The new 55-210mm Sony lens for the NEX system is right now in Stock at Amazon (Click here). But I don’t think the deal will be available for a long time as at the time of writing only a few lenses are in Stock. And don’t forget that the hottest NEX lens will be in Stock next week at BHphoto (Click here).
One more thing: Searching for a fast lens I found that [shoplink 11511 ebay]SLR Magic HyperPrime 50mm f/0.95 on eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. I never read of one of my readers having that lens. That’s why I ask you if you have some image samples to show me! Thanks!
45 Responses
This HyperPrime isn’t the new upcoming Leica mount marvel.
Only one 55-210 left…
“Sign up to be notified when this item becomes available.” lol that was fast!
I picked up this lense last month in a shop in Palo Alto. Can’t believe it’s short in supply 😉
After purchasing the Tamron 18-200, and returning it, I have this 55-210 ordered since last tuesday. Delivery date is the 7th of march at El Corte Ingles, Spain.
Why couldn’t they make this Sony zoom a constant aperture f4? It would be so “sold” to me if it were, even at the expense of a little size. Guess I’ll stick with my trusty BeerCan until someone at Sony realizes that constant aperture zooms would sell great simply on the basis of being constant aperture. It’s doesn’t have to be f2.8… just make it constant.
I agree!!! The Canon 70-200mm f/4.0 is a very popular lens. Canon sells a lot of them, and Sony could too if they made them.
Yes, they also have a wonderful selling 24-105 f4 with IS. Sony should follow lead here with some constant f4 zooms. I still use the 35-70 f4 and 70-210 f4 and 24-50 f4 vintage Maxxums and couldn’t be happier. Much easier to carry any one of them from the f2.8 super zooms.
Unfortunately, they think “zoom range” sells better. I say decrease the range if necessary, and just give great IQ with constant aperture. It would be a hit.
Agree. However, the 55-210 image quality is really great. On the 5N at ISO 3200 (during a concert), I have many keepers at 210mm (f/6.3).
I’m also missing FF 70-200mm f4 and especially 24-105 f4 for travels.
It would be huge on the NEX and people (some) will complain 😛
None of the E-Zooms reach such a pinnacle of compactness to warrant that being a selling point. All they’d need do is decrease the zoom range, and constant aperture lens could retain close to the same size at least as the current zooms.
Wouldn’t you love a little 25-60mm f4 G lens on a NEX? How about a 40-100mm f4 G?
As much as I know how these lens are appealing, I’m afraid that’s not how Sony think. Constant aperture lens are going to be much more expensive than variable aperture. So far Sony had seen NEX market as people that just want to step up from compact cams, but not willing to go DSLR. The success of NEX was a surprise and unexpected. So they want to try further by introducing the pro body and lens like NEX-7/CZ combo. I’m sure they’re looking at the sale of CZ 24f1.8 and Nex-7 closely. If there are enough sales from this to warrant there are enough serious amatuers and pros who’re willing in invest $$$ on NEX, I’m sure they will announce constant zoom. I think Sony’re playing safe as much as they can. That’s why they have been slow with new lens.
If it were a constant f/4 I expect it would probably be almost twice the size and weight and twice the price. It would have to gather more than 2x the light at the long end. Constant aperture would be better for video though.
The SLR Magic HyperPrime isn’t a lens many people would find useful. The Classic Portrait lenses have been between 85mm and 135mm for full frame, so 50mm (75mm equiv) is a little short. One of the most popular portrait lenses was the Nikon 105mm, so the 50mm (75mm equiv) falls way short. For those that use M-mount on their NEX a Voigtlander 75mm 75/1.8 Heliar Leica M Mount Lens would be a better choice http://checkout.cameraquest.com/voigtlander-/voigtlander-75mm-7518-leica-m-mount-heliar-lens—black-.htm
50mm is a good Motion Picture lens, but Hollywood mainly shoots between f/2.8 and f/5.6. Therefore I’m getting a Sony 50mm f/1.8. Other good Digital Cinema/Video lenses are available from Nikon (Ai-S manual focus) and Leica R.
If you shoot 50mm on the NEX-7, a 90mm (equiv.) crop would still have >16 MP or so more than enough for most puproses. But you have more options if you already stand back to the wall and a 60mm (90mm equiv.) lens still does not show all, you want to get…
Most people think loose head-and-shouldrs when you say Portrait. You can get good Full Length Portraits with a 24mm on a NEX.
