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Specific Leica lenses on an A7Rii question...


w44neg

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I know this will have been asked a million times but I have one day to make a decision on an A7Rii as a secondary camera to my Leica M. 

 

My lenses are:

 

- 18mm Zeiss f4

- 35mm Summilux FLE

- 50mm Summicron v4

 

I'm considering an A7Rii as a secondary body for a couple of specific reasons but I don't want to buy it if lens quality will be reduced. The micro lenses on an M are there for a reason I would expect, and hopefully not a gimmick or marketing point, so how does an adapted M lens work with the A7XX. Does it perform as well as an M, or better/worse?

 

Again, sorry to ask something that has probably been asked many times before but I just can't find the info I need. If the quality is reduced enough to be noticeable then I don't want to waste all that money.

 

Thanks

Edited by w44neg
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I cant comment on the performance of the Sonys with M lenses from personal experience. How we you use our cameras and lenses of course influences the quality of results in many ways and we all have different priorities and things that may or may not matter to us.

 

I understand that in general terms, the single and thinner cover glass and filter on the M sensor assembly is a part of the optical design intended to produce best performance with M lenses.

 

At a very recent visit to an authorised repairer with a group of Forum members, I was able to review some of a resource publication (not for sale) provided to them that include comparison images with Leica wides on the M and the Sony. The difference shown was quite marked regarding the reproductions of point light sources in some night images. Those with the M were much superior regarding clean reproduction of those points without additional coloured flare. I hope that assists in your evaluation, regarding possible reduced quality. 

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I have tried some Leica M lenses on an A7, which has the same problem of thick sensor cover glass as the A7Rii. With 35 & 50 the results at first glance can look very good, but if you look close at the edges and corners there is significant smearing of detail due to astigmatism (which also distorts and reflects point sources as mentioned above).

I use the A7 with my old SLR lenses (mainly Leica R and Pentax) where the greater distance of the lens to sensor greatly reduces the cover glass effect. Even my Pentax 20mm f4 gives very nice results.

90 mm Leica M lenses are very nice on the A7 - the Summarit and fat TeleElmarit also balance nicely on it.

Kolarivision will replace the thick Sony cover glass with much thinner glass. I think their latest version is at least as thin as Leica uses, and this makes a huge difference in the edge performance. I've decided to have my A7 converted, as the small body handles nicely with the smaller M lenses.

The thin cover glass conversion will not cure the edge color shifts on ultrawide lenses, but it is possible to correct that in post processing.

On the other hand, the M10 is better with wide M lenses than any other camera, so maybe I should just wait for mine instead of messing with the A7 conversion.

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Last year i compared the Summilux 1.4/35mm ASPH with other lenses (e. g. Sony Zeiss 2.8/35mm and Minolta MD-III 2.8/35mm), using the Sony A7R II:

http://artaphot.ch/minolta-sr/objektiv-vergleiche/434-sony-a7rii-and-summilux-1-4-35mm-asph-sony-zeiss-fe-2-8-35mm-and-minolta-md-2-8-35mm

 

Due to the differences in sensor stack thickness (nearly 3mm on the Sony), the Summilux performs far worse than the cheap Minolta 2.8/35mm. Scroll down in the above link to find crops from the corner and from the center.

 

Current Sony and Zeiss wideangles for the E-Mount (!) don't have these problems; the Zeiss ZM lenses have the same problems as the Leica wideangles when used on the Sony A7 series.

 

Stephan

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I'm sure the OP is aware the r2 can have a thin-filter mod, which would help with the 18/4 and FLE. I did see some nice shots with the FLE in the early days. It may be OK for you, with stock camera. v4 cron is good.

 

The SEM 18 would be better than the 18/4 for the stock sony.

 

There is great variability in how lenses like the stock, or even digital M cameras.

 

Many actually consider the ZM 35/1.4 the best 35mm lens which can mount on the camera, even stock. That lens can itself have a mod, and others as well, it's called a "front filter mod".

 

Down around 21, I'd think the CV 21/1.8 is best, but it's big. The ZM 21/2.8 does seem OK stopped down.

Edited by uhoh7
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You might check out this old thread on FM.

 

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1392833/2#13289195

 

Lots of examples and lenses tested there...  I used to have an A7R II and now have an M10.  I didn't notice anything particularly bad about the A7R II with M glass... regarding getting a thin-filter mod, the consensus from the other threads I read seem to say that it's only worth it if you're shooting landscape and are super critical of the images.  I'd tend to agree... from what I remember shooting M glass on the A7R II, I never had any issues using my 50mm rigid or 50mm Elmar-M (only two M lenses I had at the time).

 

If you're serious about the A7R II, you should look in to the Techart pro adapters to gain autofocus with M glass.  I have one that I'm keeping around because at some point in the future I plan on getting another Sony body to use it with... most likely I'll wait for the A7 III... the A7R II was just overkill for me with the 42mp and huge files.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I have the A7RII and have been using 35 lux FLE and 50 lux ASPH on it. Probably the 35 lux more. The IQ is great. Color rendering is different vs my M9, but not a big issue for me. I actually really like the 42MP sensor, which gives you more room for cropping. I have both a Voigtlander adapter and a Techart Pro adapter. The autofocus on the Techart is definitely not as good as native Sony lenses, but it is useable. It really comes in handy sometimes. I love the Voitglander too for close-up shot. Techart can do close-up focus in autofocus mode as well but it is not supported when you manually focus. 

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