DxOmark (Click here) published the full test of the brand new Sony 70-400mm zoom lens and writes that this is “one of the sharpest super-zooms for wild life photography“. The lens is alreayd shipping in Europe and Asia. According to BHphoto (Click here) the lens will ship in USA from July 17 only.
30 Responses
The lens is available in Europe, several Ducth dyxum users have it,
True, here is a link
http://www.kamera-express.nl/product/sony-70-400mm-f-4-0-5-6-g-ssm-ii/
And already available in Asia.
DxO is a fuc##ing mystery to me: they keep testing brand new lenses like this one with the A900.
Next time they should be using the A580 so the mark’s gonna go down to 10 instead of 15. 😀
A900 is still an excellent camera but, damn, use the A99 for once: maybe results will be a little more up to date!
yea, well… testes of lenses on DXO are weird anyway. Regardless of camera. They measure sharpness in megapixels… it doesn’t get any more weird than that.
They’re measuring sharpness without regard to lens performance, right? So using the a900 vs. the a99 should make absolutely no difference at all, since the a99 doesn’t resolve better. Using the a900 might even give a slight advantage, since there might be some resolution loss from the translucent mirror. (http://thesybersite.com/sony/a55/index.htm shows how much detail can be lost. And David at photoclubalpha noted that the D600 would outresolve the a99)
Anyways, what’s interesting is that the Sigma lens obtained a higher score, even though it’s mounted on a camera with less resolution.
There’s no resolution loss from transculent mirror. Stop repeating this garbage. I seen that test and so far – nothing seem to confirm it.
And we all know that 1st generation of SLTs had it’s flaws (ghosting being most obvious one) – all of it was eliminated in next generation.
You are most likely wrong. The question is not if there is loss of resolution, but rather how much loss of resolution. The next question would be if the improved AA filter of the A99 compensates for the loss of resoltion.
Logic flawed. Nothing but software can compensate for lost resolution. The AA filter cannot sharpen things up from what it gets.
SLT mirror will lose about as much resolution as putting a UV filter on the front of the lens… Read “none”. The sharpest wide angles are the ones with the most glass elements in them. It may increase chances of flare, but not resolution loss.
Mike – you most likely still live in 2010 😉
Have you seen any other tests that can demonstrate the opposite? If you think that that person’s tests are “garbage”, I suggest you conduct the test yourself. Before then, you really have no basis upon which to hold an opposite opinion (and therefore your point would be…well…garbage).
What mystifies me is that they have chosen to make a module for the new 500 mm f/4, that hardly anyone will need – but not for the 500 mm f/8 mirror tele … or for Sigma’s 50-500 mm.
It could be that Sony “invited” them to do it, of course 😉
Not a news really. 70-400 was always praised for it’s extraordinary sharpness. Definitely one of the “must have” lenses for A-mount 🙂
Whoa – so why did the 70-400G score lower than the Sigma? Something is not right here…
Maybe a 70/400 range is, optically speaking, a little more challenging than 120/400: a little more compromises?
But I think that in real life we’re not gonna even notice it; like Sky_walker wrote “70-400 was always praised for it’s extraordinary sharpness” and I couldn’t agree more. This one’s gonna be even better than the silver one.
Their measurements show that the Sony trounces the Sigma in sharpness as you move towards the long end.
Yup, people need to ignore the scores at DXOMark and just look at the charts for what matters (same goes for the sensor scores). No contest when looking at the sharpness on long end wide open. And stopping down the Sigma to f8 is still worse than the Sony wide open.
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/51428149
No surprise there. The old one is sharp wide open at 400mm.
At some point I’m going to pick up a long range zoom to round out my lens collection.
Which is a better purchase: 70-200mm or this 70-400mm?
Based on my current shooting, I need something very versatile (indoor/outdoor).
Do you think it’s better to go w/ the 70-200 and just use a teleconverter in the future to get the extra distance?
thanks.
70-200mm with TC. You’ll struggle with the 70-400mm indoors.
70-200mm with TC doesn’t give you sharpness of 70-400. Heck: 70-400 + 1.4 TC is probably sharper at longest focal length than 70-200+TC2.
Good luck using f/4+ indoors…I agree the 70-200 f/2.8 will be functional (but not great) indoors, at 400mm and f/5.6 I basically always need bright sunlight to pull ISO800. (Remember the rule: shutter speed should be 1/focal length, so shooting 400mm means you’re looking at 1/600 or faster.) I suppose you could use the 70-400 indoors but only on a tripod with static subjects. ;^o
This lenses was said to AF 4x faster than the previous one, wonder if use on LA-EA1 will it focus faster, as I really did not want to “mirrorlize” my mirrorless with LA-EA2.
I own almost every high end full frame lens available for SONY Alpha and having used them all extensively (>100K frames) have no hesitation in saying that the original silver 70-400 is a stellar performer period. Add to that the very useful zoom range and you just can’t say enough good about it, in real life usage sharp at any aperture and focal length. Bad point: bokeh slightly harsh when stopped down significantly. In practical terms there isn’t much room for improvement so it will be interesting to shoot it side by side with the newer version. If original silver ones turn up on the used market they should be snapped up because I bet they’ll be 99% as good.
My samples from 70400G2
on a350
http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/5640/207311969.0/0_bc870_f53e0509_orig
http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/6444/207311969.0/0_bc872_f967b78e_orig
http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/6433/207311969.0/0_bc86f_402e48a5_orig
on a99
http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/6429/207311969.0/0_ba799_1ab031a9_orig
http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/4123/207311969.0/0_ba795_b3defdb1_orig
Do you also have sharp versions of these images?
I hope it’s not the lens…………….
I downloaded the bird picture taken using the a99 and 70-400 into Lightroom
The shot was made a f5.6 and 500 and a ISO of 800
There is no place I could find in to photo I would call sharp
Where is the Nex 7n? I thought it was rumored to be released in May 2013? Has there even been an announcement of the Nex 7n or when it ships? Has anyone checked to see if Sony has stopped its manufacturing lines at the plants? I know they do runs and then re-tool, but are they even tooling at this point. Someone need to stop by and take a look.
Dan
yes, yes it is. (Well, at least the silver edition, I assume the white edition is the same optics, just improved color and AF?)
Just noticed DxO claims this lens has “improved optics” over the silver edition. Has anybody else heard this? A comparison to the silver edition would be MUCH appreciated, I’d consider an upgrade if it’s even more sharp (although I’m wondering how that’s possible. Some of my pics blow my mind.)