Posts

Showing posts with the label Manual Focus

Sony A7s Video: Aurora Borealis in Tromsø

Aurora Borealis in Tromsø by Anders Mildestveit Real time video of northern lights on oct. 18th in Tromsø, Norway. Shot with a Sony A7S and Rokinon 24mm T1.5 at 25600 iso with no noise reduction applied. The video of the of the Aurora Borealis demonstrates the low light prowess of the Sony A7s.

Zeiss 35mm Distagon ZM Announced

Image
Mockup of Zeiss 35mm f/1.4 ZM on Sony A7r Carl Zeiss announced their fastest ZM, Leica M mount, lens at Photokina 2014. The new Distagon T* 1,4/35mm ZM is designed for the Leica M digital sensor but we are hopeful that it will work well on the Sony A7 cameras with the appropriate lens adapter. Above is a mockup of what the Zeiss 35mm f/1.4 lens would look on a Sony A7. The Zeiss 35 f/1.4 will provide subject isolation through shallow depth of field. Zeiss 35mm f/1.4 Distagon ZM in Black Below are the lens specs and intro video from Carl Zeiss.

Two New APS-C E-mount Lenses from Zhongyi Optics

Image
Zhongyi Optics Mitakon 42mm and 24mm for APS-C E-mount Cameras Zhongyi Optics introduced two new lenses designed for the E-mount APS-C sensor (a6000, a5100, a5000, and NEX cameras) at Photokina 2014. The first is the Mitakon 24mm f/1.7 which translates to an EFOV of a 36mm lens on the APS-C. The Mitakon 24mm is attractively priced at $289. The second lens is a Mitakon 42.5mm f/1.2 lens which converts to 63mm on the APS-C sensor. The Mitakon 42mm is priced at $359. Both lenses are manual focus and provide a relatively large aperture for excellent low light shots. Both are very light and compact, perfect travel lenses. Below are specs and sample images from the new Zhongyi Mitakon lenses.

Sony a6000 Digiscoping Samples by 5Bellies Digiscoping

Image
Marsh Harrier 14 by 5bellies Digiscoping Here are some great digiscoping shots by 5bellies Digiscoping. He uses a Sony a6000 with a Swarovski scope which consists the STX-85 modular objective lens, the STX Eyepiece Module with a 25-60x magnification, and the TLS APO adapter . There are a few samples below and a quick tutorial by Swarovski. The Rig, Sony a6000 with a Swarovski STX-85 Digiscope

Zeiss Loxia 50mm on A7r Samples and Review by Berlin Backstage

Image
Zeiss Loxia 50mm Planar on Sony A7r Berlin Backstage was lucky enough to test out the new Carl Zeiss Loxia 50mm f/2 Planar lens before the Photokina 2014 official release. Here are a points we extracted from their review titled "Blau trifft Orange," translated blue meets orange. 180° of focus ring movement for gentle, precise focus. Aperture ring can be de-clicked for videographers with a supplied de-click tool. Feels similar to the Zeiss 50mm ZM Planar lens .  The Loxia 2/50 is a massaged ZM Planar design for the Sony A7 series. The f/2.0 maximum aperture keeps the lens small which is a good compromise. The Loxia is a manual aperture lens, not electronic controlled. It provides Exif data to the camera. The lens hood can be mounted in reverse without blocking the focusing ring. Ten aperture blades for buttery soft bokeh. Important points for the reviewer: feel, color, contrast. See the sample images from the Loxia 50mm on the A7r from Berlin Backstage below.

Film To Digital Konica S3 Rangefinder with Sony NEX-5 Sensor

Image
Frankencamera by Oliver Baker Give Oliver Baker an NEX-5 , a Konica S3 fixed lens rangefinder, and a 3D Printer and what do you get? The Frankencamera. Oliver combined the mechanical features of the Konica S3 RF and the digital components of the NEX-5 to create a new camera. The back of the S3 was replaced with a 3D printed replica, via selective laser sintering. The new back holds the NEX-5 sensor and related electronics.

Zeiss Loxia 35mm and 50mm Lens Specs for Sony A7 Cameras

Image
Here are the specs for the upcoming Loxia lenses by Carl Zeiss designed for the Sony A7 family and other E-mount cameras. The first two announced are the Loxia 35mm f/2 Biogon and the 50mm f/2 Planar.  Both lenses share the same physical dimensions and filter ring thread.  They are manual focus lenses with electronic coupling to Sony E-mount cameras. Loxia 2/35 Biogon

NY Botanical Garden with the A7r and Minolta 35-70mm MD

Image
We took the Sony A7r with the Minolta 35-70mm MD Macro lens to the New York Botanical Garden's The Orchid Show . The 35-70mm MD Macro makes for a nice walkabout zoom lens for the full frame A7r. It can cover wide angle to medium telephoto shots. The majority of pictures poster here were taken using macro mode, providing 1:4 magnification. The aperture was set at f/5.6 - f/8. The Sony A7r was set to shutter priority mode at 1/200 and auto ISO. This was in order to minimize camera shake indoors, since this was all hand held. We were pleased with the results and drawing style provided by the a7r and the Minolta 35-70mm. This would be a nice inexpensive travel lens.

Voigtlander 12mm Ultra Wide Heliar Sony A7r Samples

Image
Rolling. Here are some shots of Brooklyn produced by the Sony A7r and the Voigtlander 12mm f/5.6 Ultra Wide Heliar. This is the 1st version of the 12mm lens in Leica M mount .  You can see the color shift but it's not intrusive for these snaps.  The Voigtlander 12mm is compact and looks great on the A7r. Wilted. School yard. To Manhattan. Couple. Boardwalk. Golden.

Sony A7r with Contax G 28mm Biogon Test Shots

Image
Manhattan from Brooklyn We are still learning which lenses play well with the Sony A7r and we found one that's not so friendly. The Contax G 28mm f/2.8 Biogon, shown in our previous post , is a non-retrofocus rangefinder lens which means that the rear of the lens is closer to the film plane or sensor. This causes the light at the edges to hit the Sony's A7r full frame sensor at oblique angles which results in color casts. This happens with the Leica M9 and M240 but is corrected with in-camera with software. The color cast can also be corrected with CornerFix or Light Room's Flat Field Plug-in, discussed by Tobinators here . We did not correct the images here for color cast. Apart from the color cast, the Contax G 28mm Biogon performed well. We love the sharpness, contrast, and color the lens and the Sony A7r sensor delivers. Most of the shots are at f/5.6 or f/8 as we tried for the sweet spot of the lens. The A7r was set to Aperture Priority as there was plenty

Trainspotting with the 40mm M-Rokkor and Sony A7r

Image
Here are some test shots with the Minolta 40mm f/2 M-Rokkor for the Minolta CLE. This is the multicoated version of the Leica 40mm Summicron-C. We used the very compact 40mm M-Rokkor walking around a local train museum with the Sony A7r via a Leica M lens adapter . The shots up to the handcart are all done at maximum aperture of f/2. Manual focus was very easy with using the viewfinder magnification of the A7r even in the mid-day sun. The mid-day sun also guaranteed high shutter speeds at ISO 100 and f/2. All the shots are handheld. The shots below are at f/5.6 up to f/11. We need to test this lens more but the sweet spot is definitely at f/5.6. The CSX 152 (GE AC4400CW diesel-electric locomotive) and the CSX 7305 (GE C40-8 [Dash 8]) was shot during the afternoon sun. Sony A7r with a Minolta 40mm f/2 M-Rokkor via Leica M Adapter The lens has been great on the Minolta CLE and NEX-7 and it performs well on the full-frame A7r. The lightweight and