How do NEX users cope with such a poor lens quality?

Peter J Davies · Jan 21, 2017

snapa said:
OlyPent said:

My favorite adapted lens was a contax 180mm f2.8. Beautiful images.

Click to expand...

It's a shame you don't have a gallery or web site to show off all the excellent pictures you have taken with that lens or others. I'd love to see how great your adapted lenses work, maybe I'd change my mind about adapters if you (or anyone else) could show how well adapted lenses work.

Reading how great adapters and old/cheap non native lenses work together and seeing them are two different things. I constantly read how fantastic adapters and OLD lenses work, but I very rarely ever see any proof of it, for some strange reason.

In otherwords, lets see what you got to prove your point, if not, keep on talking ;-)

--
Life is short, make the best of it while you can!
http://grob.smugmug.com/

I'm sure that you will find them disappointing but here are a few from my gallery and there are more in my Flickr photostream https://www.flickr.com/photos/14480792@N03/)

Sony A3000 with a Jupiter 8 lens

Sony A3000 with a Konica Hexanon AR 40mm f1.8 lens

Sony A3000 with a Konica Hexanon AR 50mm f1.7 lens

Sony A3000 with a Konica Hexanon AR 52mm f1.8 lens

Sony A3000 with a Yashica ML 50mm f2 lens

Sony A3000 with a Canon FDn 50mm f1.8 lens

--
Peter Davies

Peter Davies

Explore Peter Davies’s 1,231 photos on Flickr!

www.flickr.com

snapa · Jan 21, 2017

Peter Daves said:
snapa said:

OlyPent said:

My favorite adapted lens was a contax 180mm f2.8. Beautiful images.

Click to expand...

It's a shame you don't have a gallery or web site to show off all the excellent pictures you have taken with that lens or others. I'd love to see how great your adapted lenses work, maybe I'd change my mind about adapters if you (or anyone else) could show how well adapted lenses work.

Reading how great adapters and old/cheap non native lenses work together and seeing them are two different things. I constantly read how fantastic adapters and OLD lenses work, but I very rarely ever see any proof of it, for some strange reason.

In otherwords, lets see what you got to prove your point, if not, keep on talking ;-)\

Click to expand...

I'm sure that you will find them disappointing but here are a few from my gallery and there are more in my Flickr photostream https://www.flickr.com/photos/14480792@N03/)

Two out of six were pretty good, I'll give you that. Thanks for trying to prove your point with pictrues. At least that's more than most are willing or able to do.

Life is short, make the best of it while you can!

Snapa

Powered by SmugMug

grob.smugmug.com

hungrylau · Jan 21, 2017

Snapa, they are qualitatively better than your images.

OlyPent · Jan 21, 2017

snapa said:
OlyPent said:

My favorite adapted lens was a contax 180mm f2.8. Beautiful images.

Click to expand...

It's a shame you don't have a gallery or web site to show off all the excellent pictures you have taken with that lens or others. I'd love to see how great your adapted lenses work, maybe I'd change my mind about adapters if you (or anyone else) could show how well adapted lenses work.

Here are a few, shot with Fuji 25mm f/1.4 CCTV lens, Tamron 350mm f/5.6 mirror, and a non-descript 400mm f/8.0 Hanimex lens:

--
"After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting."
-Spock

CE3 · Jan 21, 2017

snapa said:
Peter Daves said:

snapa said:

OlyPent said:

My favorite adapted lens was a contax 180mm f2.8. Beautiful images.

Click to expand...

It's a shame you don't have a gallery or web site to show off all the excellent pictures you have taken with that lens or others. I'd love to see how great your adapted lenses work, maybe I'd change my mind about adapters if you (or anyone else) could show how well adapted lenses work.

Reading how great adapters and old/cheap non native lenses work together and seeing them are two different things. I constantly read how fantastic adapters and OLD lenses work, but I very rarely ever see any proof of it, for some strange reason.

In otherwords, lets see what you got to prove your point, if not, keep on talking ;-)\

Click to expand...

I'm sure that you will find them disappointing but here are a few from my gallery and there are more in my Flickr photostream https://www.flickr.com/photos/14480792@N03/)

Click to expand...

Two out of six were pretty good, I'll give you that. Thanks for trying to prove your point with pictrues. At least that's more than most are willing or able to do.

