Re-purposed old 17-35mm EX HSM to Sony

Ceistinne wrote:

DMillier wrote:

So, I have this ancient SA mount Sigma 17-35mm f/2.8-4 EX HSM in the attic camera museum. Haven't used it for years and it has been no use for adapting because of the SA mount and the electronically controlled aperture.

Then I saw this SA - NEX adaptor on Amazon for £12 quid. And I remembered reading somewhere that you can stop down Canon EF lenses by pressing the doF preview button then quickly removing the lens. And I remembered that allegedly Sigma reverse engineered the Canon AF protocols for their own mount.

I stuck the lens on my SD14, set it to F/8, pressed the DoF button and removed the lens... and it stayed stopped down. The adaptor just arrived and I now have a free 17-35mm, er, f/8-11 lens for my A7rii.

I think this is a good thing.....?

David,

Indeed it is, making good use of an old lens.

What's the image quality like on the Sony A7Rii.?

S

Kinda like any other camera!  I can't say it seems any different from any 12MP+ camera I've used. I prefer my m4/3 gear for its tiny, lightweight lenses. Especially when slogging around in the boiling sun.

In saying that, the one thing I haven't been able to do is the thing I got it for, larger prints.  I've been trying to get hold of an Epson P900 A2 printer but they don't seem to exist in the UK for the last couple of months.  My belief is that the sensor will shine with larger prints, but it remain an untested belief until I can get hold of a printer.

Here's an example shot from yesterday. Dovercourt Far lighthouse (Harwich, Essex).

It's quite good for long exposures because you can (usually) get away without Long Exposure Noise Reduction.  Halves the taking time which is a good thing with 6 minute exposures.

I notice the camera is operationally quite slow. Reminds me of my Sigmas

Ceistinne wrote:

David,

That looks like a really good mono image and it should make a good print.

I hope the SC P900 becomes available soon.

Everything seems to be in short supply right now.

S

P900 suddenly available. I guess a container arrived. I now have one sitting in my spare room.

It's more compact than I feared and the packaging suggested. The unit is 24" (60cm) wide, which is not a lot bigger than the A3+ printer I used to have. It's a bit deeper and will obviously need more space around it for the print trays, but not bad compared to the old R2400. A bit flimsy perhaps, thin plastics, but you can't have low weight and bullet proof construction. I carried the box upstairs one handed, while earlier generation A2 printers used to ship on a pallet.

The t47 ink carts are much bigger than I'm used to - they hold 50ml but look like they could hold twice that. A lot more than the 9ml/10ml carts for A4 printers.

I need to download drivers and install the carts, then I can test out whether there was any point to full frame but before I do that I need a table to put it on. Eventually, I will convert my garden tool shed into a mini editing suite but for now I need a table of some kind.

xpatUSA wrote:

DMillier wrote:

....... Eventually, I will convert my garden tool shed into a mini editing suite but for now I need a table of some kind.

Brings back memories of my 18ft travel trailer stripped of all furniture (beds, bog, stove, etc.):

Unfortunately I took out the dead air conditioner and never put a new one. Eventually, over 90 degF most of the year and over 90% RH was too uncomfortable and my stuff was deteriorating. So now it's used only occasionally ...

Suit me - except for how to get it in my garden! My shed is a little smaller 8' x 6'. And keeping the cold out is more of a problem that the heat - although it has been hot around these parts for the last week. No aircon, just a big fan.

Er, it's a £300 quid shed. Made from shiplap pine held together by beading! It needs a bit of an upgrade. And before I can do that, I need to clear the side passage, get rid of the little sheds down there and build a new one to hold the contents of the old sheds and the garden tool shed. Then I can empty it and start rebuilding that one as a home office.

Hmmm... I'm much better at demolition...

Ceistinne wrote:

DMillier wrote:

Ceistinne wrote:

David,

That looks like a really good mono image and it should make a good print.

I hope the SC P900 becomes available soon.

Everything seems to be in short supply right now.

S

P900 suddenly available. I guess a container arrived. I now have one sitting in my spare room.

It's more compact than I feared and the packaging suggested. The unit is 24" (60cm) wide, which is not a lot bigger than the A3+ printer I used to have. It's a bit deeper and will obviously need more space around it for the print trays, but not bad compared to the old R2400. A bit flimsy perhaps, thin plastics, but you can't have low weight and bullet proof construction. I carried the box upstairs one handed, while earlier generation A2 printers used to ship on a pallet.

