Showcase Sony FE 28mm f/2.0

[serhan]

I got mine in 2 days from T-dimensions from HK since the US shipments are still 1.5 months away. I used them before eg they paid even the return for misaligned P&S camera after some e-mail correspondence. So I took my chance esp there is no OSS on this lens. So far so good...

Lighting wasn't the best after work/dinner, but here are some shots:
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And we found where the town is hiding the dead snowmen:
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It is a sharp, small lens, but there is a good amount of distortion that needs to be corrected and the lightroom profile is not available yet. This is the first Sony prime that I have that needs distortion correction which might explain the price point. I was expecting maybe a little less, since it comes with the wide angle and fisheye attachments. Good side of distortion is that it might be wider then 28mm before corrections.

 

[davect01]

Looks promising if you can deal with the distortions.

 

[WestOkid]

Did you correct these shots for distortion? Looking at the first shot, the lines on both side of the frame look near perfect.

 

[serhan]

I corrected the ones that showed distortion to my eye and it is much easier to correct with the lines. It is getting less clear with the landscape shots... I think I corrected the first boat shot (with police boat) as it was also tilted, since I was trying to shoot by extending my arms thru the fence to the water...

Did you correct these shots for distortion? Looking at the first shot, the lines on both side of the frame look near perfect.

 

[addieleman]

Any chance of seeing full-size samples? Considering its specs and price point it's an interesting lens. Distortion will be a moot point to me once a Lightroom profile will become available and that'll be just a matter of time.

 

[serhan]

You can download the raw files with f/2 thru f/8-11 shots:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8tsks7us6o5mcwy/1.zip?dl=0

Any chance of seeing full-size samples? Considering its specs and price point it's an interesting lens. Distortion will be a moot point to me once a Lightroom profile will become available and that'll be just a matter of time.

 

[addieleman]

Great, thanks a million!

 

[addieleman]

That lens looks quite good to me. Lots of distortion but that will be gone with the right profile. It needs f/4 to sharpen up in the corners; the extreme left upper corner shows unsharpness in the twigs and that will be gone once the distortion correction kicks in and stretches the image towards the edges. At f/11 the lens is landscape-proof, even the extreme corners are sharp. So with its speed and image quality it looks like a multi-purpose lens for landscapes, street shooting and snapshots and the like.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[tomO2013]

Do you mind sharing the sooc jpeg extra fine with corrections enabled. It will give us an idea of what images all be like when fully baked as the manufacturer intended and when raw convertors fully support the lens. From looking at samples uncorrected I suspect it's wider than 28mm

 

[tomO2013]

Lovely images BTW!

 

[serhan]

The following download includes camera jpg, adjusted and raw jpgs:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6uvni7ajvd5p9lt/2.zip?dl=0

Do you mind sharing the sooc jpeg extra fine with corrections enabled. It will give us an idea of what images all be like when fully baked as the manufacturer intended and when raw convertors fully support the lens. From looking at samples uncorrected I suspect it's wider than 28mm

Also more images from Flickr with bokeh samples:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/harryyhl/sets/72157651341978751

and more raw images from a dpreview post:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bxn_FCdJRbhuTl91YzhROVBEcjA/view?usp=sharing

 

[serhan]

Here is an interesting size comparison, Loxia 35mm f2 (comparable to Sony 28mm in size) vs 35mm 2.8 vs 1.4:
Loxia 35mm f2 size: 2.44 x 2.33" (62.1 x 59.2 mm) 11.99 oz (340 g)
Sony 28mm f2 size: 2.52 x 2.36" (64.01 x 59.94 mm) 7.05 oz (200 g)

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More samples:
http://in-windows.livejournal.com/101584.html
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kelvintkn/sets/72157649006254463

 

[scrowley91]

How's the manual focusing on this lens? Does it focus past infinity like the 24-70 zeiss? Is there a ton o f lag?

 

[serhan]

MF is same as other Sony E/FE lenses eg I don't usually use them for mf, so I assume mf will be similar to 24-70mm. The lag is camera dependent, not due to the lens. It hunted more when the light was low but it was not bad. Slower lenses hunt more. I have seen excellent baseball shots taken with new 24-240 lens on A6000, so the af depends on the camera & available light. Hopefully Sony will push A6000 af into FF, but the camera needs much more processing power w/ less heat generation...

How's the manual focusing on this lens? Does it focus past infinity like the 24-70 zeiss? Is there a ton o f lag?

 

[serhan]

Also very detailed FE 28mm review:
SLR Club - SONY FE 28mm F2.0 Review

Same review in pdf format:
http://www.wapy.com/entiz/read.php?num=31144

 

[serhan]

Guarding the precious

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[WT21]

Thanks so much for posting. I don't do landscape, but I think this lens would be great for social situations.

I wish they had a 35/2 with pretty much identical specs and price, but at 24MP, I think you could crop pretty easily.

 

[tomO2013]

I've gone over and over the samples provided.

I think that uncorrected this lens is actually wider than 28mm so that when lens firmware corrections are enabled by a compatible raw application the image is pulled to 28mm. It's a great solution.
I really like the rendering - it's very different to the FE35 in terms of color and the way lens draws. Maybe this is a strange thing to say, but it has a vintage-modern hybrid type of rendering to it. Colours are very vintage/minolta rokkor like, but sharpness (and with software profile enabled) it's sharp and contrasty across the frame from wide open. It has a lot of character. This could be the Olympus 45mm 1.8 of the E/FE mount world.

 

[WT21]

Just got mine from DigitalRev. I'll try to post some shots in a few days.

 

[serhan]

Philip's rolling review and comparison to Contax CZ 28mm and Minolta 28mm lenses:
http://phillipreeve.net/blog/sony-fe-28mm-2-what-we-know-so-far/
http://phillipreeve.net/blog/old-new-zeiss-2-828-vs-sony-fe-228-vs-minolta-mc-228/