The first 200 Zeiss 5mm FE lenses went on sale on December 4th in Korea. For some unknown reason Sony picked up Korea as the one country that ships the new stuff first. As I told you the lenses were sold out in 2 minutes. Before to switch over to two new lens reviews note that the lens is set to ship…
…on December 10 already at Sonystore Canada.
…on December 22 in US at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto and SonyStore US.
…on December 20 in [shoplink 23246 ebay]Japan (source eBay sellers)[/shoplink].
…and late January only in Europe according to Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT.
The new Zeiss FE reviews:
The Korean site SLRclub (Click here) posted the full lens review. As usual google translation tool doesn’t work but you can see plenty of great image samples and also many clear to understand tests like for example this one:
The tests show a top quality performance of the lens with the only visible limit the a bit high vignetting at wider aperture.
Photographyblog also posted the full Zeiss 55mm f/1.8 lens review and writes:
Offering fast and reliable auto-focusing, intuitive manual focusing and the usual Carl Zeiss levels of build quality that’s weather-tight too, this prime lens is a perfect partner to the flagship A7R camera, helping to extract bags of detail from its 36 megapixel full-frame sensor. Highly recommended if you’re about to invest in the fledgling 35mm full-frame E-mount system.
I have that lens already on my preorder list. But it’s pity we Europeans have to wait that much longer to get our lens 🙁
And here are again the preorder links:
USA/Canada: Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonyStore US and Sonystore Canada.
Europe: Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT
67 Responses
Is this lens on the long’ish side or what? and with the hood it sure is long. Petal hoods are fugly.
Petal hoods are ugly? The shame of it…
Exactly. It’s great you can crop in that much, but it’s not like you end up with stellar crops. No special sauce here.
LOL – Who cares about the shape of the hood, it’s a tool, not a fashion statement! 🙂
OOF rendering is a bit jittery and nervous.
+1
but no other (native lens) choice 🙁
Corner light falloff is a bit too noticeable too.
Looks pretty smooth to me. I think it’s just the subject matter.
Need to see more images at F1.8. But so far not wowed.
Their auto-focus results seems to differ from Steve Huff’s experience.
*meant performance, not result
Is there a SLRclub.com review for the 35mm FE lens? Can’t find it via google…
nope not yet… i think most of their a7r review photos are taken with 35mm though.
No, you can see their review list:
http://www.microsofttranslator.com/bv.aspx?from=&to=en&a=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.slrclub.com%2Fbbs%2Fzboard.php%3Fid%3Dslr_review
They just reviewed CV 35mm 1.2, but it doesn’t download fully for me right now:
http://www.slrclub.com/bbs/vx2.php?id=slr_review&page=1&divpage=1&select_arrange=headnum&desc=asc&no=372
You can check Tim Ashley review for FE 35mm, bisto lens:
http://tashley1.zenfolio.com/blog/2013/12/sony-fe-35mm-f2-8-za-on-the-a7r-the-bisto-lens
Thanks!
Oh, waiting this lens for my a-mount Sony A99.
Why wouldn’t you just g
Why wouldn’t you just get the Zeiss 50mm A-Mount?
Because it’s huge, more expensive, not that good and needs an adapter.
Well, I’m sure Minolta, Sony or especially Sigma 1,4/50 on stabilized body A900/A99 is way better deal for much less money.
I am playing a waiting game with a mount lens line up right now. I was thinking of getting the Zeiss 50mm f1.4 and then thought I would get the Sigma 18-35 f1.8 and the Sigma 50mm f1.4 instead thinking that I could get two good lens for the price of the Zeiss. Now I don’t think I will get the Sigma 18-35 at all since I think the Sony 16-50 SSM is good enough and I don shoot much below f2 anyway. I did get the Sigma 50mm 1.4 because it was inexpensive but found it has for me a big down side of flaring. I think shooting it into the sun for highlighted shots is unusable. I also am liking the 35 field of view more than a 50 anyway. I am going wait before into in the FE cameras until next year as well. Overall I tip my hat to Sony for pushing the whole photo industry. I love all the choices we have.
