Impressions from Cuba 2012 - please take your time for this photo- & video-mix, you will not regret it!
This video was assembled from photos and video snippets taken in Cuba, March 2012 and demonstrates the potential of Sony's NEX-7 and current E-mount prime lenses.

Best viewed in fullscreen-mode. If you can not see the embedded video, please follow this link.

The FullHD (1080p) version can be found here: vimeo.com/39946249. You can download the original video upload with better quality there as well.

Used cameras: Sony NEX-7, Panasonic Lumix GH2
Used lenses: Zeiss 24mm F1.8, Sony 50mm F1.8, SLR Magic CINE 50mm T0.95, SLR Magic 12mm T1.6

Thanks for watching. You find a Flickr album with most of these pictures at
flickr.com/photos/hhackbarth/sets/72157629726737761/

If you are a bokeh enthusiastic and love shooting at low light (flash - what is that?), here is something that may make you even more addictive. SLR Magic is going to launch a new 50mm lens, the HyperPrime CINE T0.95 that will push the limit to a new level. This rolling review will keep you informed and will be continously updated with more images, videos, experiences and comparisons.

First let me state that I am not affiliated with SLR Magic, Leica or Sony, so you will see and read my pure personal impressions and opinions here. You may have heard already from SLR Magic's HyperPrime 50mm lenses and when first impressions of the CINE T0.95 were posted in the beginning of this year, I saw many people quite confused because they thought those reviews still adressed the 50m F0.95 lens that is already sold for some time under the NOKTOR label for MicroFourThirds and E-mount (Sony NEX). One of the reasons may have been that also the first prototypes of this new lens still carried the neon green ring, that Noktor lenses used to come with. But believe me: This new lens is a COMPLETELY different standard! The pre production sample that I received from SLR Magic already shows the final design (but carrying a "concept" mark) of the black ring version.

The new lens weighs about twice that much of the earlier model and although it is designed as a professional cinema lens, there is absolutely no doubt about it's qualities to be used for enthusiastic photography as well. The aperture ring can be moved stepless and it is calibrated in T-stops. It has no focus shift which means the focus will not move when stopping down the lens. It has no breathing which means the focal length and so the angle of view does not change when moving focus. The aperture blades close in a very round circle so that bokeh still keeps those nice round circles of confusion, when stopping down the lens - lights do not mutate to "stop signs"! The near distance is 0.7 meters (competitors like the Leica Noctilux usually start at 1m) which gives you some extra potential for creative usage of DOF.

So what means T0.95? As mentioned before, the aperture is calibrated in T-stops which is important for film makers that must make sure that the light transmission keeps the same when changing lenses at the same T-stop whereas F-stops only describe the calculated ratio of focal length and how wide the lens can open. Due to vignetting and other properties of the lens design, an F-stop of 0.95 typically results in a T-stop of 1.1 or so. Optically the lens is designed to have an F-stop of 0.92 at open aperture which makes it the fastest camera lens currently available for M-mount. This is possible due to an extremely large rear lens element:

Beside the "CINE" version, SLR Magic offers also a "LM" version of this lens with a mechanical range finder coupling to be used e.g. on the Leica M9. The optical design is the same as for the "CINE" version but mechanically it contains different parts and materials but the largest amount of the prices difference goes into labour as it takes a lot of time to calibrate the range finder coupling.

Build quality

The lens has an absolutely exceptional build quality. It is solid like a tank (which you will feel, when carrying that lens around...). The operation of the (stepless) aperture ring and the focus throw feels like you expect it from such a lens. It is not a mass production lens so you can be sure that every single item is calibrated for optimal sharpness.

