One of the most interesting topics running on the web after the A7-A7r announcement is: How well (or bad) do third-party manual rangefinder lenses work on the Sony cameras? We have a couple of new image samples to share and as you will see only extreme wide angle lenses will suffer of vignetting or color shift effects and in very rare cases of corner smearing.

1) Leica Noctilux 50mm f/0.95:
SAR reader Albert had the chance to take a shot with the $11,000 Leica 50mm f/0.95 Noctilux on the Sony A7r. You can find the full size picture on Flickr (Click here). If you own that lens you will have no problem at all with the A7-A7r. That said, if you had the money to buy that lens that you will also have the money to use it on a Leica M and not a Sony A7…I guess :)
A7R with Voigtlander 12mm, 15mm and 21mm rangefinder lenses mounted by Leo Roos on Flickr (found via Dyxum). As you can see there is vignetting and color shift issue. Easy to fix with Cornerfix. The important thing here is that there is no heavy smearing and detail loss issue!
[shoplink 22380 ebay]Leica Noctilux (Click here)[/shoplink].

2) Voigtlander 12mm, 15mm and 21mm rangefinder lenses:
Leo Roos on Flickr (found via Dyxum) posted a set of images taken with the A7r with wide angle Voigtlander lens. As you can see as wider as you go more vignetting and color shift issues you will see. But the good news us that there is no heavy smearing and detail loss issue (with the exception of the 15mm lens wide open). It means you can fix the corners by using software like Cornerfix (which by the way is free!). Lenses on eBay:
[shoplink 22372 ebay]Voigtlander 12mm (Click here)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 22373 ebay]Voigtlander 15mm (Click here)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 22374 ebay]Voigtlander 21mm (Click here)[/shoplink].

3) Contax G 28mm f/2.8:
There is an image taken with the A7r on Flickr (Click here). That lens shows significant more smearing on corners. This is something you cannot recover in Postproduction work. A discussion about that photo can be found at Fredmiranda.
[shoplink 22375 ebay]Contax G 28mm on eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

4) Minolta MD/MC, Zeiss ZM and Canon FD lenses:
Phillip Reeve tested various old SLR lenses together with Zeiss 55F18 on A7R. Well controlled careful shots, I think.
All shots together:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/96189377@N08/sets/72157637021609086/
Separate by lens type:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/96189377@N08/sets/
Lenses on eBay:
[shoplink 22378 ebay]Minolta MD (Click here)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 22377 ebay]Minolta MC (Click here)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 22376 ebay]Zeiss ZM (Click here)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 22379 ebay]Canon FD (Click here)[/shoplink].

In Short:
– Lenses from 35mm towards will usually work fine.
– The wider you go the more issues you will have. But this also depends from the kind of lens design (telecentric lenses will have less issues). On some lenses you can fix them in postproduction and on some not.
– If you shoot Black and White Color shift is obviously a no-issues
– Vignetting and Color Shift can be corrected. Color smearing no (the detail is gone).

It will be one of our goals on SAR to review third party lenses on the A series cameras. If you have some review you want to share on SAR drop me a message at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com. Thanks!

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Support SonyAlphaRumors: After months of FF mirrorless rumor work I would be glad if you can support my work by making your A7-A7r purchase by using these links below. I will earn a small commission and you don’t pay one single penny more! Thanks!

Specs and Preorders in US and Canada (Click on store name to see direct preorder page):
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.

Specs and Preorders in Europe:
Sony A7r body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE.
Sony A7 body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR.
Sony RX10 at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE.
Zeiss 35mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT,
Zeiss 55mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT

Asia:
A7r at Digitalrev
A7 at Digitalrev.
A7 with 28-70mm lens at Digitalrev.

Bart from Leica-Boss.com (Click here) sent me the following text:

“There has been some negative feedback about the Sony A7 / A7r RAW files posted on review sites. Reality is that there is serious in-camera processing going on. This post/video shows how the files actually have loads of detail even at ISO 12800. This is pretty long and boring. I like the files coming from these cameras – even at high ISO.”

On the video on top Bart shows you how to work on the Sony A7r RAW files ot get out the most!

P.S.: Iridient digital has released a new version with RAW processing for Sony a7 series!

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Support SonyAlphaRumors: After months of FF mirrorless rumor work I would be glad if you can support my work by making your A7-A7r purchase by using these links below. I will earn a small commission and you don’t pay one single penny more! Thanks!

Specs and Preorders in US and Canada (Click on store name to see direct preorder page):
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.

Specs and Preorders in Europe:
Sony A7r body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT,  WexUK, WexDE.
Sony A7 body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit Sony  DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR.
Sony RX10 at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE.
Zeiss 35mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT,
Zeiss 55mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT

Asia:
A7r at Digitalrev
A7 at Digitalrev.
A7 with 28-70mm lens at Digitalrev.

The video on top has been posted by ThePhoBlographer. It’s Mark Weir talking about the new A7 camera.

ThePhoBlogrpaher also shared the first impressions about the Zeiss Touit 50mm macro and about the RX10 (article here).

Also dpreview posted a couple of pictures. Also SonyAlphaLab posted a longer article about the Sony stand at the show.

