{"id":7692,"date":"2016-07-14T21:46:47","date_gmt":"2016-07-14T21:46:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alinpopescu.eu\/blog\/?p=7692"},"modified":"2017-02-27T19:03:23","modified_gmt":"2017-02-27T19:03:23","slug":"hands-new-planar-50mm-f1-4-fe-70-200-f2-8-gm-lens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alinpopescu.eu\/blog\/hands-new-planar-50mm-f1-4-fe-70-200-f2-8-gm-lens\/","title":{"rendered":"Hands on with the new Planar 50mm f\/1.4 FE and 70-200 f\/2.8 GM lens"},"content":{"rendered":"

July, 11th 2016 – I’ve attended in Berlin the launch of the 21st FE lens on the market. 21st lens in a 3 year interval, something I wouldn’t think to be possible when Sony have launched it’s mirrorless full frame camera system, the Alpha 7 series.<\/p>\n

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Versiunea in limba Romana<\/strong> – click aici<\/a>!<\/p>\n

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Together with Zeiss (they’ve hit 20 years milestone of collaboration), Sony has launched the new\u00a0Planar T* FE 50mm F1.4 ZA<\/strong>\u00a0(check\u00a0availability and price<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\"Launching<\/a>

GM Yann Salmon-Legagneur – Product Marketing Europe<\/p><\/div>\n

You can find all over the Internet technical details about this new lens. I will just tell you about my own hands on experience with it. It was a surprise for us too, because the main invite for the Berlin event was to test the recently announced 70-200 f\/2.8 FE GM<\/strong> lens.<\/p>\n

How are the lenses?<\/h1>\n

Anything but small! If for a 70-200 f\/2.8 you would expect to be big and heavy, well, this Planar 50mm f\/1.4 it’s a beast. The biggest and heaviest 50mm lens I’ve ever lay hand on.<\/p>\n

On my A7s it’s completely unbalanced. Things changed a bit on the second generation alpha 7 series, with their bigger grip. Still big but not that front heavy like on my main camera.<\/p>\n

\"Sony<\/a>

Planar 50 1.4 on Sony A7 mII<\/p><\/div>\n

The lens was built with videographers in mind. The aperture ring can be either silent, without any noticeable click, or with clear definition for each aperture. Unfortunately, the focusing mechanism is still a drive by wire system, so there is no clear mark for the minimum focusing distance (45 cm to be more clear) or for infinity.<\/p>\n

I’m very curious how well this new lens will sell since on market we already have the wonderful Sony Zeiss 55mm f\/1.8, much smaller and with an exemplary IQ. Not to mention the recently launched 50mm f\/1.8 FE lens which I still have to test.<\/p>\n

It’s still good when there is choice!<\/p>\n

\"Seria<\/a><\/p>\n

We’ve walked inside the Zoo of Berlin in groups, having at our disposal second generation Alpha 7 cameras (A7s II, A7 II, A7R II) and an impressive amount of both the Planar and G Master lens. Of course everyone wanted to test the tele and not the “normal” lens.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately I didn’t rush to get a camera\/lens combo from the Sony reps (I won’t stay in the corner next time) so I got an A7 mII and the new Planar 50mm f\/1.4. Not that it wasn’t a good combo, but seeing other guys with the A7R II on Auto, made me mad and almost waisted a tear \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

In the end he proved to be a nice guy and he accepted to change lenses (he got the 70-200 f\/2.8) and finally the camera too.<\/p>\n

Sony 50mm f\/1.4 Carl Zeiss Planar T* ZA FE<\/h1>\n

It’s difficult to get a clear impression of a lens after only a few hours of test, especially in a continuous hurry-up, not to get behind the horde and get lost in the Zoo. It’s mostly probable to see the same images on different European blogs\/magazines as the one I’ll show you next. Even so, I’ve tried to improvise and be original, photographing only what I’ve wanted.<\/p>\n

The 50mm lens is not a focal of my taste and I mean by this that is a lens I don’t feel. I didn’t create any artistic images with it, but I’ve tried to show to my readers something of general interest.<\/p>\n

For me, the magical thing about a lens is it’s Bokeh and not it’s sharpness. It matters so much how smooth it is rendered by the lens. The new Planar is so creamy!<\/p>\n

[twentytwenty]<\/p>\n

\"DSC00007\"<\/a> \"Crop<\/a><\/p>\n

[\/twentytwenty]<\/p>\n

Though I’ve noticed in some cases the same problem that arised\u00a0with the Batis 85 mm f\/1.8 (read here the review<\/a>). I mean by this that in extreme cases, there is some doubling in the out of focus areas, something not so pleasing.<\/p>\n

[twentytwenty]<\/p>\n

\"DSC00004\"<\/a> \"Crop<\/a><\/p>\n

[\/twentytwenty]<\/p>\n

Up from f\/2.0 the lens is amazingly sharp. From my point of view 2.0 is already the sweet spot for sharpest images\u00a0from\u00a0this lens.<\/p>\n

[twentytwenty]<\/p>\n

\"DSC01824\"<\/a> \"CropHippo100\"<\/a><\/p>\n

[\/twentytwenty]<\/p>\n

Because of the hurry-up, I’ve only managed to shoot a single series of same scene at different apertures.<\/p>\n\n\t\t