The t47 ink carts are much bigger than I'm used to - they hold 50ml but look like they could hold twice that. A lot more than the 9ml/10ml carts for A4 printers.

I need to download drivers and install the carts, then I can test out whether there was any point to full frame but before I do that I need a table to put it on. Eventually, I will convert my garden tool shed into a mini editing suite but for now I need a table of some kind.

David,

Good stuff. Those printers produce really fine prints. I've been using the A3 + SC-P600 for the last 3 or 4 years with excellent results. The only criticism I have of it is ink waste changing from Photo Black to Matte Black which is no longer necessary in the newer SC-P700 or in your new SC-P900.

S

I don't have any A2 paper yet, but I've printed 15 A3, colour and B&W. More consistent and reliable colour compared to the little Claria ink printers I've struggled along with for the last couple of years. No sign of the colour casts I couldn't entirely dial out from the Claria.

The B&W are neutral and warm neutral using the ABW mode, no colour shifts.

I can't say the results show any obvious technical improvement from the older generation K3 printers, the results seem identical to my last good quality printer, the R2400. But I guess that means ink jet tech is already as good as it is ever going to be. Better than Claria colour-wise on matte paper. Never tried the Claria on shiny paper, which it supposedly better suits.

I also think this is the end of my experiments with pure carbon ink printing - just too difficult to get hold of the materials and the ABW mode is excellent. Not sure I'm that bothered that the ink may start to fade in 5000 years...

Printing again reminds me why it is also useful from an editing perspective, not just as an output medium. It looks like I have formed the habit of rolling off the highlights early (presumably because LCD panels make the highlights look hot). It's quite obvious on the prints in a way it isn't on screen, even though the histogram has all along been telling me the image could do with an extra 1/2 stop of lift. No doubt once you print. It's that old transmissive vs reflected look again.

As I continue to work on my website (a retirement project), I'm going to have another go at scanning prints to evaluate and present image quality on the web (like Chromelight and I did way back when with our SD14 vs Kodak 14 comparison). It seemed a good way of showing the impact of gear on print quality then, and it still does to me today. Not sure there are a lot of people pursuing this approach (any?) to reviewing. Might make a point of difference.

Scottelly wrote:

DMillier wrote:

So, I have this ancient SA mount Sigma 17-35mm f/2.8-4 EX HSM in the attic camera museum. Haven't used it for years and it has been no use for adapting because of the SA mount and the electronically controlled aperture.

Then I saw this SA - NEX adaptor on Amazon for £12 quid. And I remembered reading somewhere that you can stop down Canon EF lenses by pressing the doF preview button then quickly removing the lens. And I remembered that allegedly Sigma reverse engineered the Canon AF protocols for their own mount.

I stuck the lens on my SD14, set it to F/8, pressed the DoF button and removed the lens... and it stayed stopped down. The adaptor just arrived and I now have a free 17-35mm, er, f/8-11 lens for my A7rii.

I think this is a good thing.....?

Being an EX lens, I'm surprised the aperture doesn't work, when you use that lens on your Sony camera, by mounting it on your MC-11 adaptor.

£12 adaptor - the MC 11 costs about 5x what the lens is worth. My lens not mentioned on the compatability chart

35mm full-size

• 12-24mm F4 DG HSM(Art)
• 14-24mm F2.8 DG HSM(Art)
• 24-35mm F2 DG HSM(Art)
• 24-70mm F2.8 DG OS HSM(Art)
• 24-105mm F4 DG OS HSM(Art)
• 60-600mm F4.5-6.3 DG OS HSM(Sports)
• 70-200mm F2.8 DG OS HSM (Sports)
• 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM(Contemporary)
• 120-300mm F2.8 DG OS HSM(Sports)
• 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM(Contemporary)
• 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM(Sports)
• 14mm F1.8 DG HSM(Art)*3
• 20mm F1.4 DG HSM(Art)*3
• 24mm F1.4 DG HSM(Art)*3
• 28mm F1.4 DG HSM(Art)*3
• 35mm F1.4 DG HSM(Art)*3
• 40mm F1.4 DG HSM(Art)*3
• 50mm F1.4 DG HSM(Art)*3
• 70mm F2.8 DG MACRO(Art)*3
• 85mm F1.4 DG HSM(Art)*3
• 105mm F1.4 DG HSM(Art)*3
• 135mm F1.8 DG HSM(Art)*3
• 500mm F4 DG OS HSM(Sports)

.... which is hardly a surprise as it was on the market in 2001.

