A7r with RF glass

After trying quite a few different M lenses on my A7r, I have to say that it is very frustrating. I don' t know how people can be satisfied buying high end lenses and then creating smeared edge images with them.

The color shifts might be tolerable, but not the smearing - even some 50's are smeared. Right now I am trying to decide if I keep it and and buy some good
SLR lenses, but I see many of those have problems as well.

It is a nice well featured camera, but for me it is not for M Lenses. It makes me regret selling my old Contax lenses!
 
After trying quite a few different M lenses on my A7r, I have to say that it is very frustrating. I don' t know how people can be satisfied buying high end lenses and then creating smeared edge images with them.

The color shifts might be tolerable, but not the smearing - even some 50's are smeared. Right now I am trying to decide if I keep it and and buy some good
SLR lenses, but I see many of those have problems as well.

It is a nice well featured camera, but for me it is not for M Lenses. It makes me regret selling my old Contax lenses!
Click to expand...
This spooks me.
 
Last edited:
gdi said:
After trying quite a few different M lenses on my A7r, I have to say that it is very frustrating. I don' t know how people can be satisfied buying high end lenses and then creating smeared edge images with them.

The color shifts might be tolerable, but not the smearing - even some 50's are smeared. Right now I am trying to decide if I keep it and and buy some good
SLR lenses, but I see many of those have problems as well.

It is a nice well featured camera, but for me it is not for M Lenses. It makes me regret selling my old Contax lenses!
Click to expand...


Hey gdi

Do you mean C/Y Contax or old Zeiss Contax RF?
I've held on to my C/Y kit so far as I can. Mostly to use on Eos 5D bodies. Maybe it's going to pay off with next gen mirror less as well.

Cheers!
 
f16sunshine said:
Hey gdi

Do you mean C/Y Contax or old Zeiss Contax RF?
I've held on to my C/Y kit so far as I can. Mostly to use on Eos 5D bodies. Maybe it's going to pay off with next gen mirror less as well.

Cheers!
Click to expand...

C/Y Mount - I think the Sony may be able to handle them a lot better than M lenses. I sold my 5D when the digital RFs became available and a couple of years later I sold the C/Y.

I really should never sell ANY lenses!
 
thompsonks said:
Hi gdi,

Would you please say what lenses you're writing about??
Click to expand...

Here are a few I have tried testing - 28 Hexanon-M, UC Hexanon 35 LM, Hexanon Limited 50mm, Noctilux F1. On a distant landscape the center is beautifully sharp but the images deteriorates well within the frame on the sides - and I am not talking about just the corners. ( Of course the nature of the Nocti makes any issues fairly tolerable, unless you are trying to use it as a all around 50 for things like landscapes. If you were doing true low light shots, centered subjects could look fabulous with the combo.)

My caveat is that I tested wide open and one stop down; my goal was to see how the sensor handled the lens, not to try to find a way to get rid if any imperfections. Many people are happy stopping down to F8 to clear things up, and that is fine if they like. Also, I have compared to what I can get out of an M8 and I see that the cropped M8 is sharp to the edge while the Sony is smeared even if cropped to the FOV of the M8. So the lens, DOF etc. is not causing the smearing.

And I do see that some M lenses seem to work well on the A7r, but I can't see trying to rejigger my M lenses to accommodate a particular sensor - what will the generation work well with? It makes more sense to accept the limits of the camera and go with some high quality SLR lenses for the wider than 50 range. (I have seen very good samples with the 50 ELmar-M which I have, but have not shot)

SO I am trying to decide on a modest kit of a 28 and 35, and maybe a 18 or 21. I will likely go with C/Y or maybe Leica R.
 
It's interesting reading these comments on the A7r since I don't see any of this on the A7 that I own. I recognize that the sensor is completely different but this was one of the reasons why I went with the "less megapixel" sensor of the A7.

I read the differences, I watched one review that showed the two cameras side-by-side and the comments made in that video confirmed for me that the A7 was going to be just fine for my needs.

I think the A7r will be a lot better with the native glass on it - but part of the appeal of these cameras is the ability to drop your legacy glass on them via adapters. It will be interesting to see where Sony takes this....

Cheers,
Dave
 
grdglass said:
Can you give a link to that review/video?
Click to expand...

If you can bear some of the corny comedy and a bit of harsh language... Kai makes some good points:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUJc83wV6iA

Make note of his comments between 7:00 and 9:00 minutes surrounding focusing.
Also note his comments between 9:40 and 10:30 regarding corner colours using wide M-mount lenses

Cheers,
Dave
 
uhoh7 said:
....
If someone can post a link to a sharper landscape shot 28mm on m9 or 240, I'd like to see it-seriously, I have yet to find one.
Click to expand...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38068178@N08/4289050214/sizes/o/in/photolist-7x1vcC-7R3neE-7SFUg8-7SFUgg-dDuh85-8ReHDS-9hpc1P-9q7nCN-e24WCU-8ZW6Hh-914msG-86sdQ8-84kfoM-eb19Ab-cB1bef-8ZGxBh/

(large file, original size)
Elmarit 28 Asph., on M9. Sharp Corners, way better than this Elmarit on A7r

A shame that Sony does not offer a decent wide angle lens in the near future.

