Carl Zeiss 25mm F2 Batis Lens Review by John Sison

PcMag tested the 85mm Batis and writes:

The Zeiss Batis 85/1.8 is a near-perfect lens, at a price that’s well shy of the company’s manual focus Otus line. It’s tack sharp from corner to corner, even at f/1.8, captures a heck of a lot of light, and draws wonderful portraits with a very shallow depth of field. The only real complaint is the pincushion distortion that it exhibits, and that’s something that’s easily corrected on a computer. If you’re in want of a prime lens in this focal range for your Sony mirrorless system, and you put an emphasis on portrait and general photography, look no further.

Chad Wadsworth writes:

The a7R II/Batis combination was simply praise worthy – it focused quickly and accurately, producing razor sharp images with pleasing bokeh.

Otto Schulze writes:

Yes, the Otus just in terms of sheer IQ wins but I was surprised by how close the Otus and the Batis were in pure IQ. Add to that equation the size difference and addition of fast and quiet AF and I have an absolute winner for my destination wedding work. And the 25mm Batis met all my needs on the other end of the spectrum as well. Just superb!

quick test between the Zeiss Batis 25mm f/2 and the Sony FE 28mm f/2 on Admiring Light.
Why I’m returning my Batis 85 mm f/1.8 (Alin Popescu).
Skydiving with the Batis 2/25 and Alex Torre (Lenspire)

Batis store links:
Zeiss Batis 85mm f/1.8 lens in US at Adorama, Bhphoto. In Eu at Amazon DE, WexUK. In Asia at Digitalrev.
Zeiss Batis 25mm f/2.0 lens at Adorama, Bhphoto. In EU at Amazon DE, WexUK. In Asia at Digitalrev.

Well, you can test the new Sony A7sII with your best Zeiss glass or you can choose to go the other way around and test it on this 105 year old [shoplink 42750 ebay]Kodak Junior A1 lens (on eBay here)[/shoplink]. Well, you really see it that’s it’s that old :)

Moonlit Night – A Sigma 20mm Art Lens Review from cinema5D on Vimeo.

If the Loxia 21mm f/2.8 isn’t fast enough for you than well try this brand new Sigma 20mm f/1.4 lens! Cinema5D (Click here) tested the lens on the A7sIi and writes:

This lens kept its promise offering superb quality and while it is made for photography with some ergonomic drawbacks for video it is still among my favourite lenses of all time. The kind of shots I could achieve with this lens, without any noticeable quality loss is amazing and opens up new possibilities for people who like lowlight shooting. Furthermore this lens opens up your path to shallow depth of field at wide angles, which is rarely seen outside of high end professional productions.
The biggest highlight about the Sigma 20mm F/1.4 Art Lens for me is its price though. At $899 the value for money you get is very high and makes it an affordable option for shooters working with a Sony a7S II.

The lens is now in Stock at Amazon, Adorama and Bhphoto!

Dpreview (Click here) just claimed the A7rII as best camera of the year in the over $2,000+ category!

The Sony a7R II wins this group for many reasons: it is arguably the most innovative, most improved, and houses the most features of any camera in this category. 399 PDAF points offer the largest frame coverage and truly challenge full-frame DSLR AF. We were in disbelief at the incredibly high AF hit rates we observed across multiple shoots, so we baselined the system against DSLRs in a slew of continuous AF tests to find that, sure enough, the a7R II challenges some of the best DSLRs, even in low light. Continuous Eye AF is a boon for candids of even moving subjects, and better-than-DSLR AF accuracy ensures critical focus for shallow depth-of-field applications. Many of these AF benefits disruptively carry over to 3rd party lenses when using electronic adapters, an industry first. 

A7rII store list:
In USA: at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore US, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto.
In Europe at Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Wex UK and ParkCameras.
In Asia at Digitalrev, CameraPro.

Dpreview also posted that Video Field Test with Theron Humphrey and the Sony A7R II:

Ming Thein reviewed the new Loxia 21mm f/2.8 FE lens. And the conclusions are quite favorable:

“it is already remarkably sharp in the center at maximum aperture, and taking into account some field curvature, the edges, too. By f5.6 it is very difficult to find fault with anywhere in the frame – longitudinal and lateral chromatic aberration are very well controlled and there is little evidence of smearing in the corners. I wouldn’t call it apochromatic, but it’s really not far off. Colors are deep and saturated, and in the typical Zeiss manner, microcontrast simply pops.

The Zeiss has the level of clarity we have come to expect from their best lenses, and is a perfect partner for the whole philosophy of ‘smaller, lighter, no optical compromises’ – it is a little jewel of a lens, and built to last a lifetime. It takes filters, and is my choice when working stopped down on a tripod or if weight is a priority.”

Loxia 21mm FE lens at BHphoto (Click here) and Adorama (Click here). In Europe at WexUK (Click here).

Federico (Thanks!) sent me the link to that video and wrote:

You should check the following link to a video of Sony’s launch event in Korea, where they allowed video recording of the PPT presentation, where local mkt figures clearly show some interesting data on growth and mkt share, they also show an MTF chart comparison between the fixed 35mm F2 lens on the new RX1Rmk2 vs. an equivalent Leica lens of the same specs, and more interestingly, between the 5:00 and 7:00 minute marks, a hands on demo of the improved AF, where the presenter not only demos how the hunting AF has been improved (he even performs a demo of the issue with the older RX1R), but also how the AF-C uses the 399 phase-detection points for face following.
They don’t demo the AF performance under dark conditions, which is really where I’d like to see it, but it’s pretty good nonetheless.
I recognize the girl from the face-following AF-C demo, she’s in the Mktg Dept. for Cyber-shot in Sony’s Global HQ in Tokyo.
It’d be great if one of your followers would translate the many interesting data on this video that’s in Korean…!!!

P.S.: Dpreview posted a set of RX1rII image samples.

The new RX1RII will ship tomorrow at Amazon US (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here) and Adorama (Click here).

A couple of days ago Sony released a major firmware upgrade for the A7II (Download for Windows / Mac). And here are a few early tests with the new firmware.

Raúl A. Sanjur González sent me this video (embedded on top) :

Nothing fancy. Just a comparison of AF speed between FW1.21 and F2.0 using the ILCE-7M2, LA-EA1 (APS-C) and SSM/SAM lenses (SAL50F14Z and SAL85F28 respectively). A77M2 is still ahead in terms of overall functionality (Tracking, performance, etc) but this is a very good option for Dual System users like me who keeps both A and E-mount cameras and lenses.

Some initial testing with adapted Canon lenses and two adapters on the Sony A7 II with Firmware 2.0 by Admiring Light:

I feel that the Firmware 2.0 truly makes many Canon lenses viable for everyday use on the Sony A7 II. You’re not going to get fully native speed and compatibility, but provided the lens works well with the adapter, you won’t be too far off in most cases. It’s a dramatic change for the better in using Canon lenses, and it opens up some options for the focal lengths that are lacking in the Sony FE lineup, or are too expensive to bother with. It really opens up the use of Canon lenses for everyday use on this camera and the A7R II, and vastly expands the available lenses that can be easily used with full autofocus capabilities.

On Monday Metabones will releasea new firmware to fix an issue with the A7II af performance (SonyAlphaForum).
Sony a7 II firmware 2.0 uncompressed Raw samples (Dpreview).
An Article Talking about a Major Omission to the Sony a7ii firmware upgrade (TheCameraProject).
A7ii review after 24 hours of installing Version 2.0 on Youtube.

Sony A7II store price check at [shopcountry 42630].