Good news folks! Zeiss is going to announce three E-mount primes on May 7! We will get the Zeiss Planar 32mm f/1.8 and the Distagon 12mm f/2.8 (with shipment in June) and the Macro Planar 50mm f/2.8 (shipment late 2013). All three lenses cover the APS-C sensor area and not will not cover the FF area of the current VG900 and future FF NEX. But they will of course work in crop mode on those cameras too.
I am still not sure about the exact price but it should be a little bit over $1000 like the current [shoplink 8450]Zeiss 24mm f/1.8[/shoplink] lens.
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P.S.: The 50mm f/1.4 Zeiss A-mount lens will ship in July according to BHphoto (Click here). Preorders are up at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here) and SonyStore USA (via AlphaCameraDeals). In Europe at Wex UK and Amazon DE.
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Reminder (SR = Sonyrumor):
SR1=probably fake rumor
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74 Responses
Why couldn’t they build them covering (the futur?) FF?! At least for the 32 and 50…
Because they would become a lot bigger and more expensive.
Bigger? Not sure. The Summicron 28/2 is small.
But the summicron is a manual focus lens only, which helps keep it small. Also, Leica uses more exotic designs and manual assembly to keep the tolerances very tight which also raise their price a lot.
If you want that sort of quality for FF in a small package and AF, you would be bitching about the price next. In reality, there isn’t anything your cave wouldn’t want to defecate in this site so might as well shut it and f!”ck off somewhere else.
Where would Leica designs be more exotic? The main optical formulas were all invented by Zeiss, Leica has its equivalent to planars, to biogons and so on. Plus there are the existing Zeiss ZM lenses who are as small as the Leicas. AF and electronics only adds to the thickness, not to the length of the lens.
Just look at the Contax G Zeisses… they cover FF, they have AF and they are small!
Yeah, its really puzzling if you also consider that the Zeiss won’t have IS. Why the hell are these bigger. It’s not like the Contax G lenses are optically inferior or anything.
The retrofocus-lenses-are-smaller-myth… Seems like they need big and bluky SLR sized lenses anyways because sensors will show bad corner behavior otherwise, at least for digital.
In virtually all of lenses for mirrorless cameras, the optical scheme is tweaked to allow for quick focus hunting, so this does imply worse IQ and bigger size.
Also they probably wish to make it work with NEX-7 sensor (which is a DSLR sensor). It is unknown if next 24 Mp sensor will be good enough with slanted light rays, well even 16 Mp sensor is not very good.
On-sensor PDAF in 5R/6 also works better when exit pupil is remote from image plane.
For film rangefinders, none of these problems exist, so optics can be as small as it gets.
that would mean future proofing something, since when did Sony do that? (the size implications of a ff lens would also be undesirable)
Yep, that’s the main reason I never will buy one of these. But who knows if and when that FF NEX will surface. I got tired of waiting and got myself a Metabones SpeedBooster instead. Not as good as shooting a real FF NEX for sure, but good enough and a lot of fun to use with my Carl Zeiss Distagons and Planars.
Maybe because Sony never stated NEX photo system would ever turn FF?
I’d rather spend 1200-1500 for a full frame version as well, but not everyone wants to go full frame. These will be a bit smaller.
Admin
When will Sony announce the NEX7N ?
It is weird that there was so much noise in March, then nothing ??
Or was it all fake ? Are the specs confirmed ? Any new date ? Summer ? 2013 ?
Thanks
D
As I wrote many times here the NEX-7n release has been delayed. Coming in Summer don’t worry!
The delay could be in line with the new ethos of only releasing new cameras when the improvements are significant enough to warrant a new model instead of the small-steps model releases NEX and Alpha had been coming up with.
in that case, Nex7N would turn in the favor of NEX8 if any significant change.
Also the delay would be much more than a couple of months, my guess
What puzzles me is that the NEX7N sounded like a SR4 rumor, then turned into …nothing so far
An Canon and Nikon as well
After the latest Fuji announcment, I’m actually thinking about switching to Fujifilm as soon as they release a new X-Mount interchangable lens body (Probably X-Pro 2).
