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Showing posts with the label Leica

Sony RX1 with Zeiss 35mm Sonnar - a NEX?

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Sony RX1 with Zeiss 35mm f/2 Sonnar Lens Sony has set the digital camera world abuzz with leaks of the Sony RX1 . The RX1 uses the full frame, 24 x 34 mm, 24 megapixel sensor from the soon to be released Sony SLT-A99 camera. The pictures show that Zeiss developed an autofocus 35mm f/2 Sonnar lens for the RX1. Is it a fixed lens camera? Zeiss will display three new prime autofocus CSC lenses later this month at Photokina. Could they be for the RX1? A 35mm, shown above? a 50mm standard? and a 90mm macro? The speculated price for the RX1 with the Zeiss 35mm Sonnar is $2799. This is line with Sony's pricing since the NEX-7 with the Zeiss 24mm Sonnar is $2300. RX1 with Built-in Pop-up Flash RX1 showing Video Button Below is a quick mock-up of the Sony NEX-7 with the Zeiss 24mm ZA ($2300), a Leica M9 with a 35mm Summicron ($9700), and the Sony RX1 with the Zeiss 35mm Sonnar ($2799). Sony NEX-7 with 24mm Sonnar, Leica M9 with 35mm Summicron, Sony RX1 with 35mm Sonnar What do

NEX-7 Lens Resolution Tests via Imatest at LensRentals.com

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R.C. at LensRentals.com performed a test on several lenses on the NEX-7. The lenses comprised of the native E-mount lenses from Sony and Sigma. A Leica Summilux was also thrown into the mix since it's done well in previous Imatest challenges. The numbers below represent MTF-50 at aperture f/4. The NEX-7 was set at ISO 400 and each lens was manually focused and bracketed so that focus errors were eliminated. from Imatest. Device or system sharpness is measured as a Spatial Frequency Response (SFR), also called Modulation Transfer Function (MTF). MTF is the contrast at a given spatial frequency (measured in cycles or line pairs per distance) relative to low frequencies. The 50% MTF frequency correlates well with perceived sharpness— much better than the old vanishing resolution measurement, which indicated where the detail wasn’t. Now let's look at the test results at aperture f/4. Lens Max Avg Sony 16mm f/4 915 646 Sigma 19mm f/4 920 765 Sony 24mm f/4 1000

NEX-C3 in the Sahara Morocco and High Atlas

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A Owens posted pictures of his adventure with his sons in the Sahara desert. Here is what he wrote: Left all the Canon gear at home for this trip and went light with the NEX C3 only together with Voigty 15mm , Zeiss 21/4.5 and 50/2 and Elmarit 90/2.8. My youngest 2 sons were with me camping into the desert to sample life without Xbox, TV, western comforts etc.. They loved it. Here are A Owens shots with the Sony NEX-C3 and some manual focus lenses. It's nice to see that the C3 won't be a stumbling block for making great memories. Check out more of A Owens NEX-C3 Western Sahara / Morocco shots in his dpreview gallery . Thanks A!

NEX-5 Leica 50mm Summilux and High ISO

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I was lucky enough to catch a few drinks with another photo enthusiast who happen to have a Leica M8 and a chrome 50mm Summilux-M ASPH. I had my NEX-5 with a Voigtlander 35mm Ultron since I needed the speed whilst at the drinking hole. He was generous enough to slap the Summilux-M onto my Leica-Nex lens adapter and allowed me to use it. All the shots here were taken with the 50mm lens wide open at f/1.4, thus Summilux. The NEX-5 was set to Aperture Priority and ISO 3200 and with the dim lighting conditions at the bar forced the Shutter speed at 1/20th of a second. I would have preferred a shutter speed of 1/75 or higher (50mm x 1.5 crop factor) to keep camera movement at a minimum. The 50mm Summilux-M ASPH is a brick of a lens and I think the weight help stabilize the camera or was it the fear of dropping someone else's lens? The focusing was very well damped, a big difference from my Voigtlander. This made focusing a bit easier with the Leica. The shots were taken in RAW

