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A list of lenses that have been tested on the NEX--good and bad!

sidmuer

New member
Right you are. It was a Leica M75/1.4, in low light. I just used a M/28/2 in brighter light and it was fine. In that bight beach light, the LCD was absolutely useless.

I see the NEX as a nifty tool with M lenses in regular or low light.

-Marc
So, any issues at all with the M 28mm cron??
Is it the asph you are using? Thanks.
 

monza

Active member
Quick shot with NEX5 and Nikkor 50/2 in Leica thread mount (Sonnar clone.) Close focus version, MFD is only 18 inches, very unusual for an RF lens. Shot at f/2.8.
 

monza

Active member
Just tested a 35/2 Summicron 8 element version 1, corner performance is excellent...not a common lens to adapt, but nonetheless, it works.
 

sebboh

New member
i've been thinking of selling some of my lenses so i did a little testing to see if my feelings from shooting with the lenses corresponded to reality. i shot 2 shots each of the following lenses at every aperture (one focused on the center one focused on the corner): contax g 35mm f/2, pen f 38mm f/1.8, pen f 42mm f/1.2, contax g 45mm f/2, minolta MD 45mm f/2, nikkor HC 5cm f/2 ltm (this lens has scratches on the front element and had fungus removed so this copy is probably not representative), minolta MD 50mm f/1.7, minolta MC 50mm f/1.4, pentax takumar SMC 50mm f/1.4, and canon FL 55mm f/1.2. the shots were taken a little more than a meter away from the target (so don't draw conclusions about landscape work) on a tripod with the 10 second timer. i refocused each time i stopped the lens down till i reached f/5.6 at which point i just stopped down without refocusing between shots. white balance settings are the same for all shots (to show lens color casts) and every shot at a given aperture is shot at the same shutter speed regardless of lens. anyway here's the results.

whole frame shot:


center crops:


corner crops:


i'll leave the deciding which are good and which are bad to those who are interested.
 

ampguy

Member
Thanks Sebboh, this is very interesting. Perhaps I am missing something, but why are the Pen 42, Nikkor, Pentax, and Canon different shades if the WB was adjusted?
 

sebboh

New member
Thanks Sebboh, this is very interesting. Perhaps I am missing something, but why are the Pen 42, Nikkor, Pentax, and Canon different shades if the WB was adjusted?
white balance settings have the same value for every lens (3500 temp, +6 tint in lightroom) rather than setting them to the same white point in each image. this means that i can see the color casts of the lens. thus, i am able to tell that the zeiss lenses have a warmer cast and the rokkor lenses have a cooler cast and that my pentax and maybe the pen f 42mm have a little bit of radioactive yellowing.
 

ampguy

Member
Thanks Sebboh, that's quite a set of lenses you have there, and a very useful test. I have a Hexanon 40 AR with AR to nex adapter, I think I'd like to try a Pen 38/1.8 next. Good stuff!


white balance settings have the same value for every lens (3500 temp, +6 tint in lightroom) rather than setting them to the same white point in each image. this means that i can see the color casts of the lens. thus, i am able to tell that the zeiss lenses have a warmer cast and the rokkor lenses have a cooler cast and that my pentax and maybe the pen f 42mm have a little bit of radioactive yellowing.
 

ampguy

Member
Sebboh, am curious if you've ever tried the 40/1.8 Hexanon pancake, and where you think it would fit in with your tests. Just curious, which ones did you decide were keepers?
 

ampguy

Member
Hi Terry and Marc - what I've found with Pano's on the nex is that they really like fast shutter speeds, so if there is a dark section in the pano, it will often jam there since your mf lens will keep a const aperture, but in A mode, the camera's shutter speed will go down for that frame or frames, and stop the process.

Going with shutter priority or auto or just a stop or two or three opened up to ensure fast shutter speeds will usually get through the whole Pano process.

It would have been nice if Sony had documented this better.

Marc - what focal length lens were you trying that kept cutting out? I know the Sony tends to like wides better for the panos and particularly doesn't like when there are objects in the foreground with the main subject further away. I've got an M-adapter and will try to use the pano function but I'm pretty sure I had done some successfully with the Contax G 35mm.
 

Lonnie Utah

New member
David K bringing us NEX owners good news today. YES!!!!

http://www.photoclubalpha.com/2011/02/08/zeiss-cosina-sigma-and-tamron-nex-e-mount-future/

Zeiss, Cosina, Sigma and Tamron – NEX E-mount future
By admin, on February 8th, 2011
Sony Corporation announced today it will disclose the basic specifications of its “E-mount” for interchangeable single lens cameras, without fee, to manufacturers of lenses and mount adaptors, starting April 1st, 2011. This was previously confirmed at the photokina press conference – now they have revealed that Carl Zeiss AG, Cosina, Sigma and Tamron will all be working on the E-mount system as independent lens makers.

