POLL: SLR magic asks you what kind of wide angle lens for NEX you want!
SLR magic manager asked me if I could post a POLL for you. They want to know which kind of wide angle lens you would like them to make for your NEX camera. There are four options. It’s important to know that the price and size of the lens will increase with the wideness of the angle. That means that the 10mm f/2.0 lens will be bigger and cost more than the 12mm f/1.8. Price will be somewhere between 600-800 Euro. This would be completely new designed lenses for the NEX system!
Loading ...SLR magic already made three lenses for the NEX system:
The 28mm f/2.8 (here on eBay)
The 35mm f/1.7 (here on eBay)
The 50mm f/0.95 (here on eBay)
hiepphotog
2 years ago |I hope those voted for the 12/1.8 or 10/2 would realize that the lens is going to be huge and bulky to get a decent IQ. Distortion would be extreme as well. I think a 16 (24 equ.) or 14 (21 equ.) is a sensible choice. It’s quite difficult to get a decent, compelling shot with anything wider than 21 on full frame.
DrStrangelove
2 years ago |Current SRL magic have a lot of distortion already. They are CCTV lenses, bought from a cctv manufacturer. The optics are http://www.goyooptical.com/, from japan, and assembled in hong kong. I will admit the bodies look more than good, but the glass is not. Some people will call them fun lenses, other toy lenses. If you consider that and want that they are more than ok. IF not forget it.
They are small, the 35mm 1.7 s very small (not pancake) and the 28mm too (the one with the rare aperture with no blades). And if you see the size of the ones they make for m43rds too, but probably will need to make them bigger for the nex.
See this one. It is a toy lens completely, now they are building better bodies for the lens, to try to make them look more serious:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1k347SdUz0&feature=related
Still, if someone needs a toy/special effect lens, they can buy them.
Rover
2 years ago |This “toy lens” has actually turned in a pretty decent performance:
http://www.photozone.de/olympus–four-thirds-lens-tests/685-slrmagic_12_16
The more recent stuff like 23mm f/1.7 for NEX and especially the 50mm T/0.95 for M mount (= full frame) are hardly CCTV lenses…
startowa13
2 years ago |Strange because the 12mm for 4/3 system looks very good and the performance is good as well. The 50mm it’s not bad either. So, you are talking about the 37mm and 28mm cheap lenses (yeah, they are toy lenses) but their “expensive” line is pretty good and much cheaper when comparing with main brands.
William
2 years ago |AUTO FOCUS !!!!!!!!!!!
We need SLR Magic to produce AUTOFOCUS Hyperprime lenses!
reward72
2 years ago |I have the 35mm f/1.7 and I love it. It is a toy, it’s definitively distorted and always blurry around the edges, but I must say I made my favourite pictures with it- even tho I also have the 24mm Zeiss. On the other hand I did screw up a lot more pictures with it than the other lenses, mostly because I need more practice at manual focussing.
Vlad
2 years ago |Well, the widest possible, the better. The problem here are these crazy apertures though.
Ethan
2 years ago |I’d like one that isn’t a CCTV lens with awful CA. Or, if it’s a CCTV lens, a half-reasonable price.
nagi
2 years ago |I’d love to have a 16mm with f1.8, the Sony f2.8 “pancake” is often just a tad too slow in low light.
DrStrangelove
2 years ago |HEre is another video of the 12mm f1.6 for m43rds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM_a3k2vgW0&feature=related
I still know it will be bigger in the nex, but still it is not that big, as other manufacturers.
Linh
2 years ago |Cheap ones.
Razi Miri
2 years ago |I’d love to have a10 mm wide lens with a quality same as voiglander 12 mm or better .
BlackLegSanji
2 years ago |I don’t understand the purpose of an aperture as large as 1.8 on a very wide angle lens. Aren’t these lens used for landscape or group (of peole) shots where there is a lot that need to be in focus? I’d rather get a cheap 16mm f4 that is sharp edge to edge than an expensive and bulky 16mm f1.8 that is mushy toward the corners.
