About this blog
We are a bunch gear-heads interested in manual lenses. We all use mirrorless Sony Alphas and we also own an review a few native AF lenses but our focus is on manual ones because we enjoy shooting those the most.
Initially it was just me, Phillip – hence the domain name – but for some time now we are a team of different authors. This way we can cover many more lenses than I could alone and it is also a lot more fun than working alone.
To learn more about us you can check out our portraits in the manual photographers series.
We have an active facebook site where we announce our latest articles but you can also use it to get in contact with us.
David is our only native English speaker so we are happy about any reported spelling mistake we can correct.
Ethics Statement
Your trust is very important to us and we try to be very transparent in our approach to reviewing lenses and other gear. This is mostly a hobby project and our independence is very important to us. That’s why we buy most of the gear we review without any manufacturer rebate. Whenever we borrow a lens from a manufacturer for a review we will mention this in the first paragraph of an article. We will never accept any money or free gear from a manufacturer.
We generate some income from this site by using affiliate links. If you click on such a link and buy anything in the following 24 hours we will earn a small percentage of your purchase from that shop. It won’t cost you anything extra.
All the affiliate links on this blog are clearly marked as such.
Support
Quite often we get asked how you can support us, here is how:
- Tell others about this website and link to it. Links bring visitors directly, but they also improve ourposition in the Google search results, so if you find any content informative: please link to it!
- Use our affiliate links when you buy anything at Amazon, ebay B&H Photo, etc. This won’t cost you anything, but we will earn a small percentage of the money you spend. It doesn’t matter what you buy.
Thanks!
🙂
Please join my Sony ALPHA Talk GROUP on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/SonyAlphaTalk/
It has a number of Sony Employees.
And I am a Sony Camera Ambassador and #SuperUserbySony
posted your review
Good afternoon. I really like how you arrange the photos, but rather information lens and shooting conditions at the top and in the bottom of a signature. Tell me how you will recieve, hands full of it or a script?
I Phillip, great blog going here, I first found you on Fredmiranda’s site, great work. I have a couple of questions for you if you don’t mind. I am trying to decide whether to buy the A7 or the 7r, I presently shoot with a Nikon D800 however during a recent 10 mile hike through the Adirondacks in New York state I found that by the end of the day my back and neck were killing me. So the need for a lighter set up is on, I would appreciate your thoughts as to which of the cameras in your opinion is best for Landscapes and why, secondly which w/a lens would you recommend say in the 10 to 20mm range?
I have been following Trey Ratcliff’s blog and he is using the Sony Nex 10-18mm with great success between 12-17mm, do you have any experience of this lens.
Your thoughts would be much appreciated.
All the best Terry. ( Ottawa Canada)
Hi Terry,
buy the a7r if you need the resolution and buy the a7 if you don’t.
The only disadvantage of the a7 is the rather reflective sensor which can sometimes cause problems, but in general I think it is the better camera, mailny because of the electronic first shutter.
Thanks for getting back to me Phillip, yes I see the a7 as a more all rounder and the 7r as more developed for landscape and situations where a tripod is used to enable every last drop of resolution to be utilized. Looks like Sony are coming out with a16-35mm very shortly , this could be the go to Lens for landscapes.
Hi Phillip,
my compliments for the nice photos and your interesting web site.
I ‘m considering to make the big jump from MFT to FF and pick a sony A7 mainly due to its compactness and good photo quality (as far as I see and understand ;-).
This is my question for you: I want to employ myself deeply in night photography…I saw some very good examples in your portfolio,too.
Does the focus peaking function of the A7 help focusing manual lenses when the light is really low/ when it is dark?
And what about the EVF?
Many thanks in advance for your response and hope to share more topics under this common passion.
with Regards,
Michele
Hi Michele,
my own experience with night photography is quite limited.
When the light is scarce I use focus magnification, focus peaking is usually deactivated.
What exactly do you want to know about the evf?
Is the EVF of the Sony A7 a viable way to focus in the dark or is it better to use the scale on the manual lens and adopt a trial/error approach?
Thanks Phillip
P.S. What camera did you use to take the pictures of the Sony A7 with the Rokkor 58mm with the dark background…looks like studio shoots and are very nice!
Hello, Phillip. Really enjoying your website and adore it very much! I would be very thankful if you could help me with some of my questions:
1. How do you record aperture per lenses (no EXIF file, right?).
2. How do you fix the CA and distrotion from each lenses? (I have a very hard time fixing each lenses manually for it).
3. Do you think it worth the hassle to use manual lenses with those drawbacks?
Thanks a lot!
