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Bokeh Dreams from 21mm to 135mm with Sony A7 & A7R

Dec. 2013 - Since the new full frame mirrorless "ILCE" cameras (A7 and A7R) from Sony were presented in October, thanks to its small flange distance many users where thrilled by the option to adapt nearly every lens. In the wide angle range, there was quite a lot of frustration, but another article here shows some of the best options in the UWA range. In this article we will focus on lenses that give you great "virtual 3D" options to seperate objects by playing with depth of field (DOF) and beautiful bokeh.

This article will cover the following lenses (downwards sorted by focal length and maximum aperture):

Sony STF 135mm f/2.8 T4.5
Carl Zeiss Planar T* 85mm f/1.4 (with Contax/Yashica mount, MM version)
Nikon AF-S Nikkor 85mm f/1.8 G (2012 model)
Zeiss Otus APO Distagon T* 55mm f/1.4 (ZF.2 version)
Zeiss FE Sonnar T* 55mm f/1.8 (not shown in the collection above)
SLR Magic HyperPrime CINE 50mm T0.95
Leica Summilux M 50mm f/1.4 ASPH
SLR Magic HyperPrime CINE 35mm T0.95
Voigtlander Nokton 35mm f/1.2 ASPH
Voigtlander Ultron 21mm f/1.8 ASPH

135mm

Let us start right with an example from the Sony STF 135mm f/2.8 T4.5:

(click on image to see other sizes)

Due to its very specialized construction, this lens fascinated me since a long time but its focal length was a bit long when used on crop sensors (APS-C, FourThirds etc.). The full frame sensor of the Sony A7R changed the game...

Venetian Carnival 2012 in Hamburg

Hamburg is not only known as a town with more bridges than Venice, it also celebrates a Venetian carnival since 10 years now. It's an enchanting event for every visitor and a "must see" for every photographer.

This time I decided to catch the magic moments with a Leica Summilux 50/1.4 ASPH mounted to a Sony NEX7 to get that perfect melange of sharpness and bokeh in order to keep that mood of light and poetic noblesse. But pictures speak louder than words...

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All images copyright by 3D-Kraft.com.

Dancing Eyes

Stunning eyes, enchanting oriental dance - enjoy!

If you can not see the embedded video, please follow this link.

Choreography & dance performance: Paulina,
Hair & make up: Kerstin Piehorsch,
Concept, production, cam & edit: Helge Hackbarth,
Music: Dinletir - Ice Queen

Filmed with Panasonic Lumix GH2 (with 720p60 @ 44 MBit), Leica DG Summilux 25mm/1.4 and Olympus M.Zuiko 45mm/1.8

(This movie will be available in 3D as well soon, please come back regulary or subscribe to the RSS feed)

UPDATED: Ultra Wide Angle M-Mount Lenses THAT WORK On Sony A7R (Leica "WATE" Tri Elmar 16-18-21mm f/4 ASPH and Voigtlander Ultron 21mm f/1.8 ASPH)

If you visited this article earlier, you may want to jump directly to the UPDATE.

Oct./Nov. 2013 - If you followed all that buzz and bashing on the new mirrorless fullframe cameras from Sony, the A7 and A7R (also named as ILCE-7 and ILCE-7R), you may have got the impression that these cameras are not suited to be used together with wide ange M-mount lenses from Leica, Zeiss and Voigtländer. My conflicting message is, that it will work perfectly fine, if you choose the right lens.

You propably saw many articles like the "torture test" of Ron Sheffler, who came to the conclusion "Results on the a7 are for the most part disappointing. All I can surmise at the moment is that the toppings on the a7′s sensor work against achieving optimal (or in some cases, good enough) results with the rangefinder lenses I had available for this test". You propably also read Steve Huff's 1st impressions coming to the conclusion "But seriously, if you are primarily an ultra wide Leica M lens shooter, you may want to skip these bodies.".

Before going into detail of my conflicting message,

Sunny 35s - Zeiss Touit 1.8/32 vs. Sony 35mm f/1.8 OSS vs. SLR Magic HyperPrime CINE 35mm T0.95 comparison review

August 2013 - time for some summerly (re-)views. Before this autumn will propably distract us to new fullframe NEX camera bodies and lenses, let us compare some of the latest offerings in the range of bright ~35mm lenses with a field of view equivalent to a 50mm lens on fullframe sensors. Beside some others, you can currently choose between the new Zeiss Touit Planar T* 32mm f/1.8, the Sony 35mm f/1.8 OSS and the SLR Magic HyperPrime CINE 35mm T0.95 (available from September 2013). This article will provide you an in-depth comparison between these lenses.

Before we go into details, let's compare sizes of the main competitors:

Left: Sony 35mm f/1.8 OSS, right: Zeiss Touit Planar T* 1.8/32 and their lens hoods
(image taken with the HyperPrime CINE 35 T0.95 (stopped down to T4.0 still showing round circles of confusion)

The Sony lens is a tad more compact than the Zeiss, the latter appears a bit more solid and with nicer haptics.
Before we come to a more detailed comparison, let me show you an example that I find quite significant for this type of lens, as it gives a good idea about the viewing angle and the depth-of-field that you can achieve at 32mm f/1.8 on an APS-C crop sensor:

Triathlon world championship 2013 in Hamburg, shot with the Zeiss Touit 1.8/32 @ F1.8