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New Nex 5 acclimatisation

Quentin_Bargate

Well-known member
I seem to have a never ending quest for a compact, DSLR quality camera as a carry almost anywhere companion. My main cameras are a Hassy H4D-50 and Sony A900 - not compact!

I have been through or looked at several compact and semi compact options, and the Nex 5 seems to be the best so far. So I purchased one and have not been disappointed, particularly at high ISO.

The lens I really want - a 35mm equivalent (in full frame) fast prime - is not available and the 16mm is frankly too wide at about 28mm equivalent in full frame as a walkabout lens. Nonetheless the kit lens is of reasonable quality.

Here are a few of shots taken so far:

First is a weird shop display in Oxford street London taken ar dusk. At this angle, the mannequins look like pedestrians who have walked in from the street. Taken with the kit lens at ISO 400, F/4. 1/60 sec



The second was shot at ISO 3200 of my middle son, Ed, in reflective mood. F/5.6, 1/320 sec, ISO 3,200. A little Neat image NR applied, processed to monochrome using Nik Silver Efex pro.



The last two are part of a series taken of and for a makeup artist and his model, ISO 800 and 1600 respectively, kit lens.





Quentin
 

madmaxmedia

New member
The 16mm is even wider than that- the NEX crop factor is 1.5x, so that lens is a 24mm equivalent FOV. As you probably know, 24mm is definitely different than 28mm.

But the 24mm Zeiss will be out soon enough (I imagine)...
 

wyan

New member
I am also waiting for the autofocus Zeiss 24/1.7 for NEX. Too bad the recent natural disaster has delayed everything. :(
 
The 16mm is even wider than that- the NEX crop factor is 1.5x, so that lens is a 24mm equivalent FOV. As you probably know, 24mm is definitely different than 28mm.

But the 24mm Zeiss will be out soon enough (I imagine)...
Nice shots Quentin.

I'm soldiering on with a Minolta 24/2.8 MD lens until the Zeiss is out. Rangefinder lenses around this focal length need cornerfix.
 

Quentin_Bargate

Well-known member
I have in the meantime ordered the adapter so I can use various A900 lens I have.

But yes, a Zeiss 24mm 1.7 would definitely do the trick :) Expensive, I imagine.

Quentin
 

douglasf13

New member
Yeah, I kinda lucked out, because I tend to favor a 50mm equivalent, so there are tons of great rangefinder lens options. As was mentioned, corner color shift tends to be a problem with lenses wider than 35mm. I hear the Zeiss ZM 25 is among the better in this regard, but I believe there are still some potential issues that one may need Cornerfix for.

Personally, I'm in hog heaven with the Sony 16mm (+ the Sony teleconverter,) Zeiss ZM 35/2.8 (Nokton 35/1.4 is my lowlight substitute,) Skopar 50/2.5 (Nokton 50/1.5 is my lowlight substitute,) and Contax G 90/2.8. A full range of primes that fit in a small bag. :thumbup:

I'm waiting for the NEX Zeiss 24mm to fill my 35mm equivalent gap.
 

Jim DE

New member
I am with Doug. I do most of my shooting with a 45mm lens and that is a perspective I like. I am looking forward to the new Zeiss 24 though.

I carry the 16mm, fisheye adapter, WA adapter, 18-55mm, a 28mm Contax G, a 45mm Contax G, a 90mm Contax G, and a old 2x tele converter in a 10"x14" doctors style camera bag comfortably. I also carry a a33 with a 70-400G in a tele-dSLR shoulder bag for those few times I really need to reach out and get the shot or need to use a flash (less than 1% of my shooting).

90% of the time I am using the 45mm G2 legacy lens with a step up ring with Singh-Ray filters for most of my shots.
 
