The well know korean site SLRclub (Click here and scroll down to see pics) posted the full Sony A7r and Zeiss 35mm f/2.8 FE lens review. As usual they do post their articles as JPG (event the text) and that’s why we cannot use google translation tool to understand the text. But you really have to check out the site anyway because it shows full ISO tests and some really amazing image samples. While I was no big fan of the new 35mm f/2.8 Zeiss FE lens I have to say the lens performance is superb and the images I posted here below convinced me to get the lens. It means my preorder list is now: A7r, 35mm FE and 55mm FE 🙂
I hope we can see soon more review like the one posted by SLRclub. It really makes you want to get that camera and lens now! Well done SLRclub guys!
Watch these images:
On top the original image and below the 100% crop.
On top the original image and below the 100% crop.
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Specs and Preorders in US and Canada (Click on store name to see direct preorder page):
Dedicated Sony announcement page at Amazon US (Click here).
Sony A7r body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony A7 body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony RX10 at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 24-70mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 35mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 55mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
70-200mm A-mount at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony A-Mount to E-Mount Lens Adapter at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
Sony A to E adapter with mirror at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
A7/A7r leather case at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
A7/A7r vertical grip at Amazon, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony W Series Battery Charger at Amazon, BHphoto.
Sony FA-CS1M Off-Camera Shoe at BHphoto.
Semi-Hard LCD Screen Protector for A7-A7r at Amazon, BHphoto.
Specs and Preorders in Europe:
Sony A7r body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, FI, SE, PT, WexUK, WexDE.
Sony A7 body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, FI, FR, SE, PT, WexUK, WexDE, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, FI, FR, WexUK, WexDE, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR.
Sony RX10 at Sony DE, WexUK, WexDE.
Zeiss 35mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT,
Zeiss 55mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT,
117 Responses
So will you be posting a link to the review, or making everyone hunt it down?
[commencing hunting]
Ops sorry. Copy and paste error. it’s correct now!
No worries, and thank you
These pictures are not sharp at all. My rx1 does a much better job and it has an AA.
To me there’s a lot of mush in the center.
When I eventually purchase mine — will def be going through the links =)
Nice, but I am sure with better image processing from RAWs there is still a lot more potential.
This.
The only thing keeping me from buying these babies is the price of the lenses… For the 35 and 55 together will cost 2700? That’s just too much…
Agree. Would love to have the A7. But I want a cheap 85mm 1.8 as well. The only combo I need :3
Wait for non-Zeiss lenses. They will come.
55mmF1.8 @ F22
and sharp all image area.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtLt5FiVm_A&feature=youtu.be&t=17m33s
Ummm… translation anyone?
well.. it is 28 mins.. but to summarize.. he was VERY surprised at how good this was.
Especially anti diffraction software and gapless microlens design.
Do you mean $2700 for both lenses? They retail at $800 and $1000, that is $1800 and not $2700.
Maybe he is adding also a A7 and some kind of student discount…
you are bad in maths are you?
Se we went from awful “rainy day in london” samples to amazing “national geographic grasshopper” in just a few days. If this is a trend, we will have “Hubble-like” stellar and interstallar photography by the time they deliver this baby to me.
hahaha, maybe it will start making coffee then too!
Give me a week, clear skies, and a new moon and I’ll have your Hubble imagery with a7R. Soon as mine arrives. In a few months.
+1, but sush, the price will start to rise again if Sony sees we’re happy 😉
“amazing “national geographic grasshopper””
Uhm really.. its one of those shots.. thats halfbad and you wish it would have turned out better 😛
Well, that slrclub site is impressively slow.
HAHAHA nice typo Andrea, really sorry you cant sue google to translate it xD
Indeed amazing sharpness!
Do we have Korean friends around here to translate it?
they are sleeping now :-/
Now THIS is a lens compromise I think we can at least be appreciate of if not desire. Offering an option for a small lens from the start, though at the cost of lens speed, is what I feel needed to happen if Sony is touting these system cameras as compact. We don’t want a return of the early NEX days! That 16mm pancake lens made the package tiny but is awful unless stopped down to F8 and that’s just useless. This lens however. appears to be incredibly sharp wide open. Just imagine the potential of stopping down! Sure it’s not a fast lens, but at the benefit of having a small lens in front and being able to safely use it wide open, I think this is a lens size compromise we can all live with and enjoy 🙂
Finally some samples that dont suc k. However they are not as sharp as I thought they would be. But it’s too early to tell, the cameras are probably with a pre-production firmware.
…+1000!
I want a super 35mm f1.2 FE lens, 10mm thick pancake, tack sharp wide open in the estreme left border! ahahahah
And sell for less than $200
the firmware won’t change here very much in terms of iq as it was with many other cameras.
