Nikon D600 - Start of Affordable Full Frame?

The long rumored Nikon D600 was officially introduced yesterday but unfortunately not at the $1500 as expected, but at $2100.  I am sure many will be disappointed, but I think it's still a significant camera that will signal the start of affordable full frame cameras to come.  When the first consumer full frame camera, the Canon 5D, introduced in 2005, was $3300.

With the D600 out, I am sure Canon won't let Nikon steal the lower end full frame market share, and will have a model (6D?) to counter the D600.  I also believe Sony will have a lower priced full frame other than the A99 sometime in 2013.

Exciting times, even if I can't afford one.

Bellflower? - NEX-5N & Kodak Ektanon 3 inch f2 Projection Lens. Click for larger.

Thoughts on Sony's New Products

Sony has introduced a slur of products just prior to the Photokina show.  Most talked about is none other than the RX1.  The first full frame compact camera with a fixed 35mm f2 Zeiss lens.  My feeling is that it won't sell in great quantities, but shows that Sony is not afraid to innovate, and take chances.  Witness the Nikon J2 and Canon EOS-M.  Can you find a more ho-hum camera, especially the J2 which is supposed to be an upgrade to the J1?  Even Sigma, the smallest company of them, tries a different technology with the X3 sensor.

The Pipe - NEX-5N & Schneider-Kreuznach Componar 75mm f4.5 Enlarging Lens. Click for larger.

The RX1 is just one of the new products, and the less talked about VG-900, a full frame camcorder based on the NEX E-Mount.  Frankly, I am very excited.  Not for the VG-900, but what's coming after it.  You see, the VG-900 is basically an NEX camera optimized for video.   Imagine, a small full frame mirrorless camera!  Another first from Sony.  Hello, where are you, Canon and Nikon?  Maybe it's true that when a company dominates a particular market for too long, they would become complacent.  When was the last time you see something innovative related to photography from Kodak, the once mighty photographic giant?  I do hope the biggest players in the photography arena will not become another Kodak.

NEX-5N & Wollensak 50mm f1.5. Click for larger.

Now, for something close to what most people can afford, and will sell in large numbers, the NEX-5R and NEX-6.  I think Sony was listening to its customers, who wanted a NEX-5N sensor in the NEX-7 body, hence we have the NEX-6.  Not quite an NEX-7 body, but much improved from the 5N with more external controls, especially the mode dial and a built-in EVF.  The NEX-6 body costs about the same as the 5N with kit lens when it was introduced.  Personally, I think the NEX-6 will sell like hot cakes, especially the bundle with the 16-50mm pancake lens for $1000.  It's the camera that I wanted since the NEX-7 came out, but unfortunately I already have a 5N with external viewfinder.

Sony has also slowly bringing out E-Mount lenses.  Of particular interest are the 35mm f1.8 OSS, and the 10-50mm 10-18mm f4 OSS wide angle zoom .  It's a good move by Sony to bring out the 10-50mm 10-18mm wide zoom, as auto focus wide angle lenses is what the E-Mount lacks.  This one lens should make a lot of people happy, not to mention both lenses have optical image stabilization.  As much as I dislike zooms, I can see myself using the 10-50mm 10-18mm .

In all, I think Sony has done well for its customers with some very exciting products, and I am sure more (like the full frame NEX) will come soon.

Game Factory - NEX-5N & Tokina RMC 17mm f3.5 @ f5.6. ISO 3200.

The Other Juipter-9 85mm f2 LTM

At the last Sunday's camera show I picked up only one "real" lens - a black Jupiter-9 85mm f2 LTM, for no reason other than a "good deal".  Now, who can past up on a good deal, right?  So now I end up with two Jupiter-9s.  One black and one silver.  The black one seems to be older that has no coating on it, whereas the silver one has purple colored coating.  Both lenses should be optically identical.

Jupiter-9 Brothers. Click for larger. 

Took it out for a spin today, and found that they both perform about the same.  Very good already wide open, and very sharp stop down a bit.  The circular aperture helps with the nice bokeh.  It's a nice lens to use on EVIL cameras.

Fallen Leaf - NEX-5N & Black Juipter-9 85mm f2. Click for larger.

Bike Bell - NEX-5N & Black Juipter-9 85mm f2.

Window Washing - NEX-5N & Black Juipter-9 85mm f2.

