Lensrentals: The new Zeiss 50mm FE lens beats the Zeiss Otus in center sharpness!!!

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Zeiss 50mm FE (left) vs Zeiss Otus 55mm (right). Image via Lensrentals.

Lensrentals (Click here) tested the new Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 FE lens. And they compared it with the best lens of the world, the 55mm Zeiss Otus. The results is absolutely impressive:

“The Sony is phenomenally good in the center; just absolutely superb. The Sony, though, is clearly better than the Otus in the center, and just as good as the Otus away from the center as well. There is a little sag of the Sony’s MTF halfway to the center but then improvement out to the edges.”

So far the new Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 FE lens didn’t get a lot of “Love”comments from SAR readers. The price may have created some emotional “barrier”. But now that you get that kind of feedback from Lensrentals things will change. A Zeiss Otus alike quality for almost a third of the lens and with autofocus? Now it starts to sound like a bargain :)  Lensrentals writes:

“it’s worth the money; it’s really superb. The center sharpness in particular is unheard of in a 50mm lens.”

Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 FE Planar preorders at BHphoto, Amazon, Focuscamera. Calumet.de. Cyberport.de. PhotoPorst. Jessops. WexUK.

All new Sony FE lenses and wireless products are now listed on one single page at BHphoto (Click here).

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USA:
Sony Planar T* FE 50mm f/1.4 ZA Lens at BHphoto, Amazon, Focuscamera.
Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS Lens at BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama, Focuscamera.
Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter at BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama, Focuscamera.
Sony FE 2.0x Teleconverter at BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama, Focuscamera.
Sony FA-WRC1M Wireless Radio Commander at BHphoto, Focuscamera.
Sony FA-WRR1 Wireless Radio Receiver at BHphoto, Focuscamera.
Sony VMC-MM1 Multi Terminal Cable at BHphoto, Focuscamera.
Europe:
Sony Planar T* FE 50mm f/1.4 ZA Lens at Calumet.de. Cyberport.de. PhotoPorst. Jessops. WexUK.
Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS Lens at Calumet.de. Amazon GermanyCyberport.de. PhotoPorst. Jessops. WexUK.
Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter at PhotoPorst. Jessops.
Sony FE 2.0x Teleconverter at PhotoPorst. Jessops.

New 70-200mm GM tests do confirm: Superb image quality and good autofocus quality (althaugh not superb)

70-200mmsize

70-200mm GM vs 70-200mm Tamron vs Nikon 70-200mm (via Camerasize).

Of all newly announced Sony lenses the 70-200mm GM is taking the lead at Amazon’s new lens release ranking sales (Click here). Not really a suprise as this is a very good lens for a not so crazy Sony price :)

And let’s take another roundup look to new 70-200mm GM tests. Most of the reviewer also do agree that the real drawback is the autofocus system of the current A7 cameras. It’s good but not good enough for top PRO sport and wildlife photography. I do hope the next generation A7 (and the rumored A9) cameras will bring some major improvement o that front.

Quesabesde writes: “La calidad es magnífica, pero algunos profesionales necesitan más que eso.” which means that image quality is magnificent but the PRO’s do need a more advanced autofocus system

Photoscala says Sony has done a very good job with the autofocus system but it still doesn’t match the Nikon performance. They also say the Bokeh of the lens is truly outstanding because it doesn’t come at the cost of sharpness. They write the lens is clearly made to support future higher resolution sensor cameras.

Alin Popescu tested the lens with the 2.0X converter and ther eis good news to report:

“Focusing wise everything is spot on with the 2x adapter mounted on lens/camera. Tracking was perfect even with the fast-runing boars.”

Focus Numerique is impressed by the optical stabilization system. More image samples can be found at SystemKameraForum.

New FE lens and wireless radio flash preorder list

USA:
Sony Planar T* FE 50mm f/1.4 ZA Lens at BHphoto, Amazon, Focuscamera.
Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS Lens at BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama, Focuscamera.
Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter at BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama, Focuscamera.
Sony FE 2.0x Teleconverter at BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama, Focuscamera.
Sony FA-WRC1M Wireless Radio Commander at BHphoto, Focuscamera.
Sony FA-WRR1 Wireless Radio Receiver at BHphoto, Focuscamera.
Sony VMC-MM1 Multi Terminal Cable at BHphoto, Focuscamera.
Europe:
Sony Planar T* FE 50mm f/1.4 ZA Lens at Calumet.de. Cyberport.de. PhotoPorst. CalumetUK. Jessops. WexUK.
Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS Lens at Calumet.de. Amazon GermanyCyberport.deCalumetUK. PhotoPorst. Jessops. WexUK.
Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter at PhotoPorst. Jessops.
Sony FE 2.0x Teleconverter at PhotoPorst. Jessops.

First review of the new Samyang 50mm f/1.4 FE autofocus lens

The new 50mm f/1.4 FE autofocus lens from Samyang is set to start shipping in July in Korea. It will ship to the rest of the world in August for a price less than $600. Photographyblog posted the first review of the lens and writes:

“Sharpness is a little disappointing when shooting wide-open at f/1.4, though, only becoming acceptable at f/2 and very good from f/2.8 onwards, while the edges aren’t quite as sharp as the centre, with f/5.6-f/11 producing the sharpest results. There’s also lots of evidence of chromatic aberrations, plus vignetting at wide-open apertures, admittedly something that other fast lenses also suffer from.”

It certainly isn’t as good as the new Sony Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 FE lens but the Samyang costs more than $900 less. Note: It’s priced 449 pounds in the UK.

Unboxing video:

MTF graph:

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Size comparison:

50mm_FE_lens_comparison