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New Lens for Sony a6500


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29 minutes ago, Bryan said:

 

I use a 12 mm Rokinon and a Sigma 19mm Edo, so the 28-70 would be appropriate. It also fits with the 75-150 f4 that I carry. It would mean I could dispense with a 28, 35 and 50, so, if it is as good as I hope it might be, it would save lens changes and portage. The 16-70 would have been even better, but, sadly, not to be.

 

I guess that weight is something else to consider. The 28-70 is probably considerably heavier than the 16-70, so you might be back to where you started, especially since you would need to carry another lens to complement the 28-70.  (although the 19mm is light).

 

Just sayin'...

 

P.S. Just noticed that Wim says the 28-70 is big but lightweight, so maybe not an issue. Good luck with your quest.

Edited by John Mitchell
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1 hour ago, Bryan said:

 

 

I would ideally like to road test a 28-70 before committing, it gets lukewarm reviews in some quarters, although most seem to feel that it punches above its price tag level. This makes interesting reading.

 

 

 

Interesting to see that DxO isn't too harsh on the 16-50:

 

``One of the best all-round performers is the collapsible E-mount 16-50mm f3.5-5.6, which is often bundled as a kit lens.``

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41 minutes ago, John Mitchell said:

 

Interesting to see that DxO isn't too harsh on the 16-50:

 

``One of the best all-round performers is the collapsible E-mount 16-50mm f3.5-5.6, which is often bundled as a kit lens.``

 

Yes John, having used the 16-50 I was expecting a lot better of the Zeiss!  The Zeiss is a curate's egg of a lens, the in focus central  section is fabulous, lovely colours and razor sharp, far superior to the 16-50, but the edges let it down so badly.

 

In order to provide myself with a further justification for the return of the Zeiss I've added another example to the blog, it was this shot that really persuaded me that all was not well.

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50 minutes ago, Bryan said:

 

Yes John, having used the 16-50 I was expecting a lot better of the Zeiss!  The Zeiss is a curate's egg of a lens, the in focus central  section is fabulous, lovely colours and razor sharp, far superior to the 16-50, but the edges let it down so badly.

 

In order to provide myself with a further justification for the return of the Zeiss I've added another example to the blog, it was this shot that really persuaded me that all was not well.

 

Not to belabour this, but you might just have a bad copy. Apparently, it's a very common problem with the 16-70. The 16-50 that came with my a6000 was terrible, totally blurry on one side of the frame at infinity focus. I took it back, and the replacement is fine.

 

No expert, but looking at the new images on your blog, your copy might be decentred -- looks fuzzier to me on left side. No?

Edited by John Mitchell
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This dxo review puts the 3 lenses side by side.

I've just put my 28-70 on the scale and without covers it's exactly 290g.

Remember it's a budget option with a very good bang for the buck. But there is better quality out there. Certainly in full frame.

 

wim

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43 minutes ago, John Mitchell said:

 

Not to belabour this, but you might just have a bad copy. Apparently, it's a very common problem with the 16-70. The 16-50 that came with my a6000 was terrible, totally blurry on one side of the frame at infinity focus. I took it back, and the replacement is fine.

 

No expert, but looking at the new images on your blog, your copy might be decentred -- looks fuzzier to me on left side. No?

 

If you look at the right side in detail - I've not included this on the blog - you can see that it's also poor, so I don't think that it is a decentering issue. My Sony 55-210 was seriously decentered when I bought it, but that was fixed under warranty. This is not peculiar to cheap Sony glass, I once used a Canon L f2.8 lens at work that cost around £1000 many moons ago, and that had to be sent back, more than once! It was never really sorted.

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4 minutes ago, Bryan said:

 

If you look at the right side in detail - I've not included this on the blog - you can see that it's also poor, so I don't think that it is a decentering issue. My Sony 55-210 was seriously decentered when I bought it, but that was fixed under warranty. This is not peculiar to cheap Sony glass, I once used a Canon L f2.8 lens at work that cost around £1000 many moons ago, and that had to be sent back, more than once! It was never really sorted.

 

I see. Just thought I'd mention this. Sounds as if you're about to save yourself some cash. B)

 

P.S. No doubt Sony doesn't have a monopoly on QC problems, especially these days when lenses are turned out like hot-cross buns.

 

 

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1 hour ago, Ed Rooney said:

The 28-70 feels just right, not heavy, not bulky, yet solid. 

 

Sounds  good. I'll have a peek at this lens.

 

Like you, I'm heavily into light these days. The tiny-ish 16-50 has its shortcomings, but I've managed to make pretty good friends with it in spite of.

