Lens Question
 

I am about to be a new owner of r NEX-EA50 and id like some info on lenses. Id like to get lenses with servo capabilitys but what lenses are out there for the EA-50?

Re: Lens Question
 

i think just the one that comes with it, and then Sony also makes a 16-50mm, but thats its

Re: Lens Question
 

oh ok hopefully more on the way.

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yea, they haven't made any announcements about new ones that I've heard of. they may have more coming, but we never can tell

Re: Lens Question
 

Yeah, the kit lens is pretty decent, but far too slow for me. Wish it had been 2.8-4.5 or something at least. Or even f4 all the way.
But once you have a fast power zoom you're in the $10.000 range all of a sudden... Seems to be a real gap. Who ever could make a pretty good and fast servo lens in the $3000-4000 range would sell like crazy.

Re: Lens Question
 

ok I got mine today I am new to the DSLR world its been a long time since I did stills. From what I see out of the box is the low light is awe full. I have to go to 18 db to get enough light it a very well lite room. Am I doing something wrong? Are the other zoom lenses (not servo) that are faster?

Re: Lens Question
 

Yes the kit lens is not really fast enough for most indoor shooting and has been discussed a lot in this forum - I find it however no worse than the lens on my old Z1 - which was a costlier camera. The kit lens works for me outdoors but for indoors I use a metabones adapter and my Canon lenses (24-105mm for most stuff) the Metabones speedbooster lets you use all your Canon glass and gives you an extra stop of light as well - it is pricey though.

Sigma do a 19mm and 30mm f2.8 NEX lens and sony do a 50mm f1.8 but for me the metabones has been a godsend for dark ceremonies and receptions.

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Thanks for the input I am getting close to figuring this out. I hope NAB will bring us some new glass.

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Will this get me another stop?
Sony NEX System : ALPA Lens to Sony NEX Speed Booster
can I use this with the stock lens? and keep servo?

Re: Lens Question
 

hi randy.
the lens it comes with is slow so thats why. actually, i recommend not using it to be honest. i know its like one of the big selling points of the nex-ea50, but instead i would recommend get either a regular zoom like a 17-55mm APS-C lens, or a prime like a 50mm f/1.4 and use the digital zoom. because the zoom it comes is crap for light. almost ANY lens will give you more light :-(

Re: Lens Question
 

You can use a speedbooster for example with some 24-70/2,8 lens from Nikon, Canon, Sigma and the likes.
It will give you 3/4 of a stop more light and 0,72x focal lenght reduction but also boosts the optical shortcomings of your lens.

A 24-70/2,7 will behave like a 17-50/2,0.

It would be much cheaper to get a 17-50/2,8 (from Tamron for example) with Nikon mount and get a Nikon G lens adapter instead. This will cost you 1/2 and you'll lose 1 stop...

Re: Lens Question
 

Interesting BUT has anyone actually bought/tried the Nikon-NEX Focal Reducer/Speed Booster ... does it really work??

I know James was hankering after one and I think he got one of the Chinese ones but I don't remember any comments after that. Sure they are cheap for around $150 BUT it's still a lot of money if the adapter sits on the shelf cos it's unusable!! James's woes are in this post : http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-nex...l-reducer.html

Anyone actually got a Nikon G/DX to NEX from China/HongKong that they use and can say "these are awesome" I haven't heard anyone on the forum raving about them as yet which is worrying ??? Steven Digges had a Metabones unit too and had mega-hassles with it ..Did that eventually rectify itself Steve???

Comments from anyone that has used them and likes them? The appeal of being able to go 0.72X wider and getting a full stop extra is huge but do they work in the real world??


Chris

Re: Lens Question
 

no that wouldn't work, cause in order for a speed booster to work, the lens would need to be intended for full frame. as this lens was made for sensors that have been made smaller than full frame, you couldn't use it on that lens. plus it seems this adapter doesn't have the correct mount on the lens end. this was made to put full frame Sony lenses on cropped frame Sony cameras. this lens doesn't meet that criteria.

Re: Lens Question
 

I will go another route for myself.

I'm using the Canon 17-55/2,8 with IS on Metabones adapter.
Works great. But the Canon lens is only borrowed.

I will wait for the new Sigma 24-70/2,0 in Nikon mount and
boost it further with a speedbooster.
Then, I'll have something like a 17-50/1,4 which makes fast
primes almost needless in terms of lowlight capabilities.
The set will be around 1500$ or more and we still have to wait
at least 1 year...

Re: Lens Question
 

ok ive been doing a little research (just enough to be dangerous:)) What about using a Sony prime lens (50 mm) with digital zoom? according to some websites that will make a 50 mm and 50-100 with a fixed aperature of 2.8. Downsides? Also how do yo use the digital zoom?

Re: Lens Question
 

that lens would work, but no it wouldn't give you a 50-100mm equivalent. the sensor in the NEX-EA50 is a 1.5x crop. for take whatever the focal length of a lens is, and multiply it by 1.5, and that will give you the focal length of the lens on the NEX-EA50. and thats the case with ALL lenses. even the stock 18-200mm that comes with it.

so a 50mm is 50mm x 1.5 = 75mm. thus it would turn that 50mm prime lens into a 75-150mm zoom.

ps, that means that the 18-200mm really is 36-300mm if you're realistic.

also, i'm not sure if you're asking about the full frame Sony Alpha model, but if you are, that would work with the speed booster, but that adds more math into the equation. the speed booster recovers 0.71x of your focal length. so that makes it 50mm x 1.5 x 0.71 = 53.25mm. that would make it a 53.25-106.5mm when you use digital zoom. and just so you know, yes the rule of crop factor applies no matter whether the lens is made for the cropped sensor on the NEX-EA50 or its made for full frame.

now if you are referring to the NEX mount 50mm f/1.8, than all the math above applies, except that there is no speed booster that will work with that. hope that helps buddy :-)

Re: Lens Question
 

if you want a prime lens that will give you close to a 50mm look than try a 35mm, that comes really close.

