Should I be concerned regarding wide angle lenses on the Sony A7r?

[w44neg]

Hi,

I hope you can help me out. I currently have the following setup...

Nikon D800e
Nikon 16-35mm
Nikon 24-70mm
Nikon 105mm macro

I've been offered a trade against my D800e body with a Sony A7r and I'm 99% going ahead. The same sensor in a small body is appealing, and although I really want a Leica M9, the A7r seems a much better value proposition right now with the Zeiss 35mm f2.8.

My only concern is the feedback I'm seeing concerning wide angle lenses. Something to do with a short flange I believe? I absolutely love my 16-35mm and included with the A7r would be a Nikon adapter so I could still use that lens in manual mode.

Firstly, does anyone have experience with this? I can find one photo on Flickr with this combo and that's all. Otherwise, I am considering swapping to a canon wide angle zoom as the adapters allow for automatic aperture and focus. Again, does anybody have experience here too?

I would probably swap my 24-70 Nikon for the new 24-70 zeiss when it's released, plus keep the 35mm zeiss for travel. I'd then keep either the Nikon macro and wide zoom, or swap those to more AF compatible options depending on cost to change.

Any help, tips, sample shots would be massively appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Bugleone]

Short flange distance will not apply if you use Nikon lenses on A7 because the lens to sensor distance is the same as for the nikon body.....the adaptor takes care of the longer register distance.

That said, you are right to question the detail efficacy of A7 since it's a new departure and expensive.

Personally, I am tempted to buy A7 as its more like the system I have waited 10 years for,...The only problem for me is that Sony will almost certainly not be able to carry out any repair after the warranty period since that is not their policy;..They just tell you "it's cheaper for you to buy a new one".... For this reason I only have one Sony product now, my NEX. When that dies I hope there are other makes with better business policies, perhaps Fuji, or the 'camera makers' will have caught up.

 

[wuffstuff]

It is a fact that generally full frame DSLR lenses perform very well on the A7 series and with the A7r in particular. Of course, the current Zeiss 35mm and 55mm lenses are brilliantly sharp and, being designed for the cameras, work superbly.

My view is that there is little comparison between the massively bulky and heavy D800 and the new Sony's. The D800 seems to have more reported problems at the edges than either of these new cameras.

The 16-35 Nikkor should be as good on the Sony as it is on the D800, the only downside being it's size. Though this is no different to it's size on the D800. As for the M9, it is very definitely yesterdays technology and is superceded by the M240, which is itself old technology. The M9 v the A7r is not really a fair comparison. The Sony has AF, uses telephoto lenses, can do macro, 4 frames per second, EVF, is much cheaper; the list is endless.

 

[w44neg]

Brilliant replies, thanks. I've gone ahead with the trade so I'm looking really forward to trying the much talked about sony.

I think the Zeiss 35mm will be great for travel, and I usually use a decent zoom for my amateur Motorsport photography in the summer so I'll pick up the new Zeiss 24-70 at some point after its release.

I may also switch my nikon lenses to canon and buy the canon AF adapter. I understand it's quite slow but may be better than fiddling with aperture rings instead of on-camera dials.

 

[GrahamB]

Sony won't fix the camera out of warranty? That's silly. Of course Sony will repair your camera out of warranty, and at a flat rate. Remember, Sony is but one option for out of warranty repair. Any camera repair shop can order parts and repair any Sony camera, just as they do for any other make.

I've been shooting Sony for eight years with four bodies (a700, a850, a77, a7r) and three Sony branded lenses (ZA 24/2, 50/1.4, 70-200/2.8). They're all still in service, with zero problems.

I purchased my a7r from Amazon. One reason; they offer a 4 year extended warranty with accident protection. I don't normally purchase extended warranties, but the added protection against accidental damage, and for under $100 seemed pretty cheap. As the policy price is based on the equipment price, the insurance for the a7 should be a bit cheaper.

Amazon.com: 4-Year Camera/Camcorder Accident Protection Plan ($2250-2500): Camera & Photo

Graham

 

[wuffstuff]

I may also switch my nikon lenses to canon and buy the canon AF adapter. I understand it's quite slow but may be better than fiddling with aperture rings instead of on-camera dials.

In fact, the metabones Canon adapter is a bit slow but it is accurate and allows the allows the use of the magnificent 85/1.2L, which is slow anyway. Also think about the 135/2 and the 35/1.4. Top class glass that Nikon have never caught up with.

 

[OlderThenDirt]

Sony won't fix the camera out of warranty? That's silly. Of course Sony will repair your camera out of warranty, and at a flat rate. Remember, Sony is but one option for out of warranty repair. Any camera repair shop can order parts and repair any Sony camera, just as they do for any other make.

I've been shooting Sony for eight years with four bodies (a700, a850, a77, a7r) and three Sony branded lenses (ZA 24/2, 50/1.4, 70-200/2.8). They're all still in service, with zero problems.

I purchased my a7r from Amazon. One reason; they offer a 4 year extended warranty with accident protection. I don't normally purchase extended warranties, but the added protection against accidental damage, and for under $100 seemed pretty cheap. As the policy price is based on the equipment price, the insurance for the a7 should be a bit cheaper.

