 
I got to try a Loxia 50mm on my A7R at PhotoPlus last weekend and it was sweet. I wasn't seriously considering the lens until I gave it a try. Afterward, I found myself asking the same question as yourself Loxia 50mm or FE 55. I found this review in my search for an answer.
 

philip_pj

New member
I'm with Charles, I love the Jeckyll and Hyde character of the FE55, it's like the truck in Mad Max flicking the switch on the nitrous oxide - going from soft and pleasant f1.8 to 'everything is revealed' at f4 onwards, lol.

Here are some images from cine guy Philip Bloom shot with the Loxia 50/2 in the fashionable clipped blacks and strong saturation and deep skin tones of contemporary movie making, and see his battered a7r at the end:

https://www.storehouse.co/stories/o9hk6-first-snaps-with-the-new-zeiss-loxia-50mm-f2

The Loxias are going to be perfect fits on the bodies.
 

ryc

Member
Well, i think i am placing an order tomorrow for the loxia. Now lets see how long it takes :(
 

Paratom

Well-known member
Because its faster, because I find face recognition one of the few benefits of mirrorless cameras, and because I think AF is more accurate for non static subjects.
The longer and faster the lens, the more one can benefit from AF IMO.
Of course it doesnt make any difference for static subjects.

On the other side if the manual focus lens would render much more to my taste I would probably accept to have no AF.
By the way...I just looked at that Loxia review which is also comparing the 2 lenses and I admit I find the Noxia to render somewhat smoother and more natural in some of the portrait images.

One more thing is focal length - I find 5mm can make some difference. 55 seems quite nice if one is using it a lot for short-medium distance portrait. I realized the difference when I compared the 55 Sony to the 50 APO.
 

tn1krr

New member
Because its faster, because I find face recognition one of the few benefits of mirrorless cameras, and because I think AF is more accurate for non static subjects.
The longer and faster the lens, the more one can benefit from AF IMO.
Of course it doesnt make any difference for static subjects.

On the other side if the manual focus lens would render much more to my taste I would probably accept to have no AF.
By the way...I just looked at that Loxia review which is also comparing the 2 lenses and I admit I find the Noxia to render somewhat smoother and more natural in some of the portrait images.
I agree. Face and Eye recognition are quite useful and F/1.8 aperture makes the FE 55/1.8 best AF lens for my A7R and A6000. Set the Live View Setting to "setting effect off" and it always focuses wide open (means most contrast/least noise for sensor-CDAF) and this lens can AF in very very dark conditions if one just gives it a tiny bit of vertical contrast, even in the A7R. The thing is that this also works in MF mode so even when shooting stopped down the lens will remain wide open until I press shutter; a nice feature for low light shooting when stopping down for DoF. Loxia unfortunately cannot do this as aperture is purely manual only, I asked this from Zeiss and they confirmed it.

Don't get me wrong, I still miss the real manual focus feel of Makro Planar 50/2 that I traded in for the FE 55/1.8, but the FE 55/1.8 is so usable in variety of situations and the AF gizmos are gonna get better and better with each generation of FE bodies.
 
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Vivek

Guest
Because its faster, because I find face recognition one of the few benefits of mirrorless cameras, and because I think AF is more accurate for non static subjects.
The longer and faster the lens, the more one can benefit from AF IMO.
Of course it doesnt make any difference for static subjects.
They are also slower than manual focusing speeds. Besides (except Fuji and Samsung and tiny formats) all AF lenses in that FL range are not that fast, including the new and shiny Leica's T system.
 

Viramati

Member
Well I suppose it all depends on what you want. One of the main reasons I made a more than partial switch from the Leica M system to the A7 series was for the auto-focus lenses as what with getting older (eyesight wise) I was finding it harder to get a high hit rate with my summilux 50 asph wide open and even slightly stopped down. Personally I find the FE55 to be a most excellent lens that focus well on the A7 and better on the A7s in low light. I can hit the focus on the eyes close up, wide open and off centre in a way I just can't with the M. The fly-by-wire manual focussing on the 55 is also pretty good and a lot better than a lot of early tries at this technology (think of the problems with the early fuji X100). What I miss on the FE lenses is a DOF scale though not so useful on lenses of over 50mm I really would love to have a DOF scale on the wider lenses for street work
 
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