Sony A7R II Fisheye alternatives

Hi,

I have been thinking about moving up to a mirrorless FF as a complement to my Oly EM5.

Most of my photos are shot in low-light conditions and from what I have read, the A7R II seems to be a fantastic camera when it comes to high ISO performance.

However the lens options for WA and Fisheys with E-mount seems to be a bil limited.

Anyone here using a Sony FF and have some experience to share regarding the camera in general and choices for WA lenses?

In the FE lens line the new 16-35 mm F/4 zoom is looking good in a Nauticam 180 mm optical glass port V. 230 mm and higher ports for the same zoom range on full frame DSLRs. Also the soon to release FE 28 mm F/2 (well priced) with 21 mm and 16 mm fisheye adapters looks interesting. Nauticam port roadmap has the 28 mm and both adapters as a work in progress. Also a port is coming for the about to be released 90 mm F/2.8 macro.

More info at Nauticamusa.com contained in the Sony A7 II press release.

Thanks Phil, it looks like there are some options then.

Sony has 8 or so new lenses on the roadmap for the next 6 months.

Also, apparently the A7RII's autofocus works really well with the Metabones / Canon combo, so it should be possible to use the Canon 8-15mm F4. It's already on the A7 port chart, so it would surprise me if it wasn't supported.

I sure would like to see the Sigma 15mmFE in an FE mount, seems like a natural...

I have been using Sony A7II in Nauticam housing with Sony 16-35 mm F/4 zoom almost two months and the difference in low light conditions is huge compared to my previous camera Sony NEX-5.

Camera's autofocus is really fast.

Here are some examples taken on our dive last week at Ojamo mine here in Finland.

Photos taken with following settings: F4, 1/40 and ISO between 1600-3200

https://picasaweb.google.com/TikkuJukka/Ojamo20150609?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCLK8_rGHi9-7DA&feat=directlink

Will use faster shutter speed (1/60-1/80) next time (which is today) so that images would be less shaky...

tikku

Have you decided to go for it alreadyTobbe? Preorder?

I have been eying it. I really like the specs and with that clip on fe lens it is feasible, although that combo gets very tall. So a dedicated FE would be better.

I really want that camera for land use too. Anyway, this is the future!

I have been using Sony A7II in Nauticam housing with Sony 16-35 mm F/4 zoom almost two months and the difference in low light conditions is huge compared to my previous camera Sony NEX-5.

Camera's autofocus is really fast.

 

Here are some examples taken on our dive last week at Ojamo mine here in Finland.

Photos taken with following settings: F4, 1/40 and ISO between 1600-3200

https://picasaweb.google.com/TikkuJukka/Ojamo20150609?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCLK8_rGHi9-7DA&feat=directlink

 

Will use faster shutter speed (1/60-1/80) next time (which is today) so that images would be less shaky...

 

tikku

 

Good stuff Tikku, nice to hear about some experience with the Sony A7II and photos.!

Have you decided to go for it alreadyTobbe? Preorder?

 

I have been eying it. I really like the specs and with that clip on fe lens it is feasible, although that combo gets very tall. So a dedicated FE would be better.

 

I really want that camera for land use too. Anyway, this is the future!

Oskar, I have not ordered it yet. I'm still evaluating the pros and cons with this setup.

I like the size and performance of the EM5 so i will probably keep it for travel even if i go for the A7RII

A7II and A7R II would use same nauticam husing, right?

I have asked Sony and Nauticam about that, whether they share the same body, no answer yet. It sure looks very, very similiar.

Review of the 28 f2.

http://www.ephotozine.com/article/sony-fe-28mm-f-2-0-review-27629

Lets see a review of the FE adapter as well!

Tikku,

I looked at the pictures you had posted on picasa (link in this thread)

I am really worried : all the corners of the pictures are really blur when, no problem, center is very sharp.

This concerns me a lot...

What port were you using ? Is that the one recommended by Nauticam ?