Jean-Michel
2 years ago |+10 !
Gunnar
2 years ago |+10 too
i´d love to see something like my samyang 14mm custom built for the Nex. that lens is fantastic, but a bit bulky..
Godsakes
2 years ago |+1 on a dslr you could argue you might benefit from additional focusing accuracy on a f2.8 cross sensor but you don’t even get that benefit on a mirror less body. F1.8 is overkill, f2.8 tops for a wide angle lens if only so they can keep the size reasonably small
WilliamLeong
2 years ago |It’s quite obvious you’ve not try to shoot an event in a dark environment before. Having f/1.8 on a short focal length doesn’t mean razor thin DoF. With proper knowledge, you can still squeeze enough DoF out of it, depending on where you focus it at, there’s plenty of in focus area for you to play with.
You’d be glad you have the fast aperture with you when you don’t want to utilize flash to light up your scene – rather than only having an f/3.5 or f/4 as your largest aperture.
TA
2 years ago |Have you thought about the size vs the intended market segment of the Nex?
How many f1.8 wide angle primes can you even find on Sony DSLR/Ts to begin with.
Rover
2 years ago |ZA 24/2 SSM? The 2x/1.8 Sigmas? Just a guess.
Hellven
2 years ago |does are wide angles for FF, not APS-C
TA
2 years ago |They’re not as wide as what’s in the poll.
Arnold
2 years ago |I agree, I’d prefer f2.8 or f4, but it must be SHARP and compact.
They will have to do better than the Voigtlander 15mm f4.5, it will not be easy !
I’d like a 14mm I think, wider is rarely useful.
JonasM
2 years ago |I for one think it’s deplorable that lenses designed for APS-C are marketed at their full frame lenghts when at least on E-mount its not even possible (meaning a Sony DT lens can at least be mounted on a A900/A850). If anything it’s false marketing selling the lens at one length was its in fact 1.5 times that length. I not bitching about SLR Magic but this practice in general. I’d like to see manufacturers sell their lenses for what they are.
Mike
2 years ago |@ JonasM
Lens focal length doesn’t change when you change the sensor size. All that changes is the field of view, which is described by saying something like “21mm-equivalent”, which would mean it gives the same FOV as a 21mm lens on full-frame.
So the only thing a 16mm lens can ever be marketed as is “16mm”, whether it’s made for E-mount, alpha-mount, or micro four thirds.
Andrew
2 years ago |I think you’re wrong. The full frame equivalent is just a reference point for the purpose of comparing this lens to any other lens. If somebody didn’t know what crop factor the NEX cameras had, or if they had one at all, describing a lens as “12mm” could be very misleading. And anyway, it’s not SLRMagic’s problem if there is no current full frame camera that can use this lens. What if there is one later when they’re still selling the lens? At any rate, it’s a very trivial thing for you to complain about, at all, let alone call deplorable.
JonasM
2 years ago |Comparing this lens to any other lens, on a theoretical full frame body..? This lens is only 12mm with no camera attached to it. People buying a “wide angle 12mm” that is really nothing but a less wide angle 18mm… I wasn’t picking on SLR Magic, but on this practice in general and maintain that a lens DESIGNED for APS-C should be marketed at its actual length, in your example 18mm instead of 12mm.
Pipo
2 years ago |I understand your point, but I think you are wrong. That’s just physics. 12mm are 12mm are 12mm. And a lens DESIGNED for APS-C with 12mm is still 12mm. Maybe it’s not as wide as on full frame or even on medium format (which I know is hardly possible), but that’s the problem with different sensor sizes and actually has nothing to do with the lens (also if this one probably won’t cover full frame). So, in my opinion, marketing a 12mm lens as a 18mm is crap.
Beer_Stalker
2 years ago |You need to read up on lenses. The focal length is the a property of the lens and has nothing to do with sensor sizes. The “actual length” of a 12mm lens is 12mm no matter what sensor is used.
