New Sigma MC-11 test by Drasko and Tony Northrup
Sigma MC11 adapter review
Drasko (video above) and Tony (video below) posted some more useful test info about the new Sigma MC-11.
Sigma MC-11 store links: [shopcountry 47259].
First Kerlee 35mm f/1.2 FE Lens Review by ePhotozine: “outstanding central sharpness and beautiful bokeh”
ePhotozine (Click here) is the first site posting the review of the new Kerlee 35mm f/1.2 FE lens:
This is a fine lens, well made, with outstanding central performance. It suffers at the edges, although to be fair, when not photographing lens charts, which are flat of course, the real world results are very satisfactory. Sharpness is not really the main drawback, just a tendency to flare and quite a bit of CA at the edges. The very bright f/1.2 aperture is unique and may well be very useful in low light and for shallow depth of field effects. The bokeh is lovely and smooth.
In summary, a lens that can be used to make beautiful images, but do watch that flare.
Note: Photo By Richard tested the same lens but with Nikon F-mount.
Eric Naso tries to get rid of the A6300 overheating issue
Eric Naso tried to get rid of the overheating issue. In the first posted article he wrote:
With the Sony a6300 no fans are available inside to cool it down. So what if the camera could write files faster? Or if the card was faster maybe it wont heat up because it has more headroom. Would that help? Well… YES IT DOES!
But after a few days he changed it and wrote:
I’ve updated this post twice since it was published so if you’ve already read it go to the bottom of the post starting with UPDATE header for new info. I’m not sure the faster cards are helping. Today’s testing was crazy and I was getting wildly inconsistent results.
Skin Tones – Sony 85mm GM vs Canon 85/1.2 L, Zeiss Batis 85, Fuji 56/1.2 & Panasonic Leica 42.5/1.2
This is a guest post from Rick Birt. To write a guest post follow the instructions on that page. Thanks!
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By Rick Birt of Romeo Bravo Photo
This is a follow up to my previous posts:
Like most serious photographers, I mostly shoot RAW. However, both my wife and I have clients that just want jpgs straight out of the camera. This wasn’t a problem with my wife’s old Canon 1Ds mkII that I first started with, but it was with my Sony a7R II. The out-of-camera (OOC) jpg files produce less than desirable skin tones. I’ve exchanged quite a few emails with Sony Pro support over this, and it turns out (after much testing), that my camera had an issue with either the sensor, or the software. This has now been fixed, so this post is partly a test to see how the new camera is doing – with various lenses. However, I also decided to rent a Fujifilm X-Pro2 with a 56/1.2, and an Olympus Pen-F with a Panasonic Leica Nocticron 42.5/1.2.
I wanted to judge skin tones in both OOC jps, and after processing RAW files in Lightroom (my version of Capture One doesn’t recognize the new Fuji RAW).
So, I grabbed my wife, and fellow photographer, Kelly Williams and we shot all Saturday afternoon.
First lets look at the OOC jpgs…
From the Sony a7R II using the “Standard” color profile (l did try all of the other profiles, but this seems to be the best)
OOC Sony 85GM
My recent experience with the Otus 55 (and Batis 85) + A7r2 at a model sharing session in Bologna (Italy)
This is a guest post from Andrea Felice . To write a guest post follow the instructions on that page. Thanks!
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As a 50mm lover I have recently made a big investment and I bought my dream lens, a [shoplink 49357 ebay]Zeiss Otus 55 (Nikon mount)[/shoplink] to couple with my beloved [shoplink 47718 ebay]A7r2[/shoplink]. As you know the A7r2, with its 42mp, is a VERY hungry camera in terms of resolving resolution from a lens.
I’m a big fan and a Sony camera user since the [shoplink 36468 ebay]NEX 7[/shoplink] came out back in the days. I used it with great satisfaction with a multitude of vintage lenses, especially Nikon Ais and Canon FD, lenses that I coupled with my A7s nowadays too.
These lenses with, maybe, the exception of the always [shoplink 47941 ebay]outstanding FD 85 1.2 L[/shoplink] simply doesn’t resolve the resolution that the A7r2 is demanding. I’m not a pixel peep kind of photographer but with the A7r2 is such a joy to discover all the fine details in a photo and go to a 1:1 crop become quite a common operation. And it is in this case, when you crop the image, that you clearly see that vintage lenses are not suitable for the A7r2. The pictures appear, at a 1:1 crop, soft or a little smudge. I have to say that not only the vintage lenses but also a lot of modern lenses tend to have this issue on the A7r2.
And this is where the Otus 55 came in play with its outstanding resolving power. But more on this this later.
