24/25mm lens for A7s query?

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Peter David Grant

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Hi guys,

I'm after some advice for adapted lenses on an A7s.

Currently I've got a cheap M to E adapter, and put a Leica 35/2 lens on the A7, but I'm looking for something wider, while leaving the 35 on an MM. The focus seems off sometimes, which I think is due to the quality of the adapter (e.g. I focus, and the adapter moves a little, putting the focus out).

So, I'm looking for a 24 or 25mm lens to shoot on the A7s. It can be an M lens, and I'll get a better adapter (so I could use it on the M if needed) or another mount completely with adapter. I want to stick with Manual focus lenses (and ones designed to be) and my budget is about £500 total (adapter+lens).

My thoughts are currently: 25mm F4 VM (No Finder) - Voigtlander + Voigtlander VM to Sony E Close Focus Lens Adaptor...

Love to know your thoughts,
Peter
 
An SLR lens might get you better corners: how about the Pentax 24mm f/2.8 or the OM 24mm f/2? The latter, especially, seems to be a perennial favorite on film, and is quite a bit faster to boot.
 
if f2.8 is alright for you than imo the OM 2.8/24 is the best choice. and better get the later version that has multi coating, it either says MC or Zuiko 'only', not the single coated 'H-Zuiko"
the Pentax K is very good too, has the more sturdy build might even have the better coating, but corner performance, if this is of importance, is a bit weaker and it's a bit heavier and bigger.
Rokkor 2.8/24 is another favourite, great lens, the Nikkor 2.8/24 is also very good, both a bit bigger again, the later has great colours ( but that could be personal ) but the most distortion.
If talking f2 there also is the fantastic Pentax f2/28, optically identical to the 2/28 Distagon but smaller, lighter and much cheaper ;)
Of the mentioned f2 I don't have personal experience, of the f2.8 I do. Of course there also is the Distagon, and I read that the Konica AR 2.8/24 is very good too.
 
mabelsound said:
Cheaper, but hardly what you'd call cheap! And rare, too. I've always wanted to try one.
Click to expand...

right! not cheap, cheaper is relative to the Zeiss only ;)
and..I am just at a marriage party and drunk..so the 28mm came in, sorry for that. I hope that my other infos are right though ;) ( will check again tomorrow :)) )
the CV 4/25 is very good, but the corners on any A7 camera aren't, any SLR lens fares better
 
M/LTM lenses will definitely give you the size advantage but unfortunately you might get color shift in the corners.
Nikon 24mm AI-S or Olympus 24mm would be your other choices
 
Thanks for the replies! Enjoy the party kuuan!

So when you're all talking about corner performance, is this only with regards to colour shifting? I perhaps should have mentioned that I shoot exclusively in B&W. Does that basically mean I can ignore lack of 'corner performance' in any lens selections?

Kuuan, does that mean this lens: http://www.ffordes.com/product/15090312540531 would be multi-coated?

Thanks all!
Peter
 
Most adapted rangefinder wides get kinda smeary, i.e., blurry in the corners, on mirrorless cameras. They're not accustomed to the thick glass that covers digital sensors. The A7s is purportedly the best of the bunch for this, though (with the exception of the Leica Ms of course). If you're not fussy about corner performance, an M-mount wide will work fine, especially in B&W. SLR wides were designed with the rear element further away from the film plane, though, resulting in less oblique rays of light to the corners, and so generally do better penetrating the sensor cover glass.
 
Thanks, Kuuan, for the flickr link with samples for many of these lenses.

Kuuan, the link in your sig doesn't work for me. Here's one to Kuuan's sample images that should work for anyone:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kuuan/collections/72157604973031858/

Here's a sample image from me, Olympus Zuiko 24mm 1:2.8 on a Sony A7. Handheld, f/5.6 1/60th, ISO 1600. Nothing precise here, lighting uneven, etc. But, it will give an idea of the sharpness and the modest distortion (some "mustache", Lightroom Distortion +8, or tell Lightroom it's a "Nikkor 24 f/2.8D").

I like this lens on the A7.

DSC9476-Test-BookCase-Olympus24mm-A7.jpg
 
Peter David Grant said:
Thanks for the replies! Enjoy the party kuuan!