Life is short, make the best of it while you can!
http://grob.smugmug.com/

Here are some old shots with my Canon 60D. Before I switched to Sony, all but two of my primes were cheap adapted MF lenses. I'm not saying these are great, but I feel like I did ok.

Vivitar Series 1 70-210:

Mir-1B:

Pentax 50 1.7:

de0d1302c8894ff88d093f4c5b75a7ae.jpg.png

Shooting with these old lenses allowed me to experiment with (and learn) a lot of different focal lengths without breaking the bank, and I think the challenges of manual focus helped me grow as a photographer.

Sympa · Jan 21, 2017

Off The Mark said:
Secondly, what would you do if you wanted a 17-50 f/2.8 zoom for your crop sensor camera?

Have you looked how big these are? How expensive? These days better go FF if you like that kind of result. The sensors are not that expensive any more compared to glass.

Be prepared for computational imaging, with some cell phone cameras and a powerful image processor attached to a funky looking body. The lenses will probably be small, deliver only partially sharp (but different) views, have lots of distartion and vignetting, but the result will be better than what we have now. And people will not buy it because the lens does not fit on an optical bench, or there is no true raw mode.

nzmacro · Jan 22, 2017

snapa said:
OlyPent said:

My favorite adapted lens was a contax 180mm f2.8. Beautiful images.

Click to expand...

It's a shame you don't have a gallery or web site to show off all the excellent pictures you have taken with that lens or others. I'd love to see how great your adapted lenses work, maybe I'd change my mind about adapters if you (or anyone else) could show how well adapted lenses work.

Reading how great adapters and old/cheap non native lenses work together and seeing them are two different things. I constantly read how fantastic adapters and OLD lenses work, but I very rarely ever see any proof of it, for some strange reason.

In otherwords, lets see what you got to prove your point, if not, keep on talking ;-)

--
Life is short, make the best of it while you can!
http://grob.smugmug.com/

But try is all we can do.

NEX-7 and Canon FD lenses using manual focus. Hobby and relaxation.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/124733969@N06/sets/

A few shots in there with the Oly E-M10 recently, but not a lot, about maybe 1%

For a bit of speed with the NEX-7 and Canon manual focus lenses ..........

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130646821@N03/

That's not the hobby part BTW

Danny.

--
Worry about the image that comes out of the box rather than the box itself
-----------
Birds and BIF's ..... https://www.flickr.com/photos/124733969@N06/sets/
The need for speed ..... https://www.flickr.com/photos/130646821@N03/

cxsparc · Jan 22, 2017

snapa said:
Peter Daves said:

snapa said:

OlyPent said:

My favorite adapted lens was a contax 180mm f2.8. Beautiful images.

Click to expand...

It's a shame you don't have a gallery or web site to show off all the excellent pictures you have taken with that lens or others. I'd love to see how great your adapted lenses work, maybe I'd change my mind about adapters if you (or anyone else) could show how well adapted lenses work.

Reading how great adapters and old/cheap non native lenses work together and seeing them are two different things. I constantly read how fantastic adapters and OLD lenses work, but I very rarely ever see any proof of it, for some strange reason.

In otherwords, lets see what you got to prove your point, if not, keep on talking ;-)\

Click to expand...

I'm sure that you will find them disappointing but here are a few from my gallery and there are more in my Flickr photostream https://www.flickr.com/photos/14480792@N03/)

Click to expand...

Two out of six were pretty good, I'll give you that. Thanks for trying to prove your point with pictrues. At least that's more than most are willing or able to do.

Snapa, I really wonder why you feel the need to use this aggressive tone as if others would always be required to substantiate their experiences with shots.

Fact is that legacy MF lenses can be put well to use and always have complemented the limited Sony portfolio, especially in the beginning when there was no 50/1.4, 85 mm, 70-210/4 bright tele zoom or 200+mm tele primes and legacy lenses were dirt cheap.

Also, the joy of getting back into photography and re-using those lenses to which some of us may have attached emotions isn't bad either.

Sometimes, the coatings aren't the best in terms of internal reflections, and MF isn't up to the liking of everybody (though with A7II or A6300 plus Techart adapter you can AF any MF lens by now).

