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The NEX-7 is far still far away from being shipped but I am happy to own my tiny sexy black Sony NEX-5n. I am currently using one lens only, my [shoplink 8725 ebay]Nokton 35mm f/1.4[/shoplink]. But I am ready to test more M-mount lenses. The Nokton is a soft creamy lens, not exactly sharp that’s why I am looking for something as small as the Nokton but much more sharper. And the solution could be the [shoplink 10058 ebay]Minolta Rokkor 40mm f/2.0 lens[/shoplink]. It looks gorgeous on a NEX camera (Click here to see it at golftoimpress.com). Really small and high quality lens!
I found many image samples on Flickr. Images look very sharp and with nice tonality and contrast. I didn’t find any professional review of the NEX and Rokkor combo. If you find something drop me a message or comment this post thanks!
The Minolta Rokkor 40mm f/2.0 pancake can be found for $500 used on [shoplink 10058 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
P.S.: Don’t forget: You need the Leica M to NEX mount adapter ([shoplink 8850 ebay]Click here to find them on eBay[/shoplink]).
40 Responses
the no.1 minolta pancake is mc 45mm f2.8!!!! but it super rare.
I have the md 45mm, if that’s what you meant to type. I have been using that with an adapter with my nex c3 and its great. Always loved the md glass on my x700, alot sharper then the Sony glass.
When I checked my sonystore account yesterday (us) it said shipping for my nex-7 is updated but I never got an email that anything really shipped. Did anyone ha a preorder shipped at all?
When I want small and sharp, I go to my CV 21 f/4. Great lens, super sharp and very small.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-QBXV91plCq8/Tl3kCtZGw7I/AAAAAAAALYA/w8fmz8jMm6I/s912/L1011582.jpg
Andrea, I’m surprised that your CV 35 is not sharp… my CV 40 is sharp like a razor at f2 and I’m very happy with it. CV 21mm is a great lens as well, I have both.
Agreed.
I tested both the Rokkor 40 and the CV 40 and found them identical at f/2. So I kept the CV for the extra speed.
The Rokkor is more diminutive though…
The Zeiss for contax G 45/2 is quite impressive. It is ultra sharp @ f2
I gave up buying the Nokton 35/1.4 because I thought the bokeh was terrible. This Minolta should be one of the best lenses, but very expensive…
I can see the point in alternatives but the CV 35mm f1.4 is very sharp at f2…I think it would be sharper than the Rokkor.
No lens is super sharp at f1.4 especially in such compact form.
I use the 35mm f1.4 and 28mm f1.9 Ultron (very sharp at f2 also) which can be found for a good price.
Yes, some of these rangefinder lenses are very compact. I use a Konica Hexanon AR 40mm F1.8 which is one of the smaller SLR lenses. With the adapter it weighs around 200g and is more compact than the Sony 30mm F3.5 macro lens. It’s soft at F1.8, but very good right to the edges from F2.8. And you certainly can’t beat the price.
http://www.bmupix.com/journal/2011/11/12/nex-5n-today.html
If you want a Rokkor, get one, and put it on an adapter. Not too hard.
If you think that Sony should be able to make the Rokkor as a pancake on the NEX, then you’re really not paying attention to your comments.
For months you’ve been talking about pancakes and for MONTHS we’ve been pointing out that its really easy to make a short lens when there’s a mirror box between the lens and the sensor.
The size of the lenses on the NEX are the way they are because of the features they have.
The pancake that was possible was already made– the 16mm.
To make a 30mm, the lens will have to be much longer– probably the size of the one that you posted a leak photo of the other day.
It has to have that room in order to have the autofocus circuitry, and be large enough hot gather enough light for that focal length.
so, you want a 30mm f8.0 pancake that’s manual focus? You could have that, because then no need to gather light and no need for autofocus…. and the image quality would be so bad you’d complain about it.
But if you want 35mm f2.0 or faster, and autofocus, then the lens needs to be closer to the size of the 50mm f1.8 they just released.
This Rokkor is a M-Rokkor, a lens for M-mount rangefinder cameras such as Minolta CLE, Leica CL and Leica M.
There is therefore no “mirror box between the lens and the sensor“.
You moron, see how small is 30mm/2.0 by Samsung: http://www.lenstip.com/index.php?test=obiektywu&test_ob=224
Maybe laws of physics are different for Samsung??
>But if you want 35mm f2.0 or faster, and autofocus, then the lens needs to be closer to the size of the 50mm f1.8 they just released.