Amazon.com: 4-Year Camera/Camcorder Accident Protection Plan ($2250-2500): Camera & Photo

Graham

I wish I had know about the extended warranty and damage protection. Alas, I bought from a different vendor.

I'm glad to hear that Sony would repair the camera if needed, I really don't want to buy a "new one" every couple of years. Maybe I'm stuck in the past but I'd like to keep my cameras a while.

Robert

 

[Bugleone]

Sony has a VERY bad track record for repairs outside of warranty.......Not only will they claim repairs are not 'cost effective' but they will not supply essential parts and assemblies to independant repairers,....So, Graham, you are sadly mistaken, just look around the web for many bad experiences with sony items.

In my own case, I won't buy any more sony products .......I got well 'tucked up' with my high end sony camcorder which lost it's v/f function just after two years...the independant repairer told me straight away that repair would be impossible due to high cost of sony parts. The same repairer was able to restore my panasonic SVHS camcorder whch is still going strong after 15 years. We've also had problems with several other sony items which are NEVER able to be repaired.....Sony insists it's "better" to "just buy a new one".

 

[St_Louis Jim]

First post as I'm new to this.

I've just purchased an A7r to use as a second camera with my M9. I bought it hoping to use the lenses interchangeably. Some of the M mount Zeiss/Leica lenses work brilliantly on the Sony and others are quite poor. My favourite is the 50/1.4 Lux which is lovely on both cameras.

The Sony/Zeiss 55/1.8ZA is so sharp and has great bokeh it is almost duplicates the 50 Lux.

Anyways, I posted because the OP indicated that the 16-35 might be good on the A7r. Well it is. I have it myself, but there is a downside. It now feels huge and heavy by comparison to the camera. I'm getting rid of mine, along with the other big lenses, as the portability factor is gone with this combo.

I have sold my D4 so all my 'trinity' lenses are going as I switch, like Guy has, to the A7/A7r's. I can wait for the wide's, they'll be along soon. Sigma and Zeiss are reportedly on the case for wides.

 

[GrahamB]

Sony has a VERY bad track record for repairs outside of warranty.......Not only will they claim repairs are not 'cost effective' but they will not supply essential parts and assemblies to independant repairers,....So, Graham, you are sadly mistaken, just look around the web for many bad experiences with sony items.

In my own case, I won't buy any more sony products .......I got well 'tucked up' with my high end sony camcorder which lost it's v/f function just after two years...the independant repairer told me straight away that repair would be impossible due to high cost of sony parts. The same repairer was able to restore my panasonic SVHS camcorder whch is still going strong after 15 years. We've also had problems with several other sony items which are NEVER able to be repaired.....Sony insists it's "better" to "just buy a new one".

So you're talking about a camcorder, not a camera. You're accepting the word of an "independent contractor" not a Sony repair facility, and I'm the one who's "sadly mistaken"?

Like I said, I've been very satisfied with my Sony DSLR/SLT camera equipment for 8 years. If one searches Dyxum - Home of the alpha system photographer, a long running site dedicated to the "A" mount, and made up of users from all over the world, I think you'll find a similar satisfaction.

Graham

 

[philip_pj]

Echoing Graham's experience..we have used Sony still cameras for five years: a700, a900, a77, a99, RX1, a7r. Nil problems. They have an enviable rep for reliability that is well evidenced in the industry. The a7 series is simple inside and would present less difficulties for repair than any DSLR I imagine. Less to go wrong too ;-)

WRT lenses, Sony Zeiss are in an interesting position as they know that (and even abetted with deals on adapters!) users will use legacy everything on the a7/r (but especially C/N/L) so they absolutely need to make great native lenses to move the system along from their financial point of view, rather than have a NEX situation develop, with the camera seen as purely a mini-back.

They have delivered well so far - the 35mm is a great photographer's lens and the 55mm is being rated by those in the know as just short of Otus level performance at 25% the cost. To get NEX users to upgrade over time all FE lenses need to deliver excellent corner resolution, and these two do.

Wide lenses that users are finding work well include Canon nFD, Olympus 24/2.8, 1-2 CV lenses also. I saw a (entertaining) Camera Store video of a Canon 17-40 with an AF adapter that looked very usable. I think this is it: Sony A7 & A7R Hands-On Field Test - YouTube

ALL DSLR lenses will work as intended, on good adapters. Especially macros.

 

[Bill Caulfeild-Browne]

I've been using Sony for 5 years - a900, a77 and now a99 and a7r. Never had a problem with any of them.

I have had problems with lenses though. My 24-70 ZA refused to focus to infinity after a year of use. It was fixed under warranty and is perfect 4 years later. I also had a very unsatisfactory 300 G which Sony exchanged, no messing about.

All in all, I've found them pretty responsive.

Bill

 

[lenticularis]

Great Canadian video, thanks fellow-Canberran Phillip! It even looked like the 17-40L wasn't disgraced at 17mm (corner-wise) when shooting that tree-stump.