Testing Sony sel35f18 lens on a FS5 + slomo at DVinfo.net

Nigel Davey · May 11th, 2016, 06:54 AM

My new Sony 35mm f.18 arrived recently. So over the weekend I shot some test footage with it on my FS5 in Super Slow motion mode. I manually set the aperture to f2.0 for everything and exposed (best as I could) with the variable ND.

Generally I'm happy with the lens, it does what I hoped it would, ie gives me OSS, autofocus and auto Iris compared to my Nikon glass. I know the focus isn't spot on in all of these clips, but remember it is a very shallow focal plane and I was using push auto focus in most cases. On real jobs I would probably operate a stop higher (for run and gun) or focus manually.... if shallow DOF was the objective.

Whilst I'm satisfied with the lens on a few of the slomo shots I can see some nasty jaggy/fizzy stepped edges on areas of high contrast or detail. The setting for slomo was (mostly) XAVC 50p, 200fps, shutter 1/425. Occassionally I used 100fps with a shutter of 1/215

Unfortunately the compression via Premiere and Vimeo has softened this issue out in the following video. But I thought I'd post it anyway so folks can see how the 35mm performed:

Note these clips were not graded. Straight from the camera into Premiere, music/dissolves added and then exported.

If you want to see an example of the fizziness issue, you'll need to download the following clip. But make sure you chose 'Original' option to download:

You'll see the fizziness on the edge of the barbed wire.

Ray Lee · May 11th, 2016, 07:57 AM

Had a love hate relationship with my 35mm 1.8, OS great focal range, really sharp, and nice and small.... but the manual focus was painful so I sold it after a year and went back to the Nikons and just use support.

Its not the "fly by wire" or even not having hard stops its that it speed sensitive s slow 20 degree turn of the focus ring can move the focus point 4 feet try it again but a micro hair faster and it can move 40 feet... grrrr seems like it would be an easy fix with firmware

The slow motion looked pretty good to be, some had issues on hard edge lines but other stuff looked a good as regular HD.

Nigel Davey · May 14th, 2016, 01:50 PM

Hi Ray. I have a question that you or someone else with both Canon and Sony glass may be able to answer. If you use Canon glass with a Metabones, Commlite or other adaptor with electronics, is the auto iris, autofocus and image stabilisation as quick and effective as Sony's own glass?

Since I do a fair amount of run and gun, these auto features are very useful.

May 11th, 2016, 06:54 AM	#1
Nigel Davey Major Player Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: London Posts: 241	Testing Sony sel35f18 lens on a FS5 + slomo My new Sony 35mm f.18 arrived recently. So over the weekend I shot some test footage with it on my FS5 in Super Slow motion mode. I manually set the aperture to f2.0 for everything and exposed (best as I could) with the variable ND. Generally I'm happy with the lens, it does what I hoped it would, ie gives me OSS, autofocus and auto Iris compared to my Nikon glass. I know the focus isn't spot on in all of these clips, but remember it is a very shallow focal plane and I was using push auto focus in most cases. On real jobs I would probably operate a stop higher (for run and gun) or focus manually.... if shallow DOF was the objective. Whilst I'm satisfied with the lens on a few of the slomo shots I can see some nasty jaggy/fizzy stepped edges on areas of high contrast or detail. The setting for slomo was (mostly) XAVC 50p, 200fps, shutter 1/425. Occassionally I used 100fps with a shutter of 1/215 Unfortunately the compression via Premiere and Vimeo has softened this issue out in the following video. But I thought I'd post it anyway so folks can see how the 35mm performed: Slomo 35mm f1.8 test on Vimeo Note these clips were not graded. Straight from the camera into Premiere, music/dissolves added and then exported. If you want to see an example of the fizziness issue, you'll need to download the following clip. But make sure you chose 'Original' option to download: Clip0256 on Vimeo You'll see the fizziness on the edge of the barbed wire. __________________ www.ndavey.co.uk

May 11th, 2016, 07:57 AM	#2
Ray Lee Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: South NJ US Posts: 138	Re: Testing Sony sel35f18 lens on a FS5 + slomo Had a love hate relationship with my 35mm 1.8, OS great focal range, really sharp, and nice and small.... but the manual focus was painful so I sold it after a year and went back to the Nikons and just use support. Its not the "fly by wire" or even not having hard stops its that it speed sensitive s slow 20 degree turn of the focus ring can move the focus point 4 feet try it again but a micro hair faster and it can move 40 feet... grrrr seems like it would be an easy fix with firmware The slow motion looked pretty good to be, some had issues on hard edge lines but other stuff looked a good as regular HD.

May 14th, 2016, 01:50 PM	#3
Nigel Davey Major Player Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: London Posts: 241	Re: Testing Sony sel35f18 lens on a FS5 + slomo Hi Ray. I have a question that you or someone else with both Canon and Sony glass may be able to answer. If you use Canon glass with a Metabones, Commlite or other adaptor with electronics, is the auto iris, autofocus and image stabilisation as quick and effective as Sony's own glass? Since I do a fair amount of run and gun, these auto features are very useful. __________________ www.ndavey.co.uk