As for examples, better photographers than myself have already shown what is possible, like nzmacro. You really should have been already aware of that.

For myself, I recently shot at a night in a Jazz club using my old 5N and FD MF prime lenses. So low light, MF and moving subjects all together, but still most shots turned out nicely.

Peter J Davies · Jan 22, 2017

snapa said:
Two out of six were pretty good, I'll give you that. Thanks for trying to prove your point with pictrues. At least that's more than most are willing or able to do.

Life is short, make the best of it while you can!
http://grob.smugmug.com/

Snapa, I am bowled over by your praise!

Maybe I will print your message so that I can look at it to pick me up when I am having an off day.

Nah, maybe not. If I'm feeling down then all I usually have to do is grab my camera and a couple of old lenses and go out to have FUN taking a few photos. Try it some time. It really is much more therapeutic than taking potshots at people for doing what they like to do

I send you this to brighten up your day:

--
Peter Davies

Peter Davies

Explore Peter Davies’s 1,231 photos on Flickr!

www.flickr.com

nzmacro · Jan 22, 2017

Only a fool would buy a camera and get into a system that doesn't have the lenses they want or need. Then only a fool would publicly go and admit it !!

I bought the NEX-7 ....... awwww 5 years ago and it still doesn't miss a beat. Messed up and its had a tough time, but it still takes as good a shots as it did when it was new.

I bought it to take adapted lenses only. Sony, Olympus, Pentax, Fuji, etc, etc, don't have the lenses I want. Really simple choice, I just want the box. Others want and need native lenses, do the homework first before you buy into it, really basic surely. The Oly E-M10 was bought for exactly the same reasons, to take the lenses I already own.

Danny.

--
Worry about the image that comes out of the box rather than the box itself
-----------
Birds and BIF's ..... https://www.flickr.com/photos/124733969@N06/sets/
The need for speed ..... https://www.flickr.com/photos/130646821@N03/

snapa · Jan 22, 2017

nzmacro said:
snapa said:

Reading how great adapters and old/cheap non native lenses work together and seeing them are two different things. I constantly read how fantastic adapters and OLD lenses work, but I very rarely ever see any proof of it, for some strange reason.

Click to expand...

But try is all we can do.

NEX-7 and Canon FD lenses using manual focus. Hobby and relaxation.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/124733969@N06/sets/

A few shots in there with the Oly E-M10 recently, but not a lot, about maybe 1%

For a bit of speed with the NEX-7 and Canon manual focus lenses ..........

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130646821@N03/

That's not the hobby part BTW

Danny.

Those are some really great shots Danny! If you took >98% of those fantastic pictures with Canon lenses using manual focus, I will have to re-think my opinion about using adapters. I dougt that I will ever use adapters, but my opinion of them will change. It would be nice to know what adapter(s) and lens(s) you used for most of those shots.

Is the reason you use Canon FD lenses because Sony simply does not make the kind of lens you like, or is it because they are more cost effective to use them? Also, do you prefer using MF lenses vs AF lenses?

BTW, thanks for sharing your great pictures, I enjoyed viewing them very much. I also respect people who are able to backup their claims with pictures, as you just did.

GaryW · Jan 22, 2017

OlyPent said:
I ordered a NEX-7 because I always admired that camera, but I was on Photozone.de and out of all the cameras I've looked at, the quality of the lenses for the NEX line have to be on average the worst, with some scoring a 1-1.5 out of 5 on their scale. This contrasts starkly with performance figures from other camera lines. So do Sony users cope mostly by using alternative company lenses adapted to the NEX like Canon, or lenses used manually?

Are you able to tell the difference between a 1 vs. a 5 lens if you're not checking Photozone.de?

The only thing that matters is the end result and whether or not you're happy with it. What I've found is that I enjoy using the worst-regarded Sony E-mount lens, and probably would not have gotten into UWA without it, as I find most UWA lenses expensive, and until recently, not made in e-mount.

If the worst Sony lens gives me results I like, I don't know what to say. Vignetting, wicked field curvature, CA, geometric distortion, and other problems can make a lens measure poorly, and yet (particularly after in- or post-camera adjustments), results can look good.

