This was shot with my Loxia 25mm f2.4 lens.
My hands went kind of numb as it was a really cold day, and I felt it was quite difficult to manually focus the lens.
The metal barrel of the lens became very very cold and it was hard to hold it steady. So now I understand why Zeiss used a lot of rubber parts on their recent lenses.....it is easier to hold and operate in a cold mountain area.
The difficulty of choosing the right lenses at very first attempt in a growing mirrorless system(updated 2)
Many of my friends and some one like my grandpa asked me why I must be buying and selling so many cameras and lenses since I first hired the A7R in the late autumn ,2013.
Well it is really complicated. Initially, we barely had any choice in lens selection when the original A7R and A7 came out, and so we had to adapt many lenses we used on our previous camera systems. I borrowed lenses form my Canon EF system and some times from my Alpha A mount system.
I wanted to use my Nikon lenses too on my A7R but I found it very difficult and complicated and gave up the idea.
So at least a couple of years or so, the native E mount lenses I owned at the time were all tiny optically just OK kind of lenses, namely the FE24-70mm f4ZA, the FE55mm f1.8ZA, the FE35mm f2.8ZA, the FE70-200mm f4G and the FE16-35mm f4ZA. In addition to those , I had to use my Canon EF70-200mm f2.8 L MK2 IS lens, EF100mm f2.8 L IS, EF35mm f2 IS, Zeiss 25mm f2 ZE, Zeiss 15mm f2.8 ZE, 135mm f2 APO Sonnar ,etc.
In early 2015 , Sony released the FE35mm f1.4ZA, FE90mm f2.8G and Zeiss announced their first two Batis line primes.
So I bought them all and had to try them on my A7R myself.
I really wanted to love the FE35mm f1.4ZA since at the time, I was still a 35mm kind of guy. But I had to go through 5 copies or so on that lens and still could not get a decently centered lens.
So I gave up and decided to stick with the FE35mm f2.8ZA for a few more months(hopefully).
My FE90mm f1.8G was a great copy , I kept it and my Batis 85mm f1.8 and 25mm f2 were both good and I kept them.
But none of these were really amazing , I mean the FE90mm was extremely sharp wideopen at all focus distances including infinity, but it did not have any wow factor , just clinically sharp. So I did not really like that lens for most of things other than urban landscape or some flower images.
It was too clinical for portrait work.
The Batis 85mm f1.8 was fine and I liked that lens despite of its heavy pincushion distortion issue and I kept it for 3 years or so until I finally sold it in last month(in fact, I will buy it back).
The 25mm f2 Batis? How can I say, I hated it always, it has a monstrous amount of distortion that no software really fix completely well. The axial CA on that lens is terrible, it is really hard to fix since axial CA is kind of CA we can never remove completely with any type of lens profile or defringing tool.
The Lo-CA on the Batis 25 was really bad too(one of the very worst I have ever seen in its price range of easy to make f2 primes), and the type of distortion it had was hard to fix in post, the software profiles never worked well.
Initially, I thought it was the QC issue and I sent it back and another copy of that lens, but the second copy was really bad too. Also, I read the Lenstip review on that one and Roger's test also showed the same issues that I also found in my copies myself.
But I tried another one since there was nothing else to replace it in the native E mount system, and that third copy of the Batis 25 was a bit better than my previous 2 and I kept it until Feb, 2018(I replaced the crappy Batis 25 with the Loxia 25mm).
In the summer, 2015, Zeiss released their first two Loxia lenses and I bought these as soon as I saw them at our shop.
They were both old M mount designs and I was kind of disappointed and couple of months later I sold the 35mm f2.
I kept the 50mm f2 Loxia until the summer 2017.
At this point , I was quite disillusioned with the level of Loxia and Batis lenses Zeiss initially offered and there was no GM , so I decided the best solution might still be the Canon or the Leica mount lenses.
But I also knew that the fullframe mirrorless thing would grow even bigger and would eventually replace the D-SLRs.
So I sold my D810 as soon as the A7R2 was announced, I kept my trusty D750 for shooting some paid events that I sometimes do for a few local corporations.
After sold my D810, I decided to also sell most of my F mount lenses that I would not use for my paid event shootings.
