The three FD 55mm versions. Image source: Olypedia.de. The asperical and latest FD 55mm1.2 lens is on the left.

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Sony stated many times that they will not go after crazy speed on FE lenses. What matters is having top quality in a “not to big” sized lens. That’s ok for me, but what if some A7-A7r owners absolutely needs the extra speed? There are plenty of options out. Today I am going to tell you a bit about one of the lenses I just purchased to make it work on my A7r. It’s the [shoplink 22839 ebay]Canon FD 55mm f/1.2 Asperical lens (to find here on eBay only)[/shoplink]. I will receive the lens soon. Meantime here is a bit of history:

The lens has been announced in 1971 and was Canon’s answer to the Leica Noctilux. There are three versions of it. The first two non-aspherical (and very cheap on [shoplink 22851 ebay]eBay[/shoplink]) and the last aspherical version. That one is the lens I am interested in:

Erwin Puts writes about the aspherical FD 55mm 1.2 lens:

“Some commentators called the Canon FD 1.2 aspherical the best standard lens in the world. It is hard to disagree.”
“In 1971, when the Noctilux was still being produced and sold, Canon introduces their own version of an 1.2 design with aspherics. Presumably they could not stand the humiliation of being defeated by the Leitz construction, at least wide open.
With this lens Canon pulled all stops. See my report on the Canon design here. The Canon aspherical is wide open clearly better than the Noct 1.2. Especially in the outer zones the Canon is much improved and in the center of the image the Canon has an impressive performance, that surpasses the one you get from the Noct. Stopped down the Canon wins easily. Wide open at 1.2 you will note a difference in approach of correcting aberrations. The Canon has a very good image quality ove the whole picture frame, where the Noct concentrates on the center part of the image. Whatever the approach, the Canon design gives the better imagery, aperture for aperture.”

Mir writes:

Despite its large aperture, it is highly reputed for its high contrast and stabilized image definition at full aperture opening. Because of its fast f/1.2 speed, it provides high image quality in low light level photography.
Additionally, this lens incorporates the Floating System which enables aberration-free shooting at close subject distance. Thus, a sharp image is obtained through the entire focusing range. Therefore, the focused image through the viewfinder can be reproduced just as it is.

The crazy news on that lens is that the lens is actually lightly…ehmmm….radioactive! But there is nothing to worry about: Olypedia writes:

“If this lens worries you, DO NOT EXPOSE YOURSELF TO THE SUN! It’s much more dangerous to you and your film…”

Few more images and test can be read here: Comparison with other f/1.2 lenses at Nifty50.nl. Presentation page at Mir.com.my. Image samples on Flickr.

Conclusion:
After reading all these articles and watching many image samples I got mine [shoplink 22839 ebay]Canon FD 55mm f/1.2 Asperical lens on eBay (all cutions are here)[/shoplink]. I can’t wait to test it on the A7r and compare the results with the Zeiss FE 5mm f/1.8 lens which I will get within the next days (yes Sony Europe is shipping mine!). Get yours here at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT.

P.S.: Feel free to contact me at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com if you have tests to share (or if you want to write a full article).

Moisture resistance Sony ILC-E A7

For US readers: The A7r is in Stock for the first time at BHphoto (Click here). And it is also in Stock at Samys (Click here), Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), [shoplink 23364 ebay]Adorama eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 23363 ebay]Bestbuy eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

Big A7-A7r news roundup: I have to catch up with links to many new A7-A7r tests and many SAR readers mails. Enjoy!

The A7r is Imaging Resources camera of the year.
Sony A7 is the camera of the year at ePhotozine.
Some images taken with the a7r. Two are stitched using a Rhinocam on 4×5 Arca Swiss (edgarcardenas.tumblr.com).
Image circle: removing the rear plastic shield on your Sony 35mm f1.8 OSS e-mount lens (Mike Kobal).
Sony A7 VS Sony Nex-6 – Raw Quality High ISO Lab Testing w/ 100% Crops (SonyAlphaLab).
Even Ken Rockwell likes the A7!
Sony A7, the new Leica CL? (Chad Wadsworth).
Sony LA-EA4 tested by Ken Rockwell.

Pascal: “I tested low and high iso noise & noise reduction with long exposures. Also vibrations and a sidenote on coma (largely absent) in the Sonnar Lens. http://dearsusans.wordpress.com/2013/12/12/186-low-light-long-exposures-with-the-sony-a7r/” And: “there is a reflection problem with the A7r / Sonnar 35/2.8 ZA that produces spots around bright lights. It isn’t the bullseye colour shift reported by Leica Boss but something else. I wrote a quick piece here about it : http://dearsusans.wordpress.com/2013/12/11/spotty-flaw-in-zeiss-fe-35-28-za-sony-a7r-combo/”

Alik: “I ran a few more tests on the Sony Zeiss Sonnar 35mm lens. I’ve noticed the vignetting is pretty bad at f2.8 and gets better by 5.6 but never fully clears up, even at f/11. I also ran a color test to see if I could get the same color shifts that Leica Boss was getting. I did, but mine wasn’t as bad as his. I am using LR3 RC which possibly could have something to do with it.The reality? I cannot see my lens giving me color shifts unless I blast both saturation and vibrance to the max. Which nobody does. This lens is great, well worth the $800 USD and is razor sharp. Not sure why I see so many complaints about it.
http://alikgriffin.com/blog/dec/10/zeiss-sonnar-fe-35mm-f28-vignetting-and-color-test”