JonasM
2 years ago |With all due respect, you miss the point of my argument.
Carl
2 years ago |He’s right though. Saying a 12mm lens is 18mm or 24mm because it’s being used on a smaller sensor is completely untrue. If I mounted a medium format 125mm lens on my full frame DSLR, it’d still be an 125mm lens. And I wouldn’t suddenly call the 125mm lens an 85mm one if I were to mount it on a 6×6 camera, as that would just be silly.
Focal length is not a metric for angle of view and shouldn’t be treated as such.
WilliamLeong
2 years ago |.
WilliamLeong
2 years ago |JonasM, if I were to make a wild guess, I’d say you’re an American.
There’s something called standardization. Something the rest of the world is using, other than America. It make things easier to comprehend across different fields and also in documentations. Try it.
JonasM
2 years ago |Interesting remark coming from someone living in a former British colony, still driving on the “wrong” side of the road. I’m Swedish, not American.
David
2 years ago |More people in the world drive on the left than on the right
WilliamLeong
2 years ago |So does being once under the British ruling make any difference to lens focal length physics/calculations/mathematics/whatever you Swedish people call it?
If you’re trying to be sarcastic, do it with a proper argument. Go back to school.
Claus
2 years ago |JonasM, the focal length is not the angle of view. You think it is, because you know what angle of view your camera has with a certain focal length.
Example: I use a 80mm medium format lens on Medium Format Film and on the smaller Full Frame Body, and on the even smaller APS-C D-SLR. It is alway the same lens with the same 80mm, just the angle of view gets smaller because of the smaller Sensor or Film. It is just the cropped centerpiece of the possible picture of this lens.
Hellven
2 years ago |you are joking right?
the sise of the sensor doesnt change the focal lenght of your lenses!
when i put my 50/1.4 in a APS-C camera it continues to be a 50/1.4, but because the sensor is smaller so is the image captured! this is photography 101, i think you should buy a good book and study a little more.
Clyde
2 years ago |1 –
It must have a much more professional name than “SLR Magic”. That sounds more like an iPhone AP than any optic to take seriously.
2 –
Let’s get rid of the fruity skittles rainbow color scheme. Save that for gizmos of the week contest. You know, nothing says quality like… lime.
3 –
If they really want to know, then why limit my choices to four optics? I have no doubt that Sony, Sigma, Tamron, Tokina will all be releasing high quality lenses in that range soon enough. Fruity flavored new players must take riskier moves to get my attention.
________
ATTN SLR Magic…
Create and release a modular Tilt/Shift mechanism that can accept 2 – 4 different lens fronts. You can even put the focus ring and aperture on the TS rig. Higher IQ will come from a two lens system, one that mounts in front, and one that mounts rear, so aperture can be in the center. Design convenient screw in/snap in focus rods that extent out from the focus ring and allow range focusing for video, complete with well read scale on the TS adapter.
I’d even settle for a TS zoom.
And save the lime color for focus scales.
Want to really get the game… then include a matching perfect fit ring light that is both flash for stills and led for video.
Tommy
2 years ago |It would be better if SLR magic could make any of them that supports auto focus!
Andrew
2 years ago |Instead of nex lenses, sony should produce more A lenses, people who buys nex are consumer people who aren’t really planning on expanding their lens collection, as long as they have the standard 18-55 they’re not gonna care for new lenses.
JonasM
2 years ago |Keep telling yourself that (keep living in a box). How many A-mount lenses do you have?
Austin Schutz
2 years ago |Ummm…what? Many of us bought EVIL cameras in anticipation of compact, high quality lenses.
David
2 years ago |Yeah, many people HERE might have done that.
But most people who buy a NEX are casual users. They’ll probably never buy another lens.
Same with dSLRs. I reckon 8/10 dSLRs I see in the real world are still with the kit lens.
Rooru S.