So my F mount lens collection at this point was relatively small. I never liked how Nikon bodies feel in my hands or how needlessly heavy these were any way.
So in the end of the year 2015, I had 5 systems:
Sony A mount with 8 lenses.
Sony E mount with 8 lenses.
Canon EF with 14 lenses.
Nikon F with 5 lenses.
m43 with 6 lenses.
But at this point, the E mount kit became the undoubted main system for me. I realized I seldom use the rest of my camera systems any more....so I some of my A mount EF mount stuffs and got 7k US dollars or a bit more and I would later use that money for more E mount stuffs.
I must say the year 2016 was a huge year for us E mount shooters, both Zeiss and Sony released many great lenses and Voigtlander also joined the camp.
In early 2016, we got the set of GM lenses ; the two 2.8 zooms and the legendary 85mm f1.4GM.
I ordered the GM 85mm f1.4 as soon as it was out and I also bought a copy of the FE24-70mm f2.8GM.
I got a great copy of the 85mm GM but I did not like the ergonomics of the lens, so I would sell it in the autumn, 2016.
Initially I loved the 24-70mm f2.8GM but quickly realized I never left my house with it, it was simply too big on my A7R and A7R2. So I sold it and decided to rent it from time to time when I'd really need it. It is really wasting my money to keep the 24-70mm f2.8GM and the 70-200mmf2.8GM, I simply never used these for my private casual shootings, I much prefer a MF prime or a f1.4 prime over those bulky f2.8 zooms.
I have never liked the f2.8 so-called pro zooms...
But at the time, I was kind of excited about the GM zooms and kept these.......until the autumn, 2017.
In the late spring , 2016 Zeiss announced the Batis 18mm f2.8 and I was really excited about it, I immediately pre-ordered it.
Of course, it was a keeper at the time, at least till I got my FE16-35mm f2.8GM. The Batis 18mm f2.8 actually replaced my Loxia 21mm f2.8(I never liked that Loxia 21).
In the summer, 2016 we got the Sony FE50mm f1.4 Planar and FE50mm f2.8 Macro, I liked them and bought them in October 2016.
In the late winter 2016, just having shot some Christmas stuffs for myself, I decided the FE50mm f1.4ZA would not be a very practical lens and I sold it(bought back a FE55mm f1.8ZA).
So in the end of 2016, my Sony FE lens kit was like below:
1 A7R
2 A7R2 (2)
3 A7MK2 (2)
4 A6300
5 FE16-35mm f4ZA
6 Batis 18mm f2.8
7 Batis 25mm f2
8 Sony FE24-70mm f2.8GM
9 Sony FE24-70mm f4ZA
10 Sony FE55mm f1.8
11 Sony FE70-200mm f4G
12 Sony FE90mm f2.8G
13 Zeiss Loxia 50mm f2
14 Batis 85mm f1.8
15 Voigtlander 12mm f5.6
And I really wished we would get some nice wide lenses in the next spring(2017) and we actually would get these from Sony and Sony.
The year 2017 was not as dramatic as the 2016, we got many lenses from Laowa, Sony, Zeiss, Voigtlander and others.
In early 2017, we got the FE85mm f1.8E and it was a super hit.
In March 2017 , Sony released the FE100mmf2.8GM.
I rented both and tried both but I did not buy either of these.
In April 2017, Zeiss announced the Batis 135mm f2.8 APO and I ordered it immediately and got it in June, 2017.
The Batis 135mm f2.8 APO was the best Batis ever, no doubt bout it and I initially liked it a lot. I used it for many events in the summer 2017. But after the summer event season over, I realized that I would almost never use that lens, so sold it in the autumn , 2017. I lost a lot of money on this lens and really pissed at the time.
But I can guarantee if you like the 135mm FL, I think it is the sharpest best balanced 135mm prime for the A7X camera.
It is insanely sharp wideopen, very clean without any axial and lateral CA, there is a bit of Lo CA but it is easy to remove.
Unlike the other Batis series, it is not software dependent , it is quite distortion free even without C1 or LR lens correction.
So at the current 1500 USD price, it is a bargain , but at the old 2k US price, I think it was a bit overpriced and hard sell.
