Sony A7R III T* on EVF

[Sean Eld]

I'm considering purchasing a Sony A7RIII or A7III. Something that I noticed is this orange T* icon near the side of the EVF component. Could anyone explain what this means? I tried to search for it elsewhere, but had no luck. I did notice that there are some lenses with this designation on them (e.g. Sony 24-70mm f/4 ZA Vario-Tessar T* OSS). Is this icon stating it is compatible with those lenses?

Thanks!

 

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

Edited July 14, 2021 by Sean Eld
Adding additional information

[Pieter]

T* refers to the Zeiss-coating on the viewfinder optics. It's just marketing BS, as if anyone would be able to tell the difference with any other proper multilayer nanocoating. But hey, it's Zeiss so it must be good!

https://lenspire.zeiss.com/photo/en/article/technical-article-on-t-coating-and-reduction-of-reflections-in-lenses/

[XKAES]

Zeiss has been using the T* designation on most of their lenses for decades.  It is most frequently remembered due to their collaboration with Yashica when they both used the same lens mount -- commonly called the "C/Y-mount" -- referring to the Contax and Yashica SLR cameras that they collaborated in making.  Yashica and Zeiss created their own lines of lenses, but most could be used interchangeably on each others' cameras.  Many of their accessories where interchangeable as well.  And nearly all of their lenses were multi-coated -- they just used different labels -- with Zeiss calling their coating T*.  All the other lens companies multi-coated their lenses as well, and many of them came up with names that were "fancier" than "multi-coated", such as Yashica with "ML", Tamron with "BBAR", Fuji with "EBC", Minolta with "Apochromatic coating", etc.  And just as lens optical designs were different, lens coatings were different.  That doesn't automatically make one "better" than another.  Still, lots of shutterbugs (AKA, snobs) claim that one design, or coating, or brand is far superior to another.

Look up "cognitive dissonance" in any psychology text book.

Edited July 15, 2021 by XKAES

[thebeardedgroundsman]

Apparently the T* on the camera body near the eyepiece signifies that the view finder has the Zeiss coating on it.

[XKAES]

The viewfinders of cameras with the T* probably do have some Zeiss coating, but that can mean just about anything.  As with any "multi-coated" lens, the definition is not actually defined.  Minolta, Fuji, and some other lens makers have stated that their multi-coating varies from lens element to lens element -- and that it is only applied where it is beneficial.  In reality, some multi-coated lenses, may only have multi-coating on some elements -- with the other elements being single-coated.  For example, the Zeiss 500mm f8 T* Mirotar CAT -- one of the best 500mm CATS (along with the Yashica 500mm ML) -- appears to have only one multi-coated element.

So the "viewfinder" of some Sony cameras having a T* may simply mean that one side of one "element" in the viewing system has a Zeiss coating -- just like coated eye glasses!  Does it make a difference that you will notice?  Well, it can't hurt, I suppose.