02-20-2012, 09:09 AM
Hi, I am not a frequent contributor tot his forum, so some modesty is befitting. However, I would like to mention that disregarding a camera since it fails to meet expectation at one single point seems a bit harsh.
Looking at the CZ85; this lens has a number of lovely qualities, it sharpness and the way it draws out-of-focus among them. However, the LoCA is so large that when using it in color, and want to print large, everything below say f4 is not pretty. At f4 and beyond, the lens is razor sharp, corner to corner. And even that will only be useful for say a landscape at infinity, since in a 3d subject most of the image will be out of focus anyway.
I do mostly landscape, meaning that not all of the aspects of a camera are useful to me. I will most often stop down a lens for depth of field, not for optimum sharpness (although that is an important factor as well). I also have a a900. A camera that has problems in the corners with most lenses. And apart from that, has a problem with shutter induced shake, on a tripod, with longer lenses in the critical shutter speed range.
The NEX- 7 has an electronic first curtain, which for me is a godsend. If there is no wind there will be no vibration at all, with any lens. Not even when used with a pano head with always reduces stability. As a landscape camera I prefer a NEX-7 over the a900. Also because, with some good lenses, the image is lovely detailed from the center to the most extreme corner. And the NEX-7 is also a joy to focus, with its very nice live view implementation, also allowing the magnified image to be viewed in the EVF.
Sorry for the long ramble, but what I try to say is that a camera has many aspects. If it is capable of corner to corner sharpness with a lens wide open is only one of those
I did, by the way, retest my own CZ85mm on the 7. Open, the corners are certainly less sharp and have less contrast than the center. Like mentioned above, what I mostly mind is the LoCA. When I stop down to say f2.8, the LoCa is less (certainly not gone), and the sharpness is more even. Although the contrast still seems a bit less, in the corner.
Looking at the CZ85; this lens has a number of lovely qualities, it sharpness and the way it draws out-of-focus among them. However, the LoCA is so large that when using it in color, and want to print large, everything below say f4 is not pretty. At f4 and beyond, the lens is razor sharp, corner to corner. And even that will only be useful for say a landscape at infinity, since in a 3d subject most of the image will be out of focus anyway.
I do mostly landscape, meaning that not all of the aspects of a camera are useful to me. I will most often stop down a lens for depth of field, not for optimum sharpness (although that is an important factor as well). I also have a a900. A camera that has problems in the corners with most lenses. And apart from that, has a problem with shutter induced shake, on a tripod, with longer lenses in the critical shutter speed range.
The NEX- 7 has an electronic first curtain, which for me is a godsend. If there is no wind there will be no vibration at all, with any lens. Not even when used with a pano head with always reduces stability. As a landscape camera I prefer a NEX-7 over the a900. Also because, with some good lenses, the image is lovely detailed from the center to the most extreme corner. And the NEX-7 is also a joy to focus, with its very nice live view implementation, also allowing the magnified image to be viewed in the EVF.
Sorry for the long ramble, but what I try to say is that a camera has many aspects. If it is capable of corner to corner sharpness with a lens wide open is only one of those
I did, by the way, retest my own CZ85mm on the 7. Open, the corners are certainly less sharp and have less contrast than the center. Like mentioned above, what I mostly mind is the LoCA. When I stop down to say f2.8, the LoCa is less (certainly not gone), and the sharpness is more even. Although the contrast still seems a bit less, in the corner.