Just when I think I’m immune to lens lust Sony drags me back in!
Alright, this is not an in-depth review because this lens hasn’t even reached the stores yet. It come out in early November. But it has already destabilized my photographic equilibrium with its compelling mixture of desirable features and the stellar reviews the experts are giving it.
So just to put my own spin on it, here are the features I find most exciting.
- Fast autofocus. Okay, probably not blazingly fast because no macro lens can be. There’s just too much focus racking needed in a macro lens for that. But its four XD Linear AF motors make it orders of magnitude faster than my current Sony 90mm f2.8 macro.
- 1.4X magnification. That compares with the 90mm and its standard 1.0X magnification. This is a big deal. Filling the frame with your subject is what makes for better macro shots.
- The reviewers stressed that the Optical Steady Shot (OSS) system actually did seem to work very well on macro shots. That’s always been a sore point for me with the 90mm lens. There’s nothing steady about the image unless I’m on at least a monopod. If this pans out it will be a major upgrade to my macro experience.
- The reviewers also stressed that the images when using a 1.4X or 2X teleconverter were still very good which if true means that 2X and 2.8X magnification would be achievable. I’m most skeptical of this claim. Whenever I’ve used Sony teleconverters I’ve always noticed a very significant image quality degradation (especially with the 2X unit). If this turns out to be true it would be a very nice benefit.
Okay enough hyperventilating. So let’s give some of the bad news. It’s fifteen hundred bucks! And I’ve checked the resale value of my 90mm lens ($450). So I’d be forking over an extra grand or so. Gack!!!!
Oh, the pain, the pain. Well, Christmas is coming up. And I do have some rarely used lenses hanging around maybe I could shrink that grand down to five hundred bucks.
It’s funny just a few months ago I think I was saying how glad I was that I no longer obsessed about camera gear and lenses in particular. Sure I’m always interested in descriptions of the new odd-ball super-macros that the various Chinese lens manufacturers seem to create constantly. But I’m never too excited because these lenses tend to be not of the highest quality.
But here Sony has dropped this thing in my lap with basically everything I wanted except a 200mm focal length (and that would be compensated for if it actually does work as well as they claim it does with a 2X teleconverter). And here I am with my mouth hanging open, desperate to get my hands on this piece of photo kit. They truly are evil geniuses sitting there in Tokyo (or wherever the hell their corporate headquarters is in Japan) and saying, “Now we’ve got photog right where we want him.”
And they do. Damn them!!!
You’re not hooked. It’s just a hobby. You can quit anytime you want, right?…Right…PUT DOWN THAT ZOOM TELEPHOTO, NOW!
It’s an insidious situation. Oh well.
I’ve always turned the OSS off when shooting true macro shots. You’re right in that it is virtually impossible to shoot a 1:1 macro hand held. At least by me.
Probably, 90%+ of the macro shots that I’ve taken were with a 100mm f2.8 Minolta branded A mount lens, either with an A mount camera or a E mount converter.
Here’s the live writing spider on my house. I did shoot this handheld but not too close. I’m an arachnophobe.
Yes, the macro shooting experience can be very frustrating especially with fast moving insects. That’s what makes the claims for this new lens so compelling. I’ll rent one and see.
Lovely Spider shots (Like TomD I’m happy to take pictures of the spiders, but I prefer some distance thank you). I keep poking at the thought of a macro lens but prices kind of make me cringe. That said I love to do an up close shot of something small and that just calls for a macro (and a tripod honestly).
Tregonsee, there are several options (macro lenses, closeup filters, extension tubes) with varying costs and quality differences to obtain close up photos. Here’s an article that provides some information on the tradeoffs and costs.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/photography/buying-guide/macro-photography-gear-lenses-extension-tubes-and-filters