Sony E mount 16mm and wide angle converter

J

Jean-Philippe

Well-known member
Today I will receive the 16mm f2.8 for e-mount with the wide angle converter. Will certainly do some tests and let you know how they performs on the FS100. Is there anybody here who have already tested this setup? Let me know!
 
There was a couple of posts... but nothing extensive. I think the general consensus was that it's quite a decent lens and the wide angle adapter is indeed welcome given the crop of the FS100. I just ordered the pair myself today :)

I found these two clips... not mine, just a basic google search on Vimeo.



[video]http://vimeo.com/groups/fs100/videos/25826525[/video]
 
Just received it. In fact I ordered it with the NEX-3. I was going to order the 16mm for 250$ when I saw that for 250$ more, I would get what's appearing to be a great little camera.

First impressions:

Build quality for the lens and converter is great, similar to the kit lens. All metal.

Very compact on the FS100. Image quality seem to be good, althroug I didn't have the time to check my footage on the computer screen or with a proper monitor. More on that tomorrow.

I was worriying about the integrated hood and the lack of filter treads on the wide converter. But everything is fine. I can fit the pair in my matte box without vignietting. So I can use all my collection for 4X4 filters. Great!

More tomorrow.
 
I just made an impulse purchase of an NEX-3 two lens kit (18-55mm & 16mm). Kit included a 4GB card & carrying case and was marked down to $399 at Costco.

Battery charging at the moment...
 
Costco must be clearing out old inventory. Kit was marked down to $399 from $849. I wasn't planning on buying a camera today but for that price I couldn't resist. They said they had 4 left in stock.
 
I did a quick test with this lens and the wide converter, making this lens a 12mm.

http://www.vimeo.com/26678055

My finding are in the video, but overall:
- Sharpeness is good except in the corner
- Corners are soft wide open, improves when stopping down. at f5.6 they are pretty good.
- The adapter is great, no light loss, but it makes the soft corners more apparent.
- We can use it with a matte box.

Overall, the pair work well on the FS100, and can be used wide open depending of the subject (my subject with details all over the frame render the corner softness more apparent.)
 
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Does anyone have a simple solution (that doesn't involve rails and matte box) for putting an ND filter (fader or otherwise) in front of the wide angle adapter, which has no threads for a filter, and which has a lens hood that you can't remove?

I searched on the web, and found someone talking about a Cokin filter holder system that a particular size (maybe 67mm) was such that it did a snug fit inside the wide angle adapter lens hood, tight enough not to fall out. But I never did grasp what was going on, plus I don't want to invest a lot of money fixing a problem for this one lens.
 
Yeah I read that cokin thing too. The only problem with it is the filters would not be protected from the sun. You'll basically have exposed ND filters. Cokin does makes a bellows matte box that would probably work but now this frankenstein thing is getting out of control. I have not found a solution other than this except using a large mattebox. My Trumst mattebox with sony 16mm plus .75x adapter just barely makes it without the mattebox creeping in using 4x4 filters.

I have a 11-16mm tokina in EOS and I'm waiting for the birger mount or I can break down and buy a nikon version. The tokina is much better than the sony anyway. So I add a fader to the sony 16mm when I want light weight run and gun but if I need wider its going to be the tokina in bright sun.
 
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Right, I have a Tokina 11-16 EOS and I'm anticipating the Birger mount solution. As for the Cokin P filter holder solution, that involved sliding a 67mm Cokin P adapter ring from the back of the Sony wide angle adapter, pushing it snug against the back of the lens hood rim. Then attaching a four slot Cokin P holder, a filter will fit in the front slot close to the front of the lens hood. Sounded great, but now I am reading about how bad the plastic/cheaper ND filters can be, and can lead to color problems, and the good Tiffen glass filters that make it a good solution put this solution into the more expensive category.
 
When I was shooting a lot of 4x5 large format work, I used to have a very cheap little sunshade attachment (Kenko?) that used a spring-steel clamping mechanism to allow it to attach to the outer lens barrel. It had a small black top flag that could be positioned out of the frameline and simply shaded the front element. I just did a quick web search for one but came up empty. If I can find one or dig mine out for a quick photo, I'll post it later tonight. Failing that, all you're really looking for is something that would hold a small flag or gobo over the lens to shade the sun off of the front filter.
 
I've bought two NEX-5 cameras, one with the 16mm and the other with the 18-55mm. The 16mm was actually a fun little lens, while the zoom was quite horrific.

The 16mm NEX E-mount lens is really the only one I've liked thus far.

E-mount lenses are really lacking. However the camera does communicate with Sony-A mount Alpha lenses with an appropriate adapter. Had way more fun with other lenses than the kit lenses for the NEX-photo cameras. The best lens so far has been PL-cine zooms. Big but fun.
 
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