Sony NEX Lens Impressions

Is it worth the extra $600 or so for the Nex7? Is using the bulb mode easy, what do you have to buy to make it work? Where can you buy the converters for the legacy lenses and does one converter for work all older lenses?

The choice between the NEX5n and NEX7 would be up to you. Some adapted lenses do not produce as good results on the 7 as on the 5n. If I were to upgrade I would probably purchase the 5n and save the extra cash for some better lenses. Bulb mode on my camera is easy to use. On my model, NEX5, I have to hold the shutter down for the duration of the exposure. I received the Opteka IR remote for Christmas and it eliminates this issue. Pressing the shutter button on the remote begins the exposure, pressing it again stops the exposure. You can buy many of the adapters off of eBay or Amazon. Each adapter will work with a certain lens mount. For example you'd need a one adapter for Pentax-K mount, one for M42 thread mount, one for Sony/Minolta A-mount, etc. Some camera lines have more than one mount type. Some lenses have an aperture ring which functions fine with a standard adapter. Some modern lenses have electronic controlled aperture and require an adapter with it's own aperture ring. I don't have any experience with the latter type of adapter.

Thanks for the info, I found an adapter by Metabones for $90 on Ebay for Leica M lenses and the IR remote on Amazon. Now i just need to decide on either the 5N of waiting for the 7. Also need to decide whether to get the pancake 16mm or a wide angle legacy lens.

If you haven’t looked at Jacob’s blog yet I would definitely recommend it. His latest entry in photography is specifically about rangefinder lenses on a NEX5.

http://hikeitlikeit.com/2012/photography-and-backpacking-8/

From what I have seen from samples on the web, the pancake 16mm is a convenience lens. It’s optics are inferior to something like the Voigtlander 15mm/4.5. Which is also a bit wider than the pancake.

Is it hard to find these lenses, of just check EBay?

What lenses?

Try: eBay, KEH, Adorama, B&H, local photo shops, I'm sure there are others I'm missing.

I was speaking of the Leica M Mount lenses by Voigtlander, I thought these were older lens but found them on Amazon and Adorama new. Sorry for all the questions but this type of camera and using non OEM is new to me. I currently own a Canon 5D with several L lens and was thinking of switching to one of the Sony Nex cameras and trying to learn as much as I can. Thanks for all the help.

Are there any 10mm lens that will fit the Nex line of cameras, I want to find something that will match the field of view of my 5D on the ultra wide end.

I don’t know much about what is available in the rangefinder class. Otherwise, you can look at a Sigma 10-20mm/f3.5 Sony A-Mount.

If you dont need auto focus then any 10 mm apsc lens will work eith an adaptor and there are adapters available for virtuallly every mount ever made. Your only autofocus option right now would be to get that giant a mount adapter and the use the sigma described above.

I would suspect that the sigma 10-20 wpuld one of the first few lens reegineered for the nex system. The only mirrorless system with a native 14 mm fov lens is u4/3

Autofocus on a wide angle is not important to me, keeping the weight down is, that is why I would be getting the Nex system.

Exactly. Landscapes shooting, set focus to infinity and click. Lead pipe simple. Its why real lenses have a focus ring on them even if most have never used it.

Old Manual focus lenses plus EVF = GOLD IN MY POCKET!

Brian, what manual focus lens would you use for landscapes?

Landscapes shooting, set focus to infinity and click.

Things seem a little more complex than this to me. However I would agree that having a manual focus ring with markings is very useful.

Huh? I am being stupid here? See below. =)

Weather you have focus or not is determined entirely by the camera body you have in question, so giving a recommendation is rather odd unless you are talking about lenses that have focus/aperture/shutter dials on them made for large format cameras?

It seems lense compatibility keeps increasing with time at least in "pro" or semi pro bodies anyways with the plethora of camera adapters out there. Finding an exact match for what you are looking for is time consuming, but can save you some serious coin if you are shooting landscapes and don't care about focus speed.

I don't know if I'm following the latter part of the conversation here.

There were a few things asked. My $.02…

– NEX 5 (or 5N) vs. 7? They are very different cameras in terms of handling, cost, and to lesser extent, overall size/weight, and resolution offered.

– 10mm lens? The widest rangefinder lens I know of is the Voigtlander 12mm (equivalent to 18mm on the NEX). It performs well on the NEX 5N, not as sharp in the corners as the Voigtlander 15, but it also pretty much lacks the color shifting issue that some of these rangefinder lenses have, so it's more user friendly in that it won't require additional processing. I don't have a way to quantify how much better the CV 12 would be vs. the Sony 16/2.8 + wide angle adapter (which effectively makes it 12mm). 18mm equivalent view is pretty darn wide, which is something else to consider – do you really want to work with a lens that wide? The 15-18mm range (22-24mm equiv) is already pretty wide, and of course you can always stitch shots together for wider FOV.

Here are a couple of recent images from the 5N and CV 15…

edit: removed images, put them in next post

– Where to find manual focus rangefinder or SLR lenses? All of Eric's suggestions are good, in addition there are a few forums (and buying from photog comuunity members is always my preference if buying used)… RangeFinderForum.com, GetDPI.com, FredMiranda.com, Photography-On-The.net, Photo.net… eBay prices are usually way inflated on these lenses, especially the rangefinder lenses.