1. I remember it and add it to published images with a tool called lens tagger
2. CA is fixed automatically in LR. Distortion is very rarely a problem and I only fix it if it is obvious in an image.
3. the lack of exif is a mild annoyance, CA and distortion aren’t issues in my eyes. So I still think it makes a lot of sense to use manual lenses
Hi Phillip, your website is fantastic!
I am new in the Sony Alpha world, And I have a question:
The Sony A7 uses the same lens and adapter than the Sony A6000
Thanks for your help!
it does but some lenses for the a6000 will work on the a7 in crop mod (10 megapixels) only.
Hey Phillip,
I am a Sony a7ii user with all manual lenses (recently switched over from Nikon). I was wondering how it will hold up in light rain/snow? As in does it leak through the adapter/manual lens due not as tight of a seal as the native lenses to the mount?
I think it is a bad idea to expose your alpha to the elements like that, no matter which lens is used. Most native lenses don’t have a gasket so they will seal the moint as good or bad as a good adapter
Great blog as others have noted. Maybe you can offer some insight on this game plan.
I’d like to get a Sony a6500 and use my APC-S lenses on it via a fully manual adapter. No problem there. But is the optical performance of those lenses (A to E mount) an issue of any kind? The adapter simply moves the lens ‘out’ to focus on the E mount body. Does this present any issues you are aware of?
Considering switching from Nikon. Looks like I’ll need the A99ii as I shootmeildlife, and the a7rii for landscapes. Currently used d810 for both. Question: how much optical loss/loss of sharpness does one get using A mount lenses on E mount full
Frame? I’ve never see anyone compare same lenses on A adapted to E. thanks
*wildlife
With the LA-EA3 there should be no loss in sharpness
Hi Philip
Just new to your site and enjoying it. Can I ask for advise. I have the a7 and use lightroom.
Do you use an exposure compensation in normal shooting if you are going to use lightroom. I find my images all seem to need +exposure when I import to lightroom.
Thanks, Jeremy
I use exposure compensation quite often but that has little to do with Lightroom
Hi Philip and Team,
I’m a “hobby” photographer from America and I really enjoy the site and information you guys have provided. Photography started for me about 5 years ago and as I progressed, people began to pay me to shoot events. I wouldn’t call it “professional” since I only did a few events a year, nonetheless, I acquired very nice Nikon/Canon SLR and FF lenses. But when I stopped doing events to focus on other projects, I realized how heavy the equipment was and I find that it sat on the shelves more often than going out with me to the field. To re-ignite my passion for photography, I sold off my DSLR in favor of the smaller sony a6500. I knew there were some limitations to go to APSC, but at this point in my photographic journey, I realized they were just tools and given the right light, you can take a photo with anything really. I also dabbled in Film photography and simply loved the tactile feeling of having full control over your images. I knew the a6500 was a very capable tool, but I wanted to maintain that tactile manual feeling, that’s when I discovered this blog and similar sites. I’ve read all the articles and have made all my lens purchases based on the team’s recommendation. I know I would lose out on some of the characters of these vintage full frame lenses (swirly or bubble bokeh, deep vignetting, glowy edges, etc), so I use them with focal reducers, i.e. the Mitakon Lens Turbo 2 which I find to be as sharp and well built as the more expensive variety. I’m happy to report that I’m back to enjoying photography again and the old lenses have so much character, are just as sharp, but 10 times more affordable compared to modern glass. Thank you for being a major part of my re-ignited passion for photography and I hope to read more articles in the future!
Hi Tran,
stories like your’s are the fuel which keeps this blog going 🙂
Phillip
Hey Phillip and Team
first sorry for my poor english but i hope u guys can understand me
I was read about 24-70 2.8 GM detailed review. thats my best lens ever have… But:
I need infinity ∞ (24mm) last couple days… I have some issues about that… U guys try infinity ∞ with 24-70 GM ? can you give me some tips about that… I’m having a hard time about that
Im using A7Sii btw
Besta Regards
Gurkan A.
As far as any of us knows there is no problem with focussing to infinity at 24mm or any other focal length on a working copy of this lens. Do you perhaps mean you would like an infinity hard stop which this, like most lenses these days doesn’t have? If not this lethal you can explain your issue. If you simply manually focus as far as you can go in the infinity direction you will focus past infinity and it will be blurry…
Philip and Team,
I ran into your website when I acquired my A7R2 most recently. Since I am in no position to get any of these nice Sony FE lenses due to budget restraints, I’ve turned to legacy lenses, and I have been amazed since shooting with them.
My question, after going through your website several times:
Being on a budget, I picked up the 14mm Samyang 2.8 for the sole purpose of astrophotography. However, I am curious if you knew of a budget alternative ($1-$300) legacy lens at the 14-24mm range (preferably prime) that does well in astrophotography as well as landscapes?
