Lens choice, 100mm and above

[Jainbaby]

Hello,

 

This forum has been a great help, so I am back for more

 

I have built a nice kit (need to get rid of some redundancy) but would like to add to my kit with a long lens.  

 

Current setup:

 

Sony 28MM F2

Sony Kit Lens 28-70

Voigtlander 40MM Nokton F1.4

Zeiss Loxia 50MM F2

Sony Zeiss 55MM F1.8

 

I am looking for something longer,  Like a 200MM or so.  

 

Ideally this would be used for automobile shooting.  Could be still and or in motion.  

 

Guessing there is nothing native in a fixed prime above roughly 100mm.  Should I start with 85mm-100mm range or is there something above 100MM you recommend.  Should I be considering a Zoom?

 

I am open to native or adapted.  Can shoot manual, fixed prime but am still very much an amateur.

 

Sorry for the ramble, I can elaborate on anything necessary to assist in some recommendations. 

 

THANKS!!!

[jonneymendoza01]

100 to 400mm canon L

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[christer]

Zuiko Olympus 100mm 2,8 small, lightweight, and very sharp from fully open, yet only around € 125 in very good condition.

[Mr_A7s]

Highly recommend 85gm or batis.

 

I'm currently shooting with 2470gm, results are amazing. Can't wait to preorder 70200gm.

[Jainbaby]

I have looked at the Batis. It's on my list.

 

If you have the lenses I own, would you go 85mm or up to 200mm or a zoom that goes up to 200-300mm?

[Gilgenberg]

i would go for 80 - 135

 

if you need af (+LA-EA 4)

 

sony SAL 85mm 2.8  is nice but AF is loud and a little bit slow, Sigma 105mm 2.8 macro OS, excellent IQ, very fast AF and very sharp, macro  + OS!

 

very nice Sony SAL 135mm 1.8!

 

if you look for MF  

 

i can recommend the Mamiya 645 Lenses, very nice is Sekor C 80mm 2.8 N (very small, and wonderful MF handling) or Sekor C 110mm 2.8 N

 

also the Sekor 150mm 3.5 is brilliant but a little bit bulky

 

there are many good MF tele lenses from Olympus OM, Canon , Minolta, Leica, Zeiss 

 

wonderful cheap and very small Minolta MD 135mm 3.5

[Langstrum]

Canon EF 200mm f/2.8 L is a gem with excellent sharpness and it focus fast on A7ii/A7Rii/A6300 using common adapters like Commlite, Viltrox, etc.

[Mr_A7s]

I'm currently own a7r ii and a7s. I'm not big fan adapting lenses. These are the native lenses I have:

 

FE35F1.4, FE35F2.8, FE55F1.8, 85GM and 2470GM.

 

Your case, batis25, fe55, 85gm and either 135 or 200 native later.

[Jainbaby]

Any other feedback?

 

Keep in mind primary goal is vintage automobile shooting: both still and in motion (80% still, 20% motion)

 

I'm really leaning towards the 85 Batis but the 85g master has me second guessing.

 

Other interesting ideas:

 

Mitakon

70-200GM

[Mr_A7s]

Any other feedback?

 

Keep in mind primary goal is vintage automobile shooting: both still and in motion (80% still, 20% motion)

 

I'm really leaning towards the 85 Batis but the 85g master has me second guessing.

 

Other interesting ideas:

 

Mitakon

70-200GM

 

I have 70200GM on preorder. If IQ is on par as the little brother 2470GM, then I guess I will end my dream about native 200mm f2.8 FL for a7 series.

 

BH still showing shipping is Jul 29th. I'll post some photos sometime next week once I have the lens...

[Colorado]

Food for thought. If you are shooting stationary autos you can most likely "Zoom" with your feet. Moving automobiles in most situations would require a much more static position. Thus a zoom lens would fit better then a prime. Longer lenses also help when panning and background motion blur. Figure out what's most important to your style and then make your decision.

 

Always keep the important things in life in focus, the rest is just bokeh.

