Image courtesy: Photozone.
Klaus from Photozone just posted two new NEX lens reviews. This is actually the first time he is posting tests made on his new [shoplink 8454]Sony NEX-7[/shoplink]. This is going to be interesting to read because he is struggling with the corner issues of the 24 Megapixel sensor. Let’s start:
1) Sony 30mm f/3.5 macro lens (Click here to read the review)
The performance of that lens on the NEX-7 is disappointing: “The Sony E 30mm f/3.5 macro lens delivered a rather disappointing performance on the Sony NEX 7. The center image quality is absolutely great but the border- and especially corner-quality is sub-standard. The rather high amount of lateral CAs isn’t helpful either.” I hope Klaus can soon do the same test on the [shoplink 8452]Sony NEX-5n[/shoplink] to see if the poor corner quality depends from the 24 Megapixel sensor of the NEX-7 or not!
2) Sony 50mm f/1.8 lens (Click here to read the review)
In that case Klaus is much more satisfied with the lens performance. A part of the not so good corner performance (which doesn’t matter a lot for a portrait lens) he says: “The image quality is very impressive if you stop down to f/4-f/8 where the lens is almost capable of exploiting the potential of the 24 megapixel Sony sensor.” But this is a protrait lens and the real point that matters is the bokeh quality. And hee is were the lens shines: “A real highlight of the Sony lens is the quality of the bokeh which is among the very best that we’ve seen in this class so far.”
Again Thanks Klaus for making these detailed reviews!
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The real “issue” of the 50mm lens is his non-availability. You can find some of them on [shoplink 8448 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] but not in “normal” Sony or other known stores. You can only preorder them at:
[shoplist 8448]
49 Responses
Seems like field curvature, not lack of corner sharpness to me. There’s certainly corner details in the shots at infinity, at least once it’s stopped down a bit.
I also think the 30mm has better bokeh than the 50mm.
Possibly, but Photozone are usually pretty hot at picking up on field curvature.
The corner detail is certainly better once it’s stopped down, but they do specifically make the point that sensor issues cause corner quality problems at LARGER apertures, so the improved details could be down to the fact that the sensor doesn’t have problems at smaller apertures, rather than it being a case of field curvature no longer being relevant.
Wow! Not available till now.. They have a hard time getting back on their feet and probably lost quite a few customers.
The 50mm is looking more and more tempting.
I’m very curious about the 24mm review.
I am so glad I managed to get hold of the 50mm. Absolutely the best lens for the NEX system at the moment imho. If you have the chance to pick it up: do so, even if you are not a prime user (which I was not as well) you will not regret it.
from Photozone:”As already mentioned the 24 megapixel sensor of the Sony NEX 7 seems to have a rather difficult characteristic especially regarding its resolution capabilities at the image corners. This behavior has been confirmed by user observations in the meanwhile (feel free to google). This is a bit unfortunate because we feel that the sensor shouldn’t have such a deep impact on the lens quality. The lens quality will be somewhat better on Sony’s 16 megapixel sensor”….not good for me…
So is it a sensor’s problem or lenses’ one? Still not good at all to encourage people to buy into the system.
Yeah that’s a bit misleading. The sensor is clearly the problem, not the lenses. A lens doesn’t suddenly get better when it’s attached to a different camera.
The lenses are not much to write about..however they aren’t as bad as the “standards’ set by the E 16/2.8. LOL.
These results from Photozone are the first that truly make me wonder whether I should get a NEX7. 80% of my pictures are taken at large aperture and between f=24mm and f=70mm. It would be pretty disappointing if all of these pictures would be soft at the borders.
Also, if the issue turns out to be true, a successor to the NEX7 would probably arrive within a year (better microlenses on same chip). And I can only afford one such camera per 5 years.
Can anyone owning a NEX7 confirm the issue?
What issue?!
