Roger Cicala tries the FE 35/2.8 and A7R

[quezra]

http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2013/12/sony-a7r-a-rising-tide-lifts-all-the-boats

the Sony A7R with 35mm f/2.8 lens shot at f/2.8 outresolved the Nikon D800e with either the Nikon 35mm f/1.4G shot at f/4 or the Zeiss 50mm f/2 shot at f/5.6. Stopped down to f/4 to even the playing field, the Sony was clearly higher. In fact, the only lens-camera combinations we’ve seen with that kind of MTF50 is the Zeiss Otus 55mm mounted to a D800e.

The strengths of a state of the art modern lens... it's too expensive for me but wow you get bang for this little beauty. The 55/1.8 could well be a bargain if it's as good; definitely on my shopping list.

If I were to make a quick summary:

• The A7R delivers amazing resolution. At least as good as a Nikon D800e.
• The two Sony-Zeiss prime lenses (the 35mm we tested, and the 55mm tested by SLRgear.com) are excellent. Hopefully other native-mount lenses will also be excellent.
• Other-brand, standard-range (35mm and up) shot on a well-matched adapter give superb center resolution, better than you would get on the native mount camera, unless that camera is a D800e. Corner resolution is very good, although less than amazing.
• Given past experience, and several early reports, shooting lenses wider than 35mm on an adapter is going to be a bit more challenging. I doubt we’ll be able to make too many generalizations. Rather each lens will have to be evaluated on the A7R to see how it performs.

MTF charts show the centre performance clearly shooting up with the A7R using adapted Canon lenses.

 

[Snowy]

Thank you for the link and summary. Interesting reading.

 

[serhan]

I read it this morning, interesting article/review. Sony/Zeiss wants us to buy their lenses for the best performance...

 

[Amin]

It seems that if you want to stress that 36MP sensor at the edges, the native glass (or Zeiss Otus) is the way to go.

 

[quezra]

I really enjoyed the discussion about how lens adapters affect corner performance in resolution tests, though they are easily ignorable in real world shooting because the focal plane is far broader and our expectations for sensitivity are much different. But I almost hate that the 35/2.8 was that good... I didn't desire this lens before but now I do! (Still not going to get it as I'm saving for the 55... *sniff*)

 

[mattia]

Both the native primes - based on my very preliminary testing - are really quite excellent performers.

I don't know the situation in the US, but over here (Netherlands), Sony has educational discounts for folks who work for academic institutions/still study. The FE 55/1.8 was only 30 euros more expensive than the FE 35 (719 and 749 euros). No discount on the bodies, sadly...