A2 paper arrived unexpectedly early. I've printed 2 test prints, one B&W, one colour. The B&W was from Ubuntu Linux darktable, the colour from Windows/Lightroom 6.

Both prints were essentially identical in quality to the previous A3 versions, just bigger.  I can see no difference in image quality no matter how close I examine the prints.

The images I printed were shot on the A7Rii with an old 1990s Contax G 90mm f/2.8 Zeiss. Both were long exposures of several minutes (in daylight on a sunny day). The static parts are pin sharp and detailed even on the closest examination. There is no noise or obvious digital artefacts.

I'm pleased, I think I can conclude that with a good lens, 20" to 23" wide prints are meat and drink to this camera and printer.

Itching to give the adapted Sigma 17-35mm perma f/8 a go to see how it performs on the Sony.

It will also be interesting to compare the SD14 output. I've never had the capability to try it at anything like this size before. Lawrence was always convinced that even the older Foveons could be printed much larger than you think because of the lack of artefacts.  I can now test this theory for myself....

Ceistinne wrote:

DMillier wrote:

Ceistinne wrote:

DMillier wrote:

Ceistinne wrote:

David,

That looks like a really good mono image and it should make a good print.

I hope the SC P900 becomes available soon.

Everything seems to be in short supply right now.

S

P900 suddenly available. I guess a container arrived. I now have one sitting in my spare room.

It's more compact than I feared and the packaging suggested. The unit is 24" (60cm) wide, which is not a lot bigger than the A3+ printer I used to have. It's a bit deeper and will obviously need more space around it for the print trays, but not bad compared to the old R2400. A bit flimsy perhaps, thin plastics, but you can't have low weight and bullet proof construction. I carried the box upstairs one handed, while earlier generation A2 printers used to ship on a pallet.

The t47 ink carts are much bigger than I'm used to - they hold 50ml but look like they could hold twice that. A lot more than the 9ml/10ml carts for A4 printers.

I need to download drivers and install the carts, then I can test out whether there was any point to full frame but before I do that I need a table to put it on. Eventually, I will convert my garden tool shed into a mini editing suite but for now I need a table of some kind.

David,

Good stuff. Those printers produce really fine prints. I've been using the A3 + SC-P600 for the last 3 or 4 years with excellent results. The only criticism I have of it is ink waste changing from Photo Black to Matte Black which is no longer necessary in the newer SC-P700 or in your new SC-P900.

S

I don't have any A2 paper yet, but I've printed 15 A3, colour and B&W. More consistent and reliable colour compared to the little Claria ink printers I've struggled along with for the last couple of years. No sign of the colour casts I couldn't entirely dial out from the Claria.

The B&W are neutral and warm neutral using the ABW mode, no colour shifts.

I can't say the results show any obvious technical improvement from the older generation K3 printers, the results seem identical to my last good quality printer, the R2400. But I guess that means ink jet tech is already as good as it is ever going to be. Better than Claria colour-wise on matte paper. Never tried the Claria on shiny paper, which it supposedly better suits.

I also think this is the end of my experiments with pure carbon ink printing - just too difficult to get hold of the materials and the ABW mode is excellent. Not sure I'm that bothered that the ink may start to fade in 5000 years...

Printing again reminds me why it is also useful from an editing perspective, not just as an output medium. It looks like I have formed the habit of rolling off the highlights early (presumably because LCD panels make the highlights look hot). It's quite obvious on the prints in a way it isn't on screen, even though the histogram has all along been telling me the image could do with an extra 1/2 stop of lift. No doubt once you print. It's that old transmissive vs reflected look again.

As I continue to work on my website (a retirement project), I'm going to have another go at scanning prints to evaluate and present image quality on the web (like Chromelight and I did way back when with our SD14 vs Kodak 14 comparison). It seemed a good way of showing the impact of gear on print quality then, and it still does to me today. Not sure there are a lot of people pursuing this approach (any?) to reviewing. Might make a point of difference.

David,

You will see no colour casts with that printer and as for the print quality being the same or very similar that is true. However the print heads are away more reliable in the newer printers and much less prone to clogging. Like all Epson printers I would not recommend using anything other than Epson inks in it,

S

50 ml ink carts make Epson ink carts the best bet, I agree. I checked with my regular supplier of bulk inks in the past and the savings are not that great anyway. So Epson ink it will be (and a nozzle check every day!).