Wednesday 17 August 2011

Sony NEX-C3 - Review and user experience - Part 7 - M-mount lenses

Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 28mm f/2 Ultron
Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 28mm f/2 Ultron

Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 75mm f/2.5 Heliar
Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 75mm f/2.5 Heliar

Yesterday the m-mount > nex adapter arrived and I was able to use my Voigtlander lenses on the C3. 

This worked well, in fact it worked very well indeed, and much better than I imagined it would.

Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 75mm f/2.5 Heliar
Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 75mm f/2.5 Heliar

Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 28mm f/2 Ultron
Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 28mm f/2 Ultron

The images produced are really sharp, with great colour. Unlike the pictures I took with the Sony native lenses, these are sharp across the frame and the point of focus stands out in almost 3-D fashion.
Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 75mm f/2.5 Heliar
Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 75mm f/2.5 Heliar

Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 75mm f/2.5 Heliar
Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 75mm f/2.5 Heliar

Because of the focus peaking function, its also quick and easy to do. Unlike with the Sony lenses, just turning the focusing ring on the lens doesn't bring up the magnification screen, you have to press a button to show this. There are two really good things here. Firstly the focus peaking takes account of the aperture that is selected on the lens. There's no need to open up the lens to its widest aperture to get precise focus, as is the case when using m4/3. Secondly, just touching the shutter button brings back the whole image.
The process is very quick and precise and makes manual focusing on a live screen only, if not a pleasure, then nowhere near as difficult on an Olympus or Panasonic camera.

Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 28mm f/2 Ultron
Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 28mm f/2 Ultron


Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 28mm f/2 Ultron
Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 28mm f/2 Ultron

Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 28mm f/2 Ultron
Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 28mm f/2 Ultron

If this gets incorporated into the NEX-7, and it works through the EVF, then this must be the easiest, quickest and most accurate manual focusing system ever devised.

Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 28mm f/2 Ultron
Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 28mm f/2 Ultron
Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 75mm f/2.5 Heliar
Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 75mm f/2.5 Heliar

The camera handles very well with these lenses fitted. Though they look quite small on the pictures,  because of their metal construction they are actually quite heavy. However this doesn't unbalance the camera particularly and these two Voigtlanders work very well with the C3. There is obviously a lack of stability, using the live screen, and a viewfinder would improve things. However despite this I was able to get sharp pictures. There's no image stabilisation in the NEX-C3 for manual focus lenses, so its a case of making sure that the shutter speed is high enough to avoid camera shake.
Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 28mm f/2 Ultron
Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 28mm f/2 Ultron

Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 28mm f/2 Ultron
Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 28mm f/2 Ultron

Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 28mm f/2 Ultron
Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 28mm f/2 Ultron

Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 28mm f/2 Ultron
Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 28mm f/2 Ultron

The images I shot yesterday really show just how good the sensor in this camera is and also that the e-mount lenses that are sold with the camera don't really do it justice. As I said yesterday, they aren't bad lenses, but the difference between the pictures I shot with them and these with the Voigtlanders is significant. 
Currently, due to this being yet another camera that Adobe Camera Raw doesn't yet support, I'm using Rawker for my raw conversions. This creates very sharp files, but they are a bit noisy and this has to be fixed in Photoshop. 

Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 28mm f/2 Ultron
Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 28mm f/2 Ultron

Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 75mm f/2.5 Heliar
Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 75mm f/2.5 Heliar

Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 75mm f/2.5 Heliar
Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 75mm f/2.5 Heliar

Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 75mm f/2.5 Heliar
Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 75mm f/2.5 Heliar

To a lot of people considering buying this camera, this manual focusing ability will be completely meaningless. Much of the market for the NEX-C3, I'm sure will not be interested. Its odd that Sony have included it in a camera that is so obviously aimed at the upgrading point and shoot market. However for my purposes, it makes it a much more useful tool, and I can't see myself now going back to using the Sony lenses. I have a Nikon G > NEX adapter arriving as well. My intention is to use the Nikon primes I have. However I would doubt that the results from these Voigtlanders will be bettered.

Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 28mm f/2 Ultron
Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 28mm f/2 Ultron
Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 75mm f/2.5 Heliar
Sony NEX-C3 Voigtlander 75mm f/2.5 Heliar