Testing the Sony NEX7 with 16mm pancake

Wishmaster89 wrote:

OMG, at F2.8 it was tragic, looked almost like upscaled mobile phone camera photo, and at F8 it was only bearable, although the center was quite good.
No wonder sony doesn't offer nex-7 with 16mm kit.

Thanks for posting the samples Rob.

I agree. After running my resolution tests on the 16mm and it didn't out-resolve my NEX 3 I thought the NEX 7 wasn't going to be great. Remember that it is a 24 MP sensor, so you can downsize the image and still get good results, but it definitely doesn't make the NEX 7 shine.

Currently, the only lenses up to the task are going to be SLR lenses or rangefinder lenses adapted to E mount. The 30mm Macro should be fine in the center, but its edges aren't great either.

Hopefully the 24mm f/1.8 will perform better

Eric

So, As a potential next owner, do I have to conclude that the 18-55 18-200 are also no go's for this 24mp monster?

John

That is why I ordered the body only and the Zeiss 24mm f/1.8. I also acquired an M-mount adapter so I could use my one remaining CV lens on it (the excellent CV Nokton 35mm f/1.4 MC).
--
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The 18200 is great on my NEX5, I am sure it will be a winner on the NEX7, too.

satijntje wrote:

So, As a potential next owner, do I have to conclude that the 18-55 18-200 are also no go's for this 24mp monster?

I haven't used those lenses specifically. Kit zooms tend to perform excellent in the center, but less so at the edges. I don't think either will make the most of the sensor, but they should still be fine.

I.e. people don't buy the 18-200 because they want to get great results pixel peeping. They buy it because they want to take a single lens solution or have a lens that can quickly frame any shot they want and not be limited by having to change lenses.

I think they are a no go if you want corner to corner sharpness at the pixel level . If you are talking at the image level, which is what really matters, they will deliver fine results for reasonable sized prints/screen viewing (like they will be fine for HD which is around 2 MP), but you probably won't reach the max potential of the NEX 7. And as I mentioned, I would expect the center to be sharp, which is where most people place their subjects with such a lens.

Eric
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TrojMacReady wrote:

Go back to his Flickr website and notice Rob tested all lenses (uncluding wide angle adapter and fisheye) except for the 18-200, on the same subject.

Seems like all lenses resolve more in the center, even the 16mm. The 18-55 at the wide end and especially the 16mm struggle in the corners. The primes only show similar problems in the corners when shot wide open. But closed down they all show impressive sharpness and even the kitlens at the long end performs admirably with those 24 million pixels.

Thanks, he must not have uploaded those the first time.

The 18-200mm looks pretty good at 200mm, but something looks wrong with it at 18mm, maybe OSS acting up or camera shake or shutter vibration, or bumped focus or something) and the 18-55 and 55-210mm look decent as well. His 18-200mm has a slightly soft right side at 200mm. They look like kit lenses.

The 16mm looks poor for most of the field, which is too bad.

The Zeiss 24mm looks really good comparatively. Sharp in the center wide open, and the corners improve a lot even by f/2.5. Some purple fringing at large apertures (as typical for that class of lens). The question is if it is worth the dollars.

Macro looks okay, not great. Same with 50mm. I have never seen such bad fringing on a lens at 50mm f/1.8, even in the center of the frame, so I think his shot might be out of focus (slightly) at f/1.8. Granted, 1.8 should be reserved for lower light situations so fringing shouldn't be a problem. The 50mm definitely appears sharper than the kit lens, especially in the corners (I checked upper right at 50mm f/8).

That is very nice of you to put up those shots Rob. Thanks!

Eric

The more I see of samples from the NEX 7, the more concerned I am about a gross mismatch (at least) between available lenses and the camera. The photos posted to date are at best so-so. At worst, remarkably bad. I am going nuts trying to decide whether to re buy a 5N that was perfect or give the 7 a run when it finally is released. But what is most vexing is that nothing that has been shown photographically says WOW GREAT CAMERA!

If I'm interpreting these posts correctly, the NEX-7 photos taken with the 16mm look WORSE than photos taken with a lesser camera such as the NEX-3 or NEX-5? Is this what folks are saying?

I guess I'd have thought that they might not be any better due to the sensor out-performing the lens, but not worse.

Joseph T Lewis III wrote:

If I'm interpreting these posts correctly, the NEX-7 photos taken with the 16mm look WORSE than photos taken with a lesser camera such as the NEX-3 or NEX-5? Is this what folks are saying?

I guess I'd have thought that they might not be any better due to the sensor out-performing the lens, but not worse.

One thing's for sure, this sensor is RUTHLESS. I didn't think it would offer much more resolution over the 14Mpixel sensor, but it's showing up all the flaws in the lenses far more than I'd expected.

I was confident the Contax G lenses I own would outresolve this sensor, as they do on the NEX-5. Now I'm not so sure.

Even though it seems that way, I doubt any of the images will look worse on the NEX-7, it's just that looking at them at the pixel level makes them appear worse. At the image level the NEX-7 images should look the same or better. I hope that's the case anyway.

One piece of good news (I believe) is that this sensor will be really putting pressure on the lens design engineers to create lenses that are able to do this sensor justice.