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Sony A7R III

Zeiss Loxia 25mm f/2.4 Distagon

2: View from Dana Lakes to Mt Conness

This two-way comparison pits the manual focus Zeiss Loxia 25mm f/2.4 against the autofocus Zeiss Batis 25mm f/2 Distagon. The two lenses have quite different behavior and one is certainly my favorite for landscape and anything static.

Evaluated here are sharpness across the field (particularly at f/2.8 through f/5.6), field curvature, and (oddly enough!) field of view.

Exposure was within 2/3 stop of maximal ETTR exposure, pretty good, but showing that auto-exposure on Sony mirrorless has substantial error: I had dialed in +1/3 stop. In other words, the Sony A7R III gave up a full stop of dynamic range. What is the point of a newer sensor that is touted for another 1/3 stop or so of dynamic range when the camera screws the pooch by underexposing a full stop? It’s about time some camera vendor understood the value of auto-ETTR. It’s shocking that no camera vendor 'gets' this critical core functionality—it is such low-hanging fruit for reduced noise and broader dynamic range.

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Diglloyd Guide to Mirrorless is by yearly subscription. Subscribe now for about 25 cents a day ($90/year).
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Diglloyd Guide to Mirrorless offers comprehensive integrated coverage of most APS-C and full frame mirrorless cameras and lenses.

Special emphasis is placed on Sony full-frame, including Sony lenses and the high performance Zeiss Batis and Zeiss Loxia lenses plus Rokinon/Samyang and others. Fujifilm X, Olympus and Panasonic M4/3, Sigma dp Merrill and dp/sd Quattro are also covered in depth. Years in the making, it offers a wealth of material for choosing and using a mirrorless camera.

Make better images by learning how to get the best results right away. For example, the best way to set up your Sony camera.
Save money by choosing the right lens for your needs the first time, particularly with the numerous lenses available for Sony.
Make better images, a sort of “cheat sheet” saving yourself months or years of ad-hoc learning—best practices and how-to and processing parameters are discussed and shown.
Jaw-dropping image quality found nowhere else utilizing Retina-grade images up to full camera resolution, plus large crops.
Real world examples with insights found nowhere else. Make sharper images just by understanding lens behavior you won’t read about elsewhere.
Aperture series from wide open through stopped down, showing the full range of lens performance and bokeh.
Optical quality analysis of field curvature, focus shift, sharpness, flare, distortion, and performance in the field.

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