This is exactly my sentiment- almost scarey. I have the 16-50 and think its great. I want the zeiss 50mm 1.4 but thought about grabbing the sigma and ditching my sony 50mm 1.4. Now I’m not sure. That damn zeiss is just so expensive but it’s the only other premium prime I want to add to the family.
What an ugly example image…
These image samples are crazy ！ I’ll take one .
The “experts” who took this ugly shot could have focussed properly… I guess the same guys also review electric shavers, fridges and whistles.
Whistles? Kettles you mean? Lol.
The stretch of the fingers needed to reach the shutter button looks unnatural.
Indeed it looks uncomfortable…
Yep, weird placement.
“The stretch of the fingers needed to reach the shutter button looks unnatural.”
It is not comfortable. I hold it for a short while. That’s the first thing bad I notice
Ok with me. You need to hold the camera differently. I don’t know how to describe it, something like the palm slightly under the camera, not the usual handgun grip. Like they way we hold old SLR(smallish one like FM2 etc). The cam is also so light, easy to be hold this way.
Feels like I can not hold it firmly (which is a firm and comfortable hold). I have to hold it somewhat hollow in the palm. Ok with light lens, not so with big lens.
How to fix it? Put the button where it should be next time.
Hahaha. I guess you have to live with that. To be honest, I prefer ordinary NEX shutter placement. Not only ergonomic, but also stylish.
If you have the hands of a child, it might be a little uncomfortable. Having used Leica cameras for a long time, it’s completely normal and encourages a well-stabilized grip.
If you have a traditional “DSLR” grip, and hold the camera to your face, your wrist is pronated outwards while your forearm points upwards.
The A7/Leica/Every SLR up through the 90’s grip allows your palm to be slightly under the camera and to hold your wrist without bending it outward. It’s nice.
The hands of a child?? This camera has an actual grip, very unlike the Leica you are referring to (or the 90’s cameras for that matter). And that is precisely the problem.
This whole camera is a bunch of compromises and all for size. Since when has the masses desired novelty over quality? It makes ZERO sense to me so you can shave what…a pound. Really! People are seriously lazy!
Lazy? Wow, that is reaching new heights. How about stopping to whine about it? You do have a ton of full-sized DSLRs out there. Now that there is an option for those who prefer smaller cameras, you need to complain about it?
Nonsense, there are no comprimses. The idea was to make a mirrorless camera, and that’s what they did, without any other compromises. Possibly with the exception of the lack of IBIS, but that’s a design decision that we have to accept. Only a few camera models in this world have IBIS.
Coming from the a850, the a99 was a lateral move that I didn’t buy. The a7r is a move forwards. If Sony gave me the option of buying a full-sized DSLR with the alpha lens mount and the same 36mp sensor, I’d probably buy that instead. But they don’t, so I’m getting the a7r instead. I’m also interested in the ability to adapt other lens systems. But thanks for assuming that I’m lazy.
First- your welcome. Second, why not just wait for the new alpha 36MP. We all know Sony’s going to drop that bomb early next year. LONG LIVE ALPHA!
Where does my Summilux 50mm attach to an Alpha camera? Is there a place for it that I’m not aware of? Maybe the 36MP A99 will have that.
Why would I compromise the ability to use world-class lenses for an Alpha?
All that compromise for just a little bit bigger size. For only a one pound difference.
(This nonsense goes both ways)
Every camera ever made has compromises. it al depends on where the compromises are taken. Different people can live with or not live with different things. Why be a hater? Be glad that there are options for everyone (well most people’s) tastes.
I love the 55mm from all I saw and read about it and can’t wait to get it!!!!
In Norway (outside EU) fotovideo.no lists the 55 as shipping on Dec 18. Earlier this week it said Dec 22… I don’t know where they got their info, but i presume it’s from Sony Norway. I have one on preorder from FotoVideo, so I really hope the info is correct. The official Sony Store still says Jan 29–30 though.
I’m going to stipulate that this is a great lens. The industry nailed the ‘slightly longer than normal’ focal length 50 years ago, and just about every lens in this category- especially those with lens speeds of 1.8-2.0- since then has been very very good. I would expect nothing less of any manufacturer, since the industry certainly knows how to turn out fine examples of this focal length. The problem with this particular model starts and ends with its price.
