Can someone please tell me why oh why won't Sony just come out with a digital Zeiss Ikon?! Now that these lenses are out it would be the perfect Leica killer. A Sony partnership with Zeiss to build a digital Ikon would be EPIC!!!! Steve Make It Happen!!!! :)
Steve matey, I buy my fast primes based on your recommendations. So far: Nokton 55mm 1.5, 50 Summilux, A7s, and Nocticron for the Gh4 and muchos other glass. Your 2 new reviews for these Loxia and the new Distagon are giving me a real headache (thanks for uploading on the same day!). Bring on the full review brother! What would be REALLY helpful is a comparison with these primes and the others you get your knickers in a twist about: Leicas, Sony/Zeiss primes, Voightlanders and whatever else POPS for you. All good stuff but it really helps getting a SUBJECTIVE lens line up from you.
All Zeiss lenses for SLR systems are actually the same way. The Canon Zeiss mount 18mm and 21mm have this crazy smooth. Might be stepped up a lot for these releases ... but its a built of the Germany samples always, from experience.
Simon V From what I've seen the Loxia lenses have a better overall look & dreamy bokeh but the Sony 55mm is still sharper overall & has fast autofocus. I think the Loxia is better but its manual. I'm gonna have to rent them to see is I have fall in love with manual focus. Its like going from an automatic in a car to a manual. The compact size is tempting though.
BigCowz Your point is blinded by your Ego. Certain lenses are Art lenses. They create a certain look you can't render with ordinary lenses or ALL the talent in the world. The Nocticron I own is Great example. Nothing touches it on a variety of fronts.
Might be a good overview… I made it to 2:58 before I had to stop due to the constant fiddling and moving the lenses back forward. Just a heads up. It's probably more me than you, but if you want to do reviews regularly you might consider keeping your hands out of frame when they're not needed to point something out. Good luck going forward!
Great review Steve. Question about these manual focus primes and my A7ii. With my auto focus lens I sometimes move my focus point from the center position to say the upper right position on the screen/sensor. With these manual primes can I still move my focus point? How does the screen highlight that area for focusing?
Once you start turning the focus ring, the Focus Aid will kick in automatically at the last set position, normally centre. While in enlarged view, you can move the area by pushing the top, bottom, left and right on the vertical scroll wheel, but you will not have full control of where in the frame you are. If you still have Focus Aid on the C1-button (default), tap it once and move the square with the vertical scroll wheel to desired point, half press shutter button for full view. Now the Focus Aid area is moved, and as soon as you start focusing your Loxia, it will enlarge accordingly. You can reset the enlarged area to centre at any time in enlarged view by pressing the trashcan-button. And if you haven't noticed, the area resets to centre every time you power cycle the camera.
Can someone please tell me why oh why won't Sony just come out with a digital Zeiss Ikon?! Now that these lenses are out it would be the perfect Leica killer. A Sony partnership with Zeiss to build a digital Ikon would be EPIC!!!! Steve Make It Happen!!!! :)
Steve matey, I buy my fast primes based on your recommendations. So far: Nokton 55mm 1.5, 50 Summilux, A7s, and Nocticron for the Gh4 and muchos other glass. Your 2 new reviews for these Loxia and the new Distagon are giving me a real headache (thanks for uploading on the same day!). Bring on the full review brother! What would be REALLY helpful is a comparison with these primes and the others you get your knickers in a twist about: Leicas, Sony/Zeiss primes, Voightlanders and whatever else POPS for you. All good stuff but it really helps getting a SUBJECTIVE lens line up from you.
wish these were at f1.4
All Zeiss lenses for SLR systems are actually the same way. The Canon Zeiss mount 18mm and 21mm have this crazy smooth. Might be stepped up a lot for these releases ... but its a built of the Germany samples always, from experience.
You should also mention the weather sealing being a perk of these lenses over an M-mount lens.
I would be interested in seeing the Loxia 50mm F2 compared with the Sony 55mm F1.8 Sonnar... Mostly because they're right around the same price range.
Simon V From what I've seen the Loxia lenses have a better overall look & dreamy bokeh but the Sony 55mm is still sharper overall & has fast autofocus. I think the Loxia is better but its manual. I'm gonna have to rent them to see is I have fall in love with manual focus. Its like going from an automatic in a car to a manual. The compact size is tempting though.
A lens doesn't make a good photo
BigCowz Certain lenses add the 3D Pop factor to photos.
Cody Robinson My point still stands because so called "3D Pop factor" doesn't make a good photo either.
BigCowz Your point is blinded by your Ego. Certain lenses are Art lenses. They create a certain look you can't render with ordinary lenses or ALL the talent in the world. The Nocticron I own is Great example. Nothing touches it on a variety of fronts.
Amazing IQ from both these lenses - Buy the 50 & 30.
Might be a good overview… I made it to 2:58 before I had to stop due to the constant fiddling and moving the lenses back forward. Just a heads up.
It's probably more me than you, but if you want to do reviews regularly you might consider keeping your hands out of frame when they're not needed to point something out. Good luck going forward!
Steve, great video! Does the A7II use all the 5-axis in-body image stabilization with those lenses?
Great review Steve. Question about these manual focus primes and my A7ii. With my auto focus lens I sometimes move my focus point from the center position to say the upper right position on the screen/sensor. With these manual primes can I still move my focus point? How does the screen highlight that area for focusing?
Once you start turning the focus ring, the Focus Aid will kick in automatically at the last set position, normally centre. While in enlarged view, you can move the area by pushing the top, bottom, left and right on the vertical scroll wheel, but you will not have full control of where in the frame you are. If you still have Focus Aid on the C1-button (default), tap it once and move the square with the vertical scroll wheel to desired point, half press shutter button for full view. Now the Focus Aid area is moved, and as soon as you start focusing your Loxia, it will enlarge accordingly. You can reset the enlarged area to centre at any time in enlarged view by pressing the trashcan-button. And if you haven't noticed, the area resets to centre every time you power cycle the camera.
Fredrik Ljungkvist Thank you for your detailed response. Much appreciated.
What percentage of a full turn can we go from minimum focus distance to infinite?
From the video it looks like half a full turn?
did you know you can turn a screw in the mount on the zeiss loxia and disable clicking from the aperture?
Can use this lens for a6000?
Is that a rubber gasket I see? on a Zeiss??
"Sales exceeded expectations"
Virtually no stock. I don't think their expectations were high.
Waiting for the half price autofocus versions.
ILoveCheese Sony Zeiss already has them out.
The quality of corner is really bad by loxia 35mm