ultra-wide options on A7 ii

[Sprocketdog23]

I'm seeking advice about wide angle adapted lenses that work well on A7 ii in the 12-24mm range. I have only recently aquired the A7 ii, as a full frame replacement for a ricoh GXRM, but have struggled to get my current lenses to perform in some high contrast scenes (VC 12mm f5.6 and VC 21mm f4) on the A7. Its not that the combination doesnt work, they both work in general, and are fine in b&w, but theres just too much corner darkening and some awful colour shifts towards the edges which is proving problematiic to correct fully in Software. I have looked at 20mm as the optimal focal length , but anywhere in the 12-24mm range is what i'm considering. I am not wealthy, so its certainly the cheaper or mid-range end of the 'used' market that I'm looking at on fleabay/2nd hand shops.

 

I already have adapters for Konica AR, Nikon F, M39, Canon FD and EF, but will take advice on anything that you use that gives good results, or i should avoid. I have heard good things about the Minolta 20mm, but how about the Nikon 20mm D ? or even zooms like the Nikon 18-35 (the one that covers FF) ? I did try a Canon 17-40 L but it was a bit cumbersome when you take into account the adapter, so prefer something less obtrusive. Years ago i had a Sigma 24mm superwide ii which was stunningly sharp with film. I would get one again if they combine well with the digital sensor in the Sony, but wider than 24mm would be better

[MikeTison]

Sony 16-35mm 

 

Tokina rmc 17mm 3.5

 

Tamron SP 17mm 3.5

 

Rokinon 14mm f2.8

 

Canon FD 17mm or 20mm

 

Voigtlander 15mm

[Sprocketdog23]

Thanks MikeTison, the Tokina and Canon FD both look interesting, and priced in the right place. I see you included the Voigtlander 15... How is it performing on the A7? As I put in my question, neither the Voigtlander 12mm or the 21mm f4 (skopar) are working for me on my A7, especially when shooting in colour due to the strong magenta colour cast at the sides, as well as heavy darkening particularly on the 21. I really love using the 21mm lens on the Ricoh, its so incredibly sharp on the 12mp apsc sized sensor, but then the gxrm has no anti-aliasing and micro lenses to work with lenses with rear elements so close to the sensor. Also, out of the lenses you listed, which is your best performing on the A7? I still have a Tamron SP 24mm adaptall lens, but it was awful on film cameras when i used it in the 1990's, so is lost in my loft somewhere and i never considered trying it on the A7.. Maybe i should dig it out. But thanks for pointing me at some lenses i wasnt aware of

[alans220]

I have the Tokina RMC 17mm, really like it, my favourite lens so far,  inexpensive too, mine was from ebay in excellent condition for around 40 uk pounds.

 

regards

 

al

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/82425024@N06/

[xya]

the sigma superwide ii in canon mount doesn't work with the a7, I had one. a tokina 21mm/3.8 works fine for me, so does a mir 20h (20mm/3.5), they are both quite big. more info on my site www.a7camera.com but no sample pictures yet.

[favol84]

Minolta af 20/2.8 is a good choice and sells for a good price.

[hjns]

Hi SprocketDog,

 

Just out of interest, how do you PP your images? Lightroom recent versions have near perfect compensation for the new lenses built in. I use a VC 15mm 4.5 mark 2 on my A7ii (previously on my A7), and most of the distortion, vignetting, and CA is automatically corrected using the LR profile for this lens. Only some smearing in the extreme corners remains, which I suspect you will get with any ultrawide lens. If you want to avoid that, better stick to a less wide lens, like 24mm or so.

 

Kr,

Henk

 

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[Sprocketdog23]

Hi hjns, thanks for your post. its mainly the Voigtlander 21mm f4 color skopar that is problematic. the 12mm exhibits less darkening and the lens profile in Lightroom and ACR cleans stuff up a bit, but then 12mm is just so extreme wide I use it much less, so 20mm is around the focal length I want to use for situations where 25 or 28 isn't wide enough. The VC 21mm was the lens I was hoping would be used most on my new A7ii, but to be honest it is pretty awful, and both the edge smearing and darkening corners are not even uniform, with the right side of the frame affected worse with smearing, and some strong shifts towards magenta/purple (thats worse on the left side), so the lens profile doesn't help much. I only have the older versions of these VC lenses, it seems the newer versions work better from what I have read. The lens works fine on APSC cameras like the Ricoh GXR and leica M8, so I know its not the lens itself, but then the field of view isn't 21mm with those cameras. I also have the VC 25mm f4 snapshot skopar which is fine on the A7, and the VC 35mm f1.7 ultron, which is very good, so really missing a wide lens in the 18-24mm range. As an update on my first post I just won a bid on a 20mm Vivitar lens (FD mount). Reviews seem to say its ok, but it was very cheap and I guess I'll find out whether its worth using when it arrives. Also looking at a Tokina 17mm.

