Sony E-Mount lenses and the FS700?

D

dmitrizigany

Veteran
How well do the Sony e-mount lenses work on the FS700?

I'm getting the FS700R (have the EA50 currently) in a few weeks and might also get one or two lenses as well. For one man operations, stabilisation and auto focus are sometimes very useful. But the fiasco of the new 18-105/4 G-lens and it's pillow distortion and the reveal that the FS700 deosen't have any onboard correction made me wonder if this also affects other Sony E lenses?

I already have the 18-200/3.5-6.3 PZ which I asume will work great as the FS700RH ships with it. But the other ones. Any yes or no's?

I also have the old silver 50mm/1.8 which I find significantly slower for auto focus and face recognition than the 18-200 PZ on the EA50. Wonder if they've made any improvements in that regard on the new black 50mm or if it's just a cosmetic upgrade?
 
dmitrizigany said:
How well do the Sony e-mount lenses work on the FS700?

I'm getting the FS700R (have the EA50 currently) in a few weeks and might also get one or two lenses as well. For one man operations, stabilisation and auto focus are sometimes very useful. But the fiasco of the new 18-105/4 G-lens and it's pillow distortion and the reveal that the FS700 deosen't have any onboard correction made me wonder if this also affects other Sony E lenses?

I already have the 18-200/3.5-6.3 PZ which I asume will work great as the FS700RH ships with it. But the other ones. Any yes or no's?

I also have the old silver 50mm/1.8 which I find significantly slower for auto focus and face recognition than the 18-200 PZ on the EA50. Wonder if they've made any improvements in that regard on the new black 50mm or if it's just a cosmetic upgrade?
Click to expand...

Sorry, I can't tell you about any of the other E mount lenses, as the only ones I've ever had is the old silver 'kit' lens and
the 18-105 which I just sent back. Funny thing is, on the 18-105 the image stabilisation and auto focus worked great, as
did the 'tap to focus' on the LCD screen. It's a shame, that would have been a perfect FS700 lens if it just didn't have
that pillow distortion.
 
Yes, I agree. The FS700 crowd seems to be the prime target for the 18-105/4 PZ. And why put a zoom rocker on the FS700 just to release incompatible lenses? Stupid move, Sony!
 
dmitrizigany said:
Yes, I agree. The FS700 crowd seems to be the prime target for the 18-105/4 PZ. And why put a zoom rocker on the FS700 just to release incompatible lenses? Stupid move, Sony!
Click to expand...
Not only that, but when I called Sony Professional, they told me that 18-105 lens was specifically a 'still lens' made
for the 'Alpha' still cameras and was never meant for the FS100 and FS700. First off, it's a E mount so it won't work
on alpha 'A' mount still cameras. Secondly, even if they meant to say 'E mount still cameras', doesn't it seem strange
that they put a zoom rocker on a still camera lens? I mean, how often do you need a zoom rocker when shooting stills?
Plus, E mount still cameras are pretty small, and most people that use them want little lenses not big ones. If you
use big lenses, you might as well just get a big DSLR, it kind of takes away the point of using a compact E mount
still camera anyways. The only thing that makes sense at all to me, is maybe the lens is made for the VG 30 and
the EA 50? Both of those cameras have zoom rockers and will correct for the lens distortion in camera. My B camera
is a VG20, and I shot a couple minutes of video.....and the lens works pretty well on the VG20. The distortion is very
minor. If it worked like that with the FS700, I would have kept it for sure.
 
If you think about it most cheap still cameras with zoom lenses have power zoom, and no manual zoom ring.

And most expensive still zoom lenses only come with manual zoom rings.

I too wish there was a light fast zoom lens for C size lenses. This is not possible because of current optics technology and sensor size. With ⅔" and smaller imagers it is relatively easy to make fast zoom lenses, but as imager gets bigger glass gets heavier and much more complex.

But who knows what the future will bring. Laws of physics are hard to get around.
 
alaskacameradude said:
The only thing that makes sense at all to me, is maybe the lens is made for the VG 30 and
the EA 50? Both of those cameras have zoom rockers and will correct for the lens distortion in camera. My B camera
is a VG20, and I shot a couple minutes of video.....and the lens works pretty well on the VG20. The distortion is very
minor. If it worked like that with the FS700, I would have kept it for sure.
Click to expand...
How does the VG20 work as a b-cam for the FS700? I'm planning to test and see how the EA50 works as a b-cam once I get the FS700, if it works good (enough) I'll keep it, otherwise I'll sell it. If I keep it, I might end up getting the 18-105/4 PZ to use exclusively with the EA50 eventually...
 
dmitrizigany said:
How does the VG20 work as a b-cam for the FS700? I'm planning to test and see how the EA50 works as a b-cam once I get the FS700, if it works good (enough) I'll keep it, otherwise I'll sell it. If I keep it, I might end up getting the 18-105/4 PZ to use exclusively with the EA50 eventually...
Click to expand...

