After Sony showed off its a6300 and trio of new lenses, our staffers were able to grab an a7R II and start shooting. Above we’ve put together a small selection of images taken with Sony’s new 85mm F1.4 GM portrait lens.
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Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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The Sigma 20mm F1.4 DG HSM | A is the newest member of Sigma’s family of ‘Art’ lenses. It’s also the widest member of the Art lens family, and with a maximum aperture of F1.4 Sigma claims that it’s the fastest 20mm lens in the world. We shot this lens on both 5DS R and 7D Mark II bodies, and since we had an EOS mount smart adaptor we even tried it on the Sony A7R II as well.
From what we’ve seen so far, this lens carries on the Art lineup’s tradition of stunning performance for the price, although this lens does have some characteristics that might not be ideal for all. For instance, it shows quite a bit of field curvature towards the brighter apertures when focused at nearer distances, and our rooftop shots show this particular copy performs better on the left side than the right side. As soon as an F-mount version of the Sigma is available, we plan on doing a shootout between this and the Nikon 20mm F1.8. In the meantime, enjoy a collection of images from the world’s widest F1.4 lens.
See our Sigma 20mm F1.4 DG HSM | A lens real-world samples gallery
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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We’ve already looked at Roger Cicala’s teardown of the Canon EF 35mm F1.4L II, where he showed it to be a heavy duty design with extensive adjustability to bring it back to spec after a period of abuse. LensRental’s look inside the Sony FE 35mm F1.4 turned up a lens designed with a radically different approach. It’s easy to over-interpret the differences and start trying to picture the different use-cases they’ve been designed for, but even if you don’t want to extrapolate so far, it’s fascinating to see how unconventional Sony’s approach is.
Read Roger’s full article for a piece-by-piece teardown as well as his thoughts on Sony innovation and design
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The most fundamental difference Cicala highlights between the two designs is how the focus elements are moved. The Canon uses a traditional helicoid design – rotating the focus element along a helical track, in much the same way as manual focus lenses would. The Sony design instead uses a piezoelectric drive to push and pull the lens element along a rail, meaning that there’s no rotational movement occurring at all. Instead it can be shuffled back and forth in very fine increments.
Sony calls this design ‘Direct Drive SSM’ (with SSM standing for Supersonic motor), and it’s based on technology used for in-body image stabilization in Sony A-mount cameras, hinting at the speed and precision that such systems can provide. It’s distinctly different from the linear motor technology used in the FE 55mm F1.8, which you can see in operation here.
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The Piezoelectric drive mechanism is fascinating, and we saw it embedded in a cut-in-half FE 35mm at CP+ last year. It involves a drive element that can be expanded or contracted by applying an electric current. Expanding it slowly moves the lens out along its mounting rail, but the connection to the rail is designed to slide in response to rapid movement, so rapidly contracting the drive element leaves the lens in the more distant position but with the drive element retracted. Repeating this pattern of slow extension and rapid contraction progressively nudges the lens away from the drive element. Pulling the lens back again involves reversing the process: rapidly expanding the drive element so that it slips through the clamp, then slowing drawing the lens back in, one step at a time.
Why do it this way? Well, it’d certainly be quiet and it allows very fast movement, giving the lens possibly the fastest focusing we’ve ever seen in this class: when paired with the a7R II’s phase-detect AF system, autofocus is quick and precise. A single element able to move quickly back and forth in tiny steps lends itself well both to contrast detection focus in video as well as being able to reverse directions when subjects erratically switch between approaching and receding.
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Another interesting design detail is the switch for engaging and disengaging the stepped, clicking aperture. A weather-sealed switch pushes a small, sprung ball bearing against a series of tiny teeth, to give tactile feedback as you rotate the aperture ring. However, no other mechanical connection is engaged: the aperture is entirely controlled by-wire, with a sensor detecting movement of the aperture ring and relaying it to the aperture motor.
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The other major difference between the Canon and the Sony is the philosophy behind lens alignment. Where the Canon had a series of shims and adjustment screws to allow the different elements to be re-aligned, and re-centered, the Sony has most of its elements glued together in one giant module. This whole module then has three shims offering only a small degree of adjustment. LensRentals’ testing of its copies suggests this adjustment isn’t sufficient to give the consistency you might hope for.
Individual replacement parts are not available for after-market repair: the only option is to slot a whole new module in, with limited adjustment to ensure its alignment within the lens barrel. This approach means Sony has a good level of control over the alignment within each module but means the lens is harder and more expensive to service if it goes out of alignment or if the front element gets scratched.
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The construction and adjustment isn’t quite as extensive as in the Canon but, as Cicala highlights: nor is it in most lenses. Instead it appears Sony has designed its lens so that it’s durable and everything is fixed in place, whereas Canon has built its lens to be tough but accepted that as a photojournalist’s workhorse, it’ll need to be beaten back into shape every now and again.
it’s clear, though, that Sony has built this lens to be tough: not only is each element individually positioned, rather than being spaced apart, relative to another, but Sony has included extensive amounts of weather sealing at every step of the design (just look at the size of the rubber gaskets, in the picture above). Cicala concludes: ‘This lens has the most rubber gaskets I’ve ever seen. The weather and dust resistance in the lens itself should be superb.’