Fuji has an amazing 14/2.8 lens. I have the 16mm pancake + .75x converter which is fun but crap.
Because of the versatility I use 55-210 a lot, Fuji’s 55-200 will probably be worlds better than Sony’s.
The lens I use the most while travelling would be a 24mm lens. 24/1.8 Zeiss, I don’t like it at all. I’d just buy a X100S for that focal length. X-Pro would also give me a 23/1.4 option.
Their 35/1.4 lens is also quite cool. I use Sigmarit 30/2.8 all the time but I’d also love to have something with a wider aperture.
Sony has a meaningless (for me) 50/1,8 offer which is a bit short for a portrait lens. Fuji has updated their roadmap(yes, they have an actual roadmap, not a rumor) and said that they’ll be making a 56/1.2 which is just perfect for an aps-c portrait lens.
Sony needs to come up with something revolutionary quite soon. Otherwise, most of the enthusiasts will switch to other brands. I love my Nex 7, which is my third Nex camera. I love the body, I love the image quality, I love everything about it but the lens selection doesn’t answer my needs. I’ve been drawn to my old 5D more often, just because I can mount a good quality 20mm, 35mm and 85mm lenses on to it.
I agree. I have already switched to Fuji X-E1. Still use A99 though 🙂
…good point! Maybe I should wait for the X-Pro 2. Good lenses, amazing hybrid viewfinder, good firmware support, nice low light sensor. Sony has to improve their cameras with continues firmware support! In the past nothing really happened.
Won’t buy anything. Although these should be better than mediocre “CZ Sonnar” 24/1.8, but not interested anyway:
1) 12mm must be manual focus lens with distance scale: I played with 10-18 and it was a pain to use despite its quite decent optical performance, with such a wide angle the MF is much more reliable.
2) Not interested in cropped solutions.
3) Not interested in E-mount solutions: I don’t have any trust to Sony and found their cameras to be half baked and overpriced especially considering their crippledness.
4) Have Leicas 35/1.4 and 50/1.4.
Are you Ken Rockwell? Because you sound like a socialite prostitute awaiting for a prince. Sadly enough, with that rancid mouth of yours, you can only moan that the latest guy that impaled you kept telling you to shut up.
Didn’t your parents gave you enough attention when you were a child? Or, are you young and your parents are not giving you any attention? I wouldn’t blame them. To have a child that feels like the world’s owes him must be a real head f!”ck.
You’re clearly just a frustrated Vim user.
Vim is better anyway.
Lol, you should’ve started and stopped at “Not interested in E-mount solutions”.
I agree with many of these points, but feel the position is slightly overstated. E-mount and NEX are the best thing in mirrorless for anyone interested in M as well as native lenses imho. Same goes for Contax G, LTM, C/Y etc.
Nice, you didn’t forget to mention the word ‘mediocre’ this time!
I like how it looks.
It will be too expensive, anyway.
Well, as an owner of the FS700 along with the 5r, i’m all for quality lenses that don’t have to be full frame. I enjoy Super 35mm for video, and maybe these lenses were created with that crowd in mind as well.
Interested to see these lenses performance in sharpness. I hope it got build with image stabilisation this time, then i will 100% get the 50mm because it is macro.
I don’t think that there’ll be any IS with these lenses. Has Zeiss in all of it’s history ever released a lense with IS?
These lens won’t come with stabilization. Zeiss already made clear of this
Their argument is that while image stabilisation gives better results at very low shutter speeds, it reduces the possible image quality at high speeds or on a tripod. Zeiss are aiming at the best possible quality in optimum situations.
It seems reasonable to me.
and would only add to the size anyway
Perfectly reasonable. And probably after a several years, image stabilization will be mostly electronic (like today’s NEX’s hand-held twilight)
While I don’t really agree with the Zeiss claim (I think they are just genuinely incapable) because you can just as well turn off OSS, I don’t mind the lack of IS as I found that for most normal range lenses IS is totally overrated.
For a prime OSS adds extra groups. At a minimum this reduces (micro)contrast. Moreover many like Zeiss because of the distinctive rendering of their designs. Add a new corrective group in the middle of the planar lens and it is no longer a planar/ double gauss design, and is unlikely to render OOF regions typical of a planar.