[steve of stonehenge]

I recently got the Sigma 24 mm f1.4 Art for Canon mount and use it with Metabones IV adapter on my A7ii.  You may not consider that ultra wide though.  Here is one of my first photos taken with it in May:

 

Blue Jay County Park, Wake County, NC

Sigma 24mm Art, 1/30 second, f16

 

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[Nordentro]

I really like the CV 15mm III

 

[Sprocketdog23]

Wow, The CV15 III looks awesome Nordentro.  Super sharp, and good balance of tone and contrast across the frame.  Thanks or uploading.  

 

Today the postman delivered the cheapie Vivitar 20mm (Canon FD mount) I won on fleabay.  I'll get a chance to use it later this week on a visit up to Edinburgh, and will upload a couple of images.  I have shot a couple of images this lunchtime, and although its a bit of a murky day, first impressions are moderately favourable as a general purpose wideangle, but its no gem.  In comparison to the 21mm Voigtlander I own this lens exhibits no vignetting or edge colour shifts.  Its a heavy beast, but focusses extremely close up (to a few cm), and the centre is very sharp from f8 onwards..... its unusable at f3.8 (way too soft).  The corners show a lot of distortion even at f8 (worse than the VC21), but improve greatly by f11 onwards.  I guess f11 will be the sweet spot.  It's greatest asset is the close focussing, which will be useful for nature shots etc.

 

Also arrived today was a Konica 35mm f2.8 lens, not a super-wide obviously, but I have wanted this lens a while.  Have briefly compared it to my Voigtlander 35mm f1.7 Ultron, and the Konica 40mm f1.8 on the A7ii.

The Konica 35mm is by far the better performer in terms of contrast and bokeh, and it is super sharp across the frame.

[Michael_j]

The Leica  mount Voigtlander 15mm has problems with vignetting and smearing of corners on the A7. I sold mine and have just bought a Samsung 14mm f2.8 in Nikon mount. Unfortunately I can't use it until an adaptor arrives but it gets good reports. Hefty chunk of glass though, the Voigtlander was so neat and light I regret selling it now.

[KlausH]

The Leica  mount Voigtlander 15mm has problems with vignetting and smearing of corners on the A7. I sold mine ...

The version I and II of the Heliar 15mm F4.5 had severe problems with the A7/A7R. No so version III.  It is sharp right from F4.5 on, has almost no color cast and little CAs can easily be fixed in PP. I use a LCC (lens cast correction) in Capture One and get clean and beautiful results. It is little bigger, though.

[Nordentro]

True, the V.3 is excellent on A7 series cameras. A couple more:

 

[Michael_j]

Those look much better than I got with my v1 LTM 15mm Heliar.

 

I have just taken a couple of trial shots with my new Samyang 14mm. It will take a bit of getting used to but view of the back garden is promising.

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[i9zero]

What about 10-18mm from Sony? Shoot it full and use between 12 to 16

 

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[nomad]

The 10-18mm has very soft corners on FF, even where it covers.

 

From vintage I second the 17mm Tokina RMC (my sample is quite a bit better than the Tamron), it's low in contrast, but resolution is quite good when stopped down.

 

For 21mm it's the Minolta 2.8 or the Olympus 21mm 3.5. Both are gems, the Oly is lighter and more compact, but can show some strange flare at some angles.

[Sprocketdog23]

I have followed advice from the forum and went for the RMC Tokina 17mm f3.5.  Mine is optically in great condition, no fringing, smearing, good sharpness across the frame.  Unfortunately, I have had to send it of for adjustment, as it won't focus to infinity until f11, but I hope to get it back pretty soon.  

 

On a recent trip up to Northern Scotland, I used the Voigtlander Helier 12mm lens.  With the latest lens profile in ACR it performs reasonably well.  I have attached a 'reduced size' example.

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[Nordentro]

The CV 12mm should work pretty well on the new BSI sensor with no color shifts.

[pichonpa]

I just bought on Ebay, RMC Tokina 17mm f3.5 for my sony A7

200 euros in perfect condition but it "stings a little" to finance;-)

I hate to get it to show you pictures.

[Sprocketdog23]

My new RMC Tokina 17mm f3.5 got returned from repair, as it needed adjustment to reach infinity.  Luckily I got a very good copy optically, the corner resolution is excellent.

 

From my current W/A lenses my personal ratings out of 10 for usability are......

 

Voigtlander Heliar 12mm f5.6 - 7/10 (Good sharpness across frame, but needs work in PP removing purple edges and the vignetting is heavy without correction)

RMC Tokina 17mm f3.5 - 9/10 (The best all round performer, but slight vignetting stops it being a 10)

Vivitar 20mm f3.8 - 5/10 (As bad in the corners as my VC21mm lens, but gets an extra point for super close focussing)

Voigtlander 21mm f4 Color Skopar - 4/10 (Unusable due to terrible corner distortion and colour shits at the edges)

Voigtlander 25mm f4 Color Snapshot - 6/10 (Works fine, but not really wide enough in the superwide group)

 

 

Attached is a shot rom the Tokina

 

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