Carsten
Flickr
 
C_R said:
(large file, original size)
Elmarit 28 Asph., on M9. Sharp Corners, way better than this Elmarit on A7r

A shame that Sony does not offer a decent wide angle lens in the near future.

Carsten
Flickr
Click to expand...

TY for that 🙂

That is a good benchmark for me, I will have to see if I can get close 🙂
 
C_R said:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/38068178@N08/4289050214/sizes/o/in/photolist-7x1vcC-7R3neE-7SFUg8-7SFUgg-dDuh85-8ReHDS-9hpc1P-9q7nCN-e24WCU-8ZW6Hh-914msG-86sdQ8-84kfoM-eb19Ab-cB1bef-8ZGxBh/

(large file, original size)
Elmarit 28 Asph., on M9. Sharp Corners, way better than this Elmarit on A7r

A shame that Sony does not offer a decent wide angle lens in the near future.

Carsten
Flickr
Click to expand...

I think most people will realize in the end that if you want top results with the Sony and alternative lenses, you need to move to SLR lenses. Sony obviously didn't have the motivation to make the A7 handle RF lenses, and the results show it when compared to an M9. I don't see that as an indictment of the camera, if Sony produces a number of high quality lenses, or one uses good slr lenses I think it will prove a formidable option.
 
gdi said:
I think most people will realize in the end that if you want top results with the Sony and alternative lenses, you need to move to SLR lenses. Sony obviously didn't have the motivation to make the A7 handle RF lenses, and the results show it when compared to an M9. I don't see that as an indictment of the camera, if Sony produces a number of high quality lenses, or one uses good slr lenses I think it will prove a formidable option.
Click to expand...

My understanding is that Sony tested the A7 with many different lenses, especially Leica.
My NEX5N handles my Leica M and Nikon SLR equally well. I have no problems focussing but I was a TV cameraman for a while.
I would expect the A7 to do a good job as well.
 
i sold my canon dslr gear and never looked back, meanwhile kind of RF fanboy.... now comes Sony and drives me to look again for a decent wide DSLR lens. No. I keep my Leica Monochrom and lenses, and wait until Sony comes with wide FE lens. My stuff is over 90% black and white, I can wait.
I sold my m9 and will keep the A7r: focusing is way better and high Iso is nice to have. My 35FLE, Nocti 1.0, Apo50, 90AA, and Elmar 135 are great with this Sony. Time will show whether the M240 is followed by a winner, or Sony comes with more excellent lenses.

Carsten
 
C_R said:
i sold my canon dslr gear and never looked back, meanwhile kind of RF fanboy.... now comes Sony and drives me to look again for a decent wide DSLR lens. No. I keep my Leica Monochrom and lenses, and wait until Sony comes with wide FE lens. My stuff is over 90% black and white, I can wait.
I sold my m9 and will keep the A7r: focusing is way better and high Iso is nice to have. My 35FLE, Nocti 1.0, Apo50, 90AA, and Elmar 135 are great with this Sony. Time will show whether the M240 is followed by a winner, or Sony comes with more excellent lenses.

Carsten
Click to expand...

Of course I should have been more specific about the RF lenses - I am sure there are some that work better than others - obviously the long lenses will be more consistent. I have tried my Noctilux F1 on the A7r and I think it will do fine for low light, given that field curvature and falloff kind of force you into centering the subject.

I have also found that a slower 50 may be ok for knocking about but not for critical work - here I am talking about a Elmar-M - the images still smear on the edges. My 90 Summicron Pre-Asph seems just fine.

Regarding the 35FLE, I have seen samples and tests that would leave me very disappointed on the A7r. Tim Ashley says it doesn't show decent edges till 5.6 and corner till F8. But I do not have this lens, so this is just what I read.

I still have a few Canon lenses - nothing really spectacular, but I may pick up an adapter just to give them a try....
 
There's a larger point here: Sony E mount cameras don't really care what lens is mounted.
Think about it: here's a camera with a flange to sensor (film) distance thin enough that you can put a Leica thread lens and adapter on to it.
That's not an accident, it was designed that way.
The LTM is the thinnest lens mount made in wide use.
Therefore the E mount will handle almost any lens BY DESIGN.
Pretty nifty.
 
philcycles said:
There's a larger point here: Sony E mount cameras don't really care what lens is mounted.
Think about it: here's a camera with a flange to sensor (film) distance thin enough that you can put a Leica thread lens and adapter on to it.
That's not an accident, it was designed that way.
The LTM is the thinnest lens mount made in wide use.
Therefore the E mount will handle almost any lens BY DESIGN.
Pretty nifty.
Click to expand...

The camera will mount any Leica lenses you can think of, I suppose. But being able to mount the lens on the camera and being able to produce an acceptable photo is a different story. The NEX 5n and any other crop Nex is a totally different animal...

But no one should sweat this - get some great SLR lenses and have at on the A7 and A7r; they are usually far cheaper than M lenses...
 
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