Sony A7 photo sample - share Sony A7 series photos here

[Rienzphotoz]

Just got the FE ZEISS 24-70 f/4 OSS lens ... didn't get a chance to take it for a "spin" but here are a few images of how the lens looks like

Compared to the kit lens, it seems like a bit thinner & a bit longer :

Pls let us know how you like it? from handling to IQ

I haven't made any worthwhile photos with it yet, but the build quality is not at all appealing ... my EF 50 f/1.4 has better build quality than this "ZEISS" 24-70 f/4 lens ... the build quality of this lens is a bit of a let down for me ... but I suppose they had to keep the weight down and thus the feeling of cheaper build quality :-\ ... or am I just unfairly comparing it with Canon L lenses :-\ ... but again, to me, it does not even seem to match even the build quality of my EF-M 18-55 IS STM.
I'll shoot some images in the morning and see how it performs optically.

O-no :-\

I hope you can return it if thing doesn't work out. As an owner of 50mm f1.4, I know the build quality of this lens(not that great).

The Zeiss FE 55mm is solid - from build quality to IQ.

Should I cancel my pre-order?

I am not going to return the FE 24-70 f/4, coz from the random shots I did today, the image quality is definitely a lot better than the kit lens ... its just that the build quality that is bugging me ... maybe its just me, so don't go by my word.
But I did ask my eldest son to hold both the lenses in his hand and asked him about which he thinks has better build quality ... I did the same thing with my wife ... both of them (son & wife) felt the EF-M has slightly better build quality.
Maybe its because of the shiny/slippery plastic used for this lens ... don't go by my word ... you may want to actually hold it in your hands at your local store, and then make up your mind. Personally, as far as build quality is concerned, I was expecting a lot more from a lens that cost me $1047 :-\

 

[Rienzphotoz]

I just found this review on FE ZEISS 24-70 f/4 lens ... maybe you might find it useful, before you buy this lens. http://phillipreeve.net/blog/rolling-review-carl-zeiss-vario-tessar-t-fe-424-70-za/

Personally, I feel it should be priced around $750-$800

 

[tomscott]

At £1049 in the UK thats a hell of a lot for a F4 zoom… It better be good, makes the camera seem pretty pointless its huge!!

 

[Rienzphotoz]

At £1049 in the UK thats a hell of a lot for a F4 zoom… It better be good, makes the camera seem pretty pointless its huge!!

I agree that its quite pricey ... to me it feels like a lens worth $800 max ... but the lens is not huge, maybe its the way I've photographed it with my mobile phone that is making it look big ... on my a7 it looks well balanced and complements well with the camera body ... personally I would have preferred a third of an inch shorter.

 

[Dylan777]

I just found this review on FE ZEISS 24-70 f/4 lens ... maybe you might find it useful, before you buy this lens. http://phillipreeve.net/blog/rolling-review-carl-zeiss-vario-tessar-t-fe-424-70-za/

Personally, I feel it should be priced around $750-$800

It's nice to have feedbacks from hand-on user

I read some reviews, most of them didn't give positive feedbacks as much as FE 35mm & 55mm. Looking at your photos, I feel this might be a bit bulky for this system already(i have shot with kit lens).

I'll look forward to see more FE primes in wider end. I heard Sony/Zeiss got some issues with this lens and they delay the shipment in US to late Feb. Not sure is a design issue or just some minor ones.

I don't mind spending $1100 to $1300 - as long the lens can deliver high IQ.

 

[Rienzphotoz]

I don't mind spending $1100 to $1300 - as long the lens can deliver high IQ.

Unfortunately, the FE 24-70 f/4 is not worth spending that much ... I think you'd be better served with the FE 35mm f/2.8
As I said earlier, it is better than the 28-70 kits lens, but not so much that one would want to spend $1047 (in USA, it costs $1198).
Sometime in the near future I may get the Canon EF 24 f/2.8 IS, EF 35 f/2 IS and use them with the metabones adapter ... that way I get lenses that can be used on both the systems and still get Image Stabilization ... also I've seen some images of people using those lenses on the a7 and am pretty much convinced.

 

[Rienzphotoz]

These are the first few photos I've made while testing the FE ZEISS 24-70 f/4 OSS lens (mounted on Sony a7) ... today as usual is a dusty day here ... but one of my neighbors grew this sunflower in front of the house (this is very unusual for this part of the world as you only see them during flower exhibitions and not in anyones house as they do not survive in this dry/hot weather) ... anyway with not so nice weather, I had to make do with this beautiful sunflower.
All the images are shot as jpg at 70mm and handheld and in slightly windy condition ... I've posted 16 of the same images but shot at different apertures (starting from f/4 to f/22).
The first two here are at f/4 (1/500sec, ISO 100) & f/4.5 (1/400sec, ISO 100)

 

[Rienzphotoz]

these are same as above but at f/5.0 (1/320sec, ISO 100) and f/5.6 (1/250sec, ISO 100)

 

[Rienzphotoz]

these are same as above but at f/6.3 (1/200sec, ISO 100) and f/7.1 (1/200sec, ISO 100)

 

[Rienzphotoz]

these are same as above but at f/8.0 (1/125sec, ISO 100) and f/9.0 (1/125sec, ISO 100)

 

[Rienzphotoz]

these are same as above but at f/10 (1/100sec, ISO 100) and f/11 (1/80sec, ISO 125)

 

[Rienzphotoz]

these are same as above but at f/13 (1/80sec, ISO 125) and f/14 (1/80sec, ISO 200)

 

[Rienzphotoz]

these are same as above but at f/16 (1/80sec, ISO 250) and f/18 (1/80sec, ISO 320)

 

[Rienzphotoz]

these are same as above but at f/20 (1/80sec, ISO 400) and f/22 (1/80sec, ISO 500)

 

[J.R.]