The lens comes with an extractable lens hood shown here:

Don't expect easy and quick handling from this lens. The depth of field (DOF) at open aperture is narrow to such an extent that you will need some time to precisely focus it. Focus peaking like in the newer NEX cameras may help you already a lot but under low light conditions you usually will have to go into 5x or 11x magnification in order to be precise enough. My recommendation is to use it on a (mirrorless) CSC camera equipped with an electronic viewfinder (EVF) like the Sony NEX-7:

To give you an idea of the size of this lens, let's compare it with some other "adorable fifties", the Leica Summilux-M 50mm F/1.4 ASPH and the new Sony E 1.8 / 50mm OSS (SEL 50F18):

A size comparison from top:

(from left to right: Leica Noctilux 50mm F/0.95 ASPH, SLR Magic HyperPrime CINE 50mm T0.95, Leica Summilux 50mm F/1.4 ASPH)

Sharpness and Bokeh

After all these boring product photos I will no longer keep you in suspense. Some small talk about sharpness and bokeh may be nice but pictures speak louder than words. Let's start with a short comparison at fair light conditions (focus was set to the star at the radiator grill of the car):

Sony E 1.8 / 50mm OSS (SEL 50F18) at F1.8:

(click for other sizes)

Leica Summilux-M 50mm F/1.4 ASPH at F1.4:

(click for other sizes)

SLR Magic HyperPrime CINE 50mm T0.95 at T0.95 (F0.92, 1/80s shutter, handheld):

(click for other sizes)

Please do not take this image already as the final determination regarding sharpness at open aperture - it may still contain some motion blur.
Regardings sharpness, please consider this ISO 100 shots taken from tripod attached to the Lumix GH2:

SLR Magic HyperPrime CINE @ T0.95 (F0.92) ath the Lumix GH2:

(Click for other sizes)

Another bokeh comparison already at low light conditions:

(Click for other sizes)

SLR Magic HyperPrime CINE 50mm T0.95 at T1.4 with some minor fill-in flash:

(Click for other sizes)

SLR Magic HyperPrime CINE 50mm T0.95 at T0.95 (F0.92 with some minor fill-in flash and pushed by 1 stop due to under-exposure):

(Click for other sizes)

Bokeh at T0.95:

Bokeh at T1.4:


(Click for other sizes)

For further sharpness and bokeh comparison, please see also the direct comparison to the Leica Noctilux.

Handheld shooting under extreme low light conditions:

This is a lens you typically take along hoping that it allows you to leave the tripod at home - and so did I when going into that shooting as I was asked by the bar staff to shoot without attracting attention. In order to see how far the limit can be pushed with that lens / camera combination under these conditions, the so enchanting and patient model Anja, her husband and I went to the "EAST" Hotel (thanks for their friendly property release). In their Yakshi's bar we had the chance to testdrive that lens (and of course some drinks) at nearly candle light conditions.

T0.95, ISO 1600, 1/10s handheld (only candle and smartphone display used to lighten the face)

(Click for other sizes but take into account that a picture shot handheld at 1/10s with ISO 1600 has motion blur and can not be used as reference for sharpness of this lens. It is just a demonstration which situations you can handle with this lens with APS-C 24 MP sensor cameras whose ISO performance is limited to 1600 when you are still expecting results with tolerable noise).

T0.95, ISO 1600, handheld at 1/10s shutter:

(Click for other sizes but take into account that a picture shot handheld at 1/10s with ISO 1600 has motion blur and can not be used as reference for sharpness of this lens. It is just a demonstration which situations you can handle with this lens with APS-C 24 MP sensor cameras whose ISO performance is limited to 1600 when you are still expecting results with tolerable noise).

T0.95, ISO 1600, 1/30s shutter, handheld:

(Click for other sizes)

Freezing fast moving objects at extreme low light (T0.95, ISO 1600, 1/125s)

(Click for other sizes)

Another cool application is taking panoramas at extreme low light conditions:

This panorama was taken during an orchestra performance in a church with very little light with the panorama function of the Sony NEX-7. It covers a viewing angle comparable to a 16mm ultra wide angle lens. The camera takes 32 medium resolution photos with 1/500s shutter time in a short sequence and assembles them automatically to a panorama afterwards. At this low light even with T0.95 (F0.92) the camera went to its ISO 1600 limit and the image still had to be pushed by one additional stop afterwards. The original image is 8192 pixels wide, here (when clicked) you see a version scaled down to 4096 pixels. Not a perfect replacement for a fast ultra wide angle prime but still making things possible that I could not imagine so far.

Please see also the direct comparison to the Leica Noctilux.

There is more to come soon, e.g.

• precise sharpness test at ISO 100 from tripod
  
• some video work
  

So I will be happy to see you back here soon!