Never expect much in the way of firmware updates from Sony. Don’t buy the camera in the hopes of future features or improvements via firmware.
Are these pics handheld? Does nobody out there own a tripod?
That defeats the purpose of a light and small cam, doesn’t it? If you notice the youtube videos, these guys have cleverly placed the camera on a sponge for shutter noise demo. Every other video we saw shows handheld snaps and the real noise.
I’d like to compare apples to apples – i.e., if other cams are tested on a tripod, then the only objective comparison is to use this model on a tripod too.
It isn’t a comparison. It shows how this camera and lens, handled, outputs.
For me it’s ok to have a review without tripod because this is how I would use the camera.
But, for a comparison with say A7 vs A7R or RX1 or whatever, than you are right, tripod is a must.
http://www.dcfever.com/cameras/viewsamples.php?set=925
One nore sample page
Great sharpness, microcontrast, color, detail. I expect a lot of FUD though, people around are doing it to themselves 🙂
Actually in terms of center sharpness these are pitiful from what I would expect out of the a7r.
Def impressive detail, but most lenses can get that level of center sharpness at f2.8. Corner sharpness is where the issues usually crop up. I’m more impressed by the accuracy of the focus – typically the lack of sharpness in an image is due more to focus being off by a bit rather than lens capability. I’m not in the market for this new FF Sony, but if I didn’t have my current setup, the A7 with Zeiss 55 looks amazing! Can’t wait to see how the 55 stacks up against a 50 Summilux wide open. I’ll bet they’re the same.
Corner sharpness at f 2.8?
At f 2.8 dof is VERY shallow and always will be.
Only a small portion of the image will be in focus therfore corner sharpness at f2.8 should not be an issue.
What is more important is corner sharpness when stopped down so the corners are in focus.
+1
You’re describing close focus at f2.8, which is totally different. All lenses are sharp in the centre at f2.8.
Excellent comment Megatron, it would be nice if you could give us more details.
Unsharp corners at F2 have always been the crux with my photography. They break my art, particularly when I zoom in at 400%. What techniques and what gear can you suggest from the height of your experience?
Obviosly you cant read…maydy its bad vision not bad lens
I said CORNER sharpness not center sharpness.
If you want everything sharp why on earth would you use f 2.8.
Bollox is being sarcastic
It doesn’t fully load 🙁
There more sample here from a great photograph!
http://briansmith.com/sony-a7r-field-test/
Share with you Full size sample taken by a Hong Kong Camera site, don’t be scared by the quality of the images, the site takes poor quality sample pictures as always
A7R with 35 2.8 ZA
http://www.dcfever.com/cameras/viewsamples.php?set=925
A7 with 28-70 kit
http://www.dcfever.com/cameras/viewsamples.php?set=923&picture=9793
OMG,.. This is way much better than OMD,..
Where does MFT have to go now??
If this beast touch down to 1000 other are dead for sure
I actually quite like having a X2 crop camera, and it compliments FF perfectly. m43 has f0.95 glass that it usable thanks to the crop factor, the E-M5 is priced nicely and a great cam for those who know what they’re doing. I don’t need FF for my photography but I love cameras from a technical/engineering angle so I’m interested to see what sort of impact these cameras make in the market. I think that Oly will be fine, Fuji are the ones needing to make quick decisions.
what makes you said f0.95 glass is usefull thanks to 2xcrop factor? Does tht lens have af? Is t easy to focus with f0.95 manually?
and thx to that tiny sensor that 0.95 lens does not even hv shallower dof than f1.8 in ff camera.
however tom, again, just bcuz you hv already invested so much money on tiny sensor system camera doesn’t hv to make you a sony haters and these cameras in particular.
“Is t easy to focus with f0.95 manually?”
Yes, it’s very easy to focus at f0.95 and you can pick your point of focus along the length of an eye lash.
Very funny, a f/0.95 on MFT you’d have to be within 1m of the subject to do that.
@S.yu I have a Voigtländer 17.5mm f0.95 right here: it focuses from 15 cms (6″). New 42.5mm f0.95 has a near focus limit too.
@MarcoSartoriPhoto
I didn’t say that you can’t focus closer, the problem is that often in real life it’s impossible to get so close to a subject, you don’t stick your camera in his face.
It’s easy to focus on things like hairs thanks to the conspicuous aberrations…
“.. m43 has f0.95 glass that it usable thanks to the crop factor,..”
So does FF. They are all usable on the NEX’, er..the As.
I am amazed, but do believe that the level of detail is there due to the missing AA filter on the A7R. It just shows how much of image quality we loose by having the anti aliasing filter on our cameras. Sony, give me an A77r please!