Anyway, in the summer 2017, I was very busy since I had to buy so many lenses:
I bought the FE16-35mm f2.8GM in July 2017.
After that, I bought the FE12-24mm f4G(the Fred Miranda forum sold it to me).
Then, I bought the Voigtlander 40mm f1.2SL(I sold it in the November 2017 and I am trying to get it back but it has always been backordered since then).
I think selling the Voigtlander 40/1.2 was a huge mistake, if I knew it would be this difficult to get it back, then I would have kept it. I did not sell it because I did not like it, far from it, I loved the lens but I had some other priority at the time and had to sell it. But I never thought it would be back-ordered this long, since November 2017, it is not available here.
Cosina has tried to produce it as fast as they can, but still it is not available most of times.
So I think the Voigtalnder 40mm f1.2 SL is a huge hit for Cosina, maybe as huge as the Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 for Tamron. Those are always backordered.
The Batis 40mm f2 CF seems to be becoming like the Voigtlander 40mm f1.2, it is now long back ordered.
I had it too but I sold it for the Sony FE50mm f1.4ZA and I really regretted that decision since my FE50mm f1.4ZA cannot shoot close up like the Zeiss Batis 40mm CF.
The Batis 40mm f2 got a bad name since many criticize it for the poor Eye AF performance of that lens, but other than that, it was almost ideal lens for MY PERSONAL needs for this Christmas. It is a great high contrast lens, its rendering seems very similar to that of the Zeiss Batis 135mm f2.8 APO lens. It is super sharp any focus distance from 20 cm to infinity. There is no such a lens available from any one else.
Many people trash it as a Tamron design, but so what?
Maybe it is a Tamron or a real Zeiss(I think this one is a real Zeiss as with the 135), in either case, it is a very unique lens.
So if you do not need the speed of the FE50mmf1.4 ZA, then the Batis 40mm f2 CF may be a bit more logical choice.
I may trade my FE50mm f1.4 ZA for the Batis 40mm.....as soon as it available again. Hope I can get it back till this coming Christmas.
Anyway, in the Autumn 2017, I pre-ordered the FE24-105mm f4G and tested 5 copies total , I think this lens or most of Sony lenses announced after July 2016 have a good QC record.
Almost none of these were bad in this regard.
All the 5 copies of the FE24-105mm f4G and FE12-24mm f4G I tested were good ,well centered and sharp wideopen.
One I think my second copy of the FE24-105mm f4G had a AF related issue, but even that one was great optically.
But I do not like the FE24-105mm f4G at all, I never liked it although I tried hard to love it.
In next week I will sell it to get another Batis 40mm f2CF.
Anyway, in the end of 2017, my E mount kit became like below:
1 A7(bought the original A7 again)
2 A7R
3 A7R2(2)
4 FE16-35mm f2.8GM
5 FE24-105mm f4G
6 FE55mm f1.8
7 FE50mm f2.8 macro
8 Batis 18mm f2.8
9 Batis 25mm f2
10 Batis 85mm f1.8
11 Loxia 85mm f2.4
12 FE16-35mm f4ZA(still had it at this point)
13 Laowa 15mm f2D
In December ,2017 , I sold my FE24-70mm f4ZA, FE70-200mm f4G, FE 12-24mm f4G(was a huge mistake), Voigtlander 40mm f1.2(was a huge mistake).
This year 2018 was a not as big as the last 2017 year but still a reasonably good year for many of us.
In the spring after came back from the north island here, I decided to sell my A7Mk2 (I had 2 of these) , Loxia 85mm (too cold to hold it in a winder mountain), Laowa 15mm f2D(I dislike the color ) and the Batis 18mm f2.8 and I bought a A7R3.
And I realized that I may need the Batis 135mm f2.8 APO again for a few events I would have to shoot.
But at this point I was not sure I should buy it or just rent it from time to time.
Oh almost forgot, in Feb 2018, I bought my first copy of the Loxia 25mm f2.4 and tested it against my Batis 25mm f2 , which I really hated but kept very long.
I realized the Loxia 25mm is the best Loxia ever and it immediately replaced my Batis 25mm(actually 23mm lens uncorrected).
The Loxia 25mm f2.4 has been the most often used lens of mine since I first acquired it in Feb 2018.