You can already preorder that lens at SLR Magic's home page where you also can see the prices.

Workshop

I am planning an "Adorable Fifties" workshop in Hamburg in May 13th 2012 during the celebration of the birthday of Hamburg's harbour. We will have daylight and available light comparison shootings wit models in nice locations. If you are interested in participating and can contribute some adorable 50mm lenses as well, please mail to info(at)3d-kraft.com.

All images copyright by 3D-Kraft.com.

In January "Vice Miss Hamburg 2012" Lenea Martens visited me for a shooting themed "Mademoiselle Parfum". It was the first time I had the  chance to use a Sony NEX-7 (for the 2D stills) and the last 3D shooting with my pair of Panasonic GH2.

First we started with a 2D still:

(Click image for higher resolutions)

Now prepare your red/cyan filterglasses and enjoy.

(Click image to see higher resolution. Please use red/cyan filterglasses to see 3D effect)

If you use 3D equipment capable of displaying "genuine" 3D stereo images in MPO format you may try these links:

Link to 3D MPO file

Make-up artist: Kerstin Piehorsch.

Copyright 2011 3D-Kraft.com, all rights reserved.

After some shootings taken with Sony's new NEX-7 it may be time for a first interim conclusion. As you might already know, the NEX-7 has an APS-C sized sensor with 24 million pixels and a very large dynamik range of about 13 EVs. This sounds quite impressing but may have also some tradeoffs that you should be aware of. In many photo forums people are discussing the pro and cons and most of the time you will find complaints about colorshifts when adapting particular M-mount superwide angle lenses or more noise at high ISO levels. I will not go into details about these issues but at least two sentences: If you scale down the high ISO images to resolutions of other currently popular mirrorless system cameras like the NEX-5n, you will see that the noise is comparable. Colorshifts, that you may have seen with the Leica M9 in some cases as well, can be avoided by selecting wide angle lenses with a more telecentric design like the Tri Elmar or by applying post processing corrections e.g. with Cornerfix.

In this article I will focus on some other aspects that you may recognize when shooting with the NEX-7: Moiré.

Moiré in a 100% crop that may occur with sensors that have no AA-filter

When I had the chance to shoot with a Leica M9 about 18 monts ago, one of the issues that I was confronted the first time with was moiré. You may know moiré patterns already from other situations e.g. when looking on the surface of a CD ROM. Moiré patterns on textures you usually find on images, when the textile structure interferes with the pattern structure of the red, green and blue pixels on the digital image sensor. Typically, camera manufactures try to avoid this by applying additional high-pass filters (also called AA-filter or anti-aliasing filter) on the sensor's surface. The penalty of these filters is, that they do not only help avoiding moiré, they also reduce detail resolution and low light sensivity. Leica decided for it's M9 to go for a sensor design without AA-filter. Also Sony attempted to preserve as much details as possible with the new 24 MP sensor of the NEX-7 by applying no AA-filter (or may be a very thin one only - Sony currently provides no details) - and so I was confronted again with moiré...

Wich other options do you have to get rid of moiré without loosing detail resolution? Fujifilm announced a new sensor technology for it's first mirrorless system camera, the Fuji Pro X 1. The sensor does not have an AA-filter and tries to avoid moiré structures in a hardware manner by a less regular arrangement of the RGB-pixels within a 6x6 matrix.

What options else?
Removing moiré in post processing without loosing details is extremely difficult with standard tools. Big relief comes now from Adobe: In the public beta preview version of Lightroom 4 you find additional options for the correction brush after switching to the "new process". One of these options is a very powerful moiré reduction. Look here for the result, when this algorithm was applied with the default setting of 25%:

Moiré removed with Adobe Lightrooms new moiré correction brush available in Lightroom4 and Camera Raw 7

To give you an idea about the area that was cropped in that example, here is the full image:

(full image, click for other sizes)

If you think this issue may occur only very rarely, you may be quite optimistic...
I had this effect on several images during only one shooting session but it is usually limited to fine textures. Here is another moiré example from that shooting:

Moiré example (click for other sizes)

And after processing with Lightroom 4 beta:

(Moiré removed - click for other sizes)

And finally the uncropped result as well:

(click image for other sizes)

All images copyright by 3D-Kraft.com.