Menu
What's new
The GetDPI Photography Forum

Great to see you here. Join our insightful photographic forum today and start tapping into a huge wealth of photographic knowledge. Completing our simple registration process will allow you to gain access to exclusive content, add your own topics and posts, share your work and connect with other members through your own private inbox! And don’t forget to say hi!

Anyone have the FE 70-200/F4 yet?

Guy Mancuso

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
It actually was Bill. Food photography you don't really eat most if the time. Too many tricks you have to do. That's charred for one and it has oil on it too after the fact.

Actually I cooked ribeyes last night that makes that a burger. Lol

I'm a good cook to be honest but hell I should be I'm Italian
 
Don Libby

Don Libby

Well-known member
Sandy's 70-200 arrived late yesterday. Size wise it reminds me of a mini Canon lens. It's surprisingly small especially compared to what the Canon 70-200 was like. We haven't yet done the firmware update on her camera so don't know what difference they might be later on. FE70-200 (200mm) f/11 1/5000 ISO 2500 on monopod. 100% crop.

Instant gut reaction is we both like it. A lot.

 
Guy Mancuso

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Looks good Don. caught a Dove trying to make a nest on top of my outdoor speaker. Not going to happen its above the door and Ill be damned to be **** on. LOL
 
P

philip_pj

New member
I read the instructions on image loading several times and still got a tiny image after futzing around with the interface for 15 minutes, or so with lots of img code etc. Apparently you have to have the image show first at full size or something. [You can manage final page load sizes via a new page setting up, a 'page break'.]

That is why I haven't posted images since my allocation ran out even for the tiny pics, lol, I got a red strip now. It really ought to be easier, I think.

It is important to image-oriented sites/threads, because a lot of images look pretty underwhelming at the tiny size, and viewers need to ask themselves: do I want to make several more server calls just to see this tiny photo blown up to viewing size, then return back? Most won't and don't, just scroll on by. Me too.

If you click the thumbnails, it's not like you get an straight 1200x800 image, rather a box shows up as a border with arrows accessing more images if more are loaded into the t'nails, you can click to remove the box - it's another interface...people just want to to be able to load and view with ease.

Just my experience and opinion, I am not sore about it, I am still thankful others have it figured out and I can see and enjoy their work.
 
D

dave92029

New member
I'm sure that my questions are premature, but here's what I am wondering about the 70-200mm f4.

When do you expect that Sony will produce a 1.4X or 2.0X extender (like Canon) for their lens?

When should we expect Sony to begin discounting these lens? July 4th or Thanksgiving?
 
kuau

kuau

Workshop Member
Correct me if I am wrong, though it seems the 70-200/4 is not so good at F4 and needs to be stopped down to F8?

Guy, I think you thinking correctly in regards to checking out an A mount solution i.e. the new A77II with your fast Sony/Zeiss lens lineup or pickup a used A99 for cheap now. Still a very capable camera, except AF points are all in the central 1/3 of the frame whereas the new A77II has a very nice spread. The only downside could be high ISO on the APS-C sensor.
 
D

dandrewk

New member
The lens is a bit soft in the corners at 200mm F4. Stopped to F6.3 and it will be good, as it is at all F stops below 200mm.
 
tashley

tashley

Subscriber Member
Mine's arrived. Feels really really nicely made and balances well on the A7R but sadly has a low grade decentering problem. Grrrr.
 
D

dwood

Well-known member
Finally got mine a couple of days ago. So far, so good. It's very well put together, images are looking very nice, and it's the perfect size for the A7R. Pretty impressive, all around.
 
tashley

tashley

Subscriber Member
OK, here's an example of what I consider a low grade de-centering. I've seen worse! But to me this is unacceptable in that the left hand side is softer at most apertures and focal lengths. Here's one at 98mm and F5.6 and it is entirely representative of what I see more generally. Link to full size image

The scene:


Shot using delay, Gitzo CF tripod, Cube, 1000th second at F5.6 ISO 400 then sharpening the RAW in LR at 60/0.7/70/20 and +10 clarity. This one was AF but I did several series using MF too and they all have the same problem... I do wish Sony would get their sh1t together but then this sort of QC seems endemic to the industry.
 
D

Deleted member 7792

Guest
tashley said:
But to me this is unacceptable in that the left hand side is softer at most apertures and focal lengths. Here's one at 98mm and F5.6 and it is entirely representative of what I see more generally.
Click to expand...
That looks to be worse than "low grade". Everything to the left of the Merry Fisher boat is significantly soft.

tashley said:
I do wish Sony would get their sh1t together but then this sort of QC seems endemic to the industry.
Click to expand...
I've been VERY lucky by comparison. Good luck with getting a sharp version of this lens. It's worth having in your kit.

Joe
 
tashley

tashley

Subscriber Member
Thanks for your second opinion Joe - I was trying not to throw my toys out of the pram when I called it 'low grade' but it is certainly of an order that some photographic retailers have found unconvincing as proof of a problem, in my experience! But I won't give up: it is simply too important a lens in my bag!
 
tashley

tashley

Subscriber Member
In my limited experience: I sent one body to Sony and the experience was great: they paid the postage both ways and the service was quick and effective. But I also was forced by a retailer to agree to have him send a lens to them (it was a very poor copy) to have it verified that it was faulty and to have it fixed. I agreed that I would look at it again on its return even though I had a refund and had purchased another copy elsewhere. I gave it a fairly quick set of tests but with no tripod and not my usual targets and in my opinion it was better but still not good enough.

With all manufacturers my preferred way is to test the new its quickly and go for a return rather than a repair. I have had good lens repair results from Leica but with Nikon I have had to return lenses again after a 'fix'. I think of lot of repair facilities don't have the equipment to test comprehensively. Check out what Roger Cicala has to say on the subject!

Luckily my dealer, Park Cameras in the UK, is really really good about this sort of thing.
 
D

dandrewk

New member
This is a good reason to choose a retailer with a liberal return policy. I don't know the situation outside the USA, but there are several retailers here, online and brick/mortar, that have "satisfaction guaranteed". A decentered lens is clearly dissatisfying, and the retailer should replace or refund the item rather than insisting on a time consuming repair.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top