Mark: “When the rumor that Sony was going to come out with a FF mirrorless inter-changeable lens system, i was sold from day one. I got my A7 about a week ago and I absolutely love it! My style of shooting is much more deliberate and considered so the fact that the camera’s AF didn’t perform like a pro sports DSLR did not bother me at all. Also, contrary to what some others have said, I love the hearty sound of the shutter – again, it suits my shooting tastes.
On a recent rainy day, I took it out for a ‘test drive.’ I used the FE 35mm f/2.8 Zeiss and shot in jpegs only. Any vignetting was put in later in post processing.
Here are my test shots:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mluvr/sets/72157638457552974/”

Alex: “I have been testing the camera with canon TSE lens and controlling the camera from an iPad mini in the sony remote software. Works very well. here are some test photos from NYC
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kroke/sets/72157638476968315”

Horshack: “A user on dpreview posted samples from his A7R and Canon 70-200mm image-stabilized lens which shows a pronounced blur issue when IS is enabled for certain shutter speeds. He also showed images from the same lens on his NEX-7 which does not show the issue. I tried the test myself and reproduced his results unfortunately.
His post and images can be found here: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/52630531
And my results in the same thread: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/52671220
To work around this issue I think Sony will need to implement an anti-shock delay function on the camera, similar to what the MFT cameras have done (they have the same issue of no electronic first shutter curtain causing vibration feeding into the IS system). This delay would be applied after closing the curtain before the start of an exposure. I’m hoping you can post these results as a story on your site to give it visibility to others and Sony.”

Anonymous: “just saw an interesting article in a Chinese forum (mobile01.com), lots of good pictures from Las Vegas taken with A7R and many Canon lenses (14, ts-e17…) converted with Metabones plus some reviews – http://www.mobile01.com/topicdetail.php?f=254&t=3682934&p=1”

E.J.: “The big weakness of the A7/A7R is the short battery life. Sony doesn’t supply a stand alone charge, just a small charger that you plug the battery into. At least here in the USA, that charge only has a 0.5A charge current which results in the battery taking about 4 hours to fully charge. however the NP-FW50 battery has a charge current spec of 1.02A so it could be charged in half the time. If you have an iPhone, the small iPhone charger is 1.0A – you just plug the Sony micro-USB cable that came with the camera into the iPhone charger. Many other Micro-USB chargers are also 1.0 amp (you have to read the fine print on the Output current). However you can not use an iPad charger as this charger supplies ore than 2A. I just wanted to let you know that you can cut the charge time in half safely. Please feel free to let the readership know.
I am an Electrical Engineer by training and spent 27 years in the semiconductor industry.”

Anonymous: “Note that Really Right Stuff is now taking pre-orders for Sony A7/A7R mounting plates and L plates:
http://reallyrightstuff.com/ProductDesc.aspx?code=BA7-L-Set&type=3&eq=&desc=BA7-L-Set%3a-Includes-Base-%2b-L-component&key=it
http://reallyrightstuff.com/ProductDesc.aspx?code=BA7&type=3&eq=&desc=BA7%3a-Plate-for-Alpha-a7%2fa7R“

Steve: “Im a Canon User vor over 20 Years, but these pics from the Sony A7 are the best ife seen in my life. Outstanding, Amazing! I´m breathles. See the sheeps on bottom of page 2 AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!! http://www.dslr-forum.de/showthread.php?t=1352979”

William: “This is not my site!  But this guy has some very nice images done with the A7r and some commentary: http://xexets.blogspot.co.uk/”

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Specs and Preorders in US and Canada:
Dedicated Sony announcement page at Amazon US (Click here).
Sony A7r body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. TheCameraStore Canada.
Sony A7 body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. TheCameraStore Canada.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. TheCameraStore Canada.
Sony RX10 at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 24-70mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 35mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 55mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
70-200mm A-mount at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony A-Mount to E-Mount Lens Adapter at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
Sony A to E adapter with mirror at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
A7/A7r leather case at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
A7/A7r vertical grip at Amazon, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony W Series Battery Charger at Amazon, BHphoto.
Sony FA-CS1M Off-Camera Shoe at BHphoto.
Semi-Hard LCD Screen Protector for A7-A7r at Amazon, BHphoto.

Image courtesy: 3D-kraft.

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Quick note for US readers: The Sony A7r is today in Stock at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), [shoplink 23364 ebay]Adorama eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 23363 ebay]Bestbuy eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

Michael Reichmann from Luminous Landscape (Click here) tested the world best camera (so he calls the A7r) with the worlds best lenses (Leica M-mount):

Altogether a very sweet camera, and one that Sony should be proud of. Canon and Nikon look like they’ve been left at the gate, with Sony now running a race almost all of their own. Recent Sony cameras have been innovative. Canon in particular just seems to churn out minor revisions to cameras that have been around for ages. The only companies who are pushing the envelope in any way comparable to Sony are Olympus and FujiFilm.

As you no doubt have heard and read elsewhere the Sony A7r is a pretty terrific camera.

If you own some Leica M or third party M mount lenses, and have an eye on Sony’s latest uber-camera, then I think that you’ll find they make a remarkable combination, so long as with wide angle lenses, at least, you’re willing to make an effort to get the most from them.

As he writes in the article even wide-angle Leica Lenses work fine on the A/r if you can work out the vignetting and color casting issue using the The Adobe DNG Flat Field Plug-In.