Sony A7RII/ Batis 25mm , Batis 85mm and Sony 35mm 1.4 System Tests

[Guy Mancuso]

I may have a true infinity shot somewhere. I'll look

 

[jco611]

Thanks for the hard work Guy. These lenses are a must have for the A7R2.... Now only if the Batis would be in stock anywhere

 

[dmward]

Geneva IL concourse was today.
There were some outstanding cars.

I took my A7RII and Batis 25mm.
On the way home I stopped at a forest preserve park and shot some backgrounds.

Here are a couple of results;

 

[f8orbust]

Great thread - kudos to Guy for the work he's done, especially putting the RAWs up for inspection.

My takeaway: Those images with the 25 wouldn't have looked out of place in the MF forum. Heck, even if they had appeared in the 'Technical Camera Images' section I wouldn't have looked twice.

 

[Quentin_Bargate]

Great tests,. takes a lot of effort to put those lenses through their paces, Guy.

I won't be buying the 85mm Batis because I plan on using the 90mm Macro G OSS for portraiture and F/2.8 should be fast enough. Plus the 90mm is so darn good as a macro / studio lens.

I may buy the obviously excellent 25mm Batis, but if I do, it won't replace the versatile Zeiss 16-35mm F/4, which is close to the Basis in performance over 80% of the image, but would compliment it

For a relatively lightwight AND versatile kit, the 90mm macro G OSS, 16-35mm F/4 Zeiss ZA and a 35mm F/2.8 walkaround is hard to beat. I can *just* about pack it all in a Bilingham Pro camera bag, along with Lee filter system. An alternative would be the two Battii (?!) 25mm and 85mm and the faster 35mm F/1.4, which might give me a theoretical edge in terms of absolute quality with the 25mm, but I'd loose the macro capability of the 90mm G OSS, which is as good as the 85mm Batis and the sheer wideagle versatility of the also excellent 16-35mm.

Of course, its a nice problem to have, such excellent choices with no duffers.

 

[MikeEvangelist]

I won't be buying the 85mm Batis because I plan on using the 90mm Macro G OSS for portraiture and F/2.8 should be fast enough. Plus the 90mm is so darn good as a macro / studio lens.

My thoughts exactly. I had the 85mm Batis on order since day one, but cancelled it last week. The 90mm Macro is so good.

 

[dmward]

Has anyone with the Batis 85 tried it with an extension tube?
I know that true macro lenses have a flatter plane of focus, but would be interesting to see performance with a tube for close focus.

 

[Pradeep]

Thanks Guy, great work and is much appreciated by all.

Echoes what I've noted with my kit and said on another thread here. The A7RII with the Batis 25 is about the best camera and lens combo I've ever held in my hands especially given its size relative to MF.

FWIW, I've done some comparison with the 16-25 f4 at 25mm with the Batis. The former has less lateral CA but the latter beats it comfortably on flare resistance, center sharpness and color/contrast.

 

[Quentin_Bargate]

The A7RII with the Batis 25 is about the best camera and lens combo I've ever held in my hands especially given its size relative to MF.

That's quite an endorsement, but I'd agree for the same reasons, and I'd go further and say the same about the A7RII and 90mm G OSS (ever tried working with a Medium format Macro lens?! - if you have, you'll know what I mean )

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Total understand folks wanting the macro instead of the Batis. I thought of it myself. If I had the 55 it would make some sense. That would give me a fast lens after 35. But my needs lean towards the 85. I'm going to go back and test it again, I'm just very anal and being off slightly is pissing me off. It's rare I make a mistake doing these. Even though we can easily figure it out that 2.8 gets it going. It's more me than the results.

Extension tubes on the 85 was one question. I did start a thread on that. They work nice. I have a gig Wednesday using them so I'll update on use.

 

[Eoin]

Guy, I'd also like to add my thanks for your effort in providing this side by side test, much appreciated and plenty of good comparative samples.
However that being said and given the possibility of some slight skewing on the 85mm, I am really disappointed with its corner performance. Its centre sharpness is stunning no doubt.
Of all of them .... the 25mm Batis is the one that has really surprised me, so much so that it will be the one I will immediately add once I find a shop with stock.

Thanks again.

 

[dandrewk]

Like others, I'd dearly love a comparison with the Batis 85 + extension tubes vs. the FE90. I don't expect the Batis combo to have the same magnification of a true macro lens, but then I rarely go 1:1.

I've ordered the tubes, but don't have the FE90. For the day I borrowed that lens, it truly is awesome. But it's also a beast, and I'd never take it along for any long photography hikes.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Yea love to test those two out against each other.

Okay Eoin you made me feel guilty. I may run up and rerun the 85 again. I know it's good at 2.8 just need to be sure it is. Might bring my tape measure out there. It's far easier on the wides because your close but the 85 I'm about 100 ft away.

 

[ggibson]

Guy, your OSS on/off tripod test was really interesting to see these results. I too forget to turn off OSS on the tripod with my 16-35mm sometimes, but never thought to compare to see if there was a big difference. Might be worth looking into this a bit.

 

[Eoin]

... Okay Eoin you made me feel guilty.

Moi, perish the thought. It's not just your samples of the 85 and it's corners, its all the 85 images I've seen, I'm not feeling the rendering. There is just something very pleasing about the 25's rendering that is making it stick out as a stunning performer.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Guy, your OSS on/off tripod test was really interesting to see these results. I too forget to turn off OSS on the tripod with my 16-35mm sometimes, but never thought to compare to see if there was a big difference. Might be worth looking into this a bit.

Yes I would love to hear from Sony on this. If I'm guessing correctly when IBIS senses no movement it just halts, stops or goes to rest. One of those

It would make no sense to keep moving if it sensed no movement from the user side. At least one would think.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Moi, perish the thought. It's not just your samples of the 85 and it's corners, its all the 85 images I've seen, I'm not feeling the rendering. There is just something very pleasing about the 25's rendering that is making it stick out as a stunning performer.

Yea end of the day I think the 25 just looks better , I agree with you. It could be the rendering but it might just be our eyes as well liking the perspective of it.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

The other thing that might be doing something as well. Is I maybe giving it a touch too much sharpening and taking some of that smooth look we have been talking about with the A7rII away. That's certainly a possibility.

It's a great lens and we maybe being a touch picky but that's okay we should be. These are investments and you always want to correct. For right now it's the only game in town being native and faster than 2.8 in 85.

I know one thing for sure ,it's far better corrected than say the A mount 85 1.4 and Zeiss 85 1.4 nik/Can mount

 

[Guy Mancuso]

I'm getting a Minolta 200 back so I may try that IBIS test with a longer lens. I would certainly think longer would be worse case. So if it passes that than I'm just going to leave it on, take the control for it out of my custom buttons as well.

 

[Dan Bellyk]

Hey everyone great to see all this testing so I can start funding Sony too...LOL