Well, it works well enough for my purposes. I'm not doing big budget TV spots or anything, just
local TV spots, corporate promos, and a wedding every now and then. You have to work on
matching the color for sure, as they don't match perfectly. Obviously the FS700 is better. The
VG 20 is small though, so a good camera for extra angles and getting in small places as well as
something you can grab and carry if you are hiking. It can work if your expectations are within reason.
It's nice to be able to use the same lenses and lens adapters (if for example you have a speedbooster)
on both cameras. Of course the VG 20 doesn't have ND filters, so you have to figure out external NDs.
I use the Xume magnetic system that I used on my FS100 before I sold it. I thought about keeping
the 18-105 for the VG20 and almost did. But I decided I wasn't hot on having a lens that would
only work on one of my cameras. I like to be able to interchange lenses, depending on the situation.
Sometimes, I want the extra resolution of the FS700 on the wider shot, and sometimes on the
closer shot, depending on what I am doing. So I like to be able to move the lenses between the cameras
freely.
 
olof said:
I too wish there was a light fast zoom lens for C size lenses. This is not possible because of current optics technology and sensor size. With ⅔" and smaller imagers it is relatively easy to make fast zoom lenses, but as imager gets bigger glass gets heavier and much more complex.

But who knows what the future will bring. Laws of physics are hard to get around.
Click to expand...

Well, but if you think about it, there is a 28-105 F2.8 lens for Full Frame cameras.
There is a 24-105 F4 for Full Frame cameras. Both are kind of big but not horrible.
Both are reasonable cost. So why couldn't there be something similar to this
18-105 F4 for APS-C/Super 35 (only without the distortion)?? Is that beyond
the laws of physics? Seems like with the smaller (Super 35 vs. FF) chip, it
COULD be done right?
 
Last edited:
Sure it can be done, something like the Zeiss Master Zoom, 16 at the short end to 110 at the long end, T2.6 throughout, color match to the Zeiss Master Primes, minimal breathing.... what's not to love?

well the size, and the price....

70077.jpg
 
Dermot said:
Sure it can be done, something like the Zeiss Master Zoom, 16 at the short end to 110 at the long end, T2.6 throughout, color match to the Zeiss Master Primes, minimal breathing.... what's not to love?

well the size, and the price....

View attachment 80948
Click to expand...

Well yeah but what I am saying is the Tamron 28-105 F2.8 is a Full Frame lens that costs maybe $700.
The 24-105 Canon F4 is a Full Frame lens that cost like $900 maybe? Given that those are not huge,
or super expensive, yet cover a larger than Super 35mm chip, I do NOT think it is unrealistic
to think an actual 18-105 F4 could be made for a Super 35 cam, without being super expensive
or heavy. Not asking for a f1.8 and it could even be F4 instead of 2.8. I'd live with the drawbacks
of a stills lens if it was not horribly expensive or big. Are you saying that is asking too much from
the laws of physics?
 
For ENG I like a f1.8 or so and there are lots of 18x or greater ⅔ and ½ lenses (with optional built in doubles), the best ones are pricey but there are some fast 14x ½ lenses for very reasonable money think XDcam.

If you like the Tamron or Sigma lenses they can be used with the FS700. They are just not power zoomable yet.

I think there may be future f4 or even faster 10x power zoom lenses for C size imagers. The problem is there are so many different mounts and electronics in current crop of C size cameras.

For the still market there is a huge market so prices are cheap. The FS700 has a proprietary zoom protocol and if you were a lens manufacturer, would you build a lens you may sell 3 or 4 thousand of and who knows how long Sony will be making the 700 zoom system. I think if Sony thought there was a huge market they would be making the lenses right now.

Still lenses that fit Canon, Nikon and others as well have a huge installed user base and Canon/Nikon still lens mounts will remain current for many more years so this is a great market. But E-mount lenses with Sony zoom protocol, who knows.