Without OSS or in camera stabilization I am not excited about the lens or any lens. Same problem with RX1.
can you tell me a fullframe camera with a 35mm lens that has stabilization? i only know the A99! Canon and Nikon dont have it…
http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/products/cameras/ef_lens_lineup/ef_35mm_f_2_is_usm
He was probably talking about ff camera that has image stabilization(ibis), not the lens.
I don’t think so 🙂
so I assume you suffer from parkinson’s disease son? I agree with you then, and I suggest to spend money more on therapy than buying these cameras
@malilan
He must have shaky hands, don’t need to bring in any illness dude. I’m happy that I can still shoot 135mm without stabilization, but struggle to handhold 200mm. Where others have no problem with it.
Well..Get well soon, dude.
in poor taste
Not current, but the A850 and the A900 had it too, years ago, despite all the prior speculation that Sony would never be able to scale it up from the APS-C cameras.
(and how much better would the A900 have sold if reviewers had accepted that overall image noise is more important than noise per pixel instead of waiting for Nikon to do an about face with the D800 to convince them ;))
Even the steadiest hands have limits. Optical stabilization can help to push the limit to ~3 full stops which is invaluable in low light situations. You don’t need to suffer Parkinson’s to benefit from OSS unless you have prosthetic arms that can turn into a tripod.
why not go further and add Olympus 5 axis IBIS on your prosthetic arm 😀
Meh.
You mean “m43” ?
Ok,, waiting for delivery 🙂 Many thanks Andrea, and yes, I used the link 🙂
The cropped images of that 35mm shots…
That’s it Sony has changed the game.
Canon is sh*tting in their pants now.
hmmm not too too impressed with lens to be honest. it is wide open but still a fair bit of chromatics and the green looks a little hoaky. Would like to see some samples stopped down to f8.
All you guys going ooh and aah must be blinded by the bokeh you never had using your M43 cameras.
I mean where’s the sharpness? It’s great you can crop the hell out of your picture with that 36mp sensor, but if you need to zoom in 1:1 before actually see details, then this is a mediocre lens.
I think that’s because we are looking at these pictures on a computer screen. FF means you can make huge prints without losing that detail and without the images breaking apart. Can’t do that with smaller sensors.
There are different lenses and different types of sharp(the MTF chart tells you otherwise but I believe in my eyes more than in the chart), some lenses tend to give a very contrasty and very sharp look zoomed out, but in 100% crops they don’t show as much detail (a slight, very soft-focus-like effect) and images would seem flat, some lenses are just the opposite. IMO there’s more use for the former type, but most modern lenses seem to be the latter.
I don’t know if you are serious or not. If I shrink the image small enough, even a bad lens would look good. That’s why you need to pixel peep (zoom in at 100%) to get the accurate comparison between two lenses on the same platform. But the best way is to print them at the same size to see which lens would meet your standard or display them at the same resolution side by side. So yes, people are not blind as you think. It’s you who have the wrong concept all along.
Doh! I take back my words, I was judging the lens based on the 4 pictures above. (which you must agree with me look terrible, and it doesn’t help they were hosted on photobucket, OP you might want to try flickr instead)
the link to slrclub didn’t load properly and I dare say too many of were hammering their site.
anyway, it’s working now and I must say the testshots look pretty good.
My sigma 35mm f/1.4 @ 1.4 is shaper, more contrasty, and has less chromatic aberation at 1.4 than the grashopper image at 2.8.
My iPhone too !
I have plenty of grasshopper shots sharper than this in my gallery !
Lol ^
If you mean the CA on the grasshopper’s leg, the leg is OOF (only the head is in focus) meaning that’s secondary CA you’re looking at, so it’s really no big deal.
My Sigma 35 on my Canon 6D is huge. Oh wait, make that HUGE! I think most of us eyeing the A7/R are doing so for the size and price combo.
zeiss glass take color and bokeh greater than sigma.
I’m confused, are these FE mount or E mount lenses?
Please ignore last comment, I think I am blind
Sony makes the most innovative cameras, BUT I don’t trust them with lenses. Look at NEX, and now NEX is dead. I just don’t trust Sony.
And those photos are not that great. As others pointed out, there appears to be a lot of CA, and the lens is a compromise just to make it small. It’s like NEX all over again.
I currently don’t own any system camera. Just an RX100M2 which is great and serves me well as a pocket camera. I still want/need a system camera for more demanding photos, and for upcoming trips. Strongly considering an OMD EM1 for its excellent lens selection and build quality. Not a big fan of M43 IQ though… doesn’t seem that much better than my RX100M2, and smaller files means even less room to crop. :-/ *sigh* So hard to find the right camera.
It’s easy to find the right camera: buy a reflex from a proper manufacturer. That rules out the toy and razor factories, to be sure; but you still have Canon, Pentax, Nikon and some Olympus – the latter are overpriced though.
NEX isn’t dead. It just evolved.
Yeah, the E-mount is obviously not going anywhere, who cares what they call the cameras.