Square Bokeh: Componar 50mm f4.5 Meets Brother Componar 75mm f4.5

Went to the camera show yesterday and picked up a few more enlarging lenses.  One of which is a 4-bladed 75mm f4.5 Schneider-Kreuznach Componar, the bigger brother of the 50mm f4.5.  I expect the image quality will be better than the 50mm f4.5 and the weird bokeh will be similar.

Another enlarging lens that I picked up is the Rodenstock Rogonar-SC 50mm f2.8.  Will be interesting to compare this one with the EL-Nikkor 50mm f2.8.

Brothers - Componar 50mm f4.5 and 75mm f4.5. Click for larger.

I am happy to say that the 75mm f4.5 Componar is much better than the 50mm f4.5, in terms of optical quality, especially the corners.  It's very sharp wide open, similar to the Schneider-Kreuznach 75mm f4 (why do they have so many enlarging lenses of the same focal length?).  I do notice the square bokeh is less pronounced than the 50mm f4.5, maybe the longer focal length has less depth of field.

Square Bokeh - NEX-5N & Schneider-Kreuznach Componar 75mm f4.5. Click for larger.

Wide Open it looks normal - NEX-5N & Schneider-Kreuznach Componar 75mm f4.5. Click for larger.

Super Sharp  - NEX-5N & Schneider-Kreuznach Componar 75mm f4.5 @ f5.6. Click for larger.

Sony RX1 Full Frame Pocket Camera

I was fully expecting the rumored full frame pro NEX cameras would be announced on September 12, but it turns out it's a pocketable, non-interchangeable cameras with a 35mm f2 Zeiss lens.  While I applaud Sony for making a unique camera, unfortunately, it's not cheap at $2800, and the lens is fixed at 35mm.  If they had gone through making a full frame pocket camera, why not make the lens interchangeable?  I am completely baffled.  Unless, the the RX1 tries to be a Leica X2 competitor, but that is such a small, niche market.  Sure, this camera is perfect for someone who only shoots the 35mm focal length, and I am sure they will be happy with the expected outstanding image quality.

If the price of this camera is at $1500, I am sure it will sell by the boatload, and will completely kill the Fuji X100.  The good news is that the interchangeable lens version won't be far behind.  Can't wait.  Just hope that it won't be priced at $3000.

Parking Lot Romance - NEX-5N & Wollensak Raptar 50mm f1.5 Cine Lens. 

Tamron SP 17mm f3.5 vs. Tokina RMC 17mm f3.5

The other day I took out both the Tamron SP 17mm f3.5 Adaptall (second version) and the Tokina RCM 17mm f3.5 and took some pictures for comparison.  What I found was bit of a surprise.

Please note that this is not a real review, and certainly not anywhere near scientific or rigorous in making sure everything is identical.  Pictures were taken handheld, one lens, and then the other.  Consequently, framing might be slightly different.  Also, no guarantee on 100% accurate focusing.  Ultra wide angles are very difficult to nail critical focus.  But, both lenses have equal opportunity on chances.

The Physicals

Both lenses are very well built and focuses smoothly, as expected with most manual focus lenses.  Both focus to 0.25m, which is very close; almost touching the lens hood at this distance.  The only non-metal parts is the focusing band on both lenses, and in the case of the Tamron, the plastic distance window.  The Tokina has a slightly longer focusing travel and might give a slight edge to finer focus adjustment.  In terms of size, both lenses are similar, but the Tamron is slightly smaller.  The Tamron has n o filter threads on the lens itself; an 82mm filter thread is on the hood. If you lose your hood, you won't be able to use filters on it.  On the other hand the Tokina has a standard 67mm filter thread, which is much easier and cheaper to attach filters.

Tokina RMC 17mm f3.5 [FD] on left, Tamron SP 17mm f3.5 [EF] on right. Click for larger.

With hoods. Click for larger picture.

How do they compare optically

At the end, it's the image quality that matters.  Surprisingly, both lenses behave very similar optically, at least on the APS-C sensor.  The Tamron is slightly more contrasty (sharper) wide open, but the Tokina seems to show a bit more detail.  Interestingly, the Tamron appears to be wider than the Tokina.  I took the pictures below from the same spot without moving my feet.  Even from the small thumbnail, you can see the Tamron is more contrasty.  Also, the Tamron is a little better at suppressing color fringing than the Tokina.

 

Tokina on left, Tamron on right. Crops are NOT sharpened. Click each picture to see larger version 

At f8, both lenses are very sharp at the center of the frame. The Tamron does a bit better at the far corner.  Please note that the tree was not at the plane of focus, so on a flat surface, the corner might be better, but at f8, the depth of field should make up for it.  Note the colors are very similar.