Sony NEX-7 Size Comparison Video by Luminous Landscape

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Luminous Landscape is doing a rolling review of the Sony NEX-7 . So far they've covered the user interface and high iso capabilities of the NEX-7. The fourth installment of the review is perfect for gearheads. The NEX-7 is shown with most of the E-mount lenses and the LA-EA2 lens adapter. The camera is also shown alongside the NEX-5N with viewfinder, the Fuji X100, the Leica M9 with a 50mm Summilux, and the Panasonic GH2. The video gives us a good idea of the size of each camera and lens. Grab a glass of wine, dim the lights, and play the video in full screen - get ready for 12 minutes of gear lust. NEX-7 and the X100 Side by Side Thanks Luminous Landscape! Make sure to follow the rolling review in the link above.

NEX-7 vs M9 vs 5dII vs X100 vs D7000 vs 7D

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NEX-7 24mp APS-C Sensor vs Leica, Canon, Nikon, and Fuji DxOMark published their test results for the Sony NEX-7 sensor and we wanted to see how it compares to the most popular cameras around. The top row shows the NEX-7 vs the full frame contenders, Leica M9 and the Canon 5d Mark II. The NEX-7 comes out on top overall with a score of 81. The Canon 5dII is a close second gaining a DxOMark of 79. The Leica M9 comes in third with a score of 69. The NEX-7 edges out both full frame contenders in Portrait (Color Depth) and Landscape (Dynamic Range). The 5dII wins in the Low Light ISO category followed by the NEX-7 with the M9 in third. The bottom row of the image above shows the APS-C sensored cameras. The NEX-7 and the Nikon D7000 are the top APS-C cameras in this comparison. The Fuji X100 comes in third and the Canon 7D comes in last. The scores are based on RAW sensor performance of the camera as tested by DxOMark. Check out DxOMark's favorable impression of the NEX-7 . Tha

Sony NEX-7 with Rokkor-M Konica and Contax Lens

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Sony NEX-7 ISO 800 with 18-55mm OSS @52mm f/5 We posted earlier about our trip to Unique Photo to see the new Sony NEX-7 . It was an open house with Sony representatives exhibiting the new Alpha and NEX cameras, Sony lenses, and flash guns. There was a lot of interest with the new cameras so our time with the NEX-7 was curtailed. The Sony representatives were all very helpful allowing lens changes and personal memory card usage to grab some images of the pre-production NEX-7. The brief time with the NEX-7 was great. Since the NEX-5 was our main camera, it's been a while since we used a viewfinder. The NEX-7's EVF was a new experience. It felt odd in the beginning putting a small electronic screen up to your eye but we adjusted by the end of the night. We didn't have time to adjust the diopter, which we should have. All the information from the rear LCD is translated to the 2.36 million dot, 0.5" XGA OLED EVF. The EVF and slightly larger body of the NEX-7 made

Sony NEX-5 and Galapagos Islands

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Galapagos Islands by thkhoo with the NEX-5 Check out these great NEX-5 photos by Teng Huang Koo from the Galapagos Islands. The images were produced using the following lenses: Sony 18-55mm OSS Sony 16mm f/2.8 Pancake with VCL-ECF1 Fisheye Converter Voigtlander 12mm Ultra Wide Heliar Voigtlander 50mm f/1.1 Nokton Leica 90mm f/2.8 Elmarit NEX-5 Photos by thkhoo Here is the underwater camera setup: Sony Alpha NEX-5 Sony 10mm fisheye (VCLECF1) Nauticam NA-NEX5 housing Nauticam 4.33" dome port Nauticam tray and handles 2x Sea & Sea YS-110a strobes Universal arms and joints Light & Motion SOLA600 focus light 2x universal float arms The images demonstrate the NEX system's versatility and in the right hands it's capability to capture beautiful pictures. See more NEX-5 shots at thkhoo's flickr gallery .

