Here is the new PINK Nex-C3 with three different lenses. Click on picture to enlarge the image. I am a bit worried the 30mm macro might be too big and too slow (f/3.5) to sell well. It has the same size of the [shoplink 7168]Sony 30mm f/2.8 DT macro[/shoplink] which is faster and made for DSLR cameras. Wasn’t one of the advantages of mirrorless lenses that they can be more compact compared to DSLR lenses?
I searched on eBay to find some examples of compact macro lenses. Found one that is veeery small! The [shoplink 7169 ebay]Zeiss S-Planar 60/4 Macro (Click here to see it on ebay)[/shoplink]. That is a macro lens I would love to see from Sony (or Zeiss)! Or look at the awesome [shoplink 7170 ebay]Pentax DA 35mm f/2.8 (Click here to see it on ebay)[/shoplink].
Let’s assume the image quality of the new macro lens for NEX is very high (price is 349 Dollars/Euro). Here is the question for you:
[poll id=”56″]
Reminder: Sony announcement tomorrow (June 8th) between 7-10am London time!
And here are the direct search links to the Sony 30mm f/2.8 DT macro: [shopcountry 7168].
37 Responses
Andrea, any news about the 16/18-50mm/2.8 lens which is coming along with a77? Is it a CZ or G lens?
Could you please give us any info? Much thanks 🙂
Isn’t there any way to make a lens which is small enough? Probably half the size of the kit lens… half an inch longer than the pancake would still be alright.
But the 30mm on a crop sensor has really good viewing angle. I have the 35mm 1.7 TV lens, and I’m loving it. It’s on my NEX more often than the kit lens. Also, it’s there more often for its smaller size.
You mean the 18-50mm f/2.8 🙂
I am trying to find out the price for the lens and for the A77+lens combo. Should get some news soon. And if all works fine next week there will be some bigger news about that (but not 100% sure yet ok?).
Awesome 🙂 Can’t wait! Lens news are always very much appreciated – for me they are even more interesting than the camera news.
Disapointed it has droped to 18-50 the 16-50 made sence. 16-80 was 5 times I personaly would have liked a 4x say 16-64/15-60 16-60 would be fine 16-50 seamed good for f2.8 if quality high enough but 18-50 is not even 3x parhaps with afordable 60-240 fixed f4
I’ve been following closely with the C3 news which has been building up quite a lot lately. What I’m most interested with is the FW upgrade which supposedly also fits with the NEX3/5. Looking forward to that bit of news from you Andrea.
Weird that I did’t get any info about that. But I think it’s coming tomorrow!
Many thanks Andrea. Will be waiting for your news 🙂
I think it will not sell very well. why?
You dont need AF for Macrolenses, and there are plenty of very good macrolenses that can be adpoted.
IF it were a fast lens, like Olympus Zuiko 50/2 Makro, it might’ve sold well. But 3.5 is def. way too slow. BEcause it makes the 35 only suitable for macroshots, not for general purpose.
And not only slow + no need for AF, but 35 mm is pretty short for a macro lens, in my opinion.
So we have slow+ no need for AF + too short.
And hell, its big… If it were pancake size it would be alright i guess.
So: absolutely NO GO…
if you want a macro lens, choose from one of the oldfashioned manual focus lenses…
typo: ment 30mm 😀
just using my 35/1.7 too ofetn i guess 😀
All very valid points. Esp with the MF in macro statement. C’mon, 3.5, really? Expected Sony to do better than this if they are to charge 350 dollars for it. Let’s not talk about the Zuiko, but 2.8 at least?
You don’t need AF, but for all we know, the extra space in the lens could be used for advanced IS which would be a real boon for amateurs and enthusiasts looking to get into macro.
I don’t think 3.5 is necessarily too slow. Remember, the NEX already has great high-ISO performance, and the C3 will likely continue that trend. At 2.8 or lower even on APS-C crop, many basic photographers might find macro DOF too shallow in the first place.
Whether the FOV is too short is just a matter of preference, style of photography.
And the Zuiko 50/2 Macro is even bigger and heavier!
Don’t forget, adapting any non-E-mount lenses (manual, or even the A-mount 30 macro) will require an adapter (and won’t provide any IS whatsoever), so any size advantages are completely out of the question.
There’s few to do Andrea: NEX and such cameras do have a meaning and some aesthetics only when they bear pancake lenses. It’s that clear even in the image you posted. No way I am going to shove a camera like this with something longer than my Minolta 50mm f1.7. That is really maximum size allowed on such boides. IMHO
I’m thinking of it as a 30mm lens that just happens to be able to focus down to 2cm. If it can focus at working distances reasonably well it’ll replace my 16mm for my walk around lens. I just need it to perform well. I can’t stand the CA of my 16mm.