My legacy lens:
Minolta:
135 2.8
50 1.4
35 2.8
I like the 14 Samyang, but I’m not too fond of the inability to add a circular ND filter due to its ultra wide nature.
There are no cheap legacy ultra wide angle lenses for astrophotography.
The only other cheap option is the Irix 15mm 2.4, which I have no personal experience with. Afaik it takes 95mm filters. Together with just one filter and an adapter it will probably be around 700-900$ though.
The lens you actually want is the Laowa 15mm 2.0, it is very fast and at the same time has a standard 72mm filter thread.
Thank you! I will look into those lenses!
Hello,
why don’t you review sal50f14, is it that bad?
I used to mess with it and results were good …
What do you think?
SAL? Or SEL? SEL will happen since Jannik and David own one. SAL: Don#t see any good reasons to use that.
SAL. It is a small af lens with Minolta a mount. It has screw driver af, but it can be used with the adapter as manual lens with any Sony a models.
Will you ever have some Konica Hexanon lenses up for review? I’d love to see reviews of 3 specific lenses.
Hexanon 57mm f1.2
Hexanon 85mm f1.8
Hexanon 50mm f1.7
I’d really love to see a comparison between the Minolta 58 f1.2 and the Hexanon 57 f1.2. I sold the Minolta and kept the Konica. You can do a simple and reversible Bokeh mod to it http://www.mike-lee.org/scripts/camera/view.htm?id=50 that really brings it to another level. The versions with the silver ring had the older coatings so I’d avoid those, but the all black all metal version is fantastic.
See: http://www.mike-lee.org/scripts/camera/view.htm?id=50 for the Bokeh modification.
I am using legacy lenses only occasionally. From the team only Juriaan uses them more often and I don’t think he is a big Konica fan. So we most likely won’t have any reviews.
Hallo Phillip!
Q1: which of Tamron for Sony FE has a lower distortion the 20mm f2.8 or the 24mm f2.8?
I own a 7II
Q2: if you were me which one would you buy?
Thank you!
Kind regards,
Franjo
I haven’t tested the 20mm so I can’t really answer the question. By the MTFs the 24 is sharper but I don’t know how distortion compares.
I just wanted to say thank you for such a wonderful, informative site. Your analysis are thorough and unbiased–keep kicking ass.
Hi Phillip,
I recently had the pleasure of reading your review of the Techart Pro TZM-02 and I must say, it was exceptionally insightful and thorough. Your dedication and effort in providing such a detailed analysis are truly appreciated.
I’m currently considering purchasing one for my newly acquired Nikon Zf. Your comments regarding Leica lenses with floating point construction potentially affecting image quality caught my attention.
In this context, I’m contemplating getting the Leica 35mm f1.4 Summilux-M Asph lens. Could you please advise if using this adapter might impact the image quality of this particular lens?
Many thanks for your guidance and expertise.
Warm regards,
Seb
It will and there are also much smarter 35mm options available for you. Don’t really understand why you would want that lens, even in the Leica M system this is really one of those where you are mostly paying for the brand and not the image quality.
Hello team,
I love your work and would like an advice please.
Here is the kind of photographies I am doing
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/12AFkdR5QZkU9DgZitqjBFeWg09gm6FW9?usp=sharing
Very much inspired by the School of Düsseldorf/Gursky.
I am working with a Nikon Z7 + 85mms lens, mounted on a Nodal Nina Mecha (an amazing piece of gear)
https://www.nodalninja.com/cat/panoramic-hardware/19/mecha/3
Each of my picture is ten to fifty pictures stitched together for resolution up to 3 meters wide in 300 ppi.
I would like to start working with a deeper Zoom (200 to 500 I would say).
I have a F mount to adapt an F lens if needs be.
I must acknowledge I am not that familiar with the world of Nikon compatible lenses. What would you advise, please?
Thank you
Dan
In the Z-mount world many people looking for reach are using the newly released 180-600mm lens now.
The predecessor, Nikon AF-S 200-500mm 5.6, can therefore be found at very attractive prices on the used market.
Maybe that lens would be something for you?
Ah! I shall specify I am looking for 1000 euros or less!
so maybe the Nikon AF-S 200-500mm 5.6 could be a good solution. Ideally I would prefer 1.8 as I do much night photography but beggars cannot be choosers!
Any thoughts on the
Sigma 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM?
Not really, I know too little about that lens.
White Sigma 150-600 is a verk capable lens that does not disappoint the Nikon 200-500 is even better but has less reach. Both can be found for under $1000. Both have to be adapted to your Zf though as they are not available in Z mount. The new Tamron 150-500 f/5-6.7 is newer than both of them and is available in Z mount with at least as good performance as the Sigma 150-600, but agin less reach and more difficult to find used under $1000.
/Martin