Only if camera has too long focal flange distance even by SLR standards…
I’m not sure why you consider is acceptable to call posters you disager with “moron”. However, in the case of that Samsung lens a similar optical design for the NEX would be 7mm longer to compensate for the difference in lens register. Couple that with the much slimmer NEX body, and the such a lens will appear much bigger in proportion than it does on the Samsung.
the nx-mount 30mm/2 is 22 mm long
add 7 mm, and you get 29 mm
now, can you tell if it’s closer to the e-mount 16mm/2.8 length (23 mm), or the e-mount 50mm/1.8 length (62mm)??
Also, for those who haven’t noticed, the leak photo of 30mm lens “Engineer” was referring to, was of _macro_ lens.
Let me put it another way– these complaining about not having pancakes… you expect us to believe that Sony is deliberately making the lenses larger than they need to be? Or that you’d accept an f8.0 lens?
Could collapsible lenses be produced to solve this issue?
Yes… but these comments seem to be invisible to forum users hypnotized by pancake desires.
f5.6-8.0 would be good for landscapes in daylight, and quality could be better than for lens that has wide aperture.
For me it’s a “nothing” focal length on APS-C. A very nice lens, and my favourite on 35mm, but just not worth it (for me) on APS-C.
I have this lens on my NEX-5 and it’s the best adapted lens in my collection. it’s sharp, small and fast! 🙂
For me, the Zeiss 24mm f1.8 is the perfect size. Now, how about a Zeiss 85mm? For APS-C a 24mm and a 85mm is all I use.
Also, for video, a 10mm f2.8 would be nice.
BTW I prefer Waffles over Pancakes for breakfast 🙂 The larger surface area holds more syrup 🙂
Get the Sony 85/2.8 on a A mount adapter. It’s an update of the Contax mount 85/2.8 Sonnar, with improved close focusing and even with the adapter it remains the length of an RF 85/2.
Just what I need, another lens system — yeah right. I have NO INTEREST in Sony A mount cameras, so why buy A mount lenses? I do have Nikon SLRs and Nikon lenses. A small, light weight Nikon Nikkor 85mm f/2 AI-s manual focus lens should do the job (using a Novoflex NEX/NIK adapter).
A BIG PLUS with Nikon lenses is that they are available at my local rental house. If I need a 600mm lens for a job, it’s just a phone call away. If Sony wants to get serious in the Pro market, they need to provide the same support as they do to their professional video/digital cinema customers.
You were asking for a lens Sony already makes, and which is fully functional on E mount (it’s a SAM lens, so there’s AF with both adapters). We aren’t talking the partial compatibility that you get with adapted manual lenses here.
There’s little reason at this point for Sony to make an E mount 85, since their A mount 85/2.8 is already small and very, very good (significantly better in fact than the Nikkor 85/2, which was never an outstanding lens and is easily the worst of Nikon’s 85’s).
As to the Sony pro support rant, Sony doesn’t sell a pro system yet so Sony doesn’t provide pro level support.
Andrea,
I tested a lot of manual lenses on my NEX-5.
– C/V Nokton 35/1,4 – which was also very soft in the edges. I think I had a bad copy of that lens, as I know that quality control is a problem with those C/V lenses
– C/V Nokton 40/1,4 – a little to heavy on the NEX to hold comfortable, but way better then the 35!
– Minolta M-Rokkor 40/2 – very nice lens on the NEX. Small, compact and amazing qualtity stopped down a little bit. It’s less contrast wide open, but still sharp enough for me
– Minolta M-Rokkor 28/2,8 – my standard lens on the NEX, but with f2,8 a little bit on the slow side as a standard lens for me
– Konica 40/1,8 Pancake lens – most compact and high speed SLR lens for the NEX. Also a little soft wide open, but razorsharp stopped down a little bit. Also comfortable to operate on the NEX and way better focussing possibilities from 45cm on (all Leica M-Mount lenses start from 70cm and more). But my biggest concern with this lens is the out-of-focus area rendering. I just don’t like it. It’s too busy in my eyes.
These are only the interesting lenses I used. As my NEX-7 order was canceled, I am also considering to cancel the SonyZeiss 24/1,8, as I don’t want to wait anymore but start doing photographs right now!
Andrea, the lens on the NEX-5 in the picture you are giving a link to isn’t an M-Rokkor 40mm f/2 but a Leica Summicron 35mm f/2 manufactured in Canada in 1976.
+1 😉
a minolta lens never works as a pancake on the new, because the adapter is already bigger than an pancake lens. even though they work fine. currently i am using MD rokkor 20, 35, and 50mm and i am very satisfied.
