[davidmanze]

Hi guys,

              This is an appeal for help!

 I've just been recovering from one of the most infectious diseases on the planet, LBA !  I'm on a serious course of medication from the doctor who in turn recommended me counseling from a psychiatrist, (that's not coming out cheap) however the results looked promising, I hadn't bought a lens for a week and a half. I canceled the Otus order, I'm not going Touit!

  Then just as the symptoms were fading I came across another recent lens release, within seconds of reading the specs, my head was spinning. Like OMG!!!!

 This one looks irresistible, like totally,

 

The Venus 15mm F4 1:1 macro shift lens....

   Get these specs man..........

 Features;

                

110 degrees of view angle

1:1 macro ability with infinity focus

+/- 6mm Shift ability

12 elements in 9 groups with 3 pieces of High Refractive elements and 1 piece of Extra-low dispersion lens

Multi-layer low-reflective coatings to avoid unnecessary flare

Carefully control on the sharpness both in the centre and the edge.

Limited barrel distortion

14 pieces of aperture blades form a close-to-circular aperture

Flat Front element surface for filter installation.

The enclosure of the lens is made of metal to strengthen its durability.

Canon EF, Nikon F, Sony A, Sony FE & Pentax K mounts are available.

Full Frame Sensor Supported


Package Includes

Venus 15mm f/4 1:1 Wide Angle Macro Lens

Front & Rear Lens Cap

3-year warranty card    all for 400 euros.

     

 14 aperture blades close to circular, I haven't a lens with that many;  it's metal and it shifts, I haven't a shift lens;   a wide angle macro 1:1, 15mm that's real wide, the damned thing takes 77mm filters, I have a Hoya HMC UV 77mm. Yeah but 15mm on an APSc, bah no big deal, then I read.....

  

  "Full frame supported", 15mm wide on full frame, OMG, this is serious, just too too serious, I'm trembling.

 

    I rang the pyschiatrist to see what he thought, "No" he said "be strong" He was adamant................. I canceled the treatment!

     It's pulling me in guys, like a black hole sucks in all matter. Oh no, the lens is also black!

  

  My visa card just winked at me and gave me a nod....

 

 

    This is "relapse city" .........Help guys, I can't hold out!!!!

 

 

http://petapixel.com/2015/06/29/review-t...acro-lens/

[JJ_SO]

Just calm down a bit. It's not that hot...

 

The shift is only usable on APS-C and it's shift up - no shift - shift down and nothing in between. Need to go to the movies now, but remain calm, inhale firmly and get yourself some alcohol.

[davidmanze]

JoJu,

        I'm a little calmer, I think the valium helped!

 

     Yeah,  I didn't know you had a copy I guess I must have missed the post where you had discussed it.

 

 However, you did crack for one, so the black hole effect sucked you in,  do you think then that the suction was greater than the result?

 

  Have you used it much since your initial testing, a  RAW image would be nice from  say dropbox.

 

  The really tempting bit is the 1 Pound= $1.54  that's a British price of £311. You cant buy an Otus lens-hood for that!

  

  Out of booze by the way and not a word to my doctor!

[JJ_SO]

£311? An Otus lenshood? Second hand, or what? 

 

Yes, I did use it since I repaired it. But it's still wobbly, not in the swallowtail guidance rails, but somewhere on the barrel. I think I'll send it back to China to have it repaired properly. But first I need to find a Swisspost clerk able to read chinese. The dress to send it back is

 

Please kindly ship it to below address in China

 
Address in Chinese: 中國安徽省合肥市庐阳区天水路11号7号楼一楼
Recipient: èŒƒæ—­æ˜Ž
Recipient Company: é•¿åºšå…‰å­¦
 
Got it? Thought so, my Cantonese is a bit rusty, too.
 

So, mine could be defect but I put some pictures here. Two are with Venus lens, one with Sigma 24, perspective corrected in Affinity Photo and cropped. The others I cropped also to get DX size. (4800 × 3200)

 



 



 



 

I could put you a RAW file before the crash to my dropbox, but honestly, you should see the £311 in correlation with the circumstances in case of a repair. Also, Venus Optics puts the value down to reduce import costs and VAT to zero - at least two bits unfair against other manufacturers.

[davidmanze]

Thanks JoJu,

 

                      Ok I'm getting the soft edges and the "not so top" construction, the incomprehensible return address....................

.

    with the valium and a few beers I think the treatment is complete,

 

I put out a cry for help and you were there for me......a guiding light in my moments of weakness....   :o

 

 

 I've received the  Nikor AF-d 24mm F2.8, the AF-D 35 F2 is on it's way along with a set of auto extension tubes and two Hoya HMC UV filters, all S/H.....these I think were my more sensible weak moments.........as you can see I get plenty of them.......anyway that should keep me busy for a while!