Ok, I had got the lens and the camera, what I needed was a location and a subject to test this combo. I mean, something different from my usual test subjects: my cats or the flowers in the garden :)
I found out on FB that a model sharing photo session was going to be held in Bologna (Italy), not too far from the city where I live, Verona, and I jumped in.
For those who don’t know and are curious to know what a model sharing is, well, it is a studio or a photographer that organize a photo session where the photographers/participants (usually three or four) have the opportunity to use the location/studio/sets and take pictures at a model sharing the costs. I think it is a great opportunity for those who don’t have their own studio with lights, sets, etc.. to make practice, or, like in my case, tests new gears or lenses. It is also a great opportunity to see how the others works and to share with them our experiences.
I shot also same video footage, very quickly between a photo shot and another and I did a quick edit. You can see the video here:
Back to the Otus now. I was talking about its resolving power. Well, also at a 1:1, and sometimes, 2:1 crop you have a picture that is so sharp and contrasty that it is usable as an image itself. All of this shooting at f1.4.
The first time I analyzed a photo I made with the Otus I was simply amazed, all the things that I read and saw on youtube from reviewers were and are true: outstanding optical quality from the centre to the borders, negligible to not existing fringing, superb sharpness and micro-contrast straight from f1.4. Great bokeh. The images that produce have a medium format look.
I had with me also the Zeiss Batis 85. It’s a great lens with its own character. I love it, and I did a lot of beautiful pic with it, as you can see on my flickr page, but the Otus is simply in another league. What I appreciate about the Batis is the fast and near silent autofocus that combined with the eye autofocus function on the A7r2 make it a joy to use.
The Otus is a manual focus lens and I’m a manual focus lover so its silky smooth focus ring combined with the A7r2 focus magnification zone and the focus peaking that makes the operation very fast and accurate is just perfect for me.
In conclusion I’m very proud of my Otus 55. Yes, it’s fat and heavy but once you test it and watch at the gorgeous images that produces it’s very difficult to come back to other lenses.
Just for the record, I’m not affiliated with Zeiss or Sony in any way, I’m just an enthusiast photographer.
Hope you enjoy the photos. Here the link to see the pictures on flickr : https://flic.kr/s/aHskBKPCjG
All the pictures were post processed in LT without touching the sharpening slide.
Model: Cecilia Rae
As a friend of mine always says: good light to everyone!
Best,
Andrea
from Italy
DxO tests the new Sony 24-70mm GM lens: It’s the best Sony zoom yet!
DxOmark (Click here) tested the new Sony 24-70mm GM lens. Unsurprisingly it is the best E-mount zoom lens from Sony yet.
Given the emphasis on the high-grade components and construction to match the maker’s high-resolution sensors, we had high hopes for the Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM, and we weren’t disappointed. It is the best-performing zoom in the maker’s range and can easily hold its own against the new AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm F2.8E ED VR. However, for edge-to-edge to sharpness, the Sony isn’t quite in the same league as the Canon EF 24-70mm F2.8L USM II, but we still have to add the Sony A7RII to propose a fair comparison with the 50 Mpix Canon EOS 5DSR. Nevertheless, the Sony does have certain strengths — better transmission and lower lateral chromatic aberration than many high-grade primes — and while certainly pricey, it’s still a competitive and tempting addition to the range.
Please note that the sharpness point system highly depends from the sensor resolution. So it’s not fair to test the GM lens on a 36MP sensor camera and the Canon lens on a 50MP sensor camera
24-70mm GM store links: [shopcountry 47915].
Note: in US it’s in Stock at FocusCamera only yet (Click here).
Sigma 30mm f/1.4 E-mount is the highest-ranked Sony APS-C E-mount lens tested at DxOmark!
DxOmark (Click here) published the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 E-mount lens test results. And as you can see the lens scores and impressive result beating the rest of the APS-C E-mount lens crowd:
The Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DN is an excellent standard prime option for Sony E-mount cameras and ranks at the top for all lenses we’ve tested on the A6000. Sharpness is outstanding, delivering excellent center resolution at all aperture settings up to f/8, with only minimal drop-off in the corners. Vignetting is pretty heavy at f/1.4, as the lens struggles to achieve the same intensity of light across the large APS-C sensor at its maximum aperture, but it improves greatly by f/1.8 and is all but eradicated by f/2.8. Compared to the significantly more expensive Zeiss 32mm f/1.8 and Sony’s own E 35mm f/1.8, the Sigma version is both sharper in the center and more consistent across the frame. Add to that the faster maximum f/1.4 aperture, and the $339 Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DN looks to be a very attractive standard prime option for Sony mirrorless photographers.
Get the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 E-mount lens at [shopcountry 49396].