BTW, this trend of having an odd lens and fixing it in the camera software is something Oly started with one of their collapsible lenses. I can remember the days before the 16-50 where M43 uses came over to the Sony forum to tease that they had a compact lens and that the geometric distortion didn't matter. Are you saying it matters again? Or are you saying something different? It's hard to tell.

Member said:
"After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting."
-Spock

So, do you want for the highest resolution possible? ;-) Seriously, what, exactly, are you wanting? Chasing for perfection might be exhausting and expensive. ;-)

nzmacro · Jan 22, 2017

snapa said:
nzmacro said:

snapa said:

Reading how great adapters and old/cheap non native lenses work together and seeing them are two different things. I constantly read how fantastic adapters and OLD lenses work, but I very rarely ever see any proof of it, for some strange reason.

Click to expand...

But try is all we can do.

NEX-7 and Canon FD lenses using manual focus. Hobby and relaxation.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/124733969@N06/sets/

A few shots in there with the Oly E-M10 recently, but not a lot, about maybe 1%

For a bit of speed with the NEX-7 and Canon manual focus lenses ..........

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130646821@N03/

That's not the hobby part BTW

Danny.

Click to expand...

Those are some really great shots Danny! If you took >98% of those fantastic pictures with Canon lenses using manual focus, I will have to re-think my opinion about using adapters. I dougt that I will ever use adapters, but my opinion of them will change. It would be nice to know what adapter(s) and lens(s) you used for most of those shots.

Is the reason you use Canon FD lenses because Sony simply does not make the kind of lens you like, or is it because they are more cost effective to use them? Also, do you prefer using MF lenses vs AF lenses?

BTW, thanks for sharing your great pictures, I enjoyed viewing them very much. I also respect people who are able to backup their claims with pictures, as you just did.

--
Life is short, make the best of it while you can!
http://grob.smugmug.com/

Over 99% are with manual focus adapted lenses. Its all I own .... well there is a kit lens here somewhere that's been used 3 times in 5 years. Mirrorless boxes are bought to suit the lenses.

I live for the challenge and no company makes the lenses I want anymore. If it becomes easy, I'll take up knitting ;-) A control freak I guess, need to know exactly what the box and lenses are doing with the feel of them.

Thanks.

Danny.

--
Worry about the image that comes out of the box rather than the box itself
-----------
Birds and BIF's ..... https://www.flickr.com/photos/124733969@N06/sets/
The need for speed ..... https://www.flickr.com/photos/130646821@N03/

JohnK · Jan 22, 2017

OlyPent said:
... So do Sony users cope mostly by using alternative company lenses adapted to the NEX like Canon, or lenses used manually?

I don't know about the others, but I have a special place,that nobody knows about, where I go to cry, which helps me cope.

--
JohnK
Off the record.

Dirk W · Jan 22, 2017

The 18-200 is one of the best super zooms on the market. The 10-18 is great. The Sigma 19, 30 and 60 are super sharp and very cheap. The 24 mp Sony sensor is top notch. Everything is just great.

Off The Mark · Jan 22, 2017

OlyPent said:
So do Sony users cope mostly by using alternative company lenses adapted to the NEX like Canon, or lenses used manually?

To get back to the original question...

It really depends on YOUR needs (not the needs of anyone else).

There ARE great native E Mount lenses., despite what photozone or other websites might sai. I think in a couple of reviews Photoszone noted that they may have / probably got a bad copy of a lens for review (that might have been for some FF lenses).

I used my a6300 and 10-18 for my commercial architecture and real estate stills and videos. Wish it were a bit sharper, and while the AF is quite quick, in lower light (say, in the kind of light where I would shoot at 1/10th at iso 100 and f/7.1), it can have trouble acquiring focus unless you pick an area to focus on that is VERY contrasty. My D750 on the other hand nails autofocus in those situations.

I have the 16-50, and I love the convenience of it on the a6300, but when I get home to look at the shots, I usually ask myself, "Why didn't I just use my smartphone?" It is a pretty good lens in bright light - or shooting stationary objects - when you can close down the aperture a bit (like two stops).

There are a couple of SSM lenses for A mount that can be adapted to the a6300 and other E Mount cameras with the appropriate Sony LA-EA1 / LA-EA3. I just picked up the 85mm f/2.8 and am still testing it out. Seems to have a bit of back focus (to me) which seems weird since it is using on-sensor AF, which is supposed to prevent things like back and front focus.

