Wednesday 14 September 2011

NEX-C3 and ultra wide angle

Sony NEX-C3 Nikon 10-24mm zoom lens
Sony NEX-C3 Nikon 10-24mm zoom lens

Its good to move out of my comfort zone occasionally. Yesterday I was trying the Sony NEX-3 with my Nikon 10-24mm zoom fitted via an adapter to see how the camera worked with an ultra-wide angle.

Its not pretty!

Sony NEX-C3 Nikon 10-24mm zoom
Sony NEX-C3 Nikon 10-24mm zoom

I was using it with the focus peaking feature on the camera, which worked very well and gave me the ability to use zone focusing. However, this is focus by wire method, and aperture selection via the adapter is largely guesswork.

Sony NEX-C3 Nikon 10-24mm zoom lens
Sony NEX-C3 Nikon 10-24mm zoom lens

Sony NEX-C3 Nikon 10-24mm zoom lens
Sony NEX-C3 Nikon 10-24mm zoom lens
Sony NEX-C3 Nikon 10-24mm zoom lens
Sony NEX-C3 Nikon 10-24mm zoom lens

It did however enable me to shoot a style of picture that I do very rarely. Partly because of the nature of the camera, and partly because I was in the centre of Stratford-upon-Avon, which is full of tourists and people using cameras, I was totally ignored.

Sony NEX-C3 Nikon 10-24mm zoom lens
Sony NEX-C3 Nikon 10-24mm zoom lens

Sony NEX-C3 Nikon 10-24mm zoom lens
Sony NEX-C3 Nikon 10-24mm zoom lens

Sony NEX-C3 Nikon 10-24mm zoom lens
Sony NEX-C3 Nikon 10-24mm zoom lens

Sony NEX-C3 Nikon 10-24mm zoom lens
Sony NEX-C3 Nikon 10-24mm zoom lens

Sony NEX-C3 Nikon 10-24mm zoom lens
Sony NEX-C3 Nikon 10-24mm zoom lens

It wasn't perfect and occasionally I missed the focus for a shot, which was to do with the fact that the lens is not really suitable for what I was doing. However I was using it to see if it was worth getting myself one of the very small Voigtlander 12mm m-mount lenses, which with its aperture ring and DOF scale would be much more useful for this, and other types of wide-angle photography.

Sony NEX-C3 Nikon 10-24mm zoom lens
Sony NEX-C3 Nikon 10-24mm zoom lens

Sony NEX-C3 Nikon 10-24mm zoom lens
Sony NEX-C3 Nikon 10-24mm zoom lens

Sony NEX-C3 Nikon 10-24mm zoom lens
Sony NEX-C3 Nikon 10-24mm zoom lens

Sony NEX-C3 Nikon 10-24mm zoom lens
Sony NEX-C3 Nikon 10-24mm zoom lens

Sony NEX-C3 Nikon 10-24mm zoom lens
Sony NEX-C3 Nikon 10-24mm zoom lens

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Sony NEX-C3 Nikon 10-24mm zoom lens

Sony NEX-C3 Nikon 10-24mm zoom lens
Sony NEX-C3 Nikon 10-24mm zoom lens

I also used the camera with a Voigtlander 75mm f/2.5 Heliar, and that also worked well.

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

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

I must admit I am warming to the NEX-C3, but there were times when I could have really used a viewfinder. As I've said often enough, having the option of screen or EVF is essential for what I do, and while the screen worked well enough yesterday, there were occasions when the the more precise focus I could get from an EVF would have been very useful.

However it was a successful trial and left me wanting to do more.