[JimmyD]

If your focus is autos, save some cash and get the Batis 85mm f/1.8 over the 85 GM f/1.4.  For this work you will likely not be shooting at f/1.4, and the Batis is plenty sharp with great colors and contrast.  With the extra cash you save you could pick up longer focal length legacy glass that gets consistently high marks when adapted to Sony A7 series, such as the Canon FD 300m f/4 L or FD 135 f/2, or the Minolta MD 135mm f/3.5 (which, as noted by Gilgenberg above, is small light and I have found it to be very sharp).

[smpetty]

Canon EF 200mm f/2.8 L is a gem with excellent sharpness and it focus fast on A7ii/A7Rii/A6300 using common adapters like Commlite, Viltrox, etc.

This. The Canon 200 f2.8L is sharp as a tack and feels good with the Metabone IV and the A7RM2. The Canon 135 f/2L is also a gem.

[steve of stonehenge]

I really love my Canon 70-200 f4 L IS with the Metabones IV adapter.  Even hand held I have gotten some great action shots at a baseball game.  It is somewhat heavy with the adapter but not un-manageable.  There is also a f2.8 version, but it is much more expensive and heavy.  And the auto focus is as fast as on a Canon body.

 

Don't rule out a used copy.  I have had excellent results on eBay with used lenses both buying and selling.

[Reinhold_1]

I have two options for you:

 

1. Minolta M-Rokkor 4.0/90 mm (with Adapter) - very small, very sharp, very very nice bokeh, or

 

2. Sony FE 70-300 mm - extremely versatile, fast AF, sharp - even at 300mm, good macro-option..

[Zé De Boni]

...need to get rid of some redundancy

 

Sony 28MM F2

Sony Kit Lens 28-70

Voigtlander 40MM Nokton F1.4

Zeiss Loxia 50MM F2

Sony Zeiss 55MM F1.8

 

 

 

 

Sony 28MM F2

Sony Kit Lens 28-70

Voigtlander 40MM Nokton F1.4

 

​Those are cheap lenses with just fair results. Are you satisfied? If so, then you may choose any long lens. It will be hard to find a lens with lower performance. For my standards, I would get rid of the 3 mentioned and buy one of the following options:

 

- 24-70mm f/2.8 GM 

or

- 35mm f/2.8 and 25mm f/2 Batis

 

Well, you may keep the 28 if you want to explore the cheap options of ultra wide angle or fisheye.

 

The 50 and 55 are also redundant, but it is up to you to keep both, depending on how you work.

 

The long lens could be the FE 70-200mm f/4. Amazing how nobody mentioned it before. It performs quite well on my A7RII and A6000 (I mostly use it by f/8). I think that it is wiser to get a zoom as your first long lens. You may shop for prime long lens when your targets are more specific. My idea is to cover al the range first. Since the longest Sony native primes are at 85 - 90 mm, the zooms seem to be the only starting option. Actually, any of the 3 Sony zooms will work fine.

 

Here is one recent handheld autofocus shot with the FE 70-200mm f/4 (@ 200mm f/7.1, 1/200s, ISO 1250 equiv.). The crops are at 1:1, JPEG quality 6 or 50%.

 

 

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[Zé De Boni]

You didn't mention what camera(s) you have. If you can't count on IBIS, then the FE 70-200mm f/4 Zoom is really recommended for your motion shots. It has OS 2 settings, one for panning, which may give nice results of moving subjects at slow shutter speeds (blurred background = better movement representation), although I have not tested this option with this lens. If you opt for an 85mm prime, the Batis has OS, but no button to control it, so I can't tell how it performs at panning shots.

[danmleephoto]

Tamron 70-200mm A009 f2.8 is great value glass - highly recommend it.

[Jainbaby]

I have a A7.  But I am planning to purchase an A7R2 in the next month or so.  

 

Ze De Boni, maybe its my computer but I don't think those pics look that great (just being honest).  

 

I decided I will sell the 40 Voigtlander and the kit lens.  I will keep the 28F2, I disagree that its a cheap lens and isn't good.  I think it is capable of some pretty amazing results.