But optically , it is not much better than my FE16-35mm f2.8GM at 25mm, in fact, in terms of distortion, vignetting and Lo CA, it may be a bit worse than the zoom.
In summer 2018, Tamron announced the Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 and I immediately sold my FE24-70mm f2.8 GM and FE16-35mm f4ZA I still had at the time.
I got my first copy of the Tamron in July 2018, I tested it against my FE24-105mm f4G and I actually preferred my Tamron but I kept my FE24-105mm f4G and sold the Tamron.
This was a huge mistake, I realized that just a couple of weeks after I sold the Tamron. I went to Nagasaki and shot the Nagasaki atomic bomb festival and found a f4 zoom too slow.
So as soon as I got back from Nagasaki, I tried to find a copy of the Tamron but it has been sold out for months here.
So I am now renting it from time to time.
Oh I almost forgot just a week before heading to Nagasaki, I bought a copy of the Batis 135mm again and it worked great there, but I found it a bit too long for the event.
But as I got a Marumi close up lens fort that lens, I now use it for flowers and shooting my mom's cats indoor.
And this time I think I would keep it, with a closeup filter, it is a very versatile lens. It was a bit overpriced lens when I got it first time in 2017, but it became a bit cheaper in 2018, so I think it is a good buy now. It is still a bit slow compared to the huge Sigma 135mm f1.8 but the Batis is slightly sharper than the Sigma near infinity and in medium focus distances like 10-30 feet distances. Also, the Batis 135mm has no CA, just like the Voigtlander 65mm f2.
After Nagasaki in the summer 2018, I started hearing the noise about the FE24mm f1.4GM and I knew I'd need it, the 24mm FL is one of my very favorite focal lengths.
So in October 2018, I ordered it and got it in the end of October this year and tested it against my Loxia 25 , 16-35mm GM and rented Batis 25mm many times and I loved it.
But in November 21st, a guy living close to my shop asked me if I could sell my copy of the FE24GM for 230000yen.
I asked why? He told me he really needed it but could not get and now it's been long backordered.
I said alright, then I would sell it to you for that price and I did.
At the time , I was thinking I'd be able to get it back very soon since it is a niche lens......but now I realize that it was a huge mistake, I might not get it back before this coming Christmas and it is a kind of lens I need for Christmas and my birthday party. I do not need the Loxia for that kinds of events, but the Sony 24mm GM, the Batis 40mm f2CF(for shooting cakes, foods ,etc).
Now we have too many wide lenses and these are all good and so choosing the right lens at the very first attempt is getting more and more difficult.
And as new better options come we want that new ones , and sometimes we never know what actually work for our particular unique needs and buy something wrong and sell it or return it.
Even those lenses we actually like we'd sometimes sell or return for some silly reasons. In my case the 40mm Batis , the 40mm Voigtlander and the 24mm f1.4GM are the those lenses and I really regretted selling them.
Some lenses become a real instant hit like those 3 primes and the Tamron 28-75mm f2.8, once you sell any of these for any reason, it would be quite difficult to get these back while these are still very hot.
I think those anti-Sony Nikon Canon Panasonic fanboys will have to experience the same things in the near future.
They seem to think they can just keep using their old mount lenses forever on their new system, but it is just a temporal solution , they will sell the F or EF lenses as more and more great native Z or R mount lenses come out , since the native mirrorless lenses are optically much better than the old D-SLR lenses adapted, especially in the Nikon world the difference will be dramatically glaring.
So those like Hogan, Northrup ,etc , talking about how good the F mount D-SLR lenses especially the long ones (70-200mm f2.8 E VR for example) really are and keeping their current F mount lenses even after Nikon releases a Z version of these, will have to start buying a new set of Z lenses quite soon.....
Anyway, what have I leaned from my stupid half decade long of E mount lens buying and selling transaction history?
Well maybe just 3 simple things:
1 we should buy the lenses we really want in any focal range at first try. If we buy a compromised lens or something we do not really love, we'd sell it and lose some money on it.
2 buying and selling many lenses is unavoidable waste in any of these rapidly growing mirrorelss systems cause the lens line grow and change very fast.
