All images - Sony NEX-7 Voigtlander 35mm f/1.2 Nokton plus polarising filter
I did warn you that after the arrival of my NEX-7 this could turn into a Sony fanboy blog! It is certainly the camera that is the closest I've ever owned to a perfect picture taking machine. Though this is obviously in terms of my personal needs. Yesterday I gave the Voigtlander 35mm f/1.2 a good workout and tried it with a polarising filter. Again I'm really pleased with the results. The polariser has brought out the colours beautifully and these images are REALLY sharp.
I'm also able to get a really impressive dynamic range at low ISO's. What I think it does show up is that despite the fact I think they are somewhat underated, the e-mount lenses that Sony produce for the NEX range aren't really the ultimate optics for showing what the NEX-7 is capable of. Even the Zeiss 24mm f/1.8, which is a top class lens can't produce results that compare with what I can get from this Voigtlander lens. The Nokton is sharper and creates a lot less (virtually none in fact) CA and fringing.
Viewing the above files at 100% on my screen I was stunned at just how good they look. Not quite Leica M9 crispness, but getting VERY close. Whether Sony will ever get round to producing some really top class lenses is open to question, but to a large extent thats not a particular problem for me. The nature of what I do, shooting at low ISO's in good light, and the fact that for the majority of the time I have plenty of time to create my pictures, using these manual focus m-mount lenses causes me no problems.
Shooting over the last couple of days has confirmed to me just how good this 24MP sensor is. No, its not wonderful at high ISO's, but at ISO 100 which is what I use the vast majority of the time it is spectacular.
Most definitely my new best friend!