Canada gets them first? Who the hell lives in Canada?
Oh wait… me! Booyah!
That makes 2 of us 🙂
Funny, A7 with this lens is larger than A900 with old 1,4/50…
Picture is really extremely bad, looks like someone took it accidentally when camera felt him from hand.
The only good thing Sony could have done for photographers would be putting A7/A7R sensors into A900 body again, adding liveview and good video and compete with Canon 5D mark III, Nikon D600/D800 really succesfully. But hey, producing A7 costs Sony maybe 1/3 of what they have to pay to produce A900, so they are probably able to earn much more money for such a gadget even if they won’t sell many of them.
A900 showed that no matter how good the camera, Sony could not compete against the Canon and Nikon market foothold. May have been a great camera, but it was a failure as a commercial strategy.
Be honest: Sony is not dedicated to photography as much as C and N. And Sony doesn’t want to compete at all with C and N. Sony has got so many things (TV, camcorders, laptops, headphones, voice recorders, etc.) and they just want to make some experiments with photography. Sony bought Minolta lenses/ flashes. Sony invested in cooperation with Zeiss. Sony bought shares in Olympus. They should develop LENSES, not buy them from someone else. Now Sony tries to emulate Leica with A7… and tries to force users to buy/ use MF lenses in 21st century. Facepalm… This behaviour will not be treated as professional brand. Ever.
“and tries to force users to buy/ use MF lenses in 21st century”
What are you talking about? Leica M lenses, if that’s what you are refering to are NOT medium format lenses, they are lenses designed for the Leica M camera series which is a 35mm format.
Oh maybe you mean manual focus. That would make more sense. In my world though MF is usually a designation for Medium Format thus my confusion.
Be honest yourself. Nikon can’t even make it’s own sensors, and half the components (eg. shutter, lcd even lenses) are out-sourced. It’s Canikon who show the most weakness currently as evidenced by their inability to successfully innovate their products.
It is a shame because the A900 was a wonderful camera with high iso being the only problem and even that was not as bad as most people claim.
Shooting A900 and Canon 5D Mark II shows that A900 is far way better in highlights and similar in shadows, so I prefer A900 over Canons if don’t need more than ISO 1600-3200 and shoot raw.
A900 is still among the best cameras to date and there is no need to buy anything new. I even doubt if I would be grateful for new jpg engine for A900 (the one A7 has got) because older jpg engine is still very good for prints and HDTV and it’s almost perfect colourwise.
really can’t wait until sigma decides to start making lenses for the A7 A7R. I like this lens but I don’t see why it cost so much its a 55mm for crying out load.
Cause it’s a ZEISS!!!!
*Just in case
**Sarcasm intended
Likewise…I’m looking forward to the offerings from Sigma and Samyang. I have no interest (nor the funds) in hanging jewelry off the front of my camera. If you can’t make a good photo without dropping $900 on a lens, then you need to re-evaluate your technique.
Can’t wait for Sigma to release their own ILC system based on Foveon
The lens either not sharp at all or the crop is out of focus. Also terrible CA. I hope it’s just a photographer error, not the lens. The (relatively) new A-mount 50Z is top notch though, optical quality is on pair with the 85Z and 135Z. Hopefully the 55mm Otus will come to the A-mount if Sony makes a normal size 36Mpx FF body next year.
Plastic filter threads? That’s lame!.. It shouldn’t cost more than SEL50 then, an excellent lens as well.
Where did you read about that?
At Photographyblog linked above. There is only one word “plastic” on the first page.
I really don’t know why sony did not come out with a full frame version of the 50mm 1.8 oss. I love that lens and it is better than the sony and minolta 50mm lenses for a-mount.
The SLR club samples are excellent, representing a lot of different scenarios in which I’d like to use the lens. Props to them!
Some really nice portraits near the end. They all take a while to load, but it’s worth it–I wouldn’t judge much on the flower sample, as this isn’t really a flower lens.