“This opens the way for manufacturers of various lenses and mount adaptors to effectively develop products conforming to “E-mount” specifications”, say Sony.
“Users of the Sony’s NEX-3, NEX-5, NEX-VG10 and other E-mount compatible Sony digital imaging products to be launched in the future will now be able to use interchangeable lenses from both Sony and various other manufactures, while they will also be able to attach non-Sony lenses to their Sony digital imaging products via a mount adapter. Sony believes the growth of digital imaging products employing the “E-mount” will further increase the enjoyment of photography and video shooting among an even wider range of users.

“These basic specifications will be disclosed to manufactures of lenses and mount adaptors following a predefined process of approval and the signing a license agreement with Sony.

“As of today, the decision to disclose basic specifications of the E-mount has been endorsed by the following companies.”
 

sebboh

New member
Sebboh, am curious if you've ever tried the 40/1.8 Hexanon pancake, and where you think it would fit in with your tests. Just curious, which ones did you decide were keepers?
yes, i owned it for a while (used mostly on 4/3) and actually just recently sold it when i got the the pen f 42mm. it is a very good lens that is pretty sharp wide open and really sharp with high microcontrast from f2.8 on. i have no idea how it performs in the corners at apertures wider than f/5.6 because i sold it before this test and don't really shoot subjects that require corner sharpness at wide apertures. i would expect it performs better than the contax 35mm, rokkor 45mm, and rokkor 50/1.7 in terms of sharpness across the board. wide open i expect (but this is just my feeling without testing) it would be sharper at edges than the tak at f/1.4 (but not as sharp in the center) and probably a little sharper than the rokkor f/1.4 in the center but not the edges wide open.

i sold it because i wanted on small lens for taking pictures of people indoors. the pen f 42mm is smaller (on the nex), faster, sharper at wide apertures, and has color that i like better for skin tones. i think the hexanon would make a much better landscape lens though as it may be sharper stopped down, has less CA, better contrast, and less distortion (the hexanon is obviously a lot cheaper too).

edit: pen f 42mm, contax g 45mm, canon FL 55mm, tak, rokkor 50/1.4 are all definitely keepers. the rest i'm not sure about, it depends on how the test at infinity goes.
 
W

WRishel

Guest
When you test, do these lenses do automatic functions? Do any of these lenses autofocus or automatically adjust the diaphragm? It seems like any long lens needs to be treated like a superlong lens on a digital SLR, i.e., supported by a tripod socket on the lens. Can anyone recommend such a beast?
 

uhoh7

New member
oly 135mm f/2.8 360grams. The lightest most compact 135 of this speed I have found. There may be a lighter 135mm of some speed but I have not found it. MD 135 and Tokina are closest I've heard of, also good and likley cheaper. This one regularly goes for 120, I paid 102 for what turned out to be a mint copy.





100:







Lens handles very well on the nex--no strain on the mount. A bit less diameter than the kit and when mounted it is longer than the kit by the width of the adapter.
 

sebboh

New member
When you test, do these lenses do automatic functions? Do any of these lenses autofocus or automatically adjust the diaphragm? It seems like any long lens needs to be treated like a superlong lens on a digital SLR, i.e., supported by a tripod socket on the lens. Can anyone recommend such a beast?
only a-mount lenses will have auto aperture and only the a-mount lenses with SSM or SAM autofocus will autofocus on the NEX (and probably not especially quickly). are you looking for a long lens recommendation or a tripod collar recommendation? most telephotos have specific tripod collars made to work with them.
 

ampguy

Member
The Nikon adapters from Rainbow imaging, and probably others, come with an option for a tripod mount on the adapter.

I've handheld a Nikon 80-200 lens, and at the 200 end, it was a bit shaky for me, so I haven't bothered to try longer on the Nex. For me, 50s are a good limit, maybe 57mm. For longer, which for me, is primarily wildlife, I go to DSLRs.
 

uhoh7

New member
Well I was turned on to a real sleeper over at dyxum.

Perhaps the smallest and lightest 135 for the nex---and it's VERY cheap. It's also supposed to be quite good.

Minolta MD 135 f/3.5 w/49mm filter: somewhere between 26o and 280 grams and very small.

Three versions
rokkor-x
celtic
md

They appear identical, but the rokkor-x would be most desireable. "MD" is newest, but appears very slightly heavier. The celtic looks identical but has different dimensions according to one data base.

Only the 49mm filter models are this small.

Easily found mint for 25USD
 

douglasf13

New member
The Contax G 90/2.8 is an outrageously good tele on NEX. It is only 190 grams, and around 74mm long with the adapter attached.
 

uhoh7

New member
The Contax G 90/2.8 is an outrageously good tele on NEX. It is only 190 grams, and around 74mm long with the adapter attached.
What's the story wtih focus on the contax G with nex? Forgive me, are they normally AF only?

I know they make great images!
 
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