p.2 #1 · Sell Sony 35mm Gm for the new Viltrox 35mm Evo 1.8 II - thoughts?
mudlake wrote:
You can buy the 35/1.8 EVO right now on B&H for $315. I’d buy it and compare it to your 35GM and see what you think. My guess? You won’t be able to tell any discernible difference in image quality. Build quality and autofocus speed? The Sony will win. Mine arrives on Wednesday.
I think less CA will be a noticeable difference.
There will for sure be some other differences as well but I can't say for sure until having tried the new Viltrox.
p.2 #2 · Sell Sony 35mm Gm for the new Viltrox 35mm Evo 1.8 II - thoughts?
Jonas B wrote:
I think less CA will be a noticeable difference.
There will for sure be some other differences as well but I can't say for sure until having tried the new Viltrox.
p.2 #3 · Sell Sony 35mm Gm for the new Viltrox 35mm Evo 1.8 II - thoughts?
My impression ist hat Viltrox is putting a lot of effort in marketing, especially internet and youtube influencers. While they make good stuff they may appear more impressive than they are.
After actually owning a 35 GM you might miss something when switching to a more basic lens.
p.2 #4 · Sell Sony 35mm Gm for the new Viltrox 35mm Evo 1.8 II - thoughts?
mudlake wrote:
Possibly. I did not notice CA in my 35GM.
That's odd, but OK.
The two copies I tried had some CA around the focus plane. Rippling water in bright light was quite bad. There was very little of Lateral CA though.
p.2 #5 · Sell Sony 35mm Gm for the new Viltrox 35mm Evo 1.8 II - thoughts?
Jonas B wrote:
My take... well, I sold the 35GM years ago as the image quality wasn't that good. The CA was disturbing.
Huh? Can you substantiate that? I am somewhat sensitive to LOCA issues, but I have the lens and can't say I have any issue with its CA performance. To quote Phillip Reeve reviewing the lens: "Longitudinal CA are generally well corrected, the performance is similar to that of the Sigma 35mm 1.2 Art DG DN, maybe even a little better, which is good news."
p.2 #6 · Sell Sony 35mm Gm for the new Viltrox 35mm Evo 1.8 II - thoughts?
I've hesitated to mention my opinion, but with new lenses in the EVO line some might find it relevant.
I recently bought the 85 EVO, and compared it with the Sony 85 1.8. Overall, I think the image quality from the EVO is very good except for one thing...
Shooting both at f2, auto corrections off, and letting the camera do the exposure pointed at the exact same framing, the EVO needs to be exposed 2/3 to a full stop brighter, whether it's iso or shutter speed, to achieve the same exposure. The 85 EVO has pretty poor light transmission. I would guess it's a T2.5 or maybe T2.8.
This is not just due to the high vignetting, because the exposure difference occurs from the center all the way to the edges.
If the 35 and 55 are the same, it's a real negative. And it's a shame for the 85, because I like everything else about it.
p.2 #7 · Sell Sony 35mm Gm for the new Viltrox 35mm Evo 1.8 II - thoughts?
Daran wrote:
Huh? Can you substantiate that? I am somewhat sensitive to LOCA issues, but I have the lens and can't say I have any issue with its CA performance. To quote Phillip Reeve reviewing the lens: "Longitudinal CA are generally well corrected, the performance is similar to that of the Sigma 35mm 1.2 Art DG DN, maybe even a little better, which is good news."
Didn't I do that in the post above yours? Or perhaps not enough?
I'll not get into a long boring discussion about the 35GM and LoCa. I've been there, done that: when the lens was new I reported back here on my findings showing several samples. Fred M rearranged the threads about the 35GM after some time and now I don't know where those images are more.
Sometimes we don't the same thing though. If some users don't see or if I had two bad copies, well, then everything is fine.
p.2 #8 · Sell Sony 35mm Gm for the new Viltrox 35mm Evo 1.8 II - thoughts?
mudlake wrote:
You can buy the 35/1.8 EVO right now on B&H for $315. I’d buy it and compare it to your 35GM and see what you think. My guess? You won’t be able to tell any discernible difference in image quality. Build quality and autofocus speed? The Sony will win. Mine arrives on Wednesday.
This is my take as well and I've got the EVO on the way to compare.
The GM is amazingly small for it's class, but GAS has me thinking I can save 3x the cost, and 37% volume and weight with little impact to my daily life + travel photos. The Viltrox does have a worse MFD and max mag. (0.15x vs 0.26x) though and if one needs 1.4 this is all moot.
I will be paying close attention to close focus IQ for the Viltrox as many other smaller ~35's across brands and mounts suffer in this regard (Sigma 35 F2 C, Fuji 23 F2, Nikon Z 40 F2).
p.2 #10 · Sell Sony 35mm Gm for the new Viltrox 35mm Evo 1.8 II - thoughts?
patotts wrote:
What about a Sigma 35/2 Contemporary?
I have the i35, 35GM, and FE35. Just reading the comments here about the potentially poor AF on the Viltrox and the fact the OP has a five year old son would signal to stay away from Viltrox. AF-C performance on 3rd party lenses for fast moving subjects can range from superb to completely unusable. I don't have experience with Viltrox, but if I was seriously considering it, I would try it for at least a week and perform extensive testing with AF-C before deciding to keep it. From my personal experience all three lenses above perform well with moderately fast moving subjects on the A7Rv with AF-C and eye AF.
p.2 #14 · Sell Sony 35mm Gm for the new Viltrox 35mm Evo 1.8 II - thoughts?
Jonas B wrote:
Didn't I do that in the post above yours? Or perhaps not enough?
I'll not get into a long boring discussion about the 35GM and LoCa. I've been there, done that: when the lens was new I reported back here on my findings showing several samples. Fred M rearranged the threads about the 35GM after some time and now I don't know where those images are more.
Sometimes we don't the same thing though. If some users don't see or if I had two bad copies, well, then everything is fine.
p.2 #17 · Sell Sony 35mm Gm for the new Viltrox 35mm Evo 1.8 II - thoughts?
aCuria wrote:
Hard no for me.
With a maximum magnification of 0.10x, the Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.8 II is a bad joke for kids / family photography
Well, 0.15, but anyway... is it a bad joke, really. Smallest little thing to cover the frame is 24 cm (or 10" for the hardcore imperialist) and that makes the lens unusable for family images?
p.2 #20 · Sell Sony 35mm Gm for the new Viltrox 35mm Evo 1.8 II - thoughts?
I have been shooting the GM 35mm f1.4 since it was first released seven years ago. Besides the great overall IQ (save for a tiny bit of CA’s outdoors), I really like its close-focusing distance, corner sharpness and small size.
I stopped using it after acquiring the Sigma 35mm f1.2 II (love the bokeh!). The Sigma is a bit large for travel, and after viewing Dustin Abbott’s video on the new Viltrox lens, I just ordered one for travel. We’ll see how it goes.
Of course, the most intelligent and logical thing to do would be to just keep the GM 35 and be happy, but GAS, the endless search for the perfect kit and inherent desire to try new things just keeps me slaved to photo commercialism.