NEX-5N and Wide Angle Lenses Gallery

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Carl S. was generous enough to share his gallery of adapted lenses on the Sony NEX-5N. The lenses used were mostly Voigtlander lenses in Leica M mount. There are also Contax G lenses and a Canon 24mm Tilt Shift Lens. Check out the Carl's NEX gallery which covers lenses from 15mm to 90mm focal lengths on the NEX-5N shooting the same scene. Make sure to look at the high resolution samples.

Sony Alpha NEX-7 vs Leica M9

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Sony NEX-7 with Zeiss 24mm Sonnar vs Leica M9 with 50mm Summilux Combatants Sony Alpha NEX-7 Leica M9 Number of effective pixels 24.3 million pixels 18 million pixels CCD Sensor APS-C CMOS Sensor 23.5 x 15.6 mm Full Frame CCD Sensor 36 x 24 mm Crop Factor 1.5x 50mm lens = 75mm FOV 1x 50mm lens = 50mm FOV ISO Range 100 - 16000 80-2500 Lens Mount Sony NEX E-mount Leica M Bayonet Mount Focusing 25 Point Contrast AF and Manual Focus Manual Rangefinder Focusing Image Stabilization In Lens (Optical Steady Shot) None Shutter Speed 30s to 1/4000 with Bulb Mode 32s to 1/4000 with Bulb Mode Continuous Shooting Speed 10 frames per sec. 2 frames per sec. LCD Tiltable 3" Diagonal 921,600 Pixels 2.5" TFT LCD 230,000 Pixels Viewfinder Electronic OLED 2.4m dot Optical Viewfinder with Parallax Correction Video Resolution 1920 x 1080 / 60p-24p N/A Dimensions 4.75 x 2.75 x 1.7 in. (119.9 x 66.9 x 42.8 mm) 5.5 x 3.1 x 1.5 in. (138 x 80 x 37 mm) Weight 10.3 oz (291 g) 20.8 oz (589 g) Price $11

Sony NEX Macro Extension Tubes Samples

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Sony NEX Macro Extension Tubes with 40mm Rokkor-M Lens Here are some sample shots using the Sony NEX E-mount macro extension tubes and some Rokkor-M lenses. The tubes contain no optical elements. They move the lens further away from the NEX's APS-C sensor therefore reducing the focusing distance and increasing magnification. The trade off to extension tubes are that more light is needed, which can be compensated with slow shutter speeds or high ISO. The shots below were handheld in bright daylight which is not ideal for macro shots. A walk around a small park with the NEX-5 , tubes, and the 40mm Rokkor-M gives us a different perspective. This fruit below is still unknown to us and was already interesting but at 100% zoom, a small community of insects makes it even more interesting. 100% Zoom on Image Sony NEX E-mount Extension Tubes Here are more samples from the 40mm Rokkor-M lens at f/8 or f/11 at high ISO. Sony NEX Macro Extension Tubes with 90mm R

Helicoid Leica M to NEX E-mount Lens Adapter

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Helical Mount Leica M to E-mount Lens Adapter Extended Helical Mount Leica M to E-mount Lens Adapter Retracted Hawk's Factory has produced a Leica M lens adapter for the NEX E-mount that incorporates a helicoid. The helical mount, when retracted, places the Leica M lens at the correct flange focal distance from the NEX's APS-C sensor to achieve infinity focus. At minimum focus distance (MFD), the lens can be moved further away from the sensor by using the helicoid, acting like a macro extension tube . This will allow for focusing closer than the lens' native MFD. The Helicoid Leica M to NEX E-mount Lens Adapter was tested on several lenses and here are the outcomes: SUMMILUX 50/1.4 V1: MFD 1 meter, with adapter 0.43 m SUMMICRON 50/2 V5: MFD 0.75 m, with helicoid adapter 0.38 m HEKTOR 73/1.9: MFD 1.2 m, with helicoid adapter 0.73 m SUMMICRON 90/2 V3: MFD 1 m, with helicoid adapter 0.73 m Rangefinder shooters know that MFD is one of the drawbacks of using rangefinder len