New Sony 70 - 200mm f2.8 G Series

T

thirdyearff

Active member
I know there has been some questions about this lens and I finally took delivery of it about a week ago. I wanted to try it out so I shot a quick performance piece of a friend playing a new song he had written. I used the lens exclusively with an fs700 / 7q combo. 4k to 1080 Prores - Slog2 about 8 takes and the footage is pretty much straight out of the camera with a LUT applied in post...very light CC at best.

 
Throw that lens on an ARRI so we can really evaluate what's going on ; )
Thanks for putting this up nice camera work.

Would like to A/B this with the Canon 70-200.
 
If Sony had made it with a manual iris like the 85mm G, I'd be all over it.

Very nice images though, I must say. Just not sure how much you get beyond the Canon 70-200mm for the additional $600 in price. How is the manual focus action compared to the Canon? I do like that the Sony is e-mount and thus eliminates the need for any adapter and the lens flares that can result from adapters.
 
Did you have a chance to see what functions of the lens worked with the FS700?
Steadyshot? Face Detection autofocus or regular autofocus? Auto iris? Tap screen to
focus? Just curious how the lens works with the FS700.
 
I wasn't a fan of the price but I also wasn't a fan of an adaptor either. I shoot a lot of outdoor docs without the aide of a camera assist so its usually me and a back pack full of lenses so one less thing to deal with through out the day is key. I know buying emount continues to put me further and further on an island...but seeing's as right now I have an FS700 & FS7 it makes sense...I think.

To answer some of the questions...and keep in mind I've had the lens for about 2 weeks. Unfortunately I can't compare it to the Canon...as I've never used it. The focus seems fairly smooth and depending on what your doing does have a decent throw. It's not a barrel zoom which is nice. It's beefy and I haven't checked the specs but seems to be slightly heavier than the 28-135 kit lens for the FS7 and about an inch longer.

Honestly I don't do a lot of "auto" anything but I have messed with autofocus/face detection with this lens. My early impression, and that may change over time, is that it hunts far less and seems to be a bit smoother rolling focus then the 28-135 which can be far from elegant when on auto. That was using the 700, I'm shooting something this afternoon with the 7 which may lend itself to an auto focus test so i'll se how it responds with that camera.

Other than that at this point I'd have to say I'm happy with it and under the right conditions seems to make a nice image...we'll have to see how it performs in the wrong conditions which will come soon enough!
 
thirdyearff said:
I know buying e-mount continues to put me further and further on an island..
Click to expand...

I think this is 5 years old thoughts. (Im a hardcore nikon manual man - so that is my bias*)

The proliferation of FS7, A7s, Fs5 and whatever is next means that Sony is now the third player in imaging or even second maybe having toppled nikon.

The canon/adapter/firmware route and the huge FFD of canon which compromises design choices means that IMO E-mount is now not an island.

Also future cameras will talk to their lenses even more so staying on brand is no bad choice IMO.

S

*of course I still prefer old school manuals.. but if you have to go AF :)
 
I'm beginning more & more to agree with this Sam. My bias is / has been Canon. And I did not think 5 years ago that so many "cinema" camera's (Red, BM, Panny, etc) would ever offer versions with EF mount.
It will be interesting to see if Sony's move with the updated e-mount "lock" in the FS7II transfers to future models and therefore also helps make more in roads.
 
Hmmmm...I don't geek out on this stuff like many others but to my knowledge, there isn't an adaptor to take an e-mount lens and throw it on a C300 (or whatever non Sony camera). Now if there is...please point me in the right direction and i'll buy one today!

If however that sort of adaptor doesn't exist, then I'm not sure how you can't look at e-mount lenses being on an island because it limits how they can be used. And yes, my two main camera are both Sony so what's the problem?
The problem I struggle with is my next camera purchase will probably jump up a level or two and it won't be a Sony and unfortunately that will render half the lenses I own (the e-mounts) useless to that camera.

So every time I look at a lens purchase I find it stressful...and I end up second guessing most every purchase. I jumped on the Xeen's when they first came out and now have them in the 24, 35, 50 & 85...two with e-mount, two with EF mount...probably not a smart move but I couldn't go all in with one or the other.

If there is an adaptor out there that can take an e-mount lens and drop it on another body other than Sony I would feel much better about things...
 
Correct, no adaptor to use e mount lens on other camera mount system. So - in that respect, yes, e mount is an island unto some current Sony systems.
And I understand it can be tough to decide... I would not have done the 50 / 50 split on primes, however. Just buy two e mount adaptors instead with the Canon mounts (one speed booster and one dumb adapter) - and with non full frame sensor, you are giving yourself even more options.

My point above was that the EF mount started as specifically a Canon thing. And now other mfg's are using it on their higher end camera's.
 
markfpv said:
And now other mfg's are using it on their higher end camera's.
Click to expand...

.. which seems completely nuts to me as I would never put plastic glass on a proper camera.

I would also not put research (as a cam manufac) into a completely geometrically wrong lens system designed to avoid the flapping mirror of a Vistavision stills camera.. a system with no manual iris or breach lock.

I only use AF glass (and I do) when I need AF (ronin) and then the best af is the one that really talks to the camera. My ronin rented last week and the user was using a fs5.. I lent him my 16mm pankake joke e-mount lens and he used it because it was so light and the face recognition worked really well!
 
markfpv said:
Correct, no adaptor to use e mount lens on other camera mount system. So - in that respect, yes, e mount is an island unto some current Sony systems.
And I understand it can be tough to decide... I would not have done the 50 / 50 split on primes, however. Just buy two e mount adaptors instead with the Canon mounts (one speed booster and one dumb adapter) - and with non full frame sensor, you are giving yourself even more options.

My point above was that the EF mount started as specifically a Canon thing. And now other mfg's are using it on their higher end camera's.
Click to expand...



At the time I bought the first two Xeen's I only had the 700. However, I knew I was going to buy a new camera and I was leaning towards the RED Raven so that's why I went EF, plus I had a Metabones adaptor so I could also use them on the 700. Then for a variety of reasons I decided against the Raven, shifted over to the Fs7...then when it came time to pick up the other two Xeens I went back n forth as to keep the set all EF or to go for ease since I figured I'd have the 7 for awhile and get e-mount. So now I kick myself when I'm out in the field playing adaptor hockey trying to remember which lenses need the Metabones and which don't.

And actually this past weekend ran around the Chicago Auto show with an FS5 on my Ronin, the 5 had the kit lens on it, not even sure what it is, but I did use autofocus and it seem to do a reasonable job.
 
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