2 years ago |@Andrew well..you can say that..buuut
In Japan, Sony knows people do like to take picture of food and curious things. They come up with a macro lens. Good seller there. (SEL30M35)
Then, they come up again with another curious lens, a 50mm (SEL50F18) that makes more “blur” in your shots and that enhances the look of your photos. It’s going to be a good seller too.
And then, some people are going to move towards using more lenses from the main lineup. And then what happens? They’re expanding their lens collection. And I can assure you, all the people who bought an alpha NEX with the pancake lens, will buy for sure the standard zoom or the most expensive zoom lens, just because they want to zoom in further. Soooo they’re expanding. Profit for Sony main market. Japan.
rUY
2 years ago |be very aware that they are just asking for opinion, but does not mean they are able to do it. the company won’t even got optic design capability, but just re-label other brand.
SLR Magic
2 years ago |This was the first time we asked for peoples opinion
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1041&message=36104678
We asked what lens people wanted for the micro four thirds system over a year ago and we made the 12mm F1.6 to answer the question.
The second was our 23mm F1.7 lens from user email requests. The third was out 50mm T0.95 lens from user requests as well from a poll. This is the fourth time we ask for peoples opinion.
clivengu
2 years ago |I always been looking for UWA lens for NEX.. and I really hope the quality is top notch! i even dont mind the size a bit larger.. hope this lens will be in production when i got my nex7!
netskater
2 years ago |I think there is no sense in such a wide apertures for wide-angle lenses. 10/4 or 5.6, and 12/3.5 or 4 will be enough for most of cases.
Voohoo
2 years ago |Awesome, because I NEED a wide angle lens! I only used adapted old Nikon and Minolta lenses on my NEX-3 with the widest lens only being 28mm. I used to have the 18-55mm kit lens but the barrel distortion at 18mm is pretty bad. And the 16mm pancake is apparently not any better in terms of IQ.
Carl
2 years ago |Something like a 16…20mm f/1.0 would be more my sort of thing, but I think SLR Magic needs to worry more about supplying at quality lens than they do about offering a particular focal length and speed. They’re never going to grow out of being merely a niche company if they make lenses that are little more than toys.
Sam Waldron
2 years ago |Voigtlander 15mm. Yout prayers have been answered.
But of course everyone wants it to be autofocus, F2 or faster and ultra ultra wide.
Remember, as designs become more extreme (faster, smaller, wider) something simply has to give – optics, size or price…
With the awesome high iso of the 5N an ultra wide at F4 is still very usable in low light.
You can work pretty well with ISO 3200 / F4 and 1/20th of a second.
A non-e mouse
2 years ago |Stuff all those options. I want a 24mm f2 or f1.8
As nice as the Zeiss might be, a smaller cheaper option for those of us who want 35mm equivalent would be nice.
Jiri
2 years ago |If I am not mistaken this is the first time any manufacturer has approched the SAR with a request for a poll. They (at least some of them) seem to be listening. This fact is a proof of the impact this blog has.
Congratulations Andrea!
obican
2 years ago |I need a wider lens than Sony’s own 16/2.8. That lens is compact but it’s not quite a performer and there are times when I needed something with a wider angle. 12/2.8 would do fine. Looking at the Voigtlander’s 12/5.6, even that one would do.
f/2.0 also wouldn’t hurt but with such a lens you can go as slow as 1/20 in shutter speed and still easily get a sharp image. What is more important to me is the size and weight. That lens is not going to be my walkaround lens all the time, so I’d prefer a smaller lens which could fit into every pocket easily.
Petr Klapper
2 years ago |Get a Sony vcl-ecu1 and your done, 12/2.8, for $100. It’s much better then “conversion lens” suggests, it was designed together with 16/2.8 and it feels more like other half of the lens. And it’s definitely better than anything slrmagic could produce on the wide side for the money.
