Leica-R 28mm f2.8 Elmarit on Sony A7

It's been quite a few years since I have had this lens and I have been using it on and off on various cameras, including Canon full frame, APS-H (1.3x crop; Canon 1D, 1D II, 1D III), and many other APS-C sensor cameras and none produced satisfactory results. The edges were just mushy, even on small sensors.

Imagine my surprise when I put this lens on the Sony A7. It was nothing like the pictures before and even the edges are very sharp. I don't know why this is. Perhaps the A7 has some edge enhancements on the sensor, or the lens just works better. Frankly, I don't really care how it's done, but I am very happy that this lens is working so well on the A7. I do wonder, how it is on the A7r.

f2.8 - Sony A7 & Leica-R Elmarit 28mm f2.8. Click for larger.

Metal Art - Sony A7 & Leica-R Elmarit 28mm f2.8. Click for larger.

The Duke - Sony A7 & Leica-R Elmarit 28mm f2.8. Click for larger.

Gooderham Flatiron - Sony A7 & Leica-R Elmarit 28mm f2.8. 

The Downside of Cheap Adapters

My Leica-R 28mm f2.8 Emarit seems to perform differently on different cameras; very good on the Canon crop bodies, but it's horrible on the NEX-6, with basically the same size sensor as the Canon. I noticed it but didn't give it much thought, since I hardly ever use this lens. It is the least used Leica lens I have.  The edges on this lens is just terrible on the NEX-6. Then I put it on my 5D Mark II, and I was surprised to find that the edges are way better on it than on the NEX-6.

It didn't take long to realize that it was fault of the adapters; most of my adapters are cheap ones, and I am using two adapters for all my Leica-R lenses on the NEX-6. The reason is that I am trying to reduce the number of adapters to buy for different systems. Since I already have the adapters for Canon for most mount, I just bought a NEX-EOS mount, and then mount the Leica-R and other lenses onto the NEX-EOS adapter. Most cheap adapters don't have the precision as the more expensive ones, but most of the time we don't notice too much of it.  When stacking two adapters, the tolerance quickly fades and the errors in machining adds up. Most obvious sign is one side of image is less sharp than the other side.

I guess I am going to have to buy dedicated adapters for the NEX.

Colours! - Canon 5D Mark II & Leica-R 28mm f2.8 Emarit @ f4.5.

Rain drops - Canon 5D Mark II & Leica-R 28mm f2.8 Elmarit @ f2.8.

Corridor

The Leica-R 28mm f2.8 Elmarit has almost no distortion to speak of.  It's probably one of the best corrected wide angle lens I have.  For some reason I can't understand, I hardly use it. It's not a bad lens, but perhaps it lacks a little something that would make me use it more.

Corridor - NEX-6 & Leica-R 28mm f2.8 Elmarit

Fuji Is to Enter the EVIL Game

Back to the Future?  -- NEX-5N & Leica-R 28mm f2.8. Click for larger.

Fujifilm has announced that they will be creating a mirrorless camera system ready for Spring of 2012.  So now every major and minor camera makers has their own EVIL camera, except Canon.  I am sure Canon will not let everybody else have all the fun.  I will bet that they will announce their own EVIL camera in 2012.  Hopefully it won't be a let down like the Nikon 1.

I am looking forward to the Fuji mirrorless.  Their claimed the sensor will have more resolution, and image quality better than any of today's full frame or APS-C sensors.  That's a pretty tall order to fill, but I hope it will be true.  Fuji is one of those oddball companies that occasionally has something brilliant/different.  In a way, they are like Ricoh, who does things their own way.

Perhaps, 2012 will be a year of the EVIL and full frame cameras.

NEX-5N Image Quality -- Second Look

After using the NEX-5N for just a bit over a week, I have one word to describe the image quality: wonderful.  Really, the improvement from the original NEX-5 is huge.  In low ISO, shadow noise is mostly gone and the image looks like it comes of a Canon 1Ds II.  The biggest improvement is in the high ISO area.  I compared the noise level to my 1D III at ISO 1600, and they are roughly equivalent, with a slight edge to the 1D III, which retains more details.  But, the 1D III has a 1.3x crop factor with only 10 MP, and thus the pixel size is much larger, whereas the NEX-5N is 1.5x with 16MP.  This is an incredible achievement.

I don't think the NEX-7 will be anywhere as good as the 5N in terms of noise performance.  While I will miss the handling and built-in EVF of the 7, image quality matters more to me.  When the external EVF goes down in price, I will pick one up for the 5N.  One of the good things about external EVF is that it can be used on the next model (hopefully) and can be sold separately if I later upgrade to one with built-in EVF.

In conclusion, I have no complains about the image quality of the NEX-5N.  I am VERY glad to have bought it. Now, why didn't Sony just use this wonderful sensor on the NEX-7, or, make a model with NEX-7 body with the NEX-5N sensor and priced between the two? It will be a perfectly balanced camera in terms of handling and image quality.

Cranes -- NEX-5N & Leica-R Elmarit 28mm f2.8, ISO 400.

Before the Rain

Before the rain -- NEX-5N & Leica-R Elmarit 28mm f2.8. Click for larger

The sky was very interesting this evening.  It was bluish gray and combined with clouds, makes for nice photo opportunities.  And for whatever reason, I took out the Leica-R 28mm f2.8 and rediscovered how great this little lens is.  Owned it for the last six years but not used very much.  I had no reason not to use this lens as it has really excellent optics, as you would expect from a Leica lens.  The built quality is superb as well.  I think it's just that I have so many lenses, sometimes I lose track of what I have.