Sony A7 models with non-Sony lenses

davidfarina wrote in post #17557472
Thanks. Im still unsure which lens is sharper, but judging from my first shots is that the CV15 has an advantage due to the fact that it has a half stop less maximum aperture which lets me close the aperture more before diffraction shows up. Id say the FE lens is sharper center to mid-edge while corners are a little (really just a little) mushy. The CV15 is very sharp, although not as sharp in the center, but holds up very well across the entire frame. Yes id even say the corners are better on the 15mm. But still have to test it out some more

Jup. I also think at 4.5 it is more like f5 and the vignetting at f4.5 is making it even darker. But hey its 15mm at that small size! I would also rather like a removable hood but i think of those two lenses in a different way. To me the 16-35 really is the allrounder for city trips in modern citys and architecture. Also OSS makes it a tad more versatile. Having IBIS on my A7R and A7S would improve greatly the versatility of the CV15. But i think of it more as a compact travel companion. When i really do not intend to make a photo trip i still can be covered, having the CV15 and CV40 on both my sonys makes for a very minimal, yet very versatile setup for my shooting style.

Whats certainly clear is that both the FE 16-35 and the CV15 are playing in a very high league.

Please clarify for me. I believe you have the version III of this lens, is that correct?

Both David and I have the version III. Yes.
Version II was built more for rangefinder style sensors, so it suffered from some pretty obvious corner smearing as well as a pretty obvious purple fringing.
These problems were corrected (or redesigned for the digital sensor) in Version III.
It still vignettes like hell, but has very little distortion, no fringing or smearing that I can see and works like a champ.

Puckman wrote in post #17557537
Both David and I have the version III. Yes.
Version II was built more for rangefinder style sensors, so it suffered from some pretty obvious corner smearing as well as a pretty obvious purple fringing.
These problems were corrected (or redesigned for the digital sensor) in Version III.
It still vignettes like hell, but has very little distortion, no fringing or smearing that I can see and works like a champ.

Thanks for the clarification. I was pretty sure this was the case.

Puckman wrote in post #17557531
Agreed. I don't think the CV15 is a replacement for a 16-35. For one, that extra 1mm makes a rather good difference on the wide end. And secondly, it also makes it a bit of a one trick pony (in a good way). If I were to compare it to another lens, I'd say it sort of should be compared to the Samyang 14mm.
In any case, it really is all about compactness and wide angle, as you said.
I don't even use it at 4.5. Mine's basically permanently set at f11 (f8 is good too) and focused at about 1m.
Even at f11, vignetting is pretty serious though. But it's easy enough to fix.

Ohh yeah wanted to thank you for the hint with focussing at 1m. Doing that at f/8 or higher makes focussing a task of no time

Puckman wrote in post #17557537
Both David and I have the version III. Yes.
Version II was built more for rangefinder style sensors, so it suffered from some pretty obvious corner smearing as well as a pretty obvious purple fringing.
These problems were corrected (or redesigned for the digital sensor) in Version III.
It still vignettes like hell, but has very little distortion, no fringing or smearing that I can see and works like a champ.

Nadeem is correct, i have V3.
Well i didnt notice smearing but a small drop of flare (tough only when the sun hits directly the glass) and very strong CAs occur. However, i found the CA to be very easily removable with this lens. In fact im always struggling with removing the CAs in LR but with this lens it somehow works very good.

Ah yes. I did forget to mention that this lens does flare when pointed towards a light source. I had a boatload of flarey shots with those waterfalls : the sun was directly overhead, and in the photos where you want to include the top of the waterfall, you inevitably get a bit of sky from the rim above and when the sun is anywhere in that frame, it's flare city.
Having said that, I don't think many lenses would have dealt with that situation a whole lot better. My 16-35 EF flares too in such situations. I think with a FOV that wide, it's hard to be flare resistant (from an optical design standpoint).

To throw another interesting monkey in the CV15 works: Shooting at f8 or f11 focused at 1m is an easy recipe for hyperfocal settings (meaning infinite DOF). But another interesting application for this lens would be to mate it with the close focus adapter and using it to focus on subjects that are very very close to the front of the lens for a super-exaggerated look.
Haven't tried it yet (I need to order a close-focus adapter soon), but I can see it being fun in a whole different kind of way.

I just saw a Distagon 2.8/21mm for sale on FM....hehehehehe....

For those who were asking how it compares to the FE16-35...Came across this just now: http://www.talkemount.​com/threads/503/page-3#post-89852
Not the most scientific comparison, but it's something.

Sorry to interrupt the chat with actual photos but...

My hummer buddy has been pretty accomodating this morning. He knows I won't hurt him, just annoy the heck out of him at times. So, I decided to swap cameras and mount my 70-200L f4 IS onto my a7r instead of 5D3. Naturally, he decided to perch in the bush where the light is different but I was undeterred.

Here he is keeping his eyes on the feeder in the upper left corner (I purposely left a bit of red blur there). I used manual focus with magnify assist on this shot.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/sXkM​EB

nice birding gene, do you use a tripod for those shots?

that's really annoying about the hood, wish it were removable.

Charlie wrote in post #17557720
nice birding gene, do you use a tripod for those shots?

Thanks Charlie. These are all shot handheld. The biggest problem I have with focusing is the narrow DOF. Just a slight lean in or out can make a big difference as to what is in focus. I use that to my advantage for manual focus and just move in or out slightly to refine focus rather than try to turn the focus ring.

Great color on him. I have used that lens on my A6000 but not the 7R.... need to give it a whirl

navydoc wrote in post #17557699
Sorry to interrupt the chat with actual photos but...

My hummer buddy has been pretty accomodating this morning. He knows I won't hurt him, just annoy the heck out of him at times. So, I decided to swap cameras and mount my 70-200L f4 IS onto my a7r instead of 5D3. Naturally, he decided to perch in the bush where the light is different but I was undeterred.

Here he is keeping his eyes on the feeder in the upper left corner (I purposely left a bit of red blur there). I used manual focus with magnify assist on this shot.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/sXkM​EB
Keep your eyes on the prize by Gene, on Flickr

Sorry. It's like I've been talking to myself in this thread for the last page or so. hehe.
My latest photos from the trip were taken with the FE24-70, so I didn't post them in this thread.

Amazing the vibrance you get with those hummer shots. I'm still in awe. I'm going to take another stab at photographing the 2-3 Rufous that haunt my backyard. But I've never been able to get them this close and this sharp. They don't sit still long enough.

Charlie wrote in post #17557723
that's really annoying about the hood, wish it were removable.

Yeah. The major drawback. But I can work around it with a 58mm filter.

No problem Dean, I'm just joshin'.

Time out!

If ya got an itch, ya gotta scratch it.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/sFeG​Es