3 better stick with popular lenses rather than buying super niche products when we can. I think this one is very important cause I have bought many Loxia lenses and many Laowa, Samyang MF lenses and lost a lot of money, they never retain good resell value.
I may sell my Loxia 25mm f2.4 for the Voigtlander 21mm f3.5 or Voigtlander 12mm f5.6, but I know the resell value of my Loxia 25mm is now very bad , so I am not very happy about it.
TBH, if I knew the 24mm f1.4GM was coming in the last December , I would not get the Loxia.
As much as I love my Loxia 25mm f2.4 , I know it is not a very popular lens and many people do not even consider it especially after the FE24mm f1.4 GM launch in this past September.
The only one Zeiss E mount lens that has actually retained about 70 percent of its original resell value is the Batis 135mm APO. All the other E mount Zeiss primes have lost more than 40 percent of their original resell value.
So at this point I decide that I will never get any Loxia unless I am 100 percent sure I would not sell it in a year or two.
When I really need a niche MF lens , I would get a cheap Voigtlander or a super popular lens like their 40mm f1.2 that has retained about 80 percent of its original resell value.
I think the Batis 40mm f2CF will become a big hit for Zeiss and I must buy it again but I am not very sure it will be available very soon again, maybe I will not be able to get it until next Feb. It was a huge mistake to sell it.
But in any case, the first party lenses (especially the GM lenses) are much safer to buy. I sold my FE12-24mm f4G three times but I lost almost nothing on that. I also sold my FE85mm f1.4GM two times but I did not lose much money on it either.
The Sony Zeiss is a bit different than the GM , in case of the FE50mm f1.4ZA, I lost about 500 USD when I sold it in this weekend. But it is a very rare case, most of Sony lenses retain good resell value.
Finally, many Nikon fanboys criticize Sony and E mount for their poor resale value.
But the fact is all mirrorless cameras do not retain good resale value, since they are superseded more often than their D-SLR rivals. So Nikon Z series cameras will be devalued very fast, just like the one generation older Sony A7X bodies.
But, to be fair to Sony, now Sony lenses hold their resale value much longer than their Nikon equivalents.
It has changed since about October 2017, so now we do not need to worry about the resale value of the Sony system too much, it is just as good as the rival brands D-SLR systems and much better than the Z and R systems.
UPDATE: many many lenses like the Loxia 21mm f2.8, the Loxia 25mm f2.4 and the Loxia 35mm f2 are very popular in many camera gearhead forums and that gives us an illusion of they are all huge hits or they must retain quite good resell value. But it is actually an illusion.
The Loxia 21mm f2.8 is now cheap in used market, its resale value is very bad, if you do not like it and sell it you'd lose about 700 US immediately unless you are living in the states and sell it in a forum or something like that.
The Loxia 35mm f2 is really bad in this regard , if you really want to try it just get a lightly used copy , in that way you will not lose much when you sell it.
It is sad to realize but those very overrated Loxia lenses are unable to retain their resale value long, these are popular only in FM or DPR forums.....not many ordinary people buy these.
So these lenses are usually devalued very fast, especially compared to more mainstream AF zooms.
I just sold my FE24-105mm f4G (my 4th one) and I also sold my FE55mm f1.8ZA(3rd one) but I lost almost nothing on these. In contrast, I lost about 850 USD when I sold my Loxia(supposed to be very popular) 21mm f2.8.
I think I lost about the same amount of money when I sold my Batis 25mm f2 in this past summer.
UPDATE2: when I was testing my Loxia 25 against my Sony 24mm GM lens, I found that the Loxia did not get the 5 axis IBIS benefit from any of the current Sony lineup. It was shocking as most of the Batis series takes that advantages without any issue.
I am sure there are many people like me if it's not for the Loxia and the Voaigtlander APO series primes, I would not stay within Sony system, I might get a Fuji GFX or a Nikon Z7.
So discriminating the NATIVE Loxia line Zeiss and Voigtlander E mount APO series lenses will really hurt Sony as people realize when they say the mount is open for any one , that actually means it is open to any lens maker or lenses that do not become a serious threat to Sony rivals.
So the E mount being an open mount system is really a lie.....
If they say it is an open mount , then they should improve interoperability between many different brand lenses and their own E mount bodies.