Unless you do video, and one of the NEX features is video.
@Vlad You’re right of course. Some will prefer the SONY lenses for the OSS, and because it’s required for Video applications. Other’s will go with the Sigma’s because they’re a bit sharper, especially for the price. Choice is a good thing!.
Last week there was a professional photo fair in The Netherlands. I could hold, feel and try both lenses on a NEX 7. However, I was not allowed to take pictures on my own memory card. Both lenses are solid, have a very smooth focus and the pictures I saw on an iMac were (of course) great. They told me the following ex-VAT prices: 680 euro for the 32mm and about 1000 euro for the 12mm. Shipment in June.
Ok, sounds like the 32/f1.8 will be slightly less than the 24/f1.8. I predict it will sell well at that price. Many are holding out for this lens instead of the Sony 35/f1.8.
The 12mm/f1.8 price is steep after VAT, but considering the focal length and aperture, there’s not much competition out there. It will be interesting to see how it tests against the Sony 10-18.
I know, I know, the quality of these lenses will probably be higher than the other primes in the same focal range, but I would rather see the prime options extended to the tele side (60mm, 85mm, 105mm etc) than yet another prime in the 30mm – 50mm segment.
I think these lenses should be welcomed. I will not be buying them as I can’t afford them, and anyway already have a good Nikon macro lens.
But if the NEX system is to be taken seriously, we do need some top class lenses.
One that I think should be made in E mount is Sigma’s 70mm macro.
A 85mm would be really nice.
I love Zeiss and these look nice, but I’ll probably stick with Zeiss ZMs on NEX.
May i note that Samsung already delivers its new NX with a 45mm F1.8
If the new lenses only cover aps-c, does this mean the field of view of these lenses will not be affected? For example: a normal 50mm lens would have a field of view of something like 75mm. Will this be the same with the new zeiss lenses? So the 12mm on nex has field of view of something like 18mm?
No the focal lengths will still be multiplied on apsc (like with the 24mm Zeiss).
All the trolls bit%hing on this site really spoils it. If people have nothing interesting or constructive to say then why not just say nothing?
Irony, love it.
Haha! Clever.
That’s not ironic. Horribly hypocritical, yes, but not ironic.
Yeah can we cut the swearing. I don’t see anyone else apart from Hendrick using a lack of vocabulary. Seeing others opinions on the comparison of systems interesting. Doesnt stop me using my A99, A77 & Nex C3
Super Budget version:
Sony 16/2.8 + ECU1 (equals 12/2.8), Sigma 30/2.8 + Sony SEL5018 for less than half the price of one of the Zeiss lenses 😉 😉 😉
Nope. Anything over $1K is not something I’d spend the money on for E-mount.
Could I ask why is there such an infatuation with full size mirrorless with interchangeable lenses? Such camera would necessarily need to use much larger lenses to cover the same angle. This would defeat the purpose of having a small camera body, I’d guess.
With continuously improving sensors, it should be possible to achieve very large prints on APS-C sensor whilst using much smaller and lighter lenses. Shallow depth of field can be easily achieved on APS-C camera. It can even be achieved on 4/3rds sensors.
That question is not very hard to answer: it would be the perfect digital back for almost any 35 mm lens sold in the far and near past. Personally I don’t care for new lenses, I’ve got piles of superb ‘old’ ones lying around that I’d love to use for what they’re meant for.
I have diffculty understanding this motivation. For one, the old lenses would require a bulky adapter further increasing the size of the kit. Furthermore, this would be all back to manual focus and in most cases manual aperture settings. You can do this today e.g. with Minolta lenses on NEX and even have full phase detect AF and automated apperture setting using the LA-2 adapter. But not many people are keen on doing it.
Then, the old lenses from the film days start showing their limitations even on APS-C these days. This is only going to get worse for the future 40 to 60 megapixels FF sensors.
Lot’s of folks already have fullframe lenses. And this includes small fullframe lenses from the rangefinder world – already very well known for their quality. Names like Zeiss, Leica, Voigtlander etc. It would just be really nice to have all the options open to us.
