I don't think I need to go through f8. In this test another one of my expectations was shown the door. I thought the CV bokeh would show more detail, but right through to f8 I can't really see it as more detailed than the Rokkor in this scene.
Seems like the CV bokeh does have some more structure to it than the Rokkor, but it is hard to tell with changing light. It would be great to do the test a bit more formally--on a tripod, remote release, same focus point, and consistent light if possible. Still, I think you are right in that the CV bokeh is really not bad at all. The CV 65 has a number of strengths and very few weaknesses. Am glad I have one in my bag.
jlehet wrote:
The focus-magnify was so intermittently twitch with the CV 65 on my camera, this morning I was contemplating sending it in for warranty. The magnification just would not hold, even moving the focus box around was weird. I had also started to notice some weirdness with the camera when using this lens, like the tripod timed exposure sometimes would fail and I'd need to restart the camera to get it reliable. This morning it seemed particularly bad, and I suddenly had the thought: Camera Firmware. I was still at 3.30 on the a7rii. When 4.0 came out in the summer I made the choice not to mess with anything before the August Iceland trip, and since then I've been really busy and had forgotten about it. I updated the camera to 4.0, and I do believe it is much much better. It was always a bit intermittent so it may be too soon to say for sure. Makes sense though: new lens, new firmware to deal with it....Show more →
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jlehet wrote:
I bet you're running firmware 4.0, Fred? Anyone running 3.30 or lower and using this lens without glitches in focus-magnify?
If the answer to the latter is yes, than I think I will send in. As it is, it seems good now that I updated the FW. I just made some afternoon exposures and the glitch didn't happen at all.
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Fred Miranda wrote:
I'm on FW 4.0.
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JimKasson wrote:
Spoke too soon. I had been using the EVF with no problem, but when I put the camera on a copy stand and use the LCD panel for viewing, now I have it, too. Guess I'll upgrade.
Sure wish there were an option to invert all the LCD menus. But then, the way the back multipurpose dial would have to me rejiggered.
Jim
I just received my copy (honestly it just found its way into my shopping cart ... no idea how ) but I have the same problem ... it only stays in focus mag (low or high) for a second or few.
I have a 2nd A7R2 body so I checked it and it has exactly the same issue with the lens. Both bodies on V4 F/W.
Then tried it on an a6300 and it again does the same thing.
I rechecked one of my A7R2 bodies with a 21mm Loxia (the only other MF E mount lens I have that auto magnifies when the focus it turned) and it still works fine (ie stays in focus mag as it should).
I'm not a fan of auto magnification on MF lenses on my mirrorless - Pany G85 and A7RII - it's too easy for it to go away when you don't want it to and/or go to 100% mag when you don't want it to. So I typically have this turned off and just rely on a dedicated button to trigger 100% mag.
Seems like there may be some open box/used 65mm f/2 CVs to be had - where did you return your 65/2 APO? I'll take it off their hand for 75% of the MSRP
I don’t use the auto magnification either. I have custom button 1 for this instead. My hand is on the lens most of the time and I knock it off when I don’t want to with auto. So I do it manually
Could be something like that. I have seen this same issue a couple of times using adapted lenses when the adapter was a bit too long and touched the contacts. In that case the problem would happen when I held and wiggled the lens a little. I was able to cure it with Guy's favorite photography tool ... a dremel by shaving a little off the back of the adapter over the contact area (these were dumb adapters). I did check to see if lens wiggling affected this on the 65mm VC and it made no difference. The lens-body (all 3) connection is very solid too.
Mine acted up again this afternoon. I thought the firmware really fixed it. Disappointing, as I really don't want to be without it at this time. I hope B&H will be good to deal with.
When it was really acting up, last week, I switched from button to auto magnification to see if it would help. It didn't, and in general I feel undo the auto magnification to be much less pleasant with no benefit. Back to button.
jlehet wrote:
I compared the CV 65 to the Rokkor 58 1.2 in a sharpness/bokeh test for whatever it's worth. Handheld, unfortunately. The light changed a little bit between lens changes. I think this test would be a "normal" bokeh situation, neither extremely soft nor extremely contrasty. Sun was hitting the birch trees and foliage across the little pond, and those bright trunks and leaves were casting reflections on the water. Focus was on the mid-field, where a cattail leaf folds over another one. I think the distance was about what you might call "normal" portrait distance.
I expected at f2.8 the rokkor would step up the sharpness quite a bit while the CV would start to show structured bokeh. But I think the bokeh is still pretty close.
It's funny, I "feel" like the CV is not a bokeh lens particularly. I tend to have an expectation that the CV might struggle to have good bokeh once it is stopped down a bit -- and it certainly can if the scene is very contrasty. But in a test like this it's hard to pick the Rokkor as being particularly better at bokeh, while it's clearly struggling in sharpness in the midfield before f4.
thanks for the comparison. most lenses, with a few exceptions, actually improve their stopping down (unless they have annoying shaped apertures like hexagons), so i would expect the two lenses to converge as you stop down.
Yeah, very often the case, though I'm not sure it's the case with this lens, though again, it's more of a feeling I have than anything that shows up in any comparisons I've made. I tend to like the bokeh of the cv65 best wide open and like it a little less with each stop. That may just be because the bokeh balls, when they show up, are unappealing to me even though they're not hexagons (though I'm developing a taste for them).
The Loxia 50 is another one where I'm not sure the bokeh improves with stopping down, but it's kind of complicated with that lens too.
As for my magnification glitch that happened briefly yesterday afternoon, it was gone again this morning. Quite a few exposures and no issue.
Seems that Sony gives interesting answer to DigLloyd, when he sent his camera to Sony for this issue of exiting from magnification (sounded similar issue as people have been having with Voigtländer).
Sony write according to DigLloyd:
Sony stated that 3rd party lenses like Zeiss Loxia and Zeiss Batis are not supported.
I have these magnification issues with my A7S and LAEA4. The adapter has a slight play when attached so I assume it's an electrical contact problem. Often when I focus a lens on the adapter it switches out of magnification or sometimes just goes out of magnification mode on its own.
I would return the lens if that happened to me as it can make it unusable and I find I use the adapter less often because of it.
I don't have the this lens but on other E mount lenses with aperture ring, setting the aperture ring can drop the UI out of the focus magnifier. So perhaps there is some over-sensitivity there, or phantom transmission. Try keeping your fingers clear of the ring.
) but I have the same problem ... it only stays in focus mag (low or high) for a second or few. 
http://www.lehet.com/bitbucket/a7r22017d_0109.jpg