Now if someone was to make lenses like ENG lenses with built in power zoom that have a power tap for the zoom so it is independent of the mount, there may be enough of a market to make the future interesting, and I am sure some companies are looking into it. It is just a matter of figuring out if there is a large enough market, to make the investment worth it.

Someone just has to invest in a lens like the canon 24-105 with a speed doubler for different mounts and then a power zoom independent of the mount so it will fit many current and future cameras. I bet some manufacturer will do this in the not to distant future. At least I hope so.
 
Ok, good points. It's more the economies of scale (lots of still camera users compared to
video camera users) that cause it to happen. Of course if they are going to make the
18-105 (as Sony did) you'd think they might make it so there wasn't crazy distortion.
Then they could sell it to still and video camera users (it worked great with the FS700
zoom rocker). Maybe they figured that would drive the price on the lens up and still camera
users wouldn't buy it at a higher price?

I think you are right, there is a growing demand for better zoom range lenses for
big sensor video cameras. One shoot I worked on near the start of December,
was using C300's. The DP on that shoot told me he wouldn't work with the C300
unless the production company rented him the Fuji 19-90 lens as well.
 
I've used quite a few of the E/A lenses on some smaller corporate projects.
The Alpha 16-50 put out some very nice images for me. I also in a pinch have used the Sony E 50mm 1.8 and was really pleased. The sample below was shot with the E 16mm 2.8 and the Sony E 50mm 1.8

https://vimeo.com/61154580
 
John Foundas said:
I've used quite a few of the E/A lenses on some smaller corporate projects.
The Alpha 16-50 put out some very nice images for me. I also in a pinch have used the Sony E 50mm 1.8 and was really pleased. The sample below was shot with the E 16mm 2.8 and the Sony E 50mm 1.8

https://vimeo.com/61154580
Click to expand...

john-

i thought the 50mm/1.8 on the talking head looked fine.

thank you for sharing.

be well.

rob
smalltalk productions/nyc
 
I have the 50mm/1.8 as well, and been pleased with the results on my EA50. It's significantly slower at auto focus and face recognition than the 18-200 power zoom though. Will be interesting to see how it performs on the FS700...
 
I have the 50mm 1.8 too and I use it quite often for portraits or head shots. I dont care if AF is slow as
these shots are most static.
One of my favorite lenses is the Rokinon 35mm T1.7 Sharp, fast and not expensive. Big bang for the bucks!
I was hesitating to buy it with Sony E or Canon EF (plus metabones) and went for the E mount!
 
the NEX 50/1.8 is a very nice lens, sharp wide open and beautiful rendition. 35/1.8 OSS less so -- a bit harsh rendition, too contrasty, and the 2 of the 3 copies i've used have had weird autofocus jitters.

Zeiss 24/1.8 + 50/1.8 make a very nice minimal combo when you need AF.

Zeiss 16-80 f/4 is decent but i'm not sure it's really worth the trade up from the SEL18200. it has noticeable barrel distortion wide (auto-corrected on NEX still cameras), but it's totally useable unlike the wtf-worthy ridiculous 18-105.

the active OSS in the SEL18200 remains unsurpassed. sonyalpharumors had a rumor last week about an e-mount f/2.8 zoom for crop sensor.
 
Clermond said:
I have the 50mm 1.8 too and I use it quite often for portraits or head shots. I dont care if AF is slow as these shots are most static.
One of my favorite lenses is the Rokinon 35mm T1.7 Sharp, fast and not expensive. Big bang for the bucks!
I was hesitating to buy it with Sony E or Canon EF (plus metabones) and went for the E mount!
Click to expand...
I film a lot of live shows, where the subjects have very unpredictable movements to put it mildly. What works really well with the 18-200 PZ is to have it in manual and with face detection activated and then press the 'push auto' on occasion. With the 50mm the auto focus and face detections seems just a bit too slow for that to work properly. I have no external monitor yet so judging focus in manual use is just too tricky.
I have the Walimex Pro 35mm/1.5 for e-mount as well. It's the same as the Rokinon/Samyang ones just with different name. It's great, but for my usual conditions it's difficult to use and for hand held I feel some sort of stabilisation is essential. Planning on getting the 16, 24 and 85mm Samyangs down the road though!
 
I'm very intrigued by the offerings from Ditogear. With a 2-axis programmable controller, one could, conceivably, program focus to follow zoom position, neutralizing those non-parfocal lens designs.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top