Also it should be clear by now that the nex users want smaller/pancake lenses, this poll seems to go wrong way to me. All I want is a small ultra wide no matter the aperture (done), wide f/2.8 or less (done), small 23-28/2- and small 50/1.7-. Also 35/1.7- would be nice, but in smaller package (surprise). I don’t want ugly lenses like slrmagic 12/1.6 for mtf..
obican
2 years ago |Too bad that I don’t really like the quality of 16/2.8 either.
Rover
2 years ago |How bad can the quality become with a conversion attachment if the bare lens isn’t stellar – to put it mildly – to begin with?
Voohoo
2 years ago |I don’t care. I just want it to be a pancake with IQ better than the SEL16f28.
eduardo
2 years ago |I want a 25mm f0,95 !!!!!!!!!!!! for E-mount
Daniel
2 years ago |What a great thing that they asked you!!!
ANDY
2 years ago |What SLRmagic should do is stop announcing lenses only to get a bit of press and actually release some products that you can physically buy.
And I dont mean buying (or should I say put on a waiting list) through a email like they currently like to.
Björn Utpott
2 years ago |At the moment I’m hanging onto a Micro Four Thirds body simply so I can continue to use my Lumix 7-14mm wide angle zoom (equivalent 14-28mm). Most of the time I use the lens at its widest end of 7mm (14mm equivalent), so a 10mm prime on my NEX-7 would be able to replace the Lumix zoom. But the image quality stopped down has to be at least as good as that of the 7-14.
For me it needs to be 9 or 10mm but I’d prefer if it were slower to keep the lens’ size and weight down. I don’t need a super wide angle lens to be all that fast, especially if it means adding more weight and bulk to my kit for a lens that only gets used occasionally.
I would be willing to pay 800 Euros for a compact, high quality, ultra wide prime.
TA
2 years ago |Would like a 10mm, an aperture of f/4 would be good enough.
It’ll be cheaper, smaller & lighter. IQ not less than my Sigma 10-20 and I’ll buy it.
Vivek
2 years ago |One more vote to change the name from “SLR Magic” to something else. Also, please get rid of those fluorescent lens rings in the filter thread area. You can not be serious!
Paint them mat black.
Frosti7
2 years ago |Dear slrMagic
Nex is not m43, we don’t need cinema nex as badly as we need a freakin normal prime lens which still doesn’t exist.
So please wake up and produce us one, a 30/1.4 or 1.8 (or f2, just make it compact)
Would outsell any wide angle by a huge margin,
You current lens don’t fit the bill, the 28/2.8 to slow for an aps-c, and 35/1.7 is not a quality lens, we need a workhorse for nex.
Andrew
2 years ago |28mm f/2.8 is a very fast lens for APS-C pancake. Pancake is usually f/5.6
Sam Waldron
2 years ago |Forsti – I don’t think SLR magic is able to produce a High quality pancake 30mm F1.4.
I don’t think its a matter of waking up, I think its a matter of design limitations.
The Samsung 30mm F2 is a well perfroming pancake, although a similar design for NEX would have to be larger due to the shorter flange distance.
Still, if Sony could make one which was even 30% bigger it would be a smash.
shamb
2 years ago |Something approaching the alpha mount Tokina 11-16 would make me seriously consider buying a NEX 7 over an a77.
An 11mm prime would be a good choice to keep the price down, plus anyone who actually uses a wide angle probably sticks to the 11mm end anyway, so not much lost in the compromise.
Colin
2 years ago |SLR Magic ultra-wides? Yeah, those won’t come equipped with hilariously bad distortion and softness.
eric
2 years ago |I was hoping to see an 18mm f/1.4 or f/2 listed. I’ve always felt the 28mm equiv. was a wide angle focal length with a natural feel that could be used day in and day out. I also feel like there aren’t too many options out there currently in this length for mirrorless, APS-C cameras. (OK, so there aren’t that many APS-C mirrorless cameras either.)
Speaking of, I’m looking looking with envy at that just announced Fuji 18mm f/2. Perhaps we’ll get an adapter.
Whatever build, I hope they go with a design that plays well with the NEX-7′s censor. We’re going to be thirsty for such wides I bet.