Then there is the LA-EA2 and LA-EA4 which some people use with sony and Minolta lenses

Then there are various other other adapters that allow SOME functionality of various lenses, depending on the capabilities of the adapter.

Some of us use two different camera systems (I have a Nikon D750 and a D700 and a small handful of Nikon glass), and I end up lugging along both systems on commercial gigs. would love to dump Nikon and shoot all sony, but still waiting for the native e mount lens lineup to fill out a bit, and waiting to see if Sigma / Tamron / Tokina commit to making E Mount FF lenses.

Again, if you have the money to afford the lenses AND they fit your needs, then I would strongly suggest getting native E mount lenses. Love Eye AF, Love the convenience.

But if you don't have the money for the lenses or you don't see a lens that fits your needs, but you love the NEX 7, then there ARE alternatives, although none of them are great and they all involve sacrifices.

talkinghorse · Jan 22, 2017

OlyPent said:
I ordered a NEX-7 because I always admired that camera, but I was on Photozone.de and out of all the cameras I've looked at, the quality of the lenses for the NEX line have to be on average the worst, with some scoring a 1-1.5 out of 5 on their scale. This contrasts starkly with performance figures from other camera lines. So do Sony users cope mostly by using alternative company lenses adapted to the NEX like Canon, or lenses used manually?

Euell · Jan 22, 2017

OlyPent said:
snapa said:

OlyPent said:

I ordered a NEX-7 because I always admired that camera, but I was on Photozone.de and out of all the cameras I've looked at, the quality of the lenses for the NEX line have to be on average the worst, with some scoring a 1-1.5 out of 5 on their scale. This contrasts starkly with performance figures from other camera lines. So do Sony users cope mostly by using alternative company lenses adapted to the NEX like Canon, or lenses used manually?

Click to expand...

I have 2 questions for you.

Did you order the NEX-7 before you did your research and find out it did not do so well in scorring?

What was so interesting with the NEX-7 that you admired so much about it? It has an old outdated sensor which does not do well in higher ISO images.

If it scorred a 1-1.5 score out of 5 on Photozone.de, then why did you buy it?

Click to expand...

I don't care about noise as much as some, I own m4/3rds! Also, the camera didn't score poorly, the lenses did. Also, technically your Sigma 30mm is "non-native."

The lens scores on sites, such as DxOmark, are a combination of the results achieved by a lens on a particular camera body, which vary, depending on the body on which the lens is mounted. Counter-intuitively, many lenses will show best on a camera body with a lower resolution sensor than the latest and greatest.

Nikolausz · Jan 22, 2017

OlyPent said:
I ordered a NEX-7 because I always admired that camera, but I was on Photozone.de and out of all the cameras I've looked at, the quality of the lenses for the NEX line have to be on average the worst, with some scoring a 1-1.5 out of 5 on their scale. This contrasts starkly with performance figures from other camera lines. So do Sony users cope mostly by using alternative company lenses adapted to the NEX like Canon, or lenses used manually?

Joachim Wulfers · Jan 22, 2017

OlyPent said:
Bradrobb said:

Hi

I go through life taking jpeg snap shots with my Sony cameras and I have not seen this problem you speak of.

I do need to take my NEX 3 out though because it does feel neglected lately.

Brad

I go through life shooting Snap Shots.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bradrobb/

Click to expand...

I'd update the 16mm pancake if I were Sony. A pancake and a NEX camera obviously offer a terrifically portable system to walk around with, but I'm wondering if it's even possible to get high performance at 16mm out of a pancake? If you look at other lenses in the 14-18mm focal length range, even the APS models are much larger and it's possible that is needed to produce a good lens. The only pancake of that kind I have is Olympus's pseudo-toy "lens cap" 15mm and centrally, it's not bad with its fixed f/8 aperture, but beyond that, forget it. Pentax has a 21mm Limited pancake that has reasonable performance, but it's $600.00. Sigma's 19mm is a much longer lens and performs similarly, for about $260.00.

--
"After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting."
-Spock

I like the results from my 16mm pancake even w/o being updated by Sony

--
Joachim

Joachim Wulfers

Explore Joachim Wulfers’s 2,024 photos on Flickr!

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