Update on my Adventures with the Sony NEX

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Andy
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Joined: Sun Sep 18, 2005 12:01 am
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Update on my Adventures with the Sony NEX

Post: # 16638Post Andy
Sun Jun 23, 2013 6:52 am

Since I posted the barn "grab shot," some months back, I have gone from a toe in the water to a full fledged, cannonball into the pond.

A month or so back, bought the Zeiss lens co-manufactured by Carl Zeiss and Sony. 24mm and f1.8 maximum aperture. It appears to me to be everything everyone ever said about the "legendary" Zeiss glass. Snappy, contrasty, colorful, and razor-sharp right out of the box. I find myself doing comparably little post processing work with images made from this camera/lens combo. After falling in love with it, I learned that Zeiss would offer 3 more lenses with mounts to fit the NEX (and the Fuji "equivalent" - both are APS sensor size). The Zeiss lineup (12mm f2.8; 32mm f1.8 and yet to be released 50mm f2.8 ) are pricey little lenses, but offer a prime lens line for the NEX that was - frankly - sorely missing and keeping a lot of serious shooters from making the jump to the NEX camera.

The draw for me was the ability to shoot with the legendary Zeiss glass and the at such wide open apertures. The bokeh these lenses generate is gorgeous. I used the 24mm for only a few days before pre-ordering the 32mm. The 32 arrived on Monday morning at the office and I carried it all week on my morning walks. Here are a couple shots with these 2 lenses (I also have acquired a 50mm Sony f1.8 for the NEX - it is no Zeiss, but does produce nice bokeh when shot wide open, and I believe will stand on its own with a bit more post processing. Jury is out whether I will replace it with the Zeiss when it becomes available. I have grown to really love that extra stop!). This gives me the equivalent on the NEX of approximately 35mm, 50mm and 75mm, all at f1.8.

The Daylily is the Carl Zeiss 32mm @f1.8

Image

The shot of the harbor is with the Carl Zeiss 24mm at f8

Image

For post processing, I did very little, which is part of my childlike amazement at these lenses (I always feel the need to do some work on the raw images produced by my Nikon gear). On the daylily, I did my usual adjustments in ACR, which include a touch of vibrance and clarity, adusting the black and white points as necessary (none needed here), and some contrast adjustment. With these Zeiss lenses I find myself mostly leaving the contrast as is "out of the box" so to speak. No contrast adjustment on the lily -- just a touch on the harbor shot.

No, Al, I did not touch the saturation on either of these (except for whatever the vibrance/clarity adjustments did) :-). Some fiddling with brightness in a couple areas in Viveza 2, VERY minor.

This is a fun carry!!
Andy

If it sounds too good to be true, its probably . . . .


Andy
Posts: 1562
Joined: Sun Sep 18, 2005 12:01 am
Location: Saginaw, Michigan
Contact:

Re: Update on my Adventures with the Sony NEX

Post: # 16685Post Andy
Sat Jul 13, 2013 7:36 pm

I dont think you will regret it, MMVT. I will try to post a few more images tomorrow when I. get back on the computer. On the iPad right now and not as able to post images. We are going to Europe in September and the current plan is to carry ONLY the Sony gear
Andy

If it sounds too good to be true, its probably . . . .

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