Though there are already threads about the Loxia 35 this is mostly about the comparison of the Loxia 2.0/35 to the FE Sonnar 2.8/35.
So I thought I open a new thread…
Actually I do like the FE Sonnar 2.8/35 IQ-wise. But I don’t really like handling it manually at all.
I am also finding the light falloff simply much too high.
This is why I was interested in the Loxia 35.
My first impressions in short…:
- the Loxia is so much better to handle manually that any further testing seems to be superfluous. (Still it had to prove it’s also good IQ-wise. And it did…)
- the Loxia shows less light falloff
- one of the main differences related to IQ is the Loxia shows very low distortion whereas the Sonnar has a complex distortion that is pretty heavy at the outer edges of the image frame.
However, if distortion correction is required with the Loxia the lens profile for the ZM 2.0/35 Biogon in Alpa Lens Corrector seems to work pretty good!
So…. some images (actually quite some…).
All shot with an A7R at ISO100. All loaded in Capture One with Standard-settings. Though my Standard is adjusted to set luminance Noise Reduction to zero (color NR to 12) and I’ve quickly adjusted sharpness to 380|0.5|07 for the Loxia … which I’ve also applied to the Sonnar.
I’ve also made LCCs and applied them to correct light falloff in both the lenses 100%.
Other than that no further adjustments in C1.
The light is pretty harsh on the first scene. It is also changing over the course of the test shots… so this will of course have an impact on the comparison.
Also - as always - there might be a slight mismatch in focus between the 2 lenses which may affect a side by side comparison on a pixel level.
These are all PNG-screenshots from the Capture One interface (so not taken from processed files) converted to JPEG. I still think they will do to get a good impression.
1- light falloff at f2.8 - Loxia on the left/Sonnar on the right (on the entire series of this motif).
As you may notice the EXIF of the Loxia shows “50mm” in C1. I’ll investigate why…
I’ve adjusted the exposure of the LCCs so that the brightest values in the very frame center match (sufficiently).
This is without in-camera correction of light falloff (which is applied to the RAW … unlike the other 2 “lens compensations” you can turn on or off in the A7R).
The light falloff of the Sonnar is drastically higher at f2.8:
2- field of view. The Loxia shows a slightly wider field of view:
The following crops are taken from this scene … The building is around 25 meters away.
Make sure to view them at 100% (depending on your browser for instance right-click->show graphic)…
3- Distortion. Upper right corner of the scene, 50% magnification.
As you can see the camera is not perfectly leveled. Doesn’t matter here.
As you can also see the distortion of the Sonnar is pretty heavy in the corners compared to the Loxia:
4- Loxia vs. Sonnar at f2.8, center
maybe there’s a slight advantage for the Sonnar but if so it’s a wash:
5- Loxia vs. Sonnar at f2.8, edge
look pretty much the same to me:
6- Loxia vs. Sonnar at f2.8, corner
clear advantage in favor of the Loxia (mostly due to the distortion and light falloff of the Sonnar):
Let’s stay with the very corner…
7- f4 … Loxia still better:
8- f5.6 … pretty much leveled. But still there is the distortion of the Sonnar… :
9- f8 - same here, though the very corners of the Sonnar are very well usable at f8 even after distortion correction.
So at f8 I think the differences are pretty insignificant:
... tbc. in a minute ...
So I thought I open a new thread…
Actually I do like the FE Sonnar 2.8/35 IQ-wise. But I don’t really like handling it manually at all.
I am also finding the light falloff simply much too high.
This is why I was interested in the Loxia 35.
My first impressions in short…:
- the Loxia is so much better to handle manually that any further testing seems to be superfluous. (Still it had to prove it’s also good IQ-wise. And it did…)
- the Loxia shows less light falloff
- one of the main differences related to IQ is the Loxia shows very low distortion whereas the Sonnar has a complex distortion that is pretty heavy at the outer edges of the image frame.
However, if distortion correction is required with the Loxia the lens profile for the ZM 2.0/35 Biogon in Alpa Lens Corrector seems to work pretty good!
So…. some images (actually quite some…).
All shot with an A7R at ISO100. All loaded in Capture One with Standard-settings. Though my Standard is adjusted to set luminance Noise Reduction to zero (color NR to 12) and I’ve quickly adjusted sharpness to 380|0.5|07 for the Loxia … which I’ve also applied to the Sonnar.
I’ve also made LCCs and applied them to correct light falloff in both the lenses 100%.
Other than that no further adjustments in C1.
The light is pretty harsh on the first scene. It is also changing over the course of the test shots… so this will of course have an impact on the comparison.
Also - as always - there might be a slight mismatch in focus between the 2 lenses which may affect a side by side comparison on a pixel level.
These are all PNG-screenshots from the Capture One interface (so not taken from processed files) converted to JPEG. I still think they will do to get a good impression.
1- light falloff at f2.8 - Loxia on the left/Sonnar on the right (on the entire series of this motif).
As you may notice the EXIF of the Loxia shows “50mm” in C1. I’ll investigate why…
I’ve adjusted the exposure of the LCCs so that the brightest values in the very frame center match (sufficiently).
This is without in-camera correction of light falloff (which is applied to the RAW … unlike the other 2 “lens compensations” you can turn on or off in the A7R).
The light falloff of the Sonnar is drastically higher at f2.8:
2- field of view. The Loxia shows a slightly wider field of view:
The following crops are taken from this scene … The building is around 25 meters away.
Make sure to view them at 100% (depending on your browser for instance right-click->show graphic)…
3- Distortion. Upper right corner of the scene, 50% magnification.
As you can see the camera is not perfectly leveled. Doesn’t matter here.
As you can also see the distortion of the Sonnar is pretty heavy in the corners compared to the Loxia:
4- Loxia vs. Sonnar at f2.8, center
maybe there’s a slight advantage for the Sonnar but if so it’s a wash:
5- Loxia vs. Sonnar at f2.8, edge
look pretty much the same to me:
6- Loxia vs. Sonnar at f2.8, corner
clear advantage in favor of the Loxia (mostly due to the distortion and light falloff of the Sonnar):
Let’s stay with the very corner…
7- f4 … Loxia still better:
8- f5.6 … pretty much leveled. But still there is the distortion of the Sonnar… :
9- f8 - same here, though the very corners of the Sonnar are very well usable at f8 even after distortion correction.
So at f8 I think the differences are pretty insignificant:
... tbc. in a minute ...
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