I would imagine the Tamron will be a better performer on full frame at the corners.  The center of both lenses are very similar from about f5.6 on.

At f8 unsharpened. Tamron on left, Tokina on right. Click to see 100% crop.

Bokeh

For ultra wide angles, bokeh is usually not a real concern for most people.  They are normally used stopped down.  For interest's sake, I have provided one for your reference.

Flare Test

Both lenses flare badly when shooting at light source.  To be fair, most lenses, even the very expensive ones, probably wouldn't do much better than this.  The Tamron holds contrast much better than the Tokina in this situation.

Flare test.  click on each image to see a larger version.

The verdict

I paid exactly twice as much for the Tamron SP 17mm f3.5 (without mount) as the Tokina RMC 17mm f3.5.  I think the Tokina represents a great value for the money, putting up a good fight against the more expensive Tamron.  If used on M4/3 cameras, the differences is probably negligible once both lenses stop down one notch, but on full frame, and to a lesser degree, APS-C sized sensor, the Tamron hold an edge at the outer corners.

Tamron SP 17mm f3.5 Adaptall

It seems like every few years, I will get a copy of this Tamron SP 17mm f3.5.  In 2007, I had the original version with built-in filters.  You can see some samples here that I took with my Canon 20D.  In 2009, I got the new version that has no built-in filter, but didn't quite like the image quality on my 5D.  I mentioned about it here.  Now for the third copy of this lens, I just received it.  It's the version two without built-in filters and by far the least expensive one I bought, at around $150 including taxes/shipping, and it came with the very hard to find lens hood.  One of the reasons I bought it, aside from the good price, is that I want to see the comparison with the Tokina RMC 17mm f3.5.  Unfortunately though, this has to be compared on the NEX-5N, since the Tokina is a Canon FD mount, which can not be used on Canon full frame.

The Tamron SP 17mm f3.5 is sort of a controversial lens.  Copy variance seems very high.  The last one I had wasn't  very good on my 5D, but the one I had before that was better (at least on the 20D).  This lens is often pitted against the likes of Olympus Zuiko 18mm f3.5, Tokina/Vivitar 17mm f3.5 and the Nikon 18mm f3.5, and to lesser degree, the Canon FD 17mm f4 and Minolta MD 17mm f4.

The Zuiko, without doubt, is the most expensive of the lot; often costing 3X or more of that of the Tamron 17mm f3.5, and it vignettes much worse than the Tamron, and has a bulging front element and kludgy lens hood, but possibly has better distortion control.  You can see the test results of the older version with built-in filters by Modern Photography against other similar lenses by OM, Minolta & Nikon here.  From the test, we can see that the Tamron should be a good performer.

Be My Valentine - Canon 20D & Tamron Adaptall 17mm f3.5 [2007].  Click for larger.

Gooderham Flatiron - Canon 5D & Tamron Adaptall 17mm f3.5 [2009]. Click for larger.

Tiff Festival 2012 - NEX-5N & Tamron Adaptall 17mm f3.5 [2012]. Click for larger.

Apollo 135mm f1.8 Sample Picture

Got this lens last week as part of my addiction fix.  Strangely, it come with a M42 to c-mount adapter, and a c-mount 2x teleconverter.  The original mount is M42, and unlike others, this seems to be a native M42 mount, not a YS mount with M42 adapter on it.  Lens itself is in very good shape.  Very clean.  Briefly tested the c-mount 2x teleconverter and it was absolutely horrible.  I don't know how anyone can use that piece of junk on their camera.

It's difficult to focus at f1.8 with a 135mm focal length, even with a viewfinder and enlarged view.  The image quality seems disappointing, especially wide open, judging by my first few shots.  Contrast is low, the edges just glows green in highlights.  Of course this is not conclusive, as I have only used it for a handful of shots.  I also need to get a hood for this thing, but the 82mm filter thread proved to be a challenge for hoods.  I can't find one from a full tub of hoods that I have, and 77mm is the largest I have got.  Will test again later this week.

Dillon -- NEX-5N & Apollo 135mm f1.8. click for larger.