 

I am traveling in Asia the next two weeks but once I am back there is a vintage race car museum I am planning to visit and would like to order the lens now if possible.  The museum has something called demo day and they bring 3 of the vintage race cars out of the museum and have them go around a small oval type track.  

 

There is a photographer who I think is amazing Julien Mahiels, he attends a lot of the same vintage car races and events that I attend and is I believe one of the best at filming vintage cars.  I recently read an online interview and he mentioned his 200mmF2 and 85 F1.4 as the two lenses he uses the most.  Here is a link to his gallery:

 

https://500px.com/photo/134971241/porsche-356-by-julien-mahiels?ctx_page=1&from=gallery&galleryPath=21314351&user_id=151132

 

Seems a lot of the pics I like are shot at 200MM.  He has a flick page too, but I can't seem to figure out if you can see what focal length each pic is shot at on Flickr.  

 

Anyway, I am thoroughly confused...I have an long flight to Japan ahead of me to think...

[Zé De Boni]

No problem. I just tried to be honest. The crops are 1:1, for pixel peepers, which means that in your monitor they appear the same size as an 150x225 print. That is much more (4x in one dimension) than the native print size at 300DPI. No sharpenning was added, just DXO Lens Softenning, to provide a true evaluation. Image may be slightly degraded by JPEG 50% quality. Here is a 100% quality version.

You may also notice that the subject is not centered, which means out of the best resolution of the lens. There is also a strong backlight, while I am in a dark forest; the black monkey face was underexposed, you may noticed that I tried to bring as much detail as possible. You can have an idea on how flare is controlled.

It was not by chance that I decided to show that image. It may not be as beautiful as it is important for me.

I keep my decision not to buy non native lenses unless there is no similar. The advantages may not be more than the compromises.

I hope you enjoy your trip and that your choice works for much longer than that.

 

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[christer]

Ze De Boni, maybe its my computer but I don't think those pics look that great (just being honest).

Jainbaby: we must have the same computer.

[Golem]

We all have more or less the same computer :-)  

 

The monkey pix are well executed for their likely

intended purpose, but do not serve well here to

demonstrate the capabilities of any mid-tele lens

for automotive pix. The shooting parameters are

most likely very different, and likewise the PP. 

  

Cool monkey pix tho ! But I wouldn't let them get

behind the wheel ..... 

  

FWIW, mid tele FLs are not especially difficult to

engineer, optical design-wise. IOW, given quality

construction, all choices should exceed required  

IQ for most any intended purpose. So things like

AF response and ergonomics come to the fore,

and that means you gotta get your hands on the

candidates. Text and sample pix won't get you

where you need to be.

  

Order your best guess so it will be waiting for you

when you return from Asia and trial it during your  

automotive event and keep or exchange it based

on your hands-on trial.

[Zé De Boni]

Sorry that I don't know so much about classic cars.

Is that an Impala? I found it at San Diego Zoo, a nice place to try a 70-200 Zoom, but I did not take note of the license plate...

Again, this is the uncropped image and the enlargement is 100% for pixel peepers. This time the camera is an A6000, fl 200mm, f/8 1/400s ISO 250.

About monitors, yes they may vary. Mine are calibrated for my printers and the papers I use. But I don't think that was the problem, as I understood that that was a polite way to say that you did not find my image a good example at all. No worries.

 

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[Golem]

My [retail] boss tried to tell me I shouldn't sell ISO 400

film to casual users heading to the beach with point &

shoot cameras whose top shutter speed was a 1/250.

  

So I hadda show him their results [before the users

picked up the processed pix]. That shut him up about

that situation. 

  

Technically, ISO 400 film at a 1/250 sec on a sunny

day at the beach will produce inferior IQ compared to

the ISO 100 that the boss preferred to sell. However,

given the entire matrix of variables, my customers all

had excellent results, and his customers had troubles.

[Jainbaby]

UPDATE:

 

After seeing some amazing test pics on the 70-200G Master, I think I am going to buy it.