With some tight cropping I assume, unless you’re looking for distorted portraits.
Live modern. Believe it or not, but now-a-days you are seeing wide-angle head shots. A little distortion can be a good thing for rock-‘n-roll and other avant-garde photography.
Brook Pifer is a photographer/director. Check-out her Cover-Shot of Jacob Bannon http://brookpifer.com/#/Stills/Hipsters/3/ for Decible magazine http://www.decibelmagazine.com/ Just a little distortion 😉
Remember that 43mm is the diagonal on 35mm full-frame. So 24mm on NEX (36mm equiv) isn’t very wide-angle. I have no problem with a 24mm for full length, No Crop. I also do 3/4 to head-and-shoulders with an 85mm lens (135mm equiv). I just pick the right lens for the job. YMMV
You can knock $50 off the price Amazon / Cameta is charging by going to the Sony Store, B&H, Adorama…
I have the 50mm f0.95 for the e-mount on my nex5n. All I can say is that its the best piece of glass / camera I have. Great low light, low profile, all metal, smooth f changing, non-busy bokeh, acceptable sharpness wide open, focus peaking makes this lens possible to shot from the hip at night. I got it for 700 bucks and it was money well spent…and disregard those people who say its a CCTV lens, they have never used it.
Best piece of glass you have? Then what glass do you have?
sigma 50mm f1.4, 85mm f1.4, 105mm macro f2.8, 70-200mm f2.8, 15mm fisheye, 16-35mm f2.8 zeiss, 24-70mm f2.8, lensbaby collection, 20mm f1.8, 50mm f1.4 zeiss (nikon mount).
nice collection 😀
…and the F0.95 is you best lens? Right…
I have the Canon 50/0.95 and the Sony E 50/1.8.
Both are nice.
The E 50/1.8 (though plastic and easily paintable to black) is quite decent and the OSS is handy.
There are confusing claims about the “Noktor” and the “SLR Magic” lenses and the various versions. We need clarifications from the manufacturer plus a lengthy specification to justify the rumored prices.
RE: 00aeiou00
Forgive me if this sounds rude but….. your post seems very Water Army esque
whats water army?
hey i googled water army, screw you man, im a real person, not everyone has to complain about lens to be quote unquote real.
RE: @00aeiou00
Hey, calm down on the hostility. I said, “Forgive me if I sound rude” that does NOT mean it was intentional…. Unless….. you are trying to come off as a real person 🙂
No but seriously, I’ve scoured the nets and seen your post here and another forum which I will not name, and another user typed something exactly the same as yours. Maybe they even copied your post.
Honestly dude. I meant no harm
@ JW
man, you are way off base, i posted on dpreview like six months ago to ask if anyone was an early adopter cause i didnt want to be the first one. i didnt post a review there as you can clearly see., and nobody copied my post…
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1042&message=39965074&changemode=1
i was asking for a review,. anyway, Andrea asked if anyone of us had the lens and review it, which i did.
I think the Hyperprime from the ebay link is actually Noktor Hyperprime (http://noktor.com/), not the latest Hyperprime that Steve Huff tested recently (with Leica-M9)which he said apart from barrel distortion(i), is toe to toe (better in several areas) than the uber expensive Leica Noctilux 50mm f0.95.
These are several links on the Review by Steve Huff on the Noktor Hyperprime,
1. http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2011/08/19/testing-the-noktor-50-f0-95-for-sony-e-mount-with-the-new-nex-c3/
2. http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2011/09/03/crazy-comparison-leica-50-summilux-asph-1-4-vs-noktor-hyperprime-50-f0-95-on-sony-nex-5n/
(i) http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2012/02/04/the-slr-magic-hyperprime-50-lm-t0-95-leica-mount-lens-rolling-review/
I read the Huff reviews but he mainly goes into the lens for the Leica M Mounts, not a lot of stuff regarding performance for the E-mounts. Mohamad is right though, it seems this one is updated and a bit better, here it is on e-bay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SLR-Magic-Noktor-HyperPrime-50mm-f-0-95-50-0-95-NEX-/140693259472?pt=Camera_Lenses&hash=item20c1f8c4d0#ht_3919wt_922
@00aeiou00 seems to know what he is talking about, in reading up on the noktors some places (generally those who don’t have the lens) are claiming that they are basically recycled CCTV lenses, but the Huff articles are saying otherwise. Still would love to hear from someone who has the Noktor, not the earlier ‘magic’ version that this article posts to for the NEX.