This is a M mount lens, it’s not the long MD/MD/SR mount
The Voigtlander 35mm F2.5 pancake is a very good lens too, and is not designed specifically for a ‘classic’ rendering like the 35mm F1.4 is. It of course is not an F1.4 but its sharp from the get go and has a more modern way of drawing.
Contax G lenses, such as the 28mm or 35mm Zeiss are excellent on the NEX. Not pancake exactly, but superb quality and still quite cheap.
Note the Rokkor-M 40/2 is in fact simply a rebadged Leica Summicron-C 40/2 (as the Rokkor-M 90/4 is an Elmar-C), The only CL/CLE lens that was a Minolta design is the Rokkor-M 28
RF lenses do very well on the NEX-3C and the NEX-5N, but initial reports indicate that the NEX-7 suffers from the same edge performance problems as the original NEX-3/5 and is therefore somewhat problematic with RF 28-35mm lenses and wider designs have significant colour shift and smearing problems. The NEX-5N seems to be the camera to get if you want to shoot RF glass on NEX.
Has anyone any practical experience of using the CZ 21/2.8 for Contax G on the NEX? It seems that some think it will be problematic, but I’m wondering if anyone has actually tried this combination, and if so, with what success?
By default the 21/2.8 will not mount, the rear element protection baffle fouls the mount. This can be removed and then the lens will mount if done with care.
Hello again!
Here:
http://www.systemkamera-forum.de/sony-nex-objektive/17739-minolta-cle-m-rokkore-der-nex.html
I testes some lenses on the NEX-5. One of them is the M-Rokkor 40/2. I also compared the size of the lenses.
Why do you make these posts and NEVER address the ONLY real MF pancake lenses for NEX?
The Rokkor wasn’t even a pancake lens when sold new… How does it suddenly become one now? Stop calling every lens in the world a pancake lens. They are not. These posts are misleading.
One more time…
Pen FT-38mm f2.8 Pancake Lens
http://www.biofos.com/esystem/_img/420/penfpan.jpg
It’s a real pancake lens at 14mm long… with an adapter the same size as M-NEX adapter. It’s not a fake pancake lens. It’s not a wanna be pancake lens. It’s the real deal.
For around $150… The Pen FT-38mm f1.8 is super high quality on NEX and still super small.
http://www.eoshd.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/nex-5n-olympus-side-view.jpg
The Olympus Pen FT-38mm lens is part of the Olympus Pen F camera system, introduced in 1963. It was the ONLY PANCAKE lens — the 60mm f1.5, and the 70mm f2 were NOT pancakes, but full size lenses. Check-out this article http://www.cameraquest.com/olypenf.htm the 60mm f1.5 and 70mm f2 are pictured at the bottom of the page. If Sony would make a 85mm f1.8, that was slightly larger than the Pen F 70mm f2, I’d be very happy.
Here’s a chart of all the Pen F lenses http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympus_Pen_F
http://bbs.powerapple.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=879928
I also did some tests with minolta/voigtlander/leica lenses:
Voigtlander 35mm F1.4, Voigtlander 40mm F1.4, Leica 35mm F2.0 ASPH, Minolta MC 35mm F1.8, Minolta MD 45mm F2.0, Minolta MD 50mm F1.4, Minolta MD 50mm F1.7
the post above shows the performance.
To be honest the Voigtlander 35 is really quite creamy, not sharp at all at F1.4.
Voigtlander 40/1.4 is better but still not very satisfactory.
Leica 35mm F2 ASPH is definitely amazing in performance, showing fantastic contrast and sharpness and details but the price is soooo expensive I dont really dare to take it as a toy lens and bring it with me everywhere.
Minolta 50mm MD 1.7 is quite good thinking about the price (only £5-10 on ebay) which means I can just use it as I like and dont need to care much, but it’s more a 75mm lens.
Another Minolta MC 35 1.4 gives very nice picture but it’s way too big and heavy for NEX system so I’m justing testing it to compare.
Another lens that’s similar to minolta 50mm is Jupiter 8 (J8), 50mm F2.0, very cheap (£10-£20 on ebay) and very amazing performance but again it’s more a portraiture lens.
So therefore, I’m still looking for an alternative standard 50mm lens….
There are some really great inexpensive Rokkor..the 50 mc pg 1.4… the 58 mc 1.2..
If u need a wide angle then go for the 20 mm md 2.8…the 24 md 2.8 is also not bad..