Sony 28mm f2.8 on A200 and A900

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Clarke
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Sony 28mm f2.8 on A200 and A900

Unread post by Clarke »

Hello . I am contemplating the purchase of a couple of prime lenses to go initially on an A200 body but ultimately on an A900. One would be a Sony 50mm f2.8 Macro and another might be the Sony 28 mm f2.8. I was wondering in particular what people have thought about the 28 mm f2.8 lens on their reduced frame bodies and if people expect it to perform well on the A900.
Thank you for considering this.
Clarke
David Kilpatrick
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Re: Sony 28mm f2.8 on A200 and A900

Unread post by David Kilpatrick »

I found the Minolta 28mm f2.8 version poor - just not very sharp - on my first D7D and sold it. I checked out the Sony version on the A900 and, guess what - not very sharp overall, really marked CA when used at f5.6 which I think should be a perfect optimum aperture. I expected it to do well, as the Canon 28mm f2.8 is one of the few lenses which is sharp corner to corner on the EOS 5D and will even produce moiré patterns at f8. But the Minolta design just doesn't seem to make it. I know some others have reported it is fine, but I am looking critically at sharpness and CA and compared it to the 28-75mm D at 28mm, the 17-35mm D at 28mm, the new 16-35mm CZ ditto, and the 24-105mm D ditto. I do not think it is a focus adjustment issue either.

I have been trying my 28mm f2.0 on the A900 and I am disappointed by that as well, but in this case, I think it's a focus calibration which is needed for the sharpness. It has a high level of CA and fairly strong barrel distortion. The 28mm f2 seems to be a perfect all-round lens for the A700, but actually quite weak on the A900.

I notice that Paul Genge, of Sony, chooses to use his personal 35mm f1.4 Minolta G lens on his A900. He has access to all lenses, so presumably, he has found that this Minolta lens (even mounted on his camera during photokina, on the Sony stand!) performs well.

David
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ianmiddy
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Re: Sony 28mm f2.8 on A200 and A900

Unread post by ianmiddy »

David Kilpatrick wrote:I know some others have reported it is fine
Guilty - my MinO 28/2.8 is my standard non-zoom for the KM5D - see my post "Engineering" - all were in-cam B&W with no PP...

...for me, the 42mm equiv just seems an ideal f/l...

Cheers

IDM
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bfitzgerald
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Re: Sony 28mm f2.8 on A200 and A900

Unread post by bfitzgerald »

I asked this one on DP, but nobody replied. For a laugh, has anyone tried some budget stuff on the A900? I mean the 28-80mm D kit lens, something like the 19-35mm (the earlier 17-35mm model), 28-100mmD...etc etc.
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Re: Sony 28mm f2.8 on A200 and A900

Unread post by David Kilpatrick »

Yes, I've tried a stack of lenses, over 20 in total on the A900. Things like the original 35-105mm AF, 35-200xi zoom, beercan, Sigma 28-105mm UC III. I had high hopes for the 35-105mm but no... it just has terrible geometry and CA. My 35-70mm f4 turns out to have got oil on the aperture (has happened in storage) so useless. The 35-200mm xi is actually not bad at all, and the Sigma is surprisingly good (so good I considered using it as my standard walkaround lens, and may even do so). I don't have an old 19-35mm (that would have to be Cosina, KM's budget lens was a 20-35mm suspiciously similar!) but my local wedding professional used one on his D7D for years before getting a Hasselblad H3D II 39 megapixel.

I had a look at ebay to see whether there were any bargain oldies around to try out... not a chance! Everything is either too ordinary or too expensive.

My final A900 line up - 17-35mm D, 28-75mm D, 75-300mm SSM. 28mm f2 and 100mm f2 SF not as nice on A900 as they were on A700. 50mm f1.4 much better. All macro lenses wonderful, but less macro... 500mm mirror better (really, 750mm was pushing it). 70-210mm f4 possible instead of 70-300mm SSM, I reckon it is a better lens design - less vignetting, less distortion, just as sharp, but lower contrast. Lovely colour. And less range, the main problem. I'm used to 300mm on 1.5X now.

David
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Re: Sony 28mm f2.8 on A200 and A900

Unread post by Javelin »

I wonder about the 75-300 bbc. I may try a sony store and see if they will let me try all my lenses on their A900 and my card. I particularly intersted in the 28-135 and the bbc now that I know about the 17-35 and beercan. so since your 35-70 is broke i'll bring it along too and my tamron 90. can you make suggestions on the types of shots that will tell the tale on these lenses?
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Re: Sony 28mm f2.8 on A200 and A900

Unread post by PhotoTraveler »

Darn, I was hoping to see some 4/35-70 action. I love that lens not just for it's size, but it's output just has a very distinct look to me, and I like it. Just looks filmier or something. I would think you could find one cheap, they are very common on ebay. I know it was a cheap kit zoom for the system, but I like it. Really wish they had made it into and RS. Or Sony brings something very similar with similar look to it and size/weight.
Clarke
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Re: Sony 28mm f2.8 on A200 and A900

Unread post by Clarke »

I thank you all for your informative and helpful replies. I think my purchase plan will be to just get the 50mm Macro lens along with the A200 and its kit lens initially and monitor developments from Sony and the comments and observations of people writing in this forum. (I own no minolta/ legacy lenses). From photographs I have seen I like both 28mm , 35mm and 50mm focal lengths (in 35mm efl) for landscapes and people in environmental context but I think the 28mm ( specifically a fairly close focusing 28mm ) is better than the other focal lengths at portraying a single flower in its landscape. Admittedly this is an exaggerated effect and a special rather than general application but it is one I like the look of( but have never done myself).
Cheers,
Clarke

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Vidgamer
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Re: Sony 28mm f2.8 on A200 and A900

Unread post by Vidgamer »

I found that the 28/2.8 produced fine photos, but I haven't done a lot of pixel-peeping comparisons. In general, people seem to regard it as one of the worst of the Minolta primes, but even so, it may still be as good or better than cheap zooms. I say it's a good bang-for-the-buck if you're on a budget and don't necessarily need a zoom? Not sure where the need fills in, especially if you get a good zoom.

Image

I like the speed and the field of view, and it's light to carry. Only problem, my copy has oil on the blades.... :cry:
Clarke
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Re: Sony 28mm f2.8 on A200 and A900

Unread post by Clarke »

I neglected until now to say that I really like the series of photos by Ianmiddy and the photo by Vidgamer . I thank you both for showing what the lens can do.
Clarke
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Re: Sony 28mm f2.8 on A200 and A900

Unread post by artaphot »

The 2.8/28mm will be quite OK on the a200, but not very good on the a900:
http://artaphot.ch/index.php?option=com ... &Itemid=55" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I have been testing about 30 Minolta/Sony/Zeiss lenses on the a900 now, inclunding all first generation zooms (4/24-50, 3.5-4.5/28-85, 4-4.5/28-135, 4/35-70, 3.5-4.5/35-105, 4/70-210, 4.5-5.6/75-300, 2.8/80-200 APO and 4.5/100-200). From these, only the 28-135mm and 2.8/80-200 APO are really good with the a900. Even these two have to be stopped down to f8 for really good corner resolution. See here for details (sorry, I didn't publish the test results of the "cheap" zooms yet):

http://artaphot.ch/index.php?option=com ... &Itemid=43" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (including Zeiss 24-70, MinAF 28-70G and 28-135)
http://artaphot.ch/index.php?option=com ... &Itemid=43" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (including 2.8/70-200 SSM, 2.8/200 APO and 2.8/80-200 APO)

Greetings, Steve
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