13 Jul
152/365(+1) by Luca Rossini
152/365(+1), a photo by Luca Rossini on Flickr.

Lens: Voigtlander color-skopar 35mm f2.5
Camera: NEX-7, ISO640, f4, 1/60, raw

I need to get in shape. I planned some adventurous things for this summer and I need to be fit for them. So, starting a couple of days ago, and for the next couple of weeks, I’m going to eat mostly vegetables. And exercise, every morning, at least one hour. Forty minutes of cardio, the remaining time for abs and stuff. I don’t care about looking great, I just want to be athletically able to sustain the summer activities.
I’m also thinking about a new lens for the NEX-7. I would like to go wider than the 35mm. The current options are the Carl Zeiss 24mm f1.8, the Voigtlander 21mm f4 and the Voigtlander 12mm f5.6. The first option is a great little lens and the only one in the list with autofocus. The second one is a fully manual lens, like the color-skopar I’m currently using, quite dark (f4 is perfect at daylight, but rather useless for my nocturnal photography), less than half the price of the CZ and a bit wider. The third option is the champion of wide lenses, almost as expensive as the CZ, fully manual and extremely dark.
Now, due to the fringe issue with the NEX-7, the fact that the two Voigtlander aren’t super-fast could even be a benefit. In fact, at larger apertures the magenta fringe would probably be too strong. So, why am I bothering to keep the Voigtlanders as an option and don’t I go straight to the CZ? Because I like the personality of range finder lenses better. It’s something I discovered with the color-skopar, I never had a RF lens or camera before last summer, when I bought a Bessa R2 with the 35mm. I was stunned by the results and then is when I decided I needed a digital body able to perform as good as the Bessa and to mount the color-skopar. It was perfect timing, because Sony announced the NEX-7 just a few weeks later.

4 thoughts on “152/365(+1)”

    1. yeah, the CZ should be the winner, it's way faster than the competitors and has AF… and yet there is something that doesn't fully convince me about it…

  1. Hopefully this weekend I'm getting the little 16mm sel1628, its got a bad rep it seems but its small, cheap, and has AF. I'm looking forward to my nex-5n being truly portable, normally it has the sel18200 attached to it, or my FD 50MM 1.4 (with adapter its pretty big). Also I hope to see what the EVF is like on the nex-5n as well at the Sony store. I'd love to have a shot with the CZ 24mm 1.8, everyone raves about it. Danny Choo uses it on his site quite a lot with great results. In the fitness category I'm in dire need of some fitness and food re-org. Exercise in the morning…. arg… rather wrestle those wolves I mentioned earlier …

    1. The 16 wasn't so bad on the NEX-3 but I find it awful on the NEX-7, probably due to the many more pixels… On the NEX-3 I actually liked its “toy-lens” rough style. And it's very compact, light, and fast.
      The EVF is spectacular, I am starting to miss it when I work with my a900 DSLR (which has a huge 100% optical viewfinder).
      Thanks for the tip on Danny Choo, I am going to check him out immediately 🙂
      Exercising is awul, but once you do it for a few days in a row it doesn't seem so bad anymore…

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