Oh come on…how on earth can any of you see chromatic abberation from thes pictures.
Do you realize how bad the ca would have to be to actuall be visible here…and do you actually think thr lens is that bad.
These perfect lighting daylight shots always look good. Is there a 3200 ISO image of a poorly lit street out there?
These shots are intended to demonstrate the lens performance. It would be pretty stupid to do that in crap lighting.
Sony A7, A7r and RX10 brochure (PDF) for download on this website:
http://www.alphaforum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=94&t=554
hm… there’s a lot of chromatic aberration in the grasshopper shot. The Leica 35mm f/2 ASPH is much better in that regard.
Not over-impressed with the lens either, but until it’s properly tested on a production camera, it’s difficult to tell. In the meantime I seem to be getting sharp and (to me) very acceptable images from my Nex7 and £100 Sigma 30mm lens…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/106288718@N03/
Sigma can deliver super sharp&cheap lenses … that’s why, I hope, she will produce some FE mount lenses!
The true strenght of zeiss lens is not sharpness, but its colour and flare control.
and micro contrast
Does any one know why the US Sony student store is currently down and when will it come back?
It is so stupid that the website is not available for a long time. They don’t even put a notice on it.
And their custom service also don’t know what happened.
I feel that people that are complaining about sharpness are probably basing that on the 100% crops – which is pointless when comparing a camera to another camera. The only relevant place for 100% crops is when comparing different lenses on the SAME camera or two different cameras with the same resolution in the same exact conditions. (if even then)
Of course a 36MP camera is going to look less detailed and sharp at 100%, your effectively zooming in “closer” than what you could do on a lower resolution camera. (another argument for another day, but I’d be happy with a 10MP or even slightly less sensor myself).
This camera is sharp, what might be an issue, is the fact that there could be an inherent design “problem” or “effect” or “limitation” with the super sized sensor stuffed behind such a small mount. Super wide lenses or certain 3rd party lenses adapted just might not work out too well with this system, but until someone does a thorough, controlled, and competent test, the jury is still out.
This^
As someone who has made thousands of images with Nikon D800 I can assure you, these images are very impressive indeed. I do believe the A7r will provide better quality images than the D800/E and these lenses are performing just great so far.
Basically I dismiss anyone who thinks they aren’t sharp and aren’t performing up to maximum levels as people who simply lack the actual experience with high quality lenses on high resolution full frame sensors. The appearance of images with such a camera, especially at 100% takes some time to get used to. Of course it’s also a total waste of time. The real impression of a 36mp sensor comes from a 300 DPI print.
One thing about 36mp FF sensors is that your focus is a HUGE component of apparent sharpness. You just can’t get away with any mistakes. That leaf picture is a great example. The focus is set at the near end of the leaf making most of the leaf out of focus. With pixels this size on this format, you’re going to see a faster decrease in acceptable sharpness as you move out of the in-focus area than you’re used to. This is the same pixel size as 16mp sensors on APS-C but the equivalent focal length at the same aperture is giving you a “stop” worth of additional focused area. On top of that, the magnification factor is different giving different size of circle of confusion which causes the image to go out of focus more gradually.
Then the final thing to remember is you’re looking at shitty Sony JPEGs. Really Sony JPEGs are the worst by a long shot. If you can’t mentally compensate for all of these issues, just hold your opinions until someone like Roger Cicala at LensRentals puts the camera and lenses through some more rigorous controlled tests. Of course, that won’t happen until there are RAW processors supporting the cameras. It could be a few months.
Meh
Meh,yes it’s meh!!
Meh want this camera so bad, that it hurts meh.
dear sar staff, i read your notation where u say to purchase from your links because sar gets a small payment for doing so, sar should be more aggressive about advertising this message, i personally hav and still do enjoy this site and will absolutely make any further purchase from sar links, i never knew this fact and i assume many others dont know this as well, sar would hav lots of creative freedom to get this message out, sar might even run a contest for the most creative yet effective way to disseminate this info, my 2 cents
Sony, take my moneyyy! The IQ are sooo much better than my expectation 🙂 I’m so happy have decided to stick with Minolta/Sony.
Sharp? Good?
Yea that red fringing isnt really noticable (if you are blind maybe).
Sharp? Um.. in film era maybe.
it is 35mm 100% cropped… even 35mm sigma art lens has abberration if cropped that much.
OMG, that Korean site is addicted, my head got dizzy …
Can I have some aspirin, please …
I really don’t understand why that site publishes everything in JPEG (not even PNG!), has to be more than they like drop shadows on text and hate CSS. Must be concerned with people stealing their content ╮(╯▽╰)╭
Just for reference, here is 100% crop of the same moth using NEX-C3 & MD 50f1.4 costing $25
http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/9356/tnej.jpg