They should have tested them on the 7 and the 5N.
http://photozone.smugmug.com/photos/1744889056_GsVZzwb-O.jpg
Quite disappointing…
Wow, that’s nasty. Looks like something from a compact
Apply a bit of unsharp masking and a little contrast in Photoshop and it will start to look rather decent. If you then take a closer look at the roof e.g. you will see how good the resolution actually is!
Sony is the master of sensors…but still has a long way untill get lenses right….
I wonder how much uninformed + misleading web traffic Photozone generates with their bollocks. They really should get a normal job.
The best aperture range for actual use for the 24/1.8 and the 50/1.8 is between f/1.8 and f/2.8- this is considering the OOF blur and the sharpness needed for actual photos.
This test site is totally bogus and the claims about the “sensor effect” is going to detrimental to that site. Let them try and say the same stuff with a Nikon D800, for example.
Vivek,
Actually Photozone is quite reputable.
The test are usually considered well done and fair and unlike many reviews, they do not show any bias against Sony.
I have said this before and here it is again:
As a result of this photozone campaign if the NEX-7 becomes more widely available and cheaper, I will be delighted. I plan on getting at least one more body. 🙂
I don’t look at their site (I don’t look at DoX either) but it would be interesting to see what they say about the D800.
The issue wouldn’t affect the D800. It’s to do with the short flange distance, which leads to the light hitting the sensor in the corners at a very shallow angle. Offset micro lenses are needed, but clearly the Nex 7 doesn’t have these (or at least they aren’t offset enough, vs the 5n). It’s been well documented regarding legacy lenses… but if it’s also the case with Sony’s own lenses, then it’s a bit disappointing really.
I have a feeling that most NEX lenses were developed with the 5n in mind.
(with the exception of the 24mm Zeiss)
I have been shooting with both the 50 and 24 lenses on the 7 and 5n.
The 24 shows no difference in curvature and corner sharpness, but on the 50, it is noticeable.
On the road map presented a few weeks ago with the G-lens(es) could be the answer we are looking for.
Or it could a be a firmware fix that is required.
They test a portrait lens, but only take photos of horrible landscapes… ¬¬
agreed. i was looking to see samples of close ups with the bokeh ==
I usually like and respect photozone.de reviews. But this time I have to wonder why there is no macro shots in example imagery when the lens is supposed to be used as macro lens…
Because it is a difficult job.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vivek-iyer/6955517103/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vivek-iyer/6961494695/in/photostream
I posted links to some samples but the Admin isn’t showing them.
Hey,Vivek. As I looked at one of your photo’s, the one with the protestor, it seems that you are living in the Netherlands? I live there too and I would like to know from you how this NEX 50 1.8 is for portraits and general street-photo work.
I thank you in advance.
A.Lion
Fabulous! I love it.
It’s funning how people like and respect a reviewers work till he or she writes something negative about a Sony NEX of SLT camera. 😉
Not criticizing just saying
For the images presented in the review that contained subject matter in the corners it seems to me it is composition that makes them not sharp. Let me explain, the center area is absolutely sharp but in the corners there is nothing that is on the same focal plane as the center of the image (I’m going on the assumption that the sharpest part of the image is where the reviewer had the focus point set). So, of course if things are not on the same focal plane it is hard to determine if the lens or sensor is at fault. Even things “far off” in the distance are not parallel to the sensor, so I would expect the sharpness to across the frame.
Looking at the image of the train. It looks equally sharp in the lower left corner as any part of the image that is in focus. This seemed to be the only image shot wide open where a corner had subject matter on the same focal plane as towards the middle of the image.
Yes there is a “zone” of focus based on depth of field, but there can be only one focal plane and only items on this place can truly be in focus. As much as I hate brick walls, a carefully setup test shot would allow the conclusions to be less subjective. Also I don’t deny that there can be corner softness on the nex7, I think it could be blown out of proportion. I recall shooting film and purposefully putting things in the corner to smear them. This showed to me that the lens was creating distortion. So this may be the case for the nex7. It is showing the flaws in the lens, not the film.
