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I need an A7R WA solution NOW

cjl

Member
The most satisfying (and, unfortunately, also the most expensive) wide angle solution I've found so far for the a7R is the Leica WATE. Resolution is quite good out to the corners and the weight is a good match for the a7R. Stopped way down, the Leica 24mm Elmarit f3.8 is decent, but not as good or as flexible as the WATE. Compromising the a7R's weight advantage, the Canon TSE 24mm (Ver 2) is very good with a Metabones adapter. The Zeiss 21mm f2.8 is also good in the Nikon mount version I've tried, but, again, on the heavy side for this body. Both of these larger lenses need a fair amount of stopping down to ensure decent corner performance (at least f8 in my tests).

My original version of the FE 24-70 (received soon after this lens started to ship) was very disappointing in the corners at 24mm at any aperture but a second copy I recently tried was greatly improved. Perhaps this is simply sample variation at work or maybe Sony improved quality control. In any case, if you don't like your current version, you might try another now to see whether you can get a better copy.

Chris
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
I rented a second 24-70 since I sent my purchased one went back. It was okay but still not even close to my Zeiss 25 F2. The zoom in my opinion is a good 28-65 but the 55 1.8 smokes it too. Bottom line its a good general purpose zoom and it ends there. I bought the kit lens and will only use it on the A7 which a 28-75 is a nice PR / event type lens. Nothing more. Bottom line you want quality primes are the answer. Also Primes are faster and easier to focus in lower light. Even landscape work I'm out before the sun even thinks about waking up. f4 lenses are nice for one thing , smaller and lighter. One reason I'm hanging on to A glass until FE come out faster. We may have a long wait for that and waiting for me is not a option, I need to eat.
 

Stefan Steib

Active member
Beni - as Guy said - rent. And - try the Nikon 14-24mm
Yes it is expensive, but you already have the Novoflex Nikon adapter as much as I know so you will see THAT is the lens that hums on the 36 Mpix.

with or without movements....:rolleyes:



Greetings from Germany
Stefan
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
My issue with the WATE outside of price is it would be more useful as a 18,21,24. If it was I would be all over it like white on rice.
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Beni - as Guy said - rent. And - try the Nikon 14-24mm
Yes it is expensive, but you already have the Novoflex Nikon adapter as much as I know so you will see THAT is the lens that hums on the 36 Mpix.

with or without movements....:rolleyes:



Greetings from Germany
Stefan
Just love that setup.
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Btw my Sony 20mm 2.8 A lens is not bad. Did a shoot last night with it and looks pretty good. I have a weird spot but I had a damn fingerprint on the lens and I can see it . Luckily it was not in a important spot. Very top palm tree in back. I burned it down a touch to fix some of it.

 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Not to go off topic but this stuff happens when your 15 ft in the air its hot as **** out and you hand your camera down to a client to view the playback. It's not my fingerprint . Lol

I'm off to go shoot more today of these Blue Palm trees . Today I'll my watching closer for it. Going to hit around 100. Have I mentioned I hate the freaking desert. Lol
 

dwood

Well-known member
From everything I've read/seen, the WATE is probably THE killer pairing for the A7R's sensor at the SWA end of things. Perfect size too. Unfortunately, I just can't justify the price. If I did a Kickstarter thing for a copy, would all of you make that happen for me? :D

I'm getting results out of the FE 24-70 that I really like from ~26-65mm. Maybe I should try another copy to see what the ends look like. It would certainly make things a lot easier if I could better corners at 24. Then again, it might just be asking too much from this lens. The other thing that I really like about the 24-70 is that it's just a great lens for walking about. It's light and the OSS is super handy for those times where you don't want to drag around the tripod. And since I'm not doing much indoor work, F4 works just fine.

