Using the Zeiss Sonnar 50mm f/1.5 on a NEX.
I am having so much fun with my Sony NEX-5n that I am constantly looking for lenses I could purchase for it. Thought it would be nice to share my impressions about one of the lenses I am looking for. The Zeiss ZM Sonnar 50mm f/1.5 lens. You can see an image of the NEX-5n with that lens on Flickr. The reason why I am intrigued by that lens is that:
1) it has a super build quality
2) it has a perfect focal length for portraits (75mm on a NEX).
3) and it is relatively compact and fast.
The lens is not cheap, around $1200 on eBay (Click here). Plus you have to buy the M to NEX mount adapter (here on eBay).
Lens reviews
To start I read the presentation on the Zeiss website. I didn’t find any official review of the lens on a NEX camera. I only found some reviews of the lens used with the lovely Zeiss Ikon ZM. Ken Rockwell writes that it is “an easy lens to love: it’s just so small and fast! It’s not a lens for pixel counters. It’s very sharp at middle and smaller apertures where it matters, but trades sharper images for smoother images at the largest apertures. This 50/1.5 is superb for general photography and people pictures.“. And Luminous Landscape tested the lens on the Leica M9: “There is something else that the Sonnar and some other Zeiss lenses have, and that is a very pleasant 3D feeling to the pictures. It´s not as clinical as pictures with some of the ASPH-Leica lenses sometimes can get. It just feels very pleasant, for lack of a better word.”
I would say the lens performs very well on Fullframe cameras. But how does it look on a NEX camera with APS-C sensor?
Image and video samples on NEX:
I found that aperture test made by Janus that shows the bokeh look of the lens on the Sony NEX-5n:
I also found some nice NEX+Zeiss image samples here at Dpreview forum, pbase, flickr (whaker), flickr (Amselchen), flickr (Clarobuck), Clubsnap.
It looks like the lens is a real winner but I will wait to see the first tests of the Sony 50mm f/1.8 before to consider to buy the Zeiss Sonnar lens. The Sony has autofocus and is cheaper. But on the other hand I love to work with manual focus and I like to buy lenses with super build quality (makes me feel it was worth to buy it). If only the price would not be that high!
—
Zeiss ZM Sonnar f/1.5 links at Amazon, B&H, Adorama, J&R, eBay
M to NEX mount adapter on eBay
Hello World
2 years ago |Can you use this lens with NEX7 when you get it?
matgay
2 years ago |yes this 50mm will be perfect for nex7. anything lens over 35mm is AOK for NEX7.
but anything less than 35mm, like wides and ultra wides you need to use NEX5N. with nex5n i recommend the viewfinder, it also helps to stabilize the camera balance on your eyepiece and arms in.
Harvey
2 years ago |Er, Andrea, you (like others) seem to think that 50 mm is a perfect length for a portrait lens on APS-C (comparable to 75 mm on FF). If that is the case, why were there never 75 mm portrait lenses for FF? I always considered the range between 80 and 105 mm to be perfect for portraits. I’m very happy with my Minolta 2.0/100, though on the Nex it’s a bit too long. Still waiting for the Nex that shouldn’t be mentioned once again
Of course it’s not the focal length that makes a good portrait; when photographing people you should simply keep a distance of at least 1 m to keep the right perspective, unless you might want to distort perspective deliberately. 50 mm lenses bring the risk of getting too close to the subject. Just my two cents of course.
Petter J.
2 years ago |Yes, I would prefer a 55mm, similar to what Pentax has relased for APS-C.
Harvey
2 years ago |Tamron re-released its famous 90 mm (macro) for APS-C and turned it into a 60 mm.
GH
2 years ago |There are Leica shooters who like to use the 75 Summicron and Summiluxes for portraits, FWIW.
santela
2 years ago |Even though I hate 75mm FOV (yes, hate), I gotta point out, there is a Leica 75mm summilux out there. Not popular, but it’s there.
matgay
2 years ago |i use the zeiss 85mm and the 135mm for portraits with amazing liveliness in the photos not found in a zoom lens.
and i know the biggest names even use a 200mm f2.0 for portraits. and some also use a 35mm on portraits for guys.
Steve Jones
2 years ago |I don’t think the difference between 75 & 80mm is going to make that much difference – the amount of cropping you need to do to get the same FoV is very minor and the loss of resolution won’t be that significant.
Also it depends what type of portrait you are doing. Full length and 50mm on APS-C is plenty. However, if you want a head-and-shoulders then it’s too short which is you need something more like 70-85mm on APS-C. There is simply no single perfect portrait lens if the idea is to fill the frame.