Those of you that speak spanish may read the long and very detailed article at DSLRmagazine (google translation here).

SAR reader Richard sent me his PDN impression review:

Just returned from Photo Expo – Here are some first impressions on the A7r:
It’s a nice compact camera, hefty (but not heavy) for it’s size. I was worried that with the center viewfinder, my nose would end up in the screen (using my right eye), but the body was small enough that my nose was to the side of the body. But, I feel that it will be a pain for left eyed people, with the controls and such in the way. The shutter is very loud. No, THE SHUTTER IS VERY LOUD.
But, I was impressed that I was not able to feel any shake or vibration from the shutter, and I felt confident hand holding it at slow speeds. The viewfinder seemed ok, but not exceptional. The autofocus did seem to jump around quite a bit, and the face detection feature only seemed to get in the way, jumping from face to face. The menu was very hard to navigate – when you tried to use the scroll wheel, sometimes the pressure used to turn it, activated the 4 way navigational click feature. Maybe it was just this particular camera. Of course, I was not familiar with the menu structure, so that didn’t help either. The guy next to me had a couple of Leica M lenses, and they seemed to work fine with his adapter, but of course we were not allowed to take any shots and we could not get a magnified view on the screen. One problem with manual focus – with a Sony FE lens, the magnify activates when you touch the focus ring, and stays on for at least two seconds. Also we couldn’t see how to enable it with the Leica lenses (got an error message on the screen about that feature not being supported with that lens). Maybe there is a way, but we couldn’t figure it out, and the Sony rep didn’t know. All in all, I rate it as a maybe purchase for me – there is a lot to like about the camera, but it’s not perfect. It is frustrating – Sony seems to come out with cameras that are just one or two steps away from being great – the biggest negative for me is the loud shutter.
BTW – spoke to the guy at the RX1 counter – asked when the 36mp sensor was going to get put into it – he said that was a question for someone higher up, but he expects Sony would want to put their best technology into the next RX1, if there is one.“

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Support SonyAlphaRumors: After months of FF mirrorless rumor work I would be glad if you can support my work by making your A7-A7r purchase by using these links below. I will earn a small commission and you don’t pay one single penny more! Thanks!

Specs and Preorders in US and Canada (Click on store name to see direct preorder page):
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.

Specs and Preorders in Europe:
Sony A7r body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT,  WexUK, WexDE.
Sony A7 body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit Sony  DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR.
Sony RX10 at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE.
Zeiss 35mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT,
Zeiss 55mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT

Asia:
A7r at Digitalrev
A7 at Digitalrev.
A7 with 28-70mm lens at Digitalrev.

Sony A7, A7R Eye-AF Test

It’s time for a new roundup of A7-A7r tests. There is plenty of things to see today! First of all the great Korean site SLRclub (Click here) posted a full A7 review. As you know koreans like to post articles as jpg images so translation is not available. But you can see plenty of image samples, crops and ISO tests. They also posted a dozen of test videos on their youtube channel.

Image samples:
A7R + LA-EA4 + Sigma 150mm F2.8 Macro at SLRclub.
A7r with 55mm Zeiss at Pixinfo.
A7 with some M-mount glass at cityusam01.

Articles:
Is the new Zeiss 35/2.8 Z better than the RX1 ? (Dearsusans).
Dean: Huge fan of you and your site from Canada here!  I went into Henry’s (local camera store) and played with an A7.  I took some pics with the SEL35F18 and SEL50F18 to show the image circle, and multiple pictures with the SEl1018 at different focal lengths.  I also compared crops between the 5R and A7r with the 10-18mm (edge and center) both in crop mode and FF mode.  Perhaps the SAR readers might be interested in having a look?
http://www.adventuristo.com/sharpness-comparison-of-nex-5r-and-a7r-with-the-10-18mm-sel1018-lens/
http://www.adventuristo.com/how-the-10-18mm-sel1018-e-mount-lens-looks-on-the-full-frame-a7r-and-a7/
http://www.adventuristo.com/how-existing-e-mount-lenses-look-on-the-a7r-and-a7-including-the-50mm-sel50f18-and-35mm-sel35f18/
http://www.adventuristo.com/sony-a7r-image-samples-with-the-fe-zeiss-55mm-f1-8-lens-and-the-fe-zeiss-35mm-f2-8-lens/

Videos:
A7 Shutter sound with and without front curtain on youtube.
German hands-on video by ClubSonus on youtube.

Images for download:
A7r with 55m Zeiss images at Wetransfer.
A7 with 28-70mm image samples on Dropbox (one) and Dropbox (two).
A7r RAW files at pan.baidu (for download)

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Support SonyAlphaRumors: After months of FF mirrorless rumor work I would be glad if you can support my work by making your A7-A7r purchase by using these links below. I will earn a small commission and you don’t pay one single penny more! Thanks!

Specs and Preorders in US and Canada (Click on store name to see direct preorder page):
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.

Specs and Preorders in Europe:
Sony A7r body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT,  WexUK, WexDE.
Sony A7 body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit Sony  DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR.
Sony RX10 at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE.
Zeiss 35mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT,
Zeiss 55mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT

Asia:
A7r at Digitalrev
A7 at Digitalrev.
A7 with 28-70mm lens at Digitalrev.