Doesn’t matter for me anyways, I can’t afford either lenses, I had to break the piggy bank for the Sony 1.8 50mm.
Forgot to note my two cents on these types of glass in general:
I got the 55-210 via a package deal with the 5n – does what it is supposed to do and more for the price. My line of thinking is, once I start dropping 1k+ for glass, say for this Noktor or the Zeiss, I better be damn sure the e-mounts are going to be fully backed for a good 10+ years, otherwise I’ll go for an alpha mount or an M-mount and use the adaptors. Give me a pancake with a nice wide angle that doesn’t suck (I don’t like the Sony pancake at all), and with the 50mm/1.8, the kit 15-55, the zoom 55-210, I should have all I need until the Nex line either grows to something I feel confident in putting big bucks into or having enough to be happy with whatever the last camera body that is e-mount native will do.
Anyways, I barely qualify as an amateur photographer, let alone anything close to professional, which is where the 1k glass stuff seems to reside in my mind… Is that reasoning above sound? If I get 1k burning in my pocket one of these days and spend it on some glass, I want to give the damn thing to my grandkids.
“Doesn’t matter for me anyways, I can’t afford either lenses, I had to break the piggy bank for the Sony 1.8 50mm.”
You are better off (money wise and also the kind of results you would achieve) with that lens than the “Noktor” (a rebranded c-mount lens made with many names earlier). The E 50/1.8 is an excellent lens.
The confusion comes from claims that one of the versions of the “SLR Magic” lenses is “superior” and also the rumors that version would be sold for a higher price- much higher than the Cosina 17/0.95 for the m4/3rds.
Thanks Vivek, that makes me feel a lot better with the purchase on the 50mm / 1.8.
I thought all the Magic/Noktor/whatever products were crappy (What you say about them all being the same makes sense), but the Huff articles on the Noktors was interesting as I didn’t expect a professional shooter to say anything other than ‘they are worthless’. I know Huff shoots from the hip in general (sorry for the pun, I meant his ‘review’ style), but his enthusiasm on this varient of those lenses was a surprise none-the-less.
I like how Steve Huff reviews things, but I’ve also noticed that SLRMagic gives him a lot of free stuff… and they are an advertiser for his site.
Granted, I actually bought the SLRMagic 35mm 1.7 after reading his review (among others), and I really like that lens.
Here’s my kind of ad-hoc review of the 55210:
http://youtu.be/IMlbZi_5tKg
Just one clarification that I haven’t been able to add to the video yet: I have not actually tested shooting with any of the flashes yet.
more info on the zeiss 50 1.4?
Second that.
There’s actually nothing wrong with the aperture at the long end. I’ve been using a Canon 70-210/4 zoom all my life, and actually I wouldn’t care much about the aperture at the long end.
It’s simple: If you’re shooting outside, f/6.3 will still provide you with sufficent light. When shooting indoors, even f/4 wouldn’t give you enough. Surely, there are times when you need even the slightest bit of light, but this is a 350$ zoom lens. Also, it has OSS which works really well, I’ve used this lens in close distance with 1/20 exposure and it still gave me a sharp image. It wouldn’t be good with a moving subject, but again, this is a 350$ zoom.
Oh snap, they jacked the price up to 400$.
At this price it needs to have f/1.8 😀
Good points.
Have to agree that there is a bit of redundancy when the 18-200 and the 55-210 doesn’t differ much aperture wise. Having the 18-200, which is more than OK optically, makes me wish for a constant f⁴ or 2.8-4(3. 5) telezoom
Got mine through B&H a month ago, and am also suprised that these are now in short supply. My copy is amazingly sharp and clear at all focal lengths. It is not a heavy lens and works quite well on my NEX-5N. I’d easily compare it to my better Nikon zooms, like the 16-85 and 18-200. I’m not too worried about the maximum aperature, so long as I’m not in a situation where I have to shoot sports under low light. I’ve been getting very good results with 1600~6400 ISO under all conditions….
I like the lens overall, but it’s the slowest focusing lens I have ever used. You talk about shooting sports in low light, I wouldn’t even try it in broad daylight! Would be great if you could post up some pics at ISO 1600-6400 is you shoot there. I want to see how it does on the 5N (im on the original 5).