So when you're all talking about corner performance, is this only with regards to colour shifting? I perhaps should have mentioned that I shoot exclusively in B&W. Does that basically mean I can ignore lack of 'corner performance' in any lens selections?

Kuuan, does that mean this lens: http://www.ffordes.com/product/15090312540531 would be multi-coated?

Thanks all!
Peter
Click to expand...

it gets really soft/smeared in the corners with wider lenses.
here's my CV21mm on the M240
L1009932 by Earl Dieta, on Flickr
L1008846 by Earl Dieta, on Flickr

I've also owned the CV25mm LTM and used it on the M9 couple of years ago and found it to be a decent performer, regret selling this lens to be honest as it didnt exhibit any color shift or soft corners so it might be a decent light performer on the A7s
Test shot with Snapshot Skopar 25mm by Earl Dieta, on Flickr
L1002512 by Earl Dieta, on Flickr
 
Peter David Grant said:
Thanks for the replies! Enjoy the party kuuan!

So when you're all talking about corner performance, is this only with regards to colour shifting? I perhaps should have mentioned that I shoot exclusively in B&W. Does that basically mean I can ignore lack of 'corner performance' in any lens selections?

Kuuan, does that mean this lens: http://www.ffordes.com/product/15090312540531 would be multi-coated?

Thanks all!
Peter
Click to expand...

1: thank's a lot! by now more drunk again, but I just left the party and hopefully I'm not too drunk and will write nonsense ;)
2: no, there also is loss of sharpness usually referred to as 'smearing'. might not disturb for the majority of photos, but...for some it will ( link to my pics taken with the CV 4/25, the first some 30 seen on Sony A7, below )
3: since it only says 'Zuiko', even though Sebastian says it's not, I am rather sure that the f2/24 you linked must be multicoated. I believe that he got the serial numbers confused wit those of the f2.8 version ( ha, not all that drunk! )
according to this very good Olympus source, but in German, there actually isn't any single coated but only multi coated versions of the f2/24mm: http://olypedia.de/Zuiko_Auto-W_1:2/24_mm (phhu, good I found out, I have a OM 2/28 I haven't seen but had bought waiting for me back in Austria )

ColSebastianMoran said:
Thanks, Kuuan, for the flickr link with samples for many of these lenses.

Kuuan, the link in your sig doesn't work for me. Here's one to Kuuan's sample images that should work for anyone:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kuuan/collections/72157604973031858/

..]
Click to expand...

ohhhh, my links didn't work! thank you VERY much for that Sebastian!! and happy that you find my samples useful :)
just corrected that and put the links in a crude but hopefully working form.

at the link you provided that leads to all my 'albums' of manual lenses, in order from wide to long, and photos taken with them, samples of the mentioned 2.8/24 lenses can be seen. However most had been taken on APS-C sensor cameras, only the first 24 photos seen ( 24 right now, soon it will be more, incl. some of tonights party ;) ) in the album of the OM 2.8/24 were taken on FF Sony A7: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kuuan/sets/72157633627307747/

in comparison the 'album' with the photos taken with the CV 4/25 you are interested in. Right now about the first 30 seen had been taken on FF Sony A7, the rest on APS-C ( the first one taken on APS-C is the mirrorimage showing my hand and a 'tube' ): https://www.flickr.com/photos/kuuan/sets/72157633352494287/
 
check out the size difference of a bunch of 2.8/24mm SLR lenses with their respective Sony E mount adapter:


24mm lenses + NEX adapter by andreas, on Flickr

from left to right: MC W-Rokkor, Nikkor-NC Auto, Takumar ( it's a f3.5 ), Pentax K and the one to the right is the Om Zuiko
 
Perfect, thanks a lot for all the advice, it has been really useful.

kuuan, I checked out some of your photographs with the OM on FF, and they looked great, thanks for the links.

I'm going to go with an SLR lens instead of an M mount b/c of the corners, don't like the sound of smearing, and the OM's seems like a good choice too.

Thanks again all!
 
Ultron 21 1.8 VM lens would be my first choice if it is not too wide:) , it behaves like slr in the corners .
 
Just one more thought: The OM 24mm f/2.8 is a good lens, but I don't know that it's that much better than other SLR lenses, except for being smaller.
 
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