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My absolutely favorite lens on my a6000 is a Sony/Zeiss 24mm (36mm equivalent full frame), not in the least bit cheap anywhere, especially not new in Nicaragua with customs and 16% sales tax.  Took three trips of Managua looking at it to decide to get it, but It shoots near macro to street scapes.  LR says I've shot about as many frames with it as all my other APSC lenses combined.  My other lenses for the a6000 are the 55-210 zoom (oddly enough sharpest at closest distances at 210mm), a 35mm Sony lens with OSS, and a 30mm Sony Macro.  I sometimes miss my former 18-55mm lens that came and went with an a3000 Sony,  and I had a 16mm f/2.8 for a while, but now use a Batis 18mm on full frame cameras when I want ultra wide.

 

I think the 24mm Sony/Zeiss can be had used for around $700 to $800.  

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I bought the 18-105 f4 a few months ago, it performs well with little distortion on the wide end. Having the constant f4 aperture appealed to me.  The annoying part about the lens is it always returns to the 18mm focal length when the camera shuts down and there is no focal length markings on the lens barrel to preset focal length.  I am wondering if the 18-135 would have been a better choice.  I just discovered that the Sigma 17-50 is available for Sony mounts now.  I had it for several years now and still use it regularly.  It does have some chromatic aberration issues, but Lightroom handles it easily.  Here is a link.  Stores here are selling it for $315.  https://www.sigmaphoto.com/17-50mm-f28-ex-dc-os-hsm

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  • 1 month later...

I've re-opened this thread as I have just taken delivery of a new 28-70 Sony lens.

 

Took it for a walk today. The good news, it handles well on the a6500 as, despite it being a FF lens, it's relatively light and compact. At the long end 50 -70  the photos appear to be creditably crisp across the frame.

 

The bad news, at the wider end it appears to be de-centred, the left side of the images are noticeably softer than the right. I'll do some more rigorous testing, but I may well be sending it back. :(

 

 

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1 hour ago, Bryan said:

I've re-opened this thread as I have just taken delivery of a new 28-70 Sony lens.

 

Took it for a walk today. The good news, it handles well on the a6500 as, despite it being a FF lens, it's relatively light and compact. At the long end 50 -70  the photos appear to be creditably crisp across the frame.

 

The bad news, at the wider end it appears to be de-centred, the left side of the images are noticeably softer than the right. I'll do some more rigorous testing, but I may well be sending it back. :(

 

 

 

Sorry to hear that, but de-centering seems to be a common problem these days (maybe it always was, but we just didn't notice it in film days).

 

I'd take it back for sure and get another one to try. 

 

Best of luck.

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12 hours ago, John Mitchell said:

 

Sorry to hear that, but de-centering seems to be a common problem these days (maybe it always was, but we just didn't notice it in film days).

 

I'd take it back for sure and get another one to try. 

 

Best of luck.

 

Thanks John. Took some more shots this morning using the tripod and it's not so clear cut! There is a fall of at the edges at the wide end but maybe not as bad as I thought. In a bit of a quandary. This could be a good replacement for the failed 16-50, but maybe not as my principal photo tool :unsure:

 

 

Edited by Bryan
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14 hours ago, Bryan said:

I've re-opened this thread as I have just taken delivery of a new 28-70 Sony lens.

 

Took it for a walk today. The good news, it handles well on the a6500 as, despite it being a FF lens, it's relatively light and compact. At the long end 50 -70  the photos appear to be creditably crisp across the frame.

 

The bad news, at the wider end it appears to be de-centred, the left side of the images are noticeably softer than the right. I'll do some more rigorous testing, but I may well be sending it back. :(

 

 

 

Sorry to hear of the de-centring problem. I am fairly sure that it is something to do with the optical SteadyShot stabilization system not being set up correctly.

 

I even had it with other makes of lenses, Canon, Fuji, Tamron, to name a few.

 

Seems to depend on how it dropped off the end of the production line.:)

 

Allan

 

 

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3 minutes ago, Allan Bell said:

 

Sorry to hear of the de-centring problem. I am fairly sure that it is something to do with the optical SteadyShot stabilization system not being set up correctly.

 

I even had it with other makes of lenses, Canon, Fuji, Tamron, to name a few.

 

Seems to depend on how it dropped off the end of the production line.:)

 

Allan

 

 

 

I'm sorry too, Bryan. I don't have that problem on my 28/70, but I did have it on two Nikon zooms I owned back at the start of digital. On one, the problem was not there on every shot. Try covering yourself with a few extra frames. 

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4 hours ago, Allan Bell said:

 

Sorry to hear of the de-centring problem. I am fairly sure that it is something to do with the optical SteadyShot stabilization system not being set up correctly.