D

dnhkng

Guest
As was mentioned, corner color shift tends to be a problem with lenses wider than 35mm. I hear the Zeiss ZM 25 is among the better in this regard, but I believe there are still some potential issues that one may need Cornerfix for.
Can I ask why this is even considered a problem? As far as I can tell, lens design is all about trade-offs. SLR lenses need to be further away from the sensor/film, and this means they require more lens element to correct for CA etc then rangefinder lenses.

Leica and Zeiss rangefinder lenses are great for film, generally much better than SLR lenses (www.kenrockwell.com/zeiss/slr/21mm-comparison.htm), but the steep incident angle is not-so-great for digital sensors like the M8 and M9. Which is why they do in-camera correction. Leica lenses have huge color-shift problems that are in-camera corrected, because overall, the picture is better than a retrofocus design.

So, why not use Contax G or Voigtländer lenses and alway use Cornerfix? Can Leica really be so wrong here?

The only thing I can imagine to be better, is for a new firmware to appear that can do automatic de-vignetting! The actual calculation to do this are straight-forward, we can only hope Sony (or firmware hackers) implement it!.

-Dave
 

pegelli

Well-known member
Quentin,
Do Sony SLR lenses retain the AF and image stabilization when used on the NEX with the appropriate adapter?
Only HSM and SAM lenses retain autofocus, and then even very slow and pedestrian.

Since image stabilisation is in the body of the A900 the A-mount lenses do not have stabilisation on the Nex, with the exception of a few Sigma lenses that have in-lens stabilisation for A-mount.
 

douglasf13

New member
Can I ask why this is even considered a problem? As far as I can tell, lens design is all about trade-offs. SLR lenses need to be further away from the sensor/film, and this means they require more lens element to correct for CA etc then rangefinder lenses.

Leica and Zeiss rangefinder lenses are great for film, generally much better than SLR lenses (www.kenrockwell.com/zeiss/slr/21mm-comparison.htm), but the steep incident angle is not-so-great for digital sensors like the M8 and M9. Which is why they do in-camera correction. Leica lenses have huge color-shift problems that are in-camera corrected, because overall, the picture is better than a retrofocus design.

So, why not use Contax G or Voigtländer lenses and alway use Cornerfix? Can Leica really be so wrong here?

The only thing I can imagine to be better, is for a new firmware to appear that can do automatic de-vignetting! The actual calculation to do this are straight-forward, we can only hope Sony (or firmware hackers) implement it!.

-Dave
Dave, most more modern Leica wide angles are retrofocus to some degree. Leica has to cater to a back catalogue of legacy lenses that weren't designed for digital, but their newer lenses, like the newer Summarits, do a better job. Sony has the freedom to use retrofocus wides from the beginning, and I assume upcoming NEX wides will be retrofocus (the 16mm already is.) Plus, more than just color shift can happen with rangefinder wides on NEX. Despite sensor size differences between the M9 and NEX, some wides are particularly sharp on NEX at the edges. For instance, check out SLRGear's test of the ZM 21 f2.8 on NEX. Not great at all.

Terry, I mistyped. I was referring to the .75x converter.
 

Millsart

New member
Dave,

Must remember that Leica also used custom designed offset microlenses to help combat the issues of wider focal lengths. Works pretty well overall, but on some designs, such as the ZM 21 f4.5 its still far from perfect

Sony NEX with its ordinary sensor design has a much bigger issue with smearing, color shifts etc with many wider focal lengths.

Some wider lenses are downright awful on the NEX, others aren't bad.

To simply say one should use VC or Contax wides is sort of a silly blanket statement and I'm guessing you've never actually tried some of those lenses on the NEX ?
 

Jerry_R

New member
35mm Summilux ASPH - it shines on M9, it is much more weak on NEX - aberration & fuzzy edges even at f/5.6 - what doesn't occur on M9.
(of course it is not visible on every picture)

50mm Summilux ASPH - behaves much more better on NEX.

What I miss in NEX is EVF, so focusing on M9 is much more quicker, unless we photograph stable objects.
 
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