 

   Sacked the doctor and the psychiatrist.......I paying them money better spent on lenses.....OMG there I go again...

[JJ_SO]

I went through the same excitement, but at the end of the day, the excitement was the best part   of the process. Oh and the waiting, too, you know "unknown manufacturer, who am I to pay a Chinese brand money in advance", but then, I used to pay for Lotto 30 years ago, knowing I will never win what I paid (otherwise the system won't work) and the best part was always to imagine a complete system (or two) of gear. So, in a way I afforded to dream for a couple of days.

 

Good I didn't succeed, as it would have become obvious the gera is not the major part of what we do. 

 

Nonetheless, I'm in waiting situation again and I guess - or know - this time it will be cool. 14mm APSC Foveon with loupe and optical viewfinder - I'm looking forward to bring it to Wales. From the link I reccommend the "nostalgic Japan" and the bridge series. Contrary to the Venus lens, the Sigma really is low distortion.

 

I just read the development story behind the dp 0 quattro and last week an interview of Ming Thein with Sigma's CEO Yamaki. Both are influencing my opinion about Sigma. Next to the progress of doing a litte magic with the firmware for 150-600 Sports I really like them for doing different things.

[davidmanze]

 I think you've made a good call with the Quatro, I like 21mm FL...................................................................................................

 

 

 I notice the Sigma publicity shots major heavily on very dark shadows, I hope these can be recovered in PP, it's a little too dark, Arty though!

[Brightcolours]

I like the steep curve, but I am pretty sure that even in Sigma's RAW converter you can change the tonal curve/contrast.

Heavy vignetting though, at f4, which is a bit of a shame for such a dedicated lens? Quite strong CA by the way (red/blue-green). Does the Sigma RAW converter offer good correction for that (not the hiding type but actual correction)?

http://www.sigma-photo.co.jp/english/sgv...ry_016.jpg

Look at this image at the right (just above where the road disappears), by the way. Quite disturbing purple patches in the green, at ISO 100. What does the camera/foveon/conversion do there?

 

I really will have to start using my 20mm Voigtlander, and learn to look at the world through it.

[JJ_SO]

 I think you've made a good call with the Quatro, I like 21mm FL...................................................................................................

 

 

 I notice the Sigma publicity shots major heavily on very dark shadows, I hope these can be recovered in PP, it's a little too dark, Arty though!

Matter of taste, I think.

 

In PP (and if the user is patient enough  ) are shadows very easy to recover. Bigger problem are highlights, so if in doubt, I make a darker picture as well. The X3F fill light is a quite powerfull tool to get back the shadows.

 

There's also a checkbox to tick "lens profile" and Sigma is delivering new lens profiles from time to time. Remember, the PP app is not only for fixed lens cameras but also for SD1 Merill with interchangeable lenses. This lens profile includes correction of CA. As described, the main target at the development of the lens was less than 0.5% distortion. They succeeded at the cost of speed. The lens designer wanted f/3.5 but that would have made the distortion goal very expensive.

 

I'm very happy they took care about distortion - it can be corrected in post, but not in PP and would lead to transforming calculations on pixel level at the cost of resolution or picture size.

[JJ_SO]

I like the steep curve, but I am pretty sure that even in Sigma's RAW converter you can change the tonal curve/contrast.

Heavy vignetting though, at f4, which is a bit of a shame for such a dedicated lens? Quite strong CA by the way (red/blue-green). Does the Sigma RAW converter offer good correction for that (not the hiding type but actual correction)?

http://www.sigma-photo.co.jp/english/sgv...ry_016.jpg

Look at this image at the right (just above where the road disappears), by the way. Quite disturbing purple patches in the green, at ISO 100. What does the camera/foveon/conversion do there?

 

I really will have to start using my 20mm Voigtlander, and learn to look at the world through it.

The fringing is also present at the left side of the picture.  I could say, I've seen worse from other 20 mm / 24 mm

 

The lens correction in PP is OFF per default. I'd need to see the settings, because I don't have any experience with the camera so far. I played witrh the correction yesterday again. It's effective but not affecting all faulty parts. And it takes extra time to perform which may be the reason of the default setting. However, CEO Yamaki appears to be aware of the problems with the software.

 

Iridient developer does a much faster job, but it's UI is a bit console like and I'm missing the fill light which is powerful yet delicate to use. Affinity Photo also opens X3F files but shows a colour gradient - and after that three, there's nada in RAW processing. One of the numberous disadvantages of Foveon sensors. So, it's a good thing the cameras are no 15 fps machineguns  <_< Coming home with "only" 300 pictures can be as time-consuming to work on as 3× FF RAWs. I understand everybody not willing to go through this. But looking on a metal facia and seeing the little nuts, tracks of rust sometimes equilibrates all the waiting.