 

I even had it with other makes of lenses, Canon, Fuji, Tamron, to name a few.

 

Seems to depend on how it dropped off the end of the production line.:)

 

Allan

 

 

 

Thanks Allan and Edo.

 

That OSS problem is a new one on me, but it appears to be something of that sort as the fault appears to be intermittent and did not occur when using the tripod. I took a further series of shots this afternoon and it seems I can't depend upon this lens in regular use. Can't be dealing with a lens that might ruin a master shot, it will have to go back. Problem is I now need to find the lens cap!

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1 hour ago, Bryan said:

 

Thanks Allan and Edo.

 

That OSS problem is a new one on me, but it appears to be something of that sort as the fault appears to be intermittent and did not occur when using the tripod. I took a further series of shots this afternoon and it seems I can't depend upon this lens in regular use. Can't be dealing with a lens that might ruin a master shot, it will have to go back. Problem is I now need to find the lens cap!

 

I think Allan may have meant the in-body OSS.

Not sure what the possible combinations are on a A6500, so you will have to google around a bit.

Having had my A7R2 set to 12mm ruined quite some shots. The same for 400mm. So it's easily overlooked. Correction: I seem to easily overlook it. Juggling adapters doesn't help either.

 

wim

Edited by wiskerke
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1 hour ago, wiskerke said:

 

I think Allan may have meant the in-body OSS.

Not sure what the possible combinations are on a A6500, so you will have to google around a bit.

Having had my A7R2 set to 12mm ruined quite some shots. The same for 400mm. So it's easily overlooked. Correction: I seem to easily overlook it. Juggling adapters doesn't help either.

 

wim

 

Yes Wim, using manual focus lenses most of the time as I do I have to remember to change the IBIS focal length every time. It's generally OK if the % difference isn't too large, but I've managed to ruin a few 12 or even 28mm shots with IBIS set to 150!  I keep telling myself to reset it to a more moderate length immediately after using the longer lenses, but still forget!

 

The 28-70 comes with OSS, which I think is a separate feature to the IBIS of the sensor. I would like to be able to switch the OSS off but leave the IBIS on, but that does not appear to be possible?

 

 

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2 hours ago, Bryan said:

 

Yes Wim, using manual focus lenses most of the time as I do I have to remember to change the IBIS focal length every time. It's generally OK if the % difference isn't too large, but I've managed to ruin a few 12 or even 28mm shots with IBIS set to 150!  I keep telling myself to reset it to a more moderate length immediately after using the longer lenses, but still forget!

 

The 28-70 comes with OSS, which I think is a separate feature to the IBIS of the sensor. I would like to be able to switch the OSS off but leave the IBIS on, but that does not appear to be possible?

 

 

 

I think the general idea is that they work together. But when you disengage the AF on the lens; the IBIS shuts off as well. However I have not seen this in the manual.

 

wim

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Decentering may not be the fault of the lens, but can be because of the camera lens mount being off centre or loose. Try very carefully tightening up the screws on the camera lens mount. But only if they turn easily.

 

How are your other lenses performing on the same camera?

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40 minutes ago, Bill Brooks said:

Decentering may not be the fault of the lens, but can be because of the camera lens mount being off centre or loose. Try very carefully tightening up the screws on the camera lens mount. But only if they turn easily.

 

How are your other lenses performing on the same camera?

 

Thanks Bill, good thought. The other lenses are fine, my small set of ex film camera lenses generally produce images that are sharp from corner to corner - provided that I remember to dial in the correct focal length..... 

 

I have had problems with an adapter where the screws worked loose however, and I now carry a small screwdriver as a precaution!

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A possible test is to set everything to MF and see if you can replicate it.

My guess is that most of those kit lenses will have some decentering. Mine has some. But less than my Canon 70-200 after adjustment.

If it comes from a real shop, I would try a couple and pick the best

 

wim

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1 hour ago, wiskerke said:

A possible test is to set everything to MF and see if you can replicate it.

My guess is that most of those kit lenses will have some decentering. Mine has some. But less than my Canon 70-200 after adjustment.

If it comes from a real shop, I would try a couple and pick the best

 

wim

 

Carried out a test this afternoon with the image stabilisation switched off - found that you can program the function key to select that parameter, so easy to use. The shots look a lot better, there is slight decentering, but probably livable with. Need to take a lot more photos before coming to a final decision.

 

Lens bought from Amazon UK (delivered unbelievably quickly even though I opted for the zero cost snail mail) so difficult to pick and choose unfortunately. I wanted this lens to use when I cycle only so a secondary bit of kit, intended to replace the not very good 16-50 (and now defunct) kit  lens.

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