Canceled Batis 25 - preordered Loxia 21.... good idea?

Hoping to receive sometime before my next Summer vacation.... anyone did same?

Not yet, but I'm considering it. Estimated delivery of Batis is at the end of January, and I have no idea when the Loxia would arrive if I were to change the order. Hopefully sooner than that if I'm quick enough.

Still considering the pros and cons of each lens, both weight/size, price, aperture and autofocus. The latter isn't that big of a sellingpoint considering how smooth the focusing is on the Loxia lenses.

Must...have...both.

Alpha Photo said:

Hoping to receive sometime before my next Summer vacation.... anyone did same?

Click to expand...

Not a good idea - a splendid idea!

The 21 is a real wide angle lens and something that could easily replace my 16-35mm zoom. Please post when the lens is in safe care!

Alpha Photo said:

Hoping to receive sometime before my next Summer vacation.... anyone did same?

Click to expand...

Haven't pre-ordered the Batis, but if I was in the situation I would totally go for the Loxia 21 instead. Have the Loxia 50, they are wonderful lenses

Alpha Photo said:

Hoping to receive sometime before my next Summer vacation.... anyone did same?

Click to expand...

I may be a little biased since I have a Batis 25 already but no regrets on having that over a Loxia 21 especially given the price. It depends on what your needs are - the batis 25 is wide enough for me and having f2 vs f2.8 is great for the few times I get to do astrophotography. Also, autofocus is great if you're doing night photography with the lens or taking group shots. I'm not going to opine on image quality since I'm sure both are great. The loxia 21 also won't be as compact as the 35 and 50 based on the specs - it's a bit longer with the batis 25 being only slightly longer than the 21mm.

The question is what is your planned use case? I think the Batis 25 is a bit more versatile at 25mm vs the Loxia 21mm since I never felt 21mm was a "walkabout" focal length. I chose the Batis 25 over the 16-35mm f4 because I felt 25mm is probably as wide as I generally feel comfortable with for landscapes and travel, having used a Tokina 12-24m in my Nikon days and the Rokinon 14mm lens before. I also think for ultra wide angles, some of the voightlander lenses might be better value for the money.

Having said all that, I like the look of all the Loxia lenses and the ergonomics are amazing. Part of me wants to collect them all - bought a Loxia 35 new and a Loxia 50 used. I might try to pick this up used some day but probably after they finally get around to remanufacturing the Contax G 90mm into a Loxia 90 lens or come out with a batis 135.

Yes I think that is a good move.

21mm will be for landscapes etc and AF is really not needed. It takes just a few seconds to get exact focus using magnified view. You will often be using a tripod as well.

I have been doing a lot of landscape imaging using my huge but gorgeous Nikon 14-24mm F2.8ED.

So the 21mm Loxia will replace that for me. I would think 25mm is starting to get a bit long for a lot of landscape shots. It would be still be good but a tad long. 14mm is very wide and its fabulous when using it in panorama mode but 21mm would be sensational as well and perhaps less fishey type distortion.

Greg.

That's a great thought. Two things hold me back. Auto focus. Not going to lie. I like AF. 2. Who knows when I would get the 21mm in after having waited so long on my Batis to ship. Still hasn't got to me yet.
--
http://www.14fps.tv - My YouTube channel with a focus on Sony cameras.

What attracts me to Loxia 21 is the small size. The lack of autofocus should not be a problem for such a wide angle. 25mm is the better walk-around lens though. Anyway, I did it, so no looking back

I have just done the same. After I used the Loxia 2/50 I decided to cancel my Batis order and pre-order the Loxia 2.8/21

Hopefully, as I pre-order it so in advance, I can get it before the summer.

As long as you are comfortable with the difference in focal length, and the different speed, Batis 25 and Loxia 21 is the choice betwene autofocus vs ecellent maual control, larger size vs smaller size. If you are comfortable with manual controll your choice is exellent. Quality wise both lenses will perform exellent.

I never understood why you need AF at wide angles, from 35mm and wider Im all manual. And yes, I'll have the Loxia 21mm too ...

---
Andre JF
AndreJaingam.smugmug.com

not gonna lie, I cancelled my Batis 25 order a while before the Loxia was announced. Got tired of waiting for it, although I did wait for the 85MM because I had much more use for it this summer (well, it turned into fall, didn't it?)

I think the Loxia is more tempting really. Why? Well, I like the focal length better, for one - it just a touch more dramatic for street photography, and it is very tempting for that.

As for the manual focus - I think that with good high ISO performance that we are able to have now, again for street photography, one could set the focus at 3 meters, use f11-f16 and basically point and shoot. For landscape or architecture, I would just use a tripod. And for portraits, group or single, generally speaking, I just wouldn't use a 21MM.

Are we really talking about next summer? Sigh.

Depends what your main use is for a wide angle lens. I currently have the 28mm, but it's a placeholder until I buy something better.

25mm is usable for landscapes, street and city work; 21mm might be too wide for street

the Batis is larger, but the Loxia is a bit heavier

I've already reviewed the Batis and will wait for my Loxia loaner before deciding.

might also stick with the 28mm and add a VL 15mm in the spring.

Sh_la_m said:

.
As for the manual focus - I think that with good high ISO performance that we are able to have now, again for street photography, one could set the focus at 3 meters, use f11-f16 and basically point and shoot. For landscape or architecture, I would just use a tripod. And for portraits, group or single, generally speaking, I just wouldn't use a 21MM.

Are we really talking about next summer? Sigh.

Click to expand...

Agree! and regarding shipping day is expected December 2015, but after I've seen how long it takes to receive Batis orders I do not expect it anytime soon. But I might be wrong and happy!