I understand the complaints that anything other than a pancake ruins the appeal of a NEX, but I disagree. The appeal of a NEX, for me, is that no matter what lens I choose to put on it, it’s still smaller and lighter than my SLR.
Sure it’s not a perfect lens for me, but I’m dying to have something better than that 16mm.
If you want tiny macro lenses then Look at Zeiss Luminar, Canon Macro Photo, Minolta Bellows Micro, Olympus OM-system Zuiko Macro or a bunch of other brands in easily adaptable RMS mount (RMS is the standard microscope objective mount which should give you some idea how small these lenses are) I have all the above in my macro stuff, for magnifications from 1:1 to 40:1. There are also lots of others, look here:
http://www.macrolenses.de/objektive.php?lang
Those will make the NEX look too big.
I like the macro lens ’cause is not too small. ;-))
Bigger is better :-))
I don’t see that 30mm macro anywhere in the lens roadmap rumor photo. It used to look so small! I don’t understand how the a-mount 30/2.8 is like half the size of the NEX 30/3.5. Is the dark f/3.5 of this macro lens because Sony thinks NEX users are too dumb to stop down when doing macro? What a waste of a lens, really. It’s the 35mm equivalent of a 45mm f/5.2. Does that really excite anybody?
Andrea the Color is raspberry and not pink.
Nice color, i wil buy one for my darling :-))
It looks Pink to me 🙂
spada, crop factor does not effect aperture. 45mm yes, f/5.2 no…
This 30mm Macro seems to be computer generated image, right?
Are you 100% positive this is it’s physical size?
The photo on sony’s web site from France was smaller then this rendering
That is the right size, why would it not be? These are official press pics. Even if it were a render it’s not like they would goof up the dimensions…
Sony lenses usually have some white inscriptions on the front …not sure why. But all other camera manufacturers seem to follow this weird pattern of putting blight inscriptions on the front of the lenses.
The images lack these inscriptions. Clear sign they are not photo images but something else.
To me an image on a rumor side that has clear sign of not being actual product photography has high potential to be fake.
I actually used the screen shot form the French side and put it side by side with the 18-55 image. There is little difference of the 30mm being slightly smaller – one can say insignificant.
The final shipping lens will have those inscriptions on the front I’m sure, but the lack of it here doesn’t necessarily mean anything. If you recall photos of the NEX lens roadmap, all those physical mockups lacked writing on the front as well, and they were clearly not photoshops or 3d renders.
This lens might *look* a bit longer than the side shot from Sony france, but that’s just down to the long focal length of these press pics. For better or worse, this is the actual size of the lens my friend. :]
Here’s what I expect for tomorrow – if indeed it will be tomorrow – a stopgap NEX model, a Nex lens noone asked for, and a FW upgrade thats adds one more configurable button.
The button will be cool, though .
Don’t forget that a mocro lens growns something like twice at 1:1.
If the 30 macro E is IF (internal focus), the size is just “normal”. And a IF macro lens is much more practical than a classical macro lens, boys. The lonely mistake would be if Sony forgot stabilization for their prime lenses…
So, please, stop crying 😉
It looks to me than Sony tries to sell us the Hi-spec lenses of the NEX-Videocameras system, for the mirrorless cameras we have. This lens have no sense. Hear me Sony!: make a breathtaking NEX-7, and focus on lenses for common people, or common people will focus on Samsung’s NX lenses. ¿Have you a contender for the desired 30mm f2 pancake? no, you haven’t.
You guys are missing the point. I think why this lens is big is to adopt the silent AF system for video recording as well as the OIS.SAL 30mm can be small due to the screw drive AF but it will be damn noisy.
And who knows. This might be a full fram lens. 😀
+1
the new standard zoom is 16-50 or 18-50??
i will buy my 1680 immediately if it is only 18-50 X_X
30mm too big for NEX 3 and NEX 5
ideal size for VG-10
but too small for FS-100
otoh, “pancake” style ala micro 4/3 is too small
for NEX APS-C sensor
I am interested to find out if the new lenses, including 30MM macro and the upcoming Zeiss AF 24/1.7, will cover a full-size sensor (or just APS-C size). Any ideas out there? Thanks. 🙂
Too big, too slow = FAIL
any confirmation on the publishing of new firmware? which website?
The lens in the above photo is much longer than the one in the roadmap rendering. Which one is the actual one? We’ll know soon…