Wollensak Raptar 2 inch (50mm) f1.5 C-Mount Cine Lens - First Impression

It has been a while since I bought any c-mount lenses, mostly because I am using the NEX-5N more than the Panasonic G1, and most c-mount lenses have an imaging circle too small for the NEX, but many c-mount lenses have a focal length 50mm or greater tend to have larger image circles and are OK to use on the NEX.  The reason I bought the Wollensak 50mm f1.5, is because I don't really have many c-mount lenses in this focal length.  The only ones I have, is the Kodak Anastigmat 50mm f1.6, JML 50mm f0.95 (converted to NEX E-Mount).  The Kodak is a bit too weird with the radical swirling backgrounds, and the JML is very large and heavy.  The Wollensak 50mm f1.5 is kind of the Goldilocks of the 50mm c-mount lens: It's (almost) just right.

Without Hoods. Wollensak 50mm f1.5 on left, Kodak 50mm f1.6 on right. Click for larger.

I take back what I said about the weight of the Kodak 50mm f1.6 in my last post.  These two lenses weigh about the same, even though the Kodak is larger.  Strangely, the focusing and aperture rings are reversed on these two lenses.  On the Wollensak, like most c-mount lenses, the focusing ring is behind the aperture ring, but is reversed on the Kodak.  Notice the little knob on the Kodak, pulling it and then rotate the focusing ring will enable the close focusing (pseudo macro) feature.  I really like this when I need close ups. 

The lens does not vignette this bad. I added vignetting in post processing - NEX-5N & Wollensak 50mm f1.5. Click for larger.

The Wollensak 50mm f1.5 is a beautifully made lens.  It feels dense and is wonderful to hold in your hand.  It's lenses made like this that make so many become addicted to their lenses.  If you compare lenses made today and this lens, you will understand why.  In actual use, it's a joy too.  Very smooth focusing and aperture ring is very smooth and precise.

In my experience, most c-mount cine lenses are very sharp wide open.  It may have something to do with special glass they used.  This Wollensak is no exception. Very usable at f1.5.  It's already very sharp at f2. I am very happy to learn that the image circle is larger on this lens.  At close focusing range, you don't see much vignetting, but at infinity, you can see visible darker corners.  Not heavy, but visible.  On the Panasonic G1, there is no vignetting at all, even at infinity focus.  The 2x crop of the M4/3 sensor masks most of the bad corners of this lens, but it also loses some of the characteristics of this lens.

Bokeh - NEX-5N & Wollensak Raptar 50mm f1.5. Click for larger.

The only thing I miss, compared to the Kodak, is the close focusing capabilities.  This lens focuses to about 2 inches feet, or 0.5m, which is normal for this focal length. But, we can't always have everything, no?  I really like this lens on the NEX-5N.  I can't wait to shoot this lens more, and with different subjects.

Bokeh #2 - NEX-5N & Wollensak Raptar 50mm f1.5. Click for larger.

G.A.S Attack

Last week, I had a bad case of Gear Acquisition Syndrom (G.A.S).  Spent hundreds of dollars ordering a total of six lenses.  So far, I have received the Apollo 135mm f1.8, a monstrous sized (for a 135mm focal length) lens that's 1/3 of a stop faster than the famous Canon 135mm f2L, but is there more than just super fast speed?  We shall look at that in a  later post.  Also received, and I was very anxious to try out, is the Wollensak 50mm f1.5 and to a lesser degree, the Elgeet 102mm (4 inch) f2.7, both are c-mount lenses.  Unfortunately, the Elgeet is D.O.A (Dead On Arrival).  The focus ring is completely seized, and it has quite a  few clean marks inside/outside the lens optics, but it's cosmetically in very good shape.  Right now, don't know what to do with it yet.  It would cost more than the lens itself to ship it back.

The Wollensak 2 inch (50mm) f1.5 is such a gorgeous lens in typical chrome finish as many c-mount cine lenses are. It's a very hefty lens, which is much heavier than the Kodak 50mm f1.6 that I also love.  Both the aperture and focusing rings work, thankfully.  I couldn't wait so as soon as I got the package, I put it on my NEX-5N and snapped a few pictures.  First thing I noticed was that flare will be a huge problem (like most c-mount cine lenses).  Secondly, it's as sharp as the Kodak 50mm f1.6, but has a much larger imaging circle.  There is visible vignetting, but the corners are much better than the Kodak. Consequently, the larger image circle makes the swirling effect less visible than the Kodak.

I have a feeling I will be using this lens quite a bit for the next little while.

Mannequin on Younge & Gerrard - NEX-5N & Wollensak 50mm f1.5 @ f1.5. Click for larger.

 

Creamy Delicious Bokeh - NEX-5N & Wollensak 50mm f1.5 @ f1.5. Click for larger.