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Sony Zeiss FE 35mm F1.4 ZA

Guy Mancuso

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Okay a very similar type of shot with the Loxia 50mm F2 now I find this much smoother on the flat surfaces. Yes its a little longer lens than 35mm but this feels and looks better to me.

 
S

Speedgraphic

Member
Annna T said:
This is exactly the kind of bokey I'm getting with my legacy Zeiss Contax G lenses. At the time Leica had a reputation for better (softer) bokey. While Zeiss was going for contrast, microcontrast and high sharpness, which seems to imply a more nervous bokey.

I was surprised when reading in GetDpi forums that Zeiss lenses had great bokey. I think that those photographers writing that had more experience with medium format lenses and the 645 Contax bodies than with the 24x36mm format. Or they were thinking to lenses like the recent Otus.
Click to expand...
What you are forgetting is that bokeh taste...IS SUBJECTIVE. Many people are simply not bothered by nervousness and hard edged bokeh balls. Myself included! I generally don't like the over smooth bokeh modern lenses gravitate toward. There is not such thing as 'bad bokeh.'

Zeiss lenses have their deserved reputation for great color, contrast, and quality. They typically have a good balance of sharpness and pleasing rendering. You may not like all aspects of that rendering though, and that's ok. However it does not mean people are enjoy G lenses, or even Hasselblad lenses with their 5 aperture leaves, are wrong.
 
Guy Mancuso

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Absolutely it really is a matter of taste no question. Responses to certain images are all over the map when it comes bokeh and that's okay , we all like diffrent things.
 
Guy Mancuso

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
35 1.4 is here what a beauty. Just playing a little and wow wide open is amazingly good. I don't use original hoods. I use metal screw in hoods that I get cheap on eBay and it keeps the size down. It's really just like a 16-35 just a touch bigger and feels like the same weight.i can tell you this much better than the sigma Art lens with adapter and faster AF For the output you get it's going to be worth it. Having one Loxia and the 2 Batis lenses it should be a nice kit.
 
CharlesK

CharlesK

New member
When we are comparing background bokeh, I think it is very hard to compare different FL's. There are not many 35mm lenses that render sharp wide open, and have perfect soft layering bokeh. The older Leica 35 Lux/Cron pre Asph do have beautiful bokeh, but it is a compromise.

The 50mm lenses lenses lend themselves to an optical design where the bokeh is generally softer anyway.

That said the FE 28 is a surprise package in terms of bokeh.

Guy, the FE 35/1.4 is a superb lens!
 
Annna T

Annna T

Active member
Speedgraphic said:
What you are forgetting is that bokeh taste...IS SUBJECTIVE. Many people are simply not bothered by nervousness and hard edged bokeh balls. Myself included! I generally don't like the over smooth bokeh modern lenses gravitate toward. There is not such thing as 'bad bokeh.'

Zeiss lenses have their deserved reputation for great color, contrast, and quality. They typically have a good balance of sharpness and pleasing rendering. You may not like all aspects of that rendering though, and that's ok. However it does not mean people are enjoy G lenses, or even Hasselblad lenses with their 5 aperture leaves, are wrong.
Click to expand...
I made no judgement of value concerning bokey : the two terms used are "nervous" and "softer". But never good or bad or better. Personnally, i don't really care for bokey. I prefer the higher microcontrast of Zeiss lenses and sharpness with deep DOF. I was just trying to tell that there is a trade off between microcontrast and bokey (perhaps with the exception of some newer designs like the otus. But then you get more weight and volume to drag along).
 
Guy Mancuso

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Well I'm just going to say it be it you believe me or not and I make zero money saying. This 35 1.4 is the best lens I ever shot as a 35 1.4 and I have had them all. That's across every brand PERIOD. I say that not even looking at the images yet on a computer. It's one of the sharpest but more important has the nicest rendering I ever seen. It's very smooth across the frame, I mean the tonal range is the absolute best I have ever seen and that maybe with any lens along with the 3d rendering falloff is just amazing. Everything is just so smooth between transition areas that it made buying a Sony worth it by 100 percent. This is really just outstanding, my Sigma Art both for Nikon and Sony A is not even close to this. I'm not talking absolute sharpness but overall look and rendering of the file. I may have made many claims on certain lenses like the 135 apo and such but this lens is a 100 percent a keeper. It's far better than any review any comment to date. It's big and slightly heavy but do NOT let that speak for the quality of this lens. It's killer and one of the best in the business.the AF may not be rocket fast but it's accuracy is even better than me focusing it. And I'm damn good at focusing. With steady shot I got down to 1/2 a second last night playing around in the house. So weight and bulk are totally not relevant as its fits really well in the hand. The balance is quite good. That's all I'm going to say. It's raining but this week I will get out and play. I honestly don't even have to test it like I always do. It's just deadly good.

