Zeiss Loxia 50/2 Planar FE

I would much rather buy the excellent 50mm F2 planar ZM.

Why limit yourself to one lens mount, for no obvious size/performance advantages, when the alternative is cheap and easy to find? Not to say this won't be an excellent lens - but the ZM is already such a solid performer, it's hard to imagine anything being meaningfully better...
 
YYV_146 said:
I would much rather buy the excellent 50mm F2 planar ZM.

Why limit yourself to one lens mount, for no obvious size/performance advantages, when the alternative is cheap and easy to find? Not to say this won't be an excellent lens - but the ZM is already such a solid performer, it's hard to imagine anything being meaningfully better...
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I understand your preference, but the one made for the mount can offer EXIF data and integration of aperture control should they choose to do so. That's worthwhile for some people.

G
 
Godfrey said:
I understand your preference, but the one made for the mount can offer EXIF data and integration of aperture control should they choose to do so. That's worthwhile for some people.

G
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Aperture information, yes, but not on-body aperture control, not if they are using the system in their ZE/ZF.2 lenses. Active electronic aperture requires in-lens electronics, and is a rather fiddy function for an allegedly manual lens.

Anyways, we will see...If this one undercuts the ZM by a fair amount, I can definitely see a lot of attention.
 
YYV_146 said:
Aperture information, yes, but not on-body aperture control, not if they are using the system in their ZE/ZF.2 lenses. Active electronic aperture requires in-lens electronics, and is a rather fiddy function for an allegedly manual lens.

Anyways, we will see...If this one undercuts the ZM by a fair amount, I can definitely see a lot of attention.
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There is aperture control on the lens apparently. See the picture.

I am looking forward to the 35/2. No small 35mm MF lenses with decent borders on the A7 series currently, afaik.
 
Another good reason for the native e-mount variant is that the camera can do lens profile and auto correction in camera, or in post processing in Photoshop/Lightroom.
 
z.bruce.li said:
Another good reason for the native e-mount variant is that the camera can do lens profile and auto correction in camera, or in post processing in Photoshop/Lightroom.
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Leica M lenses have distortion profiles in ACR. For vignetting I have found either cornerfix or the Flat field plugin as quite a suitable option.


I was talking about on-camera-body controls earlier, just to clarify that...
 
I think that it is total waste since neither one of the mirrorless mf focusing options works well (magnification, peaking).
Once when they introduce digital split screen then we can talk about it.
And, yes I know that there are many peopele that are keen of peaking but please dont try to persuede me - it is just an option, not an solution:)


Samouraï said:
http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/sr5-first-image-of-the-new-zeiss-loxia-50mm-f2-0-planar-lens/

Here is the first image of the new Zeiss Loxia 50 for the FE mount. A 35/2 on the way as well. Thoughts?
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Vobluda said:
I think that it is total waste since neither one of the mirrorless mf focusing options works well (magnification, peaking).
Once when they introduce digital split screen then we can talk about it.
And, yes I know that there are many peopele that are keen of peaking but please dont try to persuede me - it is just an option, not an solution:)
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Hmm. I find both magnification and peaking work well in my GXR, A7, and E-M1 cameras. Neither are particularly necessary all the time either ... Many times I can adjust to critical focus just as easily as I used to do with an SLR and a simple plain matte fresnel focusing screen.

Always hated split image rangefinders in my SLRs unless I was using wide angle lenses. Focus magnification is better than that. :)

G
 
It seems, from Zeiss's perspective, having dropped/delayed development of their rumoured fast ZM lens, that ZM is pretty much dead in the water except for a very niche rangefinder following. When NEX first appeared, it seemed like ZM was what everyone hoped would be the easy, small, high quality lens solution. But as we've learned, many of the ZM wides don't show their full potential on the various mirrorless cameras and this puts Zeiss at a disadvantage if they wish to maintain their premium reputation in this market.

I'm just a bit baffled they're starting with a couple 'safe' focal lengths that are already covered in FE/E mount. And the ZM50/2 already works well adapted to the Sony cameras. They could have instead addressed the ZM line's main weakness and also filled the gaping holes at the wide angle end of Sony's FE lineup, first.

On paper the Loxia 50/2 sounds like a clone of the ZM, but we haven't gotten to see the block diagram or MTF for it yet, to really determine how much of a difference there might be. There's speculation the Loxia seems too small/short to be a direct ZM transplant. I would be surprised if it is indeed the exact same optics since this is a chance for Zeiss to 'start fresh' and improve on the ZM line. The ZM50/2 is no slouch, but it's also out-resolved by many other 50s above it (in cost). Maybe it depends on how much the Loxia will cost... If it's under the FE55/1.8, then I'd suspect it'll be closer to the ZM in performance.
 
I'm cool with these lenses, but a little sad because I already own the 35mm and 55mm sonnars for the FE mount and was hoping for primes in other focal lengths. Would love an AF 28mm prime.
 
Apparently same design as ZM but corrected for outer image field smearing on digital sensors. Samples show a little bit of corner smearing with the 35/2 Loxia but certainly not as bad as the 35/2 ZM on the A7 line.
 
While I love Zeiss lenses I think I'll stick with the Sony AF Zeiss branded lenses for the time being. No sense duplicating focal length IF Sony's lens roadmap holds true... that's a big "IF" mind you :D :D :D

Cheers,
Dave
 
We'll see what they say at photokina. I was under the impression that there was going to be a big announcement regarding lenses, and I find it hard to believe this is it.
 
I'm finding it hard to get excited about these two lenses based on the Flickr samples. The draw from Sony 55FE and 35FE is much more pleasing to my eyes.

It's only the mechanics of these lenses that have me interested. What a shame. What do you guys think of the image quality, especially when compared to the equivalent Sony FE lenses?
 
I have never been excited by the OOF rendering of the 35/2 Biogon. The FE Sonnar draws much smoother to my eye. Too bad it doesn't have proper manual focus. And too bad there are no really usable RF sized manual alternatives at this focal length, afaik. I'd expect the Biogon to be successful due to this one reason alone.

The Planar is a typical Planar and I have way too many of these to even consider buying another one. Especially since both ZM and G Planars work ok on the A7 series.
 
Both look intriguing, but I already have the Sony-Zeiss 55 and it's a killer lens. Not sure what the Loxia would give me. I'd really like to see a fast WA, really, any WA from Zeiss would be great. Maybe the 16-35 f4 Sony-Zeiss they're announcing next week will be it.
 
wonder if the offer Auto Aperture? This would be THE killer feature. I hate focusing a stopped down lens, and open/close all the time is bothersome.
 
kanzlr said:
wonder if the offer Auto Aperture? This would be THE killer feature. I hate focusing a stopped down lens, and open/close all the time is bothersome.
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I believe that the aperture is also electronically controlled. I'm curious to know if the manual aperture ring is simply a control dial or if it can be adjusted when the camera is off (or adapted to a future lens mount).
 
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