– APSC Lenses… assuming this means for digital APS-C bodies, then not any of them will work, only those designed for Sony E-Mount or (A-Mount + LA-EA1 adapter), unless they happen to have an aperture ring for manual control (I don't know of any that do). When Conurus releases their Canon to NEX adapter the NEX will be able to control the aperture of all Canon EF and EF-S (the latter being specifically for APS-C) lenses electronically. I've almost lost interest in using any SLR lenses on the NEX, but that's just me… and of course I did say "almost" lost interest :)

– Landscape focus at infinity… that might work, then again if you want some foreground objects in the shot to be in focus, it won't work out. Learn the hyperfocal distance for your lenses at the common apertures, or get an app, or make a note :) Which brings me to…

PITFALLS of Rangefinder Lenses
A few things to consider before jumping in without having all of the facts…

– The focus scales on adapted manual focus lenses will not be accurate because of the APS-C sensor (this also applies to SLR lenses).

– Minimum focus distance with most rangefinder lenses is between .7 and .9 meters. This is much more than SLR lenses which can sometimes focus on objects a few inches from the front of the lens. There is a solution, the Hawk's helicoid adapter. It provides the means to adjust the lens-sensor distance on the fly allowing the lenses to close focus. I have not tried it yet as some users have reported problems with certain lenses not focusing properly at infinity with this adapter.

– Many rangefinder lenses 35mm or wider will have some amount of color shift that you'll probably want to fix in some or even all of the photos you take. One way is to use the Cornerfix program, which is free, but requires a separate step in processing each photo. It also requires you to be able to create DNG files (which Lightroom can do, not sure which other processing software can) as it only works with files of that type.

Why bother with rangefinder lenses then?
– Size
– Weight
– Build Quality
– Ergonomics
– Cost (arguable, some are very expensive, others not so much)
– Beyond 35mm there are no color shifting or corner smearing problems, so the 40-90mm range is full of good performers.

.

The adapter is now available, and is a joint venture between Conurus and Metabones.

http://conurus.com/sony/buy-eos-nex-adapter

I don't know how practical this is for anyone looking for a small and/or light camera system, but none the less, there it is.

Sigma is coming out with two new options: a 19mm/2.8 and a 30mm/2.8

http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/boring-lenses-coming-from-sigma-for-nex-and-a-new-alpha-mount-lens/

The Sigma's are available now – just got the notice today from B&H:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/852002-REG/Sigma_400965_19mm_f_2_8_EX_DN.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=844952&Q=&is=REG&A=ShowProduct

If you check the DPreview Sony Nex forum there are numerous threads with shared photos for both lens.

Been awhile since this got a bump.

To update regarding the Sigma lenses – I know several people who have the 30 and love it. Some of the lens testing blogs have reported on the quite amazing optical performance of the 30.

I decided to give the 19 a shot to see if I might replace my CV 15 with it. I have not decided yet. The image quality is very good, but I haven't compared enough with the 15 or the kit 18-55 at that focal length.

I've been seeing some inspiring images shot with the kit lens that made me want to use it more, so I've been taking it and the 19 out with me. Unfortunately the 19 tends to stay in the bag. I mostly use the kit between 18-24mm. I really wish Sony offered a quality (or any at this point!) wide angle zoom, like a 12-24.

One thing I have taken away from using the AF lenses lately… most of the time I prefer MF operation. With the NEX adjusting the aperture via the lens is just easier and faster… no need to switch between adjusting shutter speed and aperture, much less fiddling with the control dial. I also admit that I'm not super familiar with using the AF system on the NEX :) Sometimes it comes in handy but I have gotten so used to the simple direct approach with MF that it's faster for me at this point.

Looks like Samyang has an 8mm / f2.8 fish coming out for the NEX. 180 degree angle of view… could be a fun lens.

http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/samyang-announces-the-8mm-f2-8-fisheye-for-the-nex-system/

Anyone else add or been lusting after any lenses for your NEX lately? I had an opportunity to purchase a Leica Wide Angle Tri Elmar for a 'good' price not too long ago but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I've seen some samples from this rare glass on the 5N, and it performs very well at each of the focal lengths, but it's a huge chunk of change to plunk down.

I've actually been tinkering with the kit lens lately. It's got pretty good sharpness from 21-28mm, and not too bad beyond that except at the extreme ends of the zoom.

The 5R was just announced today, looks to be an incremental improvement over the 5N. The AF is reported to be about as snappy as the OM-D (which is excellent).

http://www.dpreview.com/news/2012/08/29/Sony-announces-Alpha-NEX-5R-Wi-Fi-capable-mirrorless-camera-with-hybrid-AF-and-in-camera-apps

What’s more exciting to me is the NEX-6, which is rumored to be announced next month. Some photos have been leaked. Essentially this is what a lot of people wanted when the NEX-7 first released – a 5N in a 7 body. The sensor should be much friendlier with alternative lenses than that of the NEX-7.

http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/tag/nex-6/

We are also supposed to get an 11-18mm zoom (or at least an announcement) for it sometime this year. This is probably the most exciting news of all since native lenses have been scarce.

Jacob,

Thanks for the update….I was just searching around for new info on what the next version of the NEX will be.

The 11-18 mm zoom lens sounds like it would be perfect for outdoors shots in the Sierras.

-Tony

Hi Tony.

If you're still in the market for a mirrorless, then you'll probably want to wait until at least the 5R is out. There's a big photo show/event coming at the end of Sept which is where just about all of the major annoucements for the year are made by all the manufacturers; I think Sony will have both of the new NEX's ready to show off, and I'm hoping a new lens or two.