Sigma and Tamron have proven to make some supe rhigh quality lenses for the NEX system. But there is another third party E-mount lens maker that is realitevly unkown. Yasuhara made a very exotic real 5x macro lens for the NEX system and it is in Stock for the first time at BHphoto (Click here). It’s a good quality lens and it has been rcently tested at Lensrentals (Click here).
P.S.: Links to the Sigma lenses:
The 30mm lens is in Stock at Amazon US (Click here), Amazon DE (Click here), Amazon FR (Click here).
The 19mm lens is in Stock at Amazon US (Click here), Amazon DE (Click here), Amazon UK (Click here), Amazon FR (Click here).
32 Responses
Looks like a useful, specialty lens. I am waiting for the ususal SAR whining to begin, however.
Looking forward to your user insights! 🙂
I had a Minolta 1-3x macro zoom once (for a brief moment of time). It was interesting, it was neat, but for me, it was not a lens that I wanted to keep. It was sharp, but it was for people who definitely knew (or knows) what they are going to use such a tool for. The depth of field on lenses such as these narrow – so the f11 minimum aperture is more of a necessity. Of course, there are people who need a lens like this so now they can have one for their NEX.
Comparing a classic (f/1.7 to f/2.8) fast lens to a toy? That fast aperture is absolutely essential for focusing.
At f/11 it is already well past diffraction limits on the NEX-7.
As the link demonstrates with the LED lighting one can only photograph very dead things. People who want use this sort of lenses also should know how use flashes. 🙂
I think that’s an overly negative way of looking at things. The Nanoha is a complete super macro rig for a few hundred. A 3x-1x or MP-E, plus lighting rig, is going to cost four figures. Optimal sharpness with supermacros involves shooting at as wide an aperture as you can get away with (as the effective aperture increases as you focus closer) and focus stacking like crazy (20-100 shots depending on magnification), but plenty of people who use such lenses stop down further into the diffraction range as a matter of pragmatism, so they don’t have to stack so many shots, or because their subject is going to move before the finish taking them all.
So the lens isn’t targeting itself at people who want a perfect supermacro rig, but for people who want to get into that range without spending significant coin to get there.
You should learn something about microphotography before complaining about diffraction limit. p.s. as Carl has already pointed out.
Boooe,
I do know a thing or two about photomacrography. Look up what becomes of f/11 at 4X magnification for starters. 😉
Effective aperture is roughly f/64 at 4:1 and f/90 at 5:1. The exact number will depend on the exact focal length of the lens, which I haven’t been able to work out. Yasuhara don’t list it on their specifications page.
The aperture of f:1.7-2.8 is strictly geometrical. Because of the extension at 1x and even more so at 3x, the effective aperture ranges from f:5.6 at 1x to f:6.7 at 3x. While that’s still around 1½ f-stops faster than this lens, it really doesn’t matter, because of the built-in lamps. I routinely use the Minolta 3x-1x Macro Zoom on both my A900 and NEX-7 (sometimes with a complete set of Kenko extension tubes), and I can tell you that judging by the pictures in LensRentals test/review the new lens is by no means a toy.
P.S.: Although the 3x-1x Macro Zoom will autofocus on A-mount cameras, it’s more usual to use manual focus and move the entire combo back and forth to achieve sharpness.
Quite apart from that, the macro zoom will not work with the AF adapter on a NEX-7 (aperture cannot be set – or at least I haven’t succeded in making it work), so I use it with the non-AF adapter.
I’d be very surprised if Yasuhara was listing the aperture ring with the effective aperture rather than the numerical aperture.
Graw f/11 only how am I supposed to get depth of field in microns?!?!?!
Unironically this owns and I want it, but then I’d have to buy another camera 🙁
Stacking is your friend.
Some of the the sample photos were taken with a micro focusing rail and used Zerene Stacker to combine the images
http://www.yasuhara.eu/articles-and-announcements/announcements/the-nanoha-x5-has-been-tested-by-d-beno/
Yasuhara was a very inventive chief designer behind many of the nicest Contax cameras of the 1990’es. Since then, he designs his own cameras an lenses. For Nex-mount he also makes a spectacular extreme wide angle lens called Makoda 180: http://www.yasuhara.co.jp/madoka/index.html
That Makoda 180 looks interesting too. Is it a 4mm f/7.3?
This guy realizes the potential of the NEX and goes out and builds unusual lenses that take advantage of it. I’m sure he knows much more about optics than any of the naysayers on this list.
Those are native R-mount lenses too
http://www.yasuhara.co.jp/index-e.html
sorry “native E-mount” not R-mount
I will always encourage this degree of innovative thinking and entrepreneurial risk taking.
Success awaits those who invent tools which enhance our image making fantasies.
Failure awaits those seeking profit from gimmicks.
I see a bright future for Yasuhara with this Nanoha.
That’s not a lens. That’s Tony Stark’s miniature Arc Reactor! :p
its a great idea, better than a toy microscope. now, if they only made a electron microscope with e-mount 🙂
WOW…the pics from Lensrental are sick. Clearly an interesting lens.
Sick? Can it get a firmware virus or something?
hahahaha impressive, awesome, shall I keep going with the synonyms?
Check out the photos from lensrentals, they are really cool! I think it’s a lens for those who know exactly the kind of work they have to do with it
This lens must be paired with Zerene Stacker, otherwise is waste of money.
Because microscopes in general are a waste of money and nobody uses them?
Indeed special macro lenses are most desired, but less used lenses. Zerene Stacker is software for stacking multiple images, to increase deep of field. Without such a soft deep of field is so small and you could get only blurred images.
Macro photography demands lots of patience and knowledge.
Because you obviously hadn’t used microscopes? Very shallow DOF has it benefits in microscopy.
Great photos from Lensrentals… Would be “fun” to own if I could think of something to do with it!!!… But I’m not buying anything else until I see what happens in September from Sony…
Just imagine a photograph of the eye with that thing!
Probably would turn someone into cyclops in a progress but… good photos require sacrifices.
My Nanoha x5 set on Flickr…. I have some experience with macro photography and underwater/dice macro photography too, but this is my first few attempts at stacking 😉 I do like this lens but as some comments have mentioned, it’s better for dead or non living things; http://www.flickr.com/photos/kay_burn_lim/sets/72157629860512741/
not very sharp