Re: Lens Question
 

Thanks for the math:) since I sent that post out I figured out how to use the digital zoom and also found out why I dont think I can use it. It doesnt give you enough play BUT now that I see all you guys using these fast zoom lenses can is there one of those that would work? so I can manually zoom to like say 70 mm then use the digital zoom if I need to get closer?

Re: Lens Question
 

ok, easy answer is that you are gonna probably want a lens adapter that gives you aperture control. so for that i recommend the Metabones Smart Adapter II. it will allow you to use a canon EF lens on your sony. this adapter will work with full frame or cropped frame EF lenses, but don't get it confused with a speed booster, there is no glass element in it to reduce the focal length. and remember that the speed booster only works with full frame lenses while the smart adapter works with both full frame and cropped lenses

then get a Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 with image stabilization. that will give you a 34-110mm equivalent and then you can use digital zoom when its not enough.

if you decide to go the speed booster route though, and you have the money to do it, then get the Canon EF to NEX speed booster and the Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 image stabilized lens. that will give you, based on the math above, a 25.56-74.55mm lens and give you 1 extra stop of light, making it a f/2 lens

Re: Lens Question
 

also, theres always the Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 lens. its not a very long zoom, but the f-stop is awesome. that is cropped and would only work with the smart adapter, so 27-52.5mm equivalent

Re: Lens Question
 

great answers! That looks like a good road for me thanks!

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glad to help :-)

Re: Lens Question
 

Hi Randy

I have yet to find a Church where the stock lens couldn't cope ... however if you are a long way back and at a big zoom you might have issues. I would rather get closer to the action ... My main cam is usually 2nd pew from the front so instead of being zoomed up to 150mm and at F6.3 I'm only zoomed up to around 50mm and still at F4.0 ..big difference.

Silly things (that you can establish if you go to rehearsals) are asking for the lights to be turned on (at one Church I opened a side door and voila..lot's of light)

Also bear in mind that at 20' from the bride and 55m at F4 you have a healthy DOF of around 6' which will cover the couple and the priest ... zap on a 55m F1.4 prime (or the new Sigma zoom) and your DOF drops right down to around 24" ...a slight mis-focus and the couple are fuzzy and the priest is sharp or the other way around so you really need to be careful with very fast lenses. If you have to work from the rear then you can get away with faster lenses as 135mm at F1.8 still has enough DOF as long as you are at least 60' away but sheesh ..one tiny bump on the tripod equates to a huge shift on the video at that distance ...I'd rather be closer ! Besides IF your audio fails if you are only 20' away you can still get useable audio from the camera shotgun ...at the rear of the Church you are lost!

Seriously as long as the stock lens doesn't break into the 24-30db range you still can get very nice images from it. The EA-50 has a big sensor and footage with gains of up to 21db are pretty much noise free.

Chris

Re: Lens Question
 

By the way:

A Canon 17-55 behaves like a 26-80mm lens on a full frame photo camera.
This is my go to lens for documentaries. I can absolutely recommend it with the smart adapter.

But 17-55mm are always 17-55mm, regardless of sensor size...

Re: Lens Question
 

sure, whatever focal length it is, that is what it is. but the manufacturer of that lens says

"the EF-S 17-55 mm f2.8 IS USM lens has a 35mm equivalent focal length of 27-88mm and is compatible only with the EOS 30D, EOS 20D, EOS Digital Rebel XT, and EOS Digital Rebel SLRs."

that lens is not made to work with full frame cameras cause its APS-C. its important to remember that, say for example, a 50mm lens will always only be 50mm, but how it behaves will differ depending on what type of camera it was made for and what camera you use it on. in the case of the EA50, its like a 75mm.

ps, i got that from the amazon description written by the manufacturer

Re: Lens Question
 

The stock lens is a perfect lens as far as its focal length the problem I have is the speed 3.5 is bad enough but going to 6 when I zoom in makes it real hard to shoot in any indoor settings. If Sony (or someone else) came out with a similar lens but shot at 2.8 fixed or even 3.5 fixed I wouldn't have any beefs. I do need to try one of the lenses you guys use to see. Maybe they will be fine.

Re: Lens Question
 

good news: rumor has it a new power zoom that is 18-105mm is coming out

bad news: its only a constant f/4

(SR5) 16-70mm Zeiss has OSS. A3000 (ILC-3000) has new 20 Megapixel sensor. | sonyalpharumors

Re: Lens Question
 

Thats a step in the right direction! Does the speed booster only work with prime lenses?

Re: Lens Question
 

better, almost

Re: Lens Question
 

A Speedbooster only works for big flange distance differences
and for lenses made for full frame aka 35mm film.

Mostly for full frame D/SLR lenses - primes and zooms doesn't matter.

So the 18-105 would be perfect in focal range and it will be smaller and lighter
than the big Canon/Nikon zoomlenses + adapter and have image stabilization.

But: f4 isn't that much faster than the 18-200 - only 1 stop at the long end...

Re: Lens Question
 

no it works with any lens that is full frame and made the the mount on the speed booster.

read this:
EDIT: Now with new “Bokeh Circles” tests….An adaptor which claims to make your lens, faster, wider and better! This is NOT an April Fool’s! | Philip Bloom