William
2 years ago |AUTO FOCUS PLEASE !!!!!!!!
I love the HyperPrime series, but I want AUTOFOCUS !!!!!
I would buy your lenses if they were AUTO FOCUS…
Sam Waldron
2 years ago |Eric – problem is with 18mm it is just not exciting enough for most who want a wide – especially with so many 18mm F3.5 kit lenses running around.
The Fuji 18mm F2 won’t work on the NEX as its focus by wire and the aperture ring is just a fancy interface – not mechanical. Its also the worst of the Fujis opticlly as well (unsurprisingly).
Sony’s native UWA zoom will be the lens to get for NEX 7 users – lets just hope it comes in black and it isn’t much larger than the kit lens.
Steve-S
2 years ago |@ JonasM:
Focal length is focal length, it DOES NOT CHANGE with sensor (or film) size; we’re talking fundamental physics and optics. Take a look at medium format – 4×5, 6×7, whatever – all with lenses marked at their genuine (real, physical) focal length. The FF-equiv FOV is simply an artifact of 35mm film, nothing “more genuine” about it than about any other format. Or would you like to start insisting that there’s something “deceptive” (insuficiently-telephoto for their marked FL’s?) about the lenses from e.g. Hasselblad and Mamiya…?
There’s no other way to say it… you’re simply mistaken. And FWIW, my perspectve is as a film-user; I bought my first SLR in the ’70s (35mm film), a pro body in 1980. Developed it myself, printed in a darkroom. Bought film in bulk (100′ rolls), spooled it onto my own re-usable canisters.
Given the prevalence of aps-c in the marketplace, I’d argue that relabelling everything in “FF-equiv” is MORE deceptive — most aps-c shooters already know that their 35mm’s are roughly-normal, their “nifty fifties” are slightly-telephoto, their 20somehting’s are mid-to-slightly wide, etc.
The only place where “standardization” of this sort would IMHO be good is in the P&S world, where sensor-size (and thus FOV at a given FL) varies wildly and (unless you know to look, which most P&S users do NOT) you can’t usually TELL from the box what it is that you’re buying…
Steve S.
SLR Magic
2 years ago |Thanks to all for the feedback! Since the introduction of our 12mm F1.6 lens for micro four thirds we have received many requests for a wide angle prime for E-mount.
Small aperture compact lenses are not that desirable for the system due to color shift. For small aperture wide angle primes there are already some options available by another brand.
Sam Waldron
2 years ago |Hmmm… not sure about comments about small apertures and color shift? Care to explain further?
My understanding is that color shift is more a product of the proximity of rear elements to the sensor (with the specific design of the sensor having the greater affect on shifting).
Welcome any more wide angle choices for NEX though. In the interim, unless you have a need for speed its going to be very hard for anyone to beat the CV 15mm this side of $1500.
SLR Magic
2 years ago |Small aperture compact/pancake lenses usually cause light to enter the edge of the sensor at extreme angles causing color shift for short flange distance cameras.
WilliamLeong
2 years ago |You mean large aperture lenses?
Dave
2 years ago |AUTO FOCUS!!
PLEASE
beware
2 years ago |why nex why not alpha system…
SLR Magic
2 years ago |There are already many lens options for Alpha SLR system. Alpha NEX system lens choices still has room for growth.
Linh
2 years ago |Again, if their lenses continue to be without any electronic wiring, they should be CHEEEEAP. Why would I spend big money on a crappy lens when there are much better legacy lenses available in the same price range?
SLR Magic
2 years ago |Wide angle lenses in general cannot be made cheap from a design, assembly, and material cost perspective. Without electronic contacts for digital correction the demand for good optics is even greater affecting price. We asked manufacturers for support for electronic contacts between their cameras and our lens and the response was “as we don’t know the design of their lenses we cannot correct their lenses and therefore we do not offer such coding or even recommend the coding for non (brand X) lenses”