Zeiss 24mm Lens for Sony NEX to be an f/2 Pancake?

Very interesting. If the lenses are good performers, Nex becomes more competitive in my eyes.

I forgot that the Sony crop factor is 1.5X, so a 40/2 isn't quite long enough a "portrait" lens for me. I think a 50/1.8 would be more compelling!
 
I was thinking about that too. An 85mm equivalent would have complimented the 36mm equivalent Zeiss quite nicely. Those two lenses together would cover 80% of my photo opportunities. 60mm is a strange choice of focal length.
 
I don't care for many of those lens choices. A 30mm macro. A 40mm f 2.0.

As with Amin, I'm over my initial infatuation with MF lenses. I want quality AF lenses.

But that 24mm if a pancake and reasonably priced, would be good for the NEX system.
 
I don't care for many of those lens choices. A 30mm macro. A 40mm f 2.0.

As with Amin, I'm over my initial infatuation with MF lenses. I want quality AF lenses.

But that 24mm if a pancake and reasonably priced, would be good for the NEX system.

I'm with you 100%.

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I'm with you 100%.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

There's is no doubt the NEX cameras have the best sensor by FAR among all the mirrorless cameras and it has as very nice small body that appeals to compact shooters. What they need now are compact quality lenses. If they came up with something similar to the 20mm 1.7 micro 4/3 I don't think I would use any other lens 90% of the time. F2.0 is nice but at least give us f1.8.

I absolutely love the NEX system (could have better AF though) but sometimes I really catch my self thinking about all the cool and compact micro 4/3 lenses out there. Other than that the only way I see my self moving away from the NEX system is if the sigma releases a foveon mirrorless :) Or if the micro 4/3 system REALLY improves their sensor (give me usable iso 3200 and 12.5 dynamic range and you might win me over again).
 
Just have to say that with the peaking I will be using my manual lenses a lot more. It really takes away the pain and slowness of manual focusing. Sadly, though, it doesn't work nearly as well if you don't have good light, at least in my experience. Peaking is something that needs to be picked up by all manufacturers, and I hope it will be.
 
Whether the 24 is 1.7 or 2 makes no real difference to me, but I can't imagine that if Sony were designing and marketing a premium lens with an emphasis on image quality they would go for a compromised design like a pancake.

Also, Sony only a few month ago confirmed the 50/1.8 (can't find the link right now). Apart from a 40 making no sense I don't think Sony would start a pointless redesign at this stage.

The clincher for me is that image from the 'presentation'. It is extremely amateurish. I don't believe Sony would put out something so badly presented that even I would be embarrassed by it.

Not even an SR1.
 
It's All About the Lenses

I can understand Sony making the 24mm more compact by reducing its maximum aperture by half a stop. That does start to diminish the difference in image quality between the APS-C and the 4/3 sensors when shooting in low light though. For many serious shooters, this will be THE lens: ideal as a general purpose street shooting lens. So they better get it right. I think Sony knows this and will produce a good quality lens.

Unfortunately, that seems to be the only really useful lens on the road map as far as I am concerned. I still don't understand Sony's decision to produce a 24mm equivalent prime as its first and only pancake lens. Simply to have a compact lens isn't sufficient reason. A 24mm wide angle prime is a good second or third prime to have in your kit, but it's not a versatile enough of a focal length to be the first or only lens. Luckily that situation will be remedied with the introduction of the Zeiss 24/2.0

But then some of the other choices Sony has made are a bit odd as well. Like a 30mm f/3.5 macro. It's not a very useful focal length as a macro. It could serve as a "normal" prime but for that it's not nearly fast enough. And, unlike the Panasonic/Leica macro lens there is no image stabilization. The 40mm f/2 is not quite long enough as a portrait lens, although it does feature image stabilization.

For my own use, the most serious omission on the road map is an ultra wide angle. I bought my 7-14/4.0 in June 2009 and it has since been one of my most used lenses. I couldn't imagine a system without it.

That said, I think Sony is capable of eventually producing a well rounded system. It just won't happen in the immediate future.
 
I'm not putting very much stock in this particular roadmap. It would be very strange for Sony to formally announce the intention to release a 50mm portrait lens in 2011 (link) and then remove it from their plans.
 
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