Lensrentals puts Sony FE lenses on the optical bench

osv · 10-21-2015, 07:26 AM

...and it's not pretty

LensRentals.com - Sony E Mount Lens Optical Bench Tests

rawr · 10-21-2015, 02:27 PM

Very revealing, especially about the amount of optical corrections, sharpening and who knows what else, Sony may be baking into their 'RAW's in-camera.

Christine Tham · 10-21-2015, 02:40 PM

Originally posted by rawr

Very revealing, especially about the amount of optical corrections, sharpening and who knows what else, Sony may be baking into their 'RAW's in-camera.

No different from Leica. The M series cameras do quite a lot of correction to M series lenses (which is why it's important to code the lenses properly).

No lens is perfect - manufacturer supplied digital corrections are a perfectly valid way to improve quality.

By the way, I own all three FE lenses tested. I am not going to comment on the article (I generally don't trust Roger's articles and would prefer not to read or comment on them - I quickly glanced at the link osv posted just to see what lenses have been tested - I haven't read the article closely)

However, I will say this - I have been using all three lenses a lot recently (pretty much every weekend) and I am completely in love with them - even though they are quite large and bulky (the FE55 is starting to seem small in comparison to the other too). So much so I am putting my beloved Summicrons aside and have been shooting with these. This weekend I am going to Sculpture by the Sea and it will be the first time in several years I am not carrying my Summicrons.

**Rondec** · 10-21-2015, 02:55 PM

It is the wave of the future. Release under corrected lenses that vignette, fix them in camera and then tout them as amazing and small. Roger specifically says that these lenses are all probably fine in most situations, the two things he mentions are that the corners vary significantly in different copies of these lenses and that having pre-cooked RAW may make it harder to post process some of these images (if corners are vignetting 2 EV, then fixing those is going to be problematic at high iso).

pinholecam · 10-21-2015, 06:42 PM - **1 Like**

I do think this is the future direction.
It was not possible before with film, but digital provides the option to integrate the o/p into the imagining chain.
If its to keep lenses small, cheaper lenses, etc, I think its a fair trade-off.

However, if they try to sell such lenses as 'premium' then its not that fair to the customer.

**clackers** · 10-22-2015, 01:53 AM

Happy enough if a camera does distortion correction, sharpening in the corners to compensate for that correction, lossy compression and noise reduction to its JPEGs, I just don't want them happening in *any* RAW files.

**BigMackCam** · 11-02-2015, 04:19 PM

Originally posted by clackers

Happy enough if a camera does distortion correction, sharpening in the corners to compensate for that correction, lossy compression and noise reduction to its JPEGs, I just don't want them happening in *any* RAW files.

I agree. Even better, let me know what corrections are performed in the JPEGs so I can, if I choose, apply those same corrections to the RAW files in PP...

10-21-2015, 07:26 AM	#1
osv Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: So Cal Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,080	Lensrentals puts Sony FE lenses on the optical bench ...and it's not pretty LensRentals.com - Sony E Mount Lens Optical Bench Tests

10-21-2015, 02:27 PM	#2
rawr Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 11,913	Very revealing, especially about the amount of optical corrections, sharpening and who knows what else, Sony may be baking into their 'RAW's in-camera. Last edited by rawr; 10-21-2015 at 02:35 PM.

10-22-2015, 01:53 AM	#6
clackers Otis Memorial Pentaxian Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Melbourne Photos: Albums Posts: 16,397	Happy enough if a camera does distortion correction, sharpening in the corners to compensate for that correction, lossy compression and noise reduction to its JPEGs, I just don't want them happening in any RAW files. Last edited by clackers; 10-22-2015 at 03:07 PM.

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10-21-2015, 02:40 PM	#3
Christine Tham Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Sydney, Australia Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,269	Originally posted by rawr Very revealing, especially about the amount of optical corrections, sharpening and who knows what else, Sony may be baking into their 'RAW's in-camera. No different from Leica. The M series cameras do quite a lot of correction to M series lenses (which is why it's important to code the lenses properly). No lens is perfect - manufacturer supplied digital corrections are a perfectly valid way to improve quality. By the way, I own all three FE lenses tested. I am not going to comment on the article (I generally don't trust Roger's articles and would prefer not to read or comment on them - I quickly glanced at the link osv posted just to see what lenses have been tested - I haven't read the article closely) However, I will say this - I have been using all three lenses a lot recently (pretty much every weekend) and I am completely in love with them - even though they are quite large and bulky (the FE55 is starting to seem small in comparison to the other too). So much so I am putting my beloved Summicrons aside and have been shooting with these. This weekend I am going to Sculpture by the Sea and it will be the first time in several years I am not carrying my Summicrons.

10-21-2015, 02:55 PM	#4
Rondec Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Gladys, Virginia Photos: Gallery Posts: 27,652	It is the wave of the future. Release under corrected lenses that vignette, fix them in camera and then tout them as amazing and small. Roger specifically says that these lenses are all probably fine in most situations, the two things he mentions are that the corners vary significantly in different copies of these lenses and that having pre-cooked RAW may make it harder to post process some of these images (if corners are vignetting 2 EV, then fixing those is going to be problematic at high iso).

10-21-2015, 06:42 PM - 1 Like	#5
pinholecam Pentaxian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: North Photos: Gallery Posts: 4,706	I do think this is the future direction. It was not possible before with film, but digital provides the option to integrate the o/p into the imagining chain. If its to keep lenses small, cheaper lenses, etc, I think its a fair trade-off. However, if they try to sell such lenses as 'premium' then its not that fair to the customer.

11-02-2015, 04:19 PM	#7
BigMackCam Digitiser of Film Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: North East of England Posts: 20,670	Originally posted by clackers Happy enough if a camera does distortion correction, sharpening in the corners to compensate for that correction, lossy compression and noise reduction to its JPEGs, I just don't want them happening in any RAW files. I agree. Even better, let me know what corrections are performed in the JPEGs so I can, if I choose, apply those same corrections to the RAW files in PP...