You have to see this: Ron Scheffler supertest with Leica, Zeiss and Voigtlander lenses!

October 20, 2013
reviews
304 Comments

It is Ron Scheffler super well made 21mm test that convinced me to grab the [shoplink 21602 ebay]Voigtländer Ultron 21mm f/1,8 (here on eBay)[/shoplink]. But the question is…how good do M-mount lenses work on the new A7-A7r cameras? Well, Ron just published an impressive(!) list of image samples taken with a huge amount of Leica, Zeiss and Voigtlander lenses. You can read the article and download tons of image samples here: http://www.ronscheffler.com/techtalk/?p=224.

Important note: Ron tested the A7 and not the A7r. And it looks like it’s the A7r and not the A7(!) has has offset micro lenses that might do better with rangefinder lenses (Source: Sony.net A7r and Sonynet A7 and Sony Australia video at 17:30).

The conclusion is quite negative for the A7.

I’ll spill the beans now – none of the rangefinder lenses performed as well on the a7 as they do on the M9, specifically referring to image smearing into the edges/corners. Some are not so bad and are good enough when stopped down sufficiently, but some are outright horrible (ZM21, 28 Cron), to the point where one would think the lens was defective. Naturally there were some variable that couldn’t be tested, such as whether the Novoflex NEX-Leica M adapter I used was perfect.

and

My take on the results: I’m hoping these lenses will fare better on the a7R. Results on the a7 are for the most part disappointing. All I can surmise at the moment is that the toppings on the a7′s sensor work against achieving optimal (or in some cases, good enough) results with the rangefinder lenses I had available for this test.

I would wait before to draw any conclusions yet. The camera wasn’t final production, the adapter may be not perfect, there are still some uncertain factors that could have influenced negatively the test.

Specs and Preorders in US and Canada (Click on store name to see direct preorder page):
Dedicated Sony announcement page at Amazon US (Click here).
Sony A7r body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony A7 body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony RX10 at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 24-70mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 35mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 55mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
70-200mm A-mount at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony A-Mount to E-Mount Lens Adapter at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
Sony A to E adapter with mirror at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
A7/A7r leather case at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
A7/A7r vertical grip at Amazon, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony W Series Battery Charger at Amazon, BHphoto.
Sony FA-CS1M Off-Camera Shoe at BHphoto.
Semi-Hard LCD Screen Protector for A7-A7r at Amazon, BHphoto.

Specs and Preorders in Europe:
Sony A7r body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, FI, WexUK, WexDE.
Sony A7 body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, FI, FR, WexUK, WexDE. Amazon DE, UK, FR.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, FI, FR, WexUK, WexDE. Amazon DE, UK, FR.
Sony RX10 at Sony DE, WexUK, WexDE.
Zeiss 35mm at Sony DE.
Zeiss 55mm at Sony DE.