Reinz ... Not to sound like an ass but ... what are you trying to prove here?

I'm interested in the A7 + a kit/prime lens and have the special luxury of getting approx 20% discount on almost all Sony products so I'm wondering whether it is worth the plunge. Somehow I feel that a 55mmm prime + a A7 will be a great tool while on my travel.

I am however, NOT AT ALL interested in using one with an adapter. For me, the only point in the Sony is the smaller form factor that I can use while I'm traveling. For anything that requires a Canon lens, I'll happily use my DSLR.

 

[Rienzphotoz]

Reinz ... Not to sound like an ass but ... what are you trying to prove here?

I'm interested in the A7 + a kit/prime lens and have the special luxury of getting approx 20% discount on almost all Sony products so I'm wondering whether it is worth the plunge. Somehow I feel that a 55mmm prime + a A7 will be a great tool while on my travel.

I am however, NOT AT ALL interested in using one with an adapter. For me, the only point in the Sony is the smaller form factor that I can use while I'm traveling. For anything that requires a Canon lens, I'll happily use my DSLR.

Hi J.R, actually, I'm not trying to prove anything here ... I just got the FE ZEISS 24-70 f/4 lens, and I wanted to take it out for a spin, but as I mentioned earlier, the weather sucks big time today (I'll have to invite you to Qatar to see what the weather is like here), so the only interesting thing I could find was this sunflower (which as I mentioned is very unusual in this part of the world) ... anyway, so I decided why not shoot the flower at all apertures of this new lens, just to see/show how it looks ... nothing more and its not meant to be a test or anything.
Yeah, I saw the 20% discount thing ... pretty cool.
I did not go for the FE ZEISS 55 f/1.8 and got the Metabones adapter, because:
1. I'm not into prime lenses (but with the a7, I'm beginning to appreciate small prime lenses)
2. FE 55 f/1.8 is not small, in comparison to the f/4 zoom (55 f/1.8=70.5mm vs 24-70 f/4= 94.5mm)
3. Metabones adapter turns my a7 into a second/back-up FF camera body for my Canon lenses
4. The adapter also allows me to use EF 40mm & EF 50mm on a7 and still keep the small form factor ... I'm now thinking of getting the EF 28mm f/1.8 or 24 f/2.8 IS & 35 f/2 IS ... also considering the Voigtlander 15mm and/or 20mm, due to their very compact size ... if I do get them, I'll have the very slim Photodiox adapter permanently mounted on them.

 

[Dylan777]

Reinz ... Not to sound like an ass but ... what are you trying to prove here?

I'm interested in the A7 + a kit/prime lens and have the special luxury of getting approx 20% discount on almost all Sony products so I'm wondering whether it is worth the plunge. Somehow I feel that a 55mmm prime + a A7 will be a great tool while on my travel.

I am however, NOT AT ALL interested in using one with an adapter. For me, the only point in the Sony is the smaller form factor that I can use while I'm traveling. For anything that requires a Canon lens, I'll happily use my DSLR.

Unless you plan to shoot sports with A7 ;D, Otherwise, I highly recommend the A7R. Side by side, I compared the AF speed between A7 or R version @ local sony store, I didn't see much diff.

The Zeiss 55mmm is very friendly to use, in term of handling. It's smaller than the kit lens. However, if you are 35mm type of guy, then Zeiss FE 35mm has the best fit in A7 series - so far.

To give an ideal how Zeiss 55mm + A7r combo looks like:
1. Compared to 5D III + 24-70 II
2. Compared to 5D III + 40mm pancake

 

[jrista]

@Rienz: I'm curious about the JPEG quality. You say these are strait out of camera JPEGs? When you move into the green backgrounds, the posterization and artifacting is really bad. Really quite bad, especially at the lower ISO settings. Any chance you could take a RAW and save it at maximum quality JPEG?

 

[Dylan777]

these are same as above but at f/13 (1/80sec, ISO 125) and f/14 (1/80sec, ISO 200)

Thanks Rienzphotoz for sharing.

I'm going to take your advice on Sony e-mount 10-18mm. I'll keep you posted

 

[Rienzphotoz]

@Rienz: I'm curious about the JPEG quality. You say these are strait out of camera JPEGs? When you move into the green backgrounds, the posterization and artifacting is really bad. Really quite bad, especially at the lower ISO settings. Any chance you could take a RAW and save it at maximum quality JPEG?

Hi Jon,
Unfortunately, I only shot them in JPG (as I had forgotten to change it back to RAW, after my recent timelapse session with the camera) ... also they are not straight out of the camera, I used LR 5.3 to add a bit of vibrance and saturation (with the brush tool), only to the flower ... as well as reduce the files sizes for posting here ... would the file size conversion cause the posterization and artifacting to the background? I'm not an accomplished photographer like you, so user error cannot be ruled out ... but I'll upload the full size JPGs (straight out of the camera) to dropbox or my Smugmug account and post the link, for your scrutiny ... but no harsh comments on user error please, I can't take it ;D (just kidding, any comments on how I could improve the image, is always welcome).