Looking forward to this lens (Sony 18-104 OSS F4)...

This looks like the run-n-gun lens to beat now. Great price, too.

Now, if only Sony would add a center-crop option to the FS700 so we could cover an effective 18-200mm(ish) range with this lens... (edit: without the tradeoffs/price of their actual 18-200mm lens, of course)
 
I'm hoping it works with the rocker on the camera and holds focus. I'm not digging the rotating focus ring but with the hard stops on the Tilta follow focus it might be tolerable. The video is a bit awkward and could be more informative.
 
If the other E-mount zooms are anything to go by, this one should at least also be "electronically-assisted" parfocal... i.e. the lens holds focus after a brief, usually unnoticeable adjustment after zooming. Hard stops on FF working on this lens--I can't access the video (vimeo blocked in China, ironic because newsshooter is based here), but does this lens not focus-by-wire? Anyway I look forward to this lens too. The Zeiss-branded 16-70 is quite a disappointment and one of my most regrettable $1k purchases.
 
had it for a test this weekend and I am gonna keep it and I will replace my 18-200. From my experience I rarely used the range of 100-200mm. I like the possibility of even zoom via handgrip switch. Breathing and AF also seam a lot better too. With a price of 500€ plus VAT hopefully there won't be a big loss after having sold the 18-200.
 
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On the 10th I noticed that the status on this lens had changed from 'preorder'
to 'available' and I ordered it. However it didn't ship out. I made a phone call
and found that although they had received a shipment and had the lens in stock,
they couldn't ship it until Dec. 15th because of a manufacturers restriction.
I just got the email that it has shipped out so I will do a review once it gets here.
 
Good to hear the early impression is positive, looking forward to seeing more on this lens.

I'm curious to hear whether the constant f/4 aperture really is constant through a zoom. For instance the Canon 24-105mm f/4 claims to be constant but darkens by what looks like nearly a full stop through the zoom range.
 
Had it for a week now and tested it in several conditions where it convinced me to use it on a paid gig. Street run and gun face detection held up well in avg light. Street lights at night auto focus will hunt but recovered faster than expected. Electronic par focal in avg to good light works good and holds Aperture well for the $$'s. at a price. Battery power will half your avg capacity on the FS 700 which as we all know exceptional to begin with. on the Nex 7 it pulls the battery harder again as expected for what is going on in that lens. IQ is on par with the 18-200 which I hardly ever use but will use this. OSS is better than the 18-200. We set the hand rocker to fixed 2 setting for a production type slow zoom and when needing fast variable will use the zoom on the lens. Electronic par focal works at setting 1-5 speed or up to 50%. Faster and you need a less mixed setting. Highlights can get bit harsh but nds if used helps. here is an extreme highlight and shaded shot of my dog and you can see this and that it holds focus on zoom even on a pets face. For the $$s and weight well likely come in handy for solo work. http://youtu.be/dVbHxGVLbn4

Stan Elevated Visual
 
I have one of these on order as i feel it would be a useful lens for certain coverage style shoots but yeah I was worried about this as when i enquired about compatibility with the FS, the word back from Sony was that all powered lenses other than the SELP 18200 (a lens that doesn't interest me personally) may have vignette or distortion at edge of image as FS700 doesn't have software compensation for that. I too would be interested how the people testing them have found it and whether or not it's an issue.
 
PaulHelling said:
That Pillow effect is kinda scary but I still ordered one. I'll post my findings later this week.
Click to expand...

Today I been in B&H and make fast test of this lens....( I only check it for distortion, speed of zoom and speed of focusing... so, don't be strong about the rest )

Here the result:


I add the greed so you can stop at any frame and check level of distortion carefully ..
.. and, as you can see at the end - I asking Sony to FIX IT !!! :cheesy:.. so maybe we will have it later.. if everyone will asking Sony to do it :2vrolijk_08:
 
Hi.

I have this lens on my FS100. I find the pincushion distortion absolutely scaring. It begins right after zooming in just a little bit and is more begins to destract from 35mm upwards.

In general, I like this lens. Weight, size, image stabilizier, constant aperture, constant length, but the distortion especially with longer focal length is not acceptable. How will face llok in interviews?
Just forget it!

All NEX foto cameras have electronical correction of the distortion even in video modes, but non of the video cameras have this!
I contacted sony support, too, but don't hope for the better here.

It is like it is - this nice lens is not usable for me this way...
 
Erik Wittbusch said:
Hi.

I have this lens on my FS100. I find the pincushion distortion absolutely scaring. It begins right after zooming in just a little bit and is more begins to destract from 35mm upwards.

In general, I like this lens. Weight, size, image stabilizier, constant aperture, constant length, but the distortion especially with longer focal length is not acceptable. How will face llok in interviews?
Just forget it!

All NEX foto cameras have electronical correction of the distortion even in video modes, but non of the video cameras have this!

I contacted sony support, too, but don't hope for the better here.

It is like it is - this nice lens is not usable for me this way...
Click to expand...

If Sony VG30 have it... why do you think it's not possible for FS100 and FS700 ?

I will NOT buy and NOT recommend to buy this lens until Sony FIX it !!!
 
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Wow, that doesn't look good. I was thinking it would be as good as the kit lens, not quite the range but
most of the useful range and quite a bit faster. Yikes, I was really looking forward to this lens, now,
I'm not happy I ordered it.
 
Wow, is there something wrong with the lenses? That's so awfully bad that i cannot believe the original lens design passed. Is there a chance that there is supposed to be hardware distortion correction going on which isn't on these samples?

That's comically unusably bad.

cheers
Paul
 
I feel a little expectation management may be in order.

Sony Lens, 18-104.F4 $500
Fuiji Lens, 18-90 F2.8 $44000

The industry is still missing the lens we want; 18-90F4, $4400
 
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Clermond said:
shame on me! I was totally focussed on AF, Zoom breathing etc. I was shooting for test in a park with some kids and I did not realize how bad distortion is.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8273739/00081.mov

Sorry guys for my overhasty recommendation and thanks for being more precise than I was. Not sure whether I will keep it as I don't have hope for a fix.

comparison to 18-200

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8273739/00083.mov

both clips just re-wrapped with ClipWrap
Click to expand...
Having problems downloading comparison. Just an error screen?

Scrap that can see it now!
 
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