Respectfully,
Pete.
ooops… meant, so I would NOT expect sharpness across the frame.
I am very curius to test for my self, got the nex-7 the kitlens and the 30mm macro this far. But I’d did not have time for this kind of tests. I took the kamera with the 18-55 for a few days of skiing last weekend and at a glance, the pics look ok. From before I am used to a canon 5d with 24-105 L IS, or canon 550d with 17-55 2.8 IS..
Photozone’s review of the 50mm seems like a mixed bag. They said they liked the optical performance of the lens, and yet it only earned 2-1/2 out of 5 stars in that category. Disappointing.
Generous since they mistook the lenses having a metal body. 😉
deleted
Both Photozone reports erroneously state Sony E-mount lenses would feature metal lens bodies and metal focusing rings. Unfortunately, this is not the case, they are made of plastics with a thin metalized surface coating only.
All E primes are plastic. Only the 24/1.8 is a better grade plastic (even the lens caps say ABS which is absent in the others)! LOL!
The Nex-7 clearly has issues with the microlens and/or AA filter at the edges of he sensor, and it is being reported by more and more users of everything from rangefinder to e-mount lenses. No reason to jump down Photozone’s throat on this one. Many of us saw this issue months ago.
The Nex-7 clearly has issues with the microlens and/or AA filter at the edges of the sensor, and it is being reported by more and more users of everything from rangefinder to e-mount lenses. No reason to jump down Photozone’s throat on this one. Many of us saw this issue months ago.
Then presumably the 50mm would be a better performer on the NEX-5n.
I don’t think anyone is jumping down Photozone’s throat. There seems to be off hand comments made about the soft corners due to the sensor without proof. Using those fancy test charts with a million lines in them. The tester could used that; made sure it filled up the entire frame and then judge the detail in the corners versus the center. But what we are presented with are pictures of grass or blue sky in the corners. How are we to tell how soft they should be. Maybe some website has already shown this to be a sensor issue, in that case I am wrong. But in the context of their review, they inserted the idea that the sensor is at fault without proof or even a link to support the comments. To me it would seem way easier to believe that lens has distortion than saying the sensor is distorting the image. It also seems easier ot believe that micro lenses help with light falloff and not distortion. I think distortion is handled by software/firmware for specific lenses.
I haven’t seen the lens tested on another NEX model, so I can’t say where the corner softness is coming from. But even if it is entirely a lens issue, I still think the 50mm has enough going for it to be a worthwhile investment at that price.
Here you go:
http://forum.photozone.de/index.php?/topic/1904-sony-nex-7/
http://forum.photozone.de/index.php?/topic/1992-sony-nex-7-2nd-sample-results/
http://forum.photozone.de/index.php?/topic/2009-nex-7-vs-nex-5/
http://forum.photozone.de/index.php?/topic/2068-next-pz-lens-test-report-sony-e-50mm-f18-oss/
http://forum.photozone.de/index.php?/topic/2066-next-pz-lens-test-report-sony-e-30mm-f35-macro/
Cool, thanks 4 the links
Cool, thanks 4 the links.
After downloading and watching the photozone pictures in 100% and in 50% in photoshop, I am not worried about the “BIG PROBLEM” ..
Per pixel sharpness is not as good as with my canon gear, but there are other qualities.. I like the way sony renders pictures better than canon. Use good glass and be happy with your nex-7! 🙂
The bokeh is rather lovely with the 50mm. 😀
A thought on 30M3.5… If it’a macro lens they tested, why are there no macro samples? Out of 8 samples on the last page, only one can be regarded as a half-macro (the wooden stump). This is very unprofessional. Who will buy macro lens and go shooting landscapes and train stations?
The 30mm is perfectly suited for shooting landscapes e.g. for matte painting, no distortions and super sharp.