However, I’d certainly agree keep your distance – indeed a metre is far too close in my view. I’d at least double that distance, and 3 metres is better. Indeed if you want a full length portrait shot on APS-C in “portrait mode” then the camera will have to be 3.5-4 metres from the subject.
Luc
2 years ago |I have both the Sonnar 1.5 and the Rokkor 2.0 that you mentioned a week ago. The Sonnar has a very, very nice bokeh, but it’s also hard to focus and never sharp when it’s beneath f4. The rokkor is way easier and sharper, even at f2, not to mention the price, way lower.
GH
2 years ago |While being a little shorter than the traditional portrait lens, the ZM 50/1.5 is quickly turning into my favorite lens on the 5N. It has a really creamy bokeh and isolates subjects very well, and it gets very sharp stopped down. I usually use a 50mm equivalent as my main walk around lens, but I like this Sonnar so much that I’ve shooting it most of the time these days.
dts
2 years ago |just a few weeks and we’ve got the sel50f18 plus it’s got oss which is also great for video
I am in partly flooded Bangkok now but I haven’t had any luck yet finding it prior to its release …
JonasM
2 years ago |You will not find that lens in Thailand until it’s available in all other markets. It will also be more expensive in Thailand than most other places. Don’t ask why.
santela
2 years ago |I have been looking for one of those in silver for a while (to go with the rest of my ZM collection). The price inflation of the ZM line has been making it very hard for me though… But if I don’t buy one now, I’m almost certain it’ll get worse next year.
Björn Utpott
2 years ago |I bought a Zeiss Biogon 35/2.0 this week for use on my NEX-5N as well as my Micro Four Thirds camera. The Zeiss 50/1.5 is similar in size and weight to my 35/2.0 and should also work well on the compact NEX-5N body. I have 2 photos of the Zeiss 35/2.0 mounted on the NEX-5N:
http://www.bmupix.com/journal/2011/11/22/carl-zeiss-biogon-t-2035mm-zm.html
Image quality is, as expected, very good right from F2.0.
Carlos Echenique
2 years ago |Don’t sell the Zeiss 50mm f/2 distagon short either. Awesome bokeh. i regret selling mine.
Franklyn
2 years ago |New firmware 1.04 for A77 has been released on SONY(China). No update detail has been mentioned till now.
http://service.sony.com.cn/DI/Download/45389.htm
Steve Jones
2 years ago |“but trades sharper images for smoother images at the largest apertures.”
Pardon? That’s gibberish and nothing at all to do with characterising lens performance in any objective manner. If what he’s saying is that it isn’t as sharp at large apertures so it loses resolution and the MTF is worse, then that’s hardly unusual. Most fast lenses will lose resolution at wider apertures, and it’s a fault. Maybe an unavoidable one, but to claim it’s a tradeoff for “smoother images” is ridiculous. It’s not the job of lenses to lose resolution – if we want blurred images, then that’s a job for filters, either using optical filters or during PP. (Or if you want shallow depth of field, then use a large aperture – but the focused area should still be sharp).
But then if people want to quote Ken Rockwell as an authority…
Froo
2 years ago |Actually a slightly inferior lens design, meaning less corrected for spherical aberration, will have better bokeh and look better with portraits SOOC.
Jay - SonyAlpahLab
2 years ago |Seems like and awesome lens, but for $1200 I would definitely want Autofocus and possible even OS!! The Sony Carl Zeiss Lenses really are great quality and Really Cheap compared to the equivalent competition.
Looks like a great lens though for sure!!
Best,
Jay
Björn Utpott
2 years ago |If I could only get one good lens for the NEX system, I would opt for something in the 35-50mm equivalent range. As far as I’m concerned,those are good focal lengths for a versatile, general purpose lens. That’s the focal length I take most of my photos at, so it makes sense to get the best lens I can afford in this range.
The next most used focal lengths in my case are both a wide angle and a short telephoto/portrait. So if I had some more money, I could get both an M-mount wide angle and a lens like the Zeiss 50/1.5.
The only thing is, in my hypothetical kit of 3 primes, I would like one lens with autofocus capability. Since focusing wide angle lenses manually is less critical (due to large DOF), that should be the 50mm lens. The Sony 50/1.8 makes a strong case for itself as it also features image stabilization as well as being reasonably priced. It may not end up having the character of the Zeiss, but it offers advantages that the Zeiss can’t.
I can put the money I save by not getting an expensive 50mm lens into acquiring an M-mount wide angle prime. If money was no object, I’d gladly pick up the Zeiss 50/1.5 as well.
Jakob Røjel
2 years ago |Congrats link to this from the Carl Zeiss facebook page
Brian Toward
2 years ago |It’s also now on the Official Zeiss lens group on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/groups/carlzeisslenses/discuss/72157628147189651/
Very interesting…..