Read Roger’s full article for a piece-by-piece teardown as well as his thoughts on Sony innovation and design
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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Roger Cicala at LensRentals has a great job – he gets to take things apart whenever he wants, and get paid to do it. And even better, he gets to pay himself to do it. Roger just got his hands on Canon’s new EF 35mm F1.4 L II, and just like us, he’s been very impressed. But, it must be said, for very different reasons. Click through this slideshow for a quick look at what he found behind the red ring, and if this whets your appetite, read Roger’s full tear-down at lensrentals.com.
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This is the plastic ring which sits at the front of the all of the elements of the 35mm, underneath the cosmetic nameplate.
According to Roger, ‘In most lenses rings like this hold the front element in place, but in this case, it seems the entire purpose of this ring is to improve weather resistance […] It fits tightly around the glass and into the front barrel of the lens, and it has a rubber gasket for further sealing internally.’
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Where most lenses use only three lightweight screws to attach the filter barrel, the Canon EF 35mm F1.4 L II uses six ‘long, strong and deeply threaded’ ones.
Behind the screws, Roger’s team found that ‘each hole contained a brass reinforcing spacer with a spring around it. So basically each of the 6 screws passes through the brass spacer and screws into the front barrel, with a spring maintaining tension. This is an expensive way to do things and obviously serves a purpose.’
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With the rear barrel removed, two more layers of rubber felt sealing gaskets were revealed and a ‘a very, very robust eccentric collar set […] used to optically adjust the rear group.’ (that’s the notched, circular thing towards the top of the rear group in this image, surrounded by red gunk to lock it in place).
In Roger’s words. ‘we consider thick nylon collars robust, brass collars very robust, but these massive heavy collars with a center locking screw are beyond anything we’ve seen outside of super telephoto lenses and the 70-200 f/2.8 IS II’.
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Unusually, even for weather-resistant lenses, the EF 35mm F1.4 L II features tough, moisture-resistant tape underneath the rubber focusing ring, to prevent water getting underneath and into the main body of the lens (the tape has been removed in this image).
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‘With the focus ring off, we can see another set of robust optical adjustment collars that adjust group 2. (Later experimentation hinted that these were primarily centering collars, with the rear collars primarily adjusting tilt.)’
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As the disassembly progresses, the EF 35mm F1.4 L II seems to get more and more robust – ‘With the USM motor and barrel off we can see the focusing helicoids and the heavy metal rollers that move the focusing elements within the helicoid. In almost every lens, these would be small nylon washers over a screw, not the relatively huge metal rollers we see in this lens.’
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Roger’s team took a closer look at those helicoid rollers.
‘When you look close up you see these aren’t just sliding posts, there are actually tiny ball bearings inside them. There’s also a spring tensioning system around one of the rollers. […] By this point I was really rather awestruck by the amount of careful over-engineering that went into making this lens. Nobody, and I do mean nobody, else is engineering lens mechanics like the newer Canon lenses.’
Roger’s final analysis:
‘[The EF 35mm F1.4 L II is] designed thoughtfully and logically. Things that will inevitably get damaged on any lens, like the front element and filter ring, are designed to be replaced easily. There are some things inside, particularly with the tensioning screws and springs, that I’m not certain I understand the purpose of, but I am certain there is a purpose. If I had to summarize the mechanical design of this lens, I would say simply that no expense was spared, no corner was cut.’
Click here to read the full teardown at lensrentals.com
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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You might remember us getting our hands on the Mitakon Speedmaster 135mm F1.4 at the Photo Plus Expo back in October. We handled the lens and wrote up some quick impressions at the show, but we were lucky enough to be given one of the prototype lenses to take home to Seattle with us.
Our sample is an engineering prototype of the E-mount version of this beastly lens, and we’ve spent the past few weeks gathering samples both in our studio and out and about around Seattle, to give you an idea of what it can do.
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The 135mm F1.4 is a massive piece of glass, and in its E-mount flavor, absolutely dwarfs Sony’s a7 bodies. With a 105mm thread, fully manual operation and a weight of over six pounds (about 2.7kg), it can be rather intimidating, and is near impossible to use hand-held. With the proper support in place though it isn’t difficult to use at all, and can reward patient use with dramatic, unique results.
When viewing our samples, it’s worth bearing a couple of things in mind. Firstly, this lens is one-of-a-kind. Almost literally. So it has no direct competitors that we can shoot alongside. Also note what we said earlier – we were using an engineering prototype that was not cosmetically final, and may not be completely representative, optically, of the finished shipping lenses when they become available (although it’s likely to at least be extremely close)
With that in mind, take a look, and enjoy with us this truly unique hunk of metal and glass. Let us know what you think in the comments!
