ZM lenses on Sony alpha 7

[fuwen]

Got a reply from Zeiss regarding adapting ZMs on Sony mirror less. A little bit disappointing. But the key is 'perfect match and best image quality', so maybe with a little bit compromise can still consider .....

One thing, Rollei is so advance, their wide angle 40/2.8 HFT Sonnar is digital ready so many years back! : D No wonder the 35mm on latest Sony are all Sonnar design rather than Biogon or Distagon .......


Dear Mr. Chang,

Thank you for your inquiry to ZEISS.

Like all M-mount lenses, our ZM lenses are developed for analogue and digital M-mount rangefinder cameras. They work perfectly on the digital Leica M models (e.g. M8, M9 and M).

Because all other mirrorless digital cameras (e.g. Sony E-mount bodies) cannot really handle the step chief ray angles of compact wide-angle M-mount lenses, there will appear a certain amount of vignetting and color shading with those cameras.
So we cannot really recommend to adapt any M-mount lens below 35mm focal length to a mirrorless camera.
For perfect matching and best image quality, we recommend to use dedicated wide-angle lenses or adapted SLR-lenses on mirrorless cameras.

Hoping to be of service to you we kindly ask you to contact us again should you need further assistance.

Sincerely,
Bertram Hoenlinger

 

[marccccc]

On first sight the letter from Sony might be disappointing.
But in my view the content much depends on Sony's motivation. I see two main points here:
1. Sony simply wants to sell their own lenses. This is their business and the body is quite cheap for beeing full frame. So they might only earn real mony with the lenses and not with the body itself.
2. Sony does not want to take any responsibilty for products from other manufacturers. Why should they? In the moment they recommend M-Lenses (incl. ZM) they would have to explain every problem in this aspect. Not to mention the legal aspect, whre I am not an expert in.

I will therefore rely more on what people write in the formus, blogs etc. concerning ZM-lenses on A7(r) bodies.

br
Jacob

 

[Paul T.]

On first sight the letter from Sony might be disappointing.
But in my view the content much depends on Sony's motivation. I see two main points here:
1. Sony simply wants to sell their own lenses. This is their business and the body is quite cheap for beeing full frame. So they might only earn real mony with the lenses and not with the body itself.
2. Sony does not want to take any responsibilty for products from other manufacturers. Why should they? In the moment they recommend M-Lenses (incl. ZM) they would have to explain every problem in this aspect. Not to mention the legal aspect, whre I am not an expert in.

I will therefore rely more on what people write in the formus, blogs etc. concerning ZM-lenses on A7(r) bodies.

br
Jacob

...except that the letter here is not from Sony, it's from Zeiss, who would surely lose potential sales giving this advice.

 

[jarski]

either Sony or Zeiss, "taking responsibility" is the key IMO. companies probably don't want to solve issues from customers with all imaginable adapter related problems etc. naturally selling new lenses with native mount must be pretty high on priority with the thinking. 😛

 

[thegman]

Personally I would not listen to blogs, forums, or Sony or Zeiss. If you're buying the lens brand new, get it, try it, if you don't like the results, send it back.

We all have different ideas about colour shifts, vignetting etc. and whether they are acceptable for our use.

 

[marccccc]

...except that the letter here is not from Sony, it's from Zeiss, who would surely lose potential sales giving this advice.

uups, must have been sleeping.
Nevertheless my second point regarding responsibility is still valid.

br
Jacob

 

[raid]

This letter is confirming several postings by users of wide angle lenses.

 

[uhoh7]

Personally I would not listen to blogs, forums, or Sony or Zeiss. If you're buying the lens brand new, get it, try it, if you don't like the results, send it back.

We all have different ideas about colour shifts, vignetting etc. and whether they are acceptable for our use.

That is some good advice. 🙂

There are quite a few zms, and it will be case by case.

Colorshift should be correctable in camera with a lens profile app, so the real issue is smearing. Brian Smith swears the zm18 is sharp to the edges. However we really don't know. So some of the Zms may need a crop if edge or corner detail is crucial in the shot.

One thing we do know: the centers are going to be sharper than any digital M--by quite a bit, at least with the A7r.

 

[thompsonks]

I've read many posts/threads that fret about using ultra-wide angles. I would be quite happy if the sensor accommodated 35mm (as the Zeiss letter says) and maybe 28.

 

[CrisR]

There's always Cornerfix. I'm interested in a 7R myself and will be using mainly Zeiss ZM and VC lenses.