Hey John and others! Du you still use Win95 and Volvo 140 or grandmas TV chair? Old things are nice but lets realize that new digital cameras, lenses etc are getting better and better! Smaller sensors and cameras will rule.
I have owned wonderful Win95-stuff and Leicas and Nikons but the future is not there. You can’t stay still. What counts is taking meaningful and good pictures! Use modern tools….
You are too confident in APS-C high ISO performance progress. We didn’t see it since 16Mp unit was introduced, only marginal improvement in case of Nikon D7100 sensor. Looks like we are already at the limit. FF sensors stucked too: no progress in high ISO since Nikon D3s.
Plus, it’s much easier to design and produce higher quality optics for larger sensors: just compare the Sigma 35/1.4 vs 35/2.8 equivalent which is CZ Sonnar 24/1.8 is.
“it’s bigger” — not an argument, because it’s two stops faster. We have another example: Canon EF 35/2 IS USM, which is one stop faster, has stabilization and better optically from wide open compare to “CZ” wide open and much better at f2.8 compare to “CZ” wide open (where they shows similar picture). I believe 35/f2.8 for FF will be just as “small” as this 24/1.8 and will have significantly better performance wide open.
No progress since the D3S is too simplistic. The DXO numbers may suggest so, the files disagree by showing much less visibly annoying pattern and electronics noise in general (hot pixels, blue shadows etc) at higher ISO’sand more detail to allow for more plus more sophisticated NR. Which is why in practise processed D600 files smoke the D3S for a given output size up to at least ISO 12800.
But I agree that people expect too much progress when we’re near the practical limits for single exposures from Bayer sensors.
I am a pro NIkon shooter using the D4 D800 for my work set up previous to that it was the D3s and D3x . The D800 has a spectacular level of detail compared to the D3s when processed with some NR software , the D800 has better output ( detail & noise ) at all ISO settings . The future should be very high Mp cameras from everyone. At or near base you get excellent detail and you can sacrifice some of this to NR at high ISO with no real downside as mp go up computing power does the same. For fun and personal use I use my NEX kit , it is a good time to be a photographer as there are good options at every level and every size from the RX100 to the S2.
HW
Fully agreed.
no improvement? We still use sensors with every pixel filtering roughly 2/3 of the incoming light. Traditional Bayer may be close to its limits but that does in no way imply that other technologies won’t replace it. No one serious thinks that we’ve already arrived at the pinnacle of sensor evolution.
We will have much better FF anyway. And IT will be the benchmark, not the tech we have now.
Greetings,
I am interested in Distagon 12mm lens more than Planar 38mm. I wished a little longer macro lens like Makro-Planar 2.8/60 🙂 but..going back to 12mm and 38mm, I believe that we need to wait for specification (lens schema) and sample images.
Zeiss may treat NEX-users seriously or less seriously. I prefer to use Distagon 2/24 ZA over Sonnar 1.8/24 ZA. I am worried if image’s quality of new line would be similar to Sonnar 1.8/24 ZA. I hope that all trio would be great lens, but they look very inconspicuous (eg. they have too small entrance pupil for related focal length).
Best regards, WZ.
I personally love the 24mm 1.8. No lens Sony makes comes close. These will probably be no different.
Zeiss 12 f2.8 will be an excellent addition to my NEX lenses –
Leica 21 f3.4, 28 f2, 35 f2, 50 f1.4, 90 f2 and 135 f3.4 -all M.
I checked none because I really would like to get the 12mm but only will if it works free of corner issues on the current NEX 7. If it is sub par on the 7 I have just about finalized my decision to bail out of the NEX system entirely. If I have to get a new body to buy a UWA that works without issues I will buy a body and lens from some other company and only keep my A mount cameras … Maybe?!?!? Maybe my 2 e mount and 3 a mounts will all head out the door.
As it is my new Sigma DP2m has completely replaced my NEX 5 and 7 for my travel landscape system. It is a very limited use camera but it works great as a landscape/pano camera.
Is that the NEX-7n on the picture, it doesn’t look like your average NEX-7, I can see a few new things such as another microphone
I would like to see also MTF charts