In a recent review, Phil Rudin mentioned that image is sharp even in the corners, which is not the case in yours...

Any explanation ?

FYI, i am considering moving from a FF DSLR to the Sony A7RII...

Tikku,

I looked at the pictures you had posted on picasa (link in this thread)

I am really worried : all the corners of the pictures are really blur when, no problem, center is very sharp.

This concerns me a lot...

What port were you using ? Is that the one recommended by Nauticam ?

In a recent review, Phil Rudin mentioned that image is sharp even in the corners, which is not the case in yours...

Any explanation ?

 

FYI, i am considering moving from a FF DSLR to the Sony A7RII...

Check the Aperture of Phil's photos they are probably taken with smaller aperture

Cheers

Oskar,

Thanks for the message.

But i need to say, i today shoot with a Sony Full Frame DSLR (Alpha 850) in a BS-Kinetics housing.

I am using the 8.5'' Glass DomePort (BS-Kinetics), with no extension with the 16mm f/2.8 Fish eye and with a 50mm extension for the Minolta 16-35mm G f/3.5

For both lenses , the corners stay sharp (no blur) whatever my aperture, 2.8 to 22 or 3.5 to 22

So this concerns me if I move to the new Sony A7Rii. I do not want to crop my wide angle pictures if I lose sharpness in the corners.

Phil, any feedback ?

Eric

I am using the Sony FE 16-35mm zoom with Nauticam's recommended 180mm optical glass port and recommended extension. This port is much smaller than recommended (215 to 230mm) ports for the same zoom range on full frame DSLR's and the results with FE 16-35 at any given F/stop are as good or better.

If you use a DSLR lens like the Minolta 16-35 with an adapter on A7 mirrorless you will likely need the larger dome port. This is one of the upsides to mirrorless designed lenses, Nauticam also recommended the 180mm port for the Olympus 7-14mm zoom for M43.

All wide rectilinear lenses suffer some corner sharpness as a tradeoff for straight lines, fisheyes suffer from a great deal of distortion for better corner sharpness and smaller port sizes. Everything in photography is a tradeoff and I try to focus on recommending the highest quality lenses you can afford. The Sony FE 16-35mm is one of those lenses.

Lambee01,

I should have mentioned there: I'm not using that 180mm glass dome that Nauticam recommends. It has severe limitation as it is rated only to depth of 60 meters.
I have Nauticam 8,5" (216mm) acrylic dome (18802). It has problems with corner sharpness as you noted and I will get that recommended glass dome some day for surface/near surface photos ;-)

Have taken some sharper photos with this dome though, by changing aperture. But it's a bit dififcult in dark places like mines...

Here are some examples taken in a lake in Finland with good light conditions.

Best regards, Jukka

Regarding a fisheye solution, you may want to checkout Edward Lai's Facebook page today for a portfolio of images with the Sony A7R II, Sigma 15mm fisheye, Nauticam NA-A7RII housing and Nauticam 140mm optical glass port, not sure on extension. Fast AF and excellent image quality.

Regarding a fisheye solution, you may want to checkout Edward Lai's Facebook page today for a portfolio of images with the Sony A7R II, Sigma 15mm fisheye, Nauticam NA-A7RII housing and Nauticam 140mm optical glass port, not sure on extension. Fast AF and excellent image quality.

Thanks a lot for the advice. I checked Edward Lai (in fact Gary Sun)

Yes it looks like (yet it's Facebook...) image stays sharp in the corners...

However I realize I may need 2 dome ports...

- 180mm for WA (and the Sony SEL 1635)

- 140mm for the Fish-Eye...

Hummmmm. Not too good when today I am using the same single port (8.5") for both WA and Fish-Eye on my DSLR.

The option would then to give a new life to both my UW-Nikkor 15 and S&S 12mm but without AF, which might be a serious problem on a 42Mp sensor that will forgive nothing...

Eric

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