Take a look at our Mitakon Speedmaster 135mm F1.4 Pre-production Sample Gallery
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Chinese manufacturer Zhongyi optics has announced a new lens, the stupendously large Zhongyi 135mm F1.4 Speedmaster. The company is aiming to make less than 100 units, and expects the lens to appeal to specialized stills photographers and filmmakers. We got up close and personal with a prototype this week at the Photo Plus Expo show in New York. Read more
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Sigma has grown its ‘Art’ lineup of prime lenses again, with a new 20mm F1.4 for Canon, Nikon and Sigma mounts. The new 20mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art is designed for full frame DSLRs, and Sigma claims that the 20mm F1.4 is the result of new production technologies including a 59mm double aspherical element. The new 20mm will go on sale from November priced at £849.99/$ 899.99, and we just got our hands on a sample at the Photo Plus Expo in New York. Click through for some first impressions
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
ZY Optics, a Chinese company that sells lenses under brand name Mitakon, teased a massive lens on the Chinese social network Weibo over the weekend, the Mitakon Speedmaster 135mm F1.4. While the company revealed a few details at the time, it didn’t specify when the lens would be available for pre-order. That changed on Monday, and the company is now offering $ 500 non-refundable deposits to reserve a unit for shipping in early 2016. Read more
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Rokinon has introduced 21mm F1.4 and 50mm F1.2 fast prime lenses, both of which are up for pre-order now. These new lenses flesh out the maker’s existing offerings for mirrorless cameras. Read more
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
When it comes to off-brand (or third party) camera gear, do you feel a bit skeptical? I was in the same boat for my entire photography career, choosing to invest exclusively in Nikon gear when I was a Nikon shooter, then all Canon when I switched over for the Canon 5D Mark III. “You get what you pay for” is what all of my photography colleagues would tell me, and I was an avid believer until this past summer when I invested in my first ever off-brand camera lens: the Sigma 35mm f/1.4.
Dubbed Sigma’s true flagship lens, the 35mm f/1.4 debuted in 2012 as the very first addition to the Art category, in Sigma’s newly announced lens categories. This shiny prime lens entered a crowded market in which Canon, Nikon, and Sony all have competitive offers, but Sigma’s version comes in at a fraction of the price, which is one of its most attractive features. So in this case, does the adage, “you get what you pay for” truly apply?
Let me preface this article by stating that this is the very first 35mm prime lens that I’ve owned, so I cannot make true comparisons between Sigma’s lens and that of other manufacturers, but I took it through several test runs to see how it held up. These were my findings.
Sigma’s 35mm fixed lens is equipped with a fast f/1.4 maximum, and f/16 minimum aperture. It has quiet, quick Hypersonic Motor (HSM) focusing with manual override and a 0.3m (one foot) minimum focal distance – no image stabilization is included. The lens has mounts for all major DSLR camera types including Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Pentax, and it works on both full frame and APS-C (crop sensor) cameras. Out of the box, the lens comes with front and rear caps, a lens hood and a warranty and instruction guide, all packaged within a nicely padded, zippered nylon case. Brand new, this lens retails for $ 899, significantly less than other versions made by Canon and Nikon, which run upwards of $ 1,300.
On the technical side of things, this lens performed impressively well. Even when shooting at f/1.4, all images produced by this lens were super sharp. Autofocusing speed was pretty fast and accurate, even when attempting to use this lens in an action setting like the concert below.
After spending some time with the Canon 24mm f/2.8 prime lens that produces quite a bit of barrel distortion, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Sigma 35mm has pretty much no visible distortion. Although bear in mind that lens distortion can be easily fixed in post production using Photoshop’s lens Correction filter (or Lightroom’s Lens Correction panel).
Perhaps the first thing that struck me about this lens when I first interacted with it what its sleek, yet mostly plastic build. Compared to Canon and Nikon versions that are made of a mix of metal and plastic, this mostly plastic Sigma lens felt like it may not hold up very well in the long run. The Sigma seems to live up to its Art lens designation with the feeling that this lens would hold up better being used for artistic purposes, more so than run and gun type of shooting.
Despite being made of mostly plastic, the Sigma also feels pretty heavy (23.5 oz./ 665g), and it is indeed slightly heavier than its Nikon (21.2 oz / 600g) and Canon (20.5 oz. / 580g) equivalents.
While I loved capturing the world through a sharp 35mm prime lens, it was difficult to get over this lens’ size. The 35mm is known as a classic lens in photojournalism and street photography, and yet due to its size and plastic build, it was questionable if the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 could hold up well over time, especially in on-the-go style photography. As a result, I have to agree with my photography colleagues that you’d get what you pay for over time.
Investing in the more expensive Canon 35mm f/1.4 would be worth the extra expense ($ 899 for the Sigma, $ 1479 for the Canon) just because the L lens designation ensures a higher quality, more durable lens. As an additional option, the slower Canon 35mm f/2 comes with image stabilization and is priced lower at $ 599.99, so that may be a better budget option. And a final, even cheaper alternative might be to add 5mm to the lens focal length by going for the Canon 40mm f/2.8 pancake lens, the smallest and cheapest ($ 149 USD) of them all.
Basically, splurge for the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 and enjoy comparable, superior optics to the Canon and Nikon equivalents, but what you save in money might cost you later when testing the long-term durability of this lens.
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