I loved the Loxia 35 but I knew all along I might be missing out on something. I was and glad I rectified my original thoughts. I lost no money doing it either which is even better, maybe 50 dollars since I got this for a nice price. Obviously if you want to travel a lot this would make your decision tougher but it's pretty much the same as the 16-35 both in weight and size and that by feel not numbers.

And for the record mirrorless folks the Think Tank urban approach 10 is perfect for the Sony A7. I can fit this lens on body down the middle of the bag straight down, the Minolta 200mm with adapter in one slot than stack the Loxia 50 with the 16-35 on top of it. They give you stacking dividers . The only thing I don't like is there clasp on the bag. I already cut that off. Bag is more mine now but I also did half of the Velcro to close bag. Makes it far less noisy but still strong enough to hold flap down securely. Need to look at this bag folks. It's not cheap at 135 dollars but for body and 4 or 5 lenses outstanding little bag
 
iiiNelson

iiiNelson

Well-known member
Guy Mancuso said:
Well I'm just going to say it be it you believe me or not and I make zero money saying. This 35 1.4 is the best lens I ever shot as a 35 1.4 and I have had them all. That's across every brand PERIOD. I say that not even looking at the images yet on a computer. It's one of the sharpest but more important has the nicest rendering I ever seen. It's very smooth across the frame, I mean the tonal range is the absolute best I have ever seen and that maybe with any lens along with the 3d rendering falloff is just amazing. Everything is just so smooth between transition areas that it made buying a Sony worth it by 100 percent. This is really just outstanding, my Sigma Art both for Nikon and Sony A is not even close to this. I'm not talking absolute sharpness but overall look and rendering of the file. I may have made many claims on certain lenses like the 135 apo and such but this lens is a 100 percent a keeper. It's far better than any review any comment to date. It's big and slightly heavy but do NOT let that speak for the quality of this lens. It's killer and one of the best in the business.the AF may not be rocket fast but it's accuracy is even better than me focusing it. And I'm damn good at focusing. With steady shot I got down to 1/2 a second last night playing around in the house. So weight and bulk are totally not relevant as its fits really well in the hand. The balance is quite good. That's all I'm going to say. It's raining but this week I will get out and play. I honestly don't even have to test it like I always do. It's just deadly good.

I loved the Loxia 35 but I knew all along I might be missing out on something. I was and glad I rectified my original thoughts. I lost no money doing it either which is even better, maybe 50 dollars since I got this for a nice price. Obviously if you want to travel a lot this would make your decision tougher but it's pretty much the same as the 16-35 both in weight and size and that by feel not numbers.

And for the record mirrorless folks the Think Tank urban approach 10 is perfect for the Sony A7. I can fit this lens on body down the middle of the bag straight down, the Minolta 200mm with adapter in one slot than stack the Loxia 50 with the 16-35 on top of it. They give you stacking dividers . The only thing I don't like is there clasp on the bag. I already cut that off. Bag is more mine now but I also did half of the Velcro to close bag. Makes it far less noisy but still strong enough to hold flap down securely. Need to look at this bag folks. It's not cheap at 135 dollars but for body and 4 or 5 lenses outstanding little bag
Click to expand...
Ahem... Told you it was the ONE.

- Enabler
 
Guy Mancuso

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Really like to know the moron that said it was not sharp at 1.4. There idiots for starters . I never seen a lens at 1.4 this close to it stopped down. There difference is so slight you can barely see it. I ran my typical lens test this morning and Im not going to bore all of you with it but this lens is just flat out amazing. Corner test at F2 it starts to nail it by 2.8 its not different than F8. Center sharpness is so dang close I never seen a lens like this wide open compared to stop down. Sure a touch less contrast at 1.4 but that is totally expected. Vignetting a little over 3/4 of a stop to a stop wide open. Nothing worse than that and thats damn good. I also tried on the sharpness test AF compared to me. I got beat in accuracy. No lens ever did that to me. The little ****. LOL

I have detected no focus shift stopping down either. At least none I can tell. The colors are some of the best I have seen PERIOD. If there is one issue it is a little CA at 1.4 gone by F2

Actually its off a white surface so could be purple blooming. Not seeing it in other shots
 
Guy Mancuso

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Okay I can't talk my way on this area so have to show you. But my ugly bokeh test. I did these handheld so its moving slightly. But again this is nice bokeh through the series, no nervousness that at least bugs me.







 
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