Stefan - I'll bet the Nikon 14-24 is great with the A7R, but man, that's a big, heavy piece of glass.
 

dwood

Well-known member
Not to go off topic but this stuff happens when your 15 ft in the air its hot as **** out and you hand your camera down to a client to view the playback. It's not my fingerprint . Lol

I'm off to go shoot more today of these Blue Palm trees . Today I'll my watching closer for it. Going to hit around 100. Have I mentioned I hate the freaking desert. Lol
but it's a dry heat; you know, like a convection oven :D
 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
There is a single rental place in the country, it's 80 miles away, I don't own a car (1.5 hours on buses each way) and the job wouldn't have been worth it after paying travel there and back, time and rental fees. I did think of starting a rental place here once in Jerusalem, there are more PJ's in this city per square meter than in any other city in the world plus 5 photography colleges and multiple other training programs. Couldn't get the funding at the time. I still think it's a good idea for someone with the backing and organisational skills.

I do have a cheap dumb canon EF adaptor, a pentax K, a pentax m42 and an OM but that's in the UK. Not a Nikon yet. I might try and do the job with a 35mm, I do have one which is ok at f8. I'll scout the area on Sunday and see how wide I need. It's for a college group photo, about 40 kids. Not really what you want to do without a good lens and to be honest with a wider lens I could go close and get the college building in the background for effect.
 

Stefan Steib

Active member
Stefan - I'll bet the Nikon 14-24 is great with the A7R, but man, that's a big, heavy piece of glass.
who wants to shoot sharp - needs to suffer..... :thumbup:
and yes it´s heavy, but actually a 14mm , a 17mm, a 20mm and a 24mm would weigh MUCH more combined. So....

Greetings from Germany
Stefan
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Agree. I saved weight and bulk on the camera bodies. The lenses thats a different story. It is what it is to get the quality your after. The Zeiss 18 and 25 F2 are really not that big at all. Its the 21mm that is big and the 35 1.4. The 35mm F2 is not bad either. You get into anything at 1.4 it will be big just no getting around it but there are a lot of F2 lenses that are not excessive. The Nikon 14-24 is big no question but a lot of folks love them. I had a not so great copy as it focused creeped really bad, but mine was the exception not the rule.
 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
I'd kill for the Zeiss 25mm and 18mm. Would take them in a second over a zoom. Can't begin to afford both though, such is life. I think I could afford a 14-24 with Stefans mod and the tilt adaptor for less the price of both those primes.
 

dwood

Well-known member
As long as we're chatting about Stefan's hulking 14-24 on this tiny camera, has anyone here tried the hefty ZA 16-35/2.8 with an LA-EA4 adapter?
 

daf

Member
Beni - as Guy said - rent. And - try the Nikon 14-24mm
Yes it is expensive, but you already have the Novoflex Nikon adapter as much as I know so you will see THAT is the lens that hums on the 36 Mpix.

with or without movements....:rolleyes:



Greetings from Germany
Stefan

Hi Stefan,
Is this adaptor sold with the tripod mount?
Does it allow to rotate the body only? ex: if i shoot in portait mode with say 0,5mm shift rise and 1°tilt, can i just rotate the body to shoot in landscape mode and keep all the shift+tilt in the same position ?

If yes i' d like to buy one of this tilt/shift adapter , please let me know how to proceed.
Sincerely
David
 

Uaiomex

Member
My current Canon 17-40L is not a small lens but it is actually surprisingly light.
The just announced new version (17-35 tho) is one lens to watch. It "must" be considerably sharper than the former one, especially in the corners. It is a bit more around $1.1K USd. If Canon kept it as light, then this could be an answer. Not small but light, sounds good enough for me. The other way would be to spend the huge bucks for a Leica lens.
The 17-40L was revolutionary at its time of release. Its combination of good construction, performance, lightness and price was and remains unbeatable for a FF wide-angle zoom lens.
Eduardo
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
As long as we're chatting about Stefan's hulking 14-24 on this tiny camera, has anyone here tried the hefty ZA 16-35/2.8 with an LA-EA4 adapter?
I was actually considering this myself. From what i read its really good at 16 and pretty good through the range but 35 just okay which is fine with me since i have a Sigma 35 1.4 thats killer good. Its a thought and its a 2.8 which works for me.
 
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