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Welcome to kurtmunger.com. Feel free to browse my lens reviews or other
stuff. If you saw something interesting on a previous visit, but can't seem to find
it now, use the search box below, or contact me. Thanks for visiting!
I've reviewed every DSLR and NEX lens
manufactured by Sony, (unless brand new) so if you're looking for a new lens to fit your needs, or are wondering about
how a particular lens performs, check this page out. Do you think dirt and scratches on the front element
of your lens makes a difference in image quality? For the answer, go to the most popular page on
the site, The dirty lens article!
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__________________________________________________________________________________ Site now fully updated. NEW! I've managed to get everything updated on this site in less time than I originally thought, which
was by the end of the month! So for now, all Sony lens reviews have the current price, a link to B&H Photo (of course),
an MTF chart supplied by Sony, although who knows if they're accurate, and any alternative lenses that I think someone might
be interested in, like a less expensive Tamron or Sigma model, or even another Sony lens that might be a better fit. All
the other stuff I've updated is listed below. Note; the prices listed in the Sony lens chart and NEX lens chart are the original MSRPs, that way we'll know what the original prices were when the lens came out, I think it's interested
to know that. The current prices are in the reviews if you want to know. A few people thought I forgot to change
some prices in the charts, but I added a paragraph (last one) in the text to point this out. The long dead
Reader's Digest page has been deposited in the 'circular file', sorry, it just didn't work out, but that's what the new site
is for! More good things are coming up, so check back every so often!!
__________________________________________________________________________________ Many pages updated. I've fully updated the 'Recommended accessories' and 'Recommended cameras and lenses' pages. Again, the products on these pages aren't on my 'wish list' or stuff I think is neat; they're what I use daily
for work, or for adding to this website. All of the products listed I own, or have owned in the past except for some
of the cameras, which change so often I can't keep up, but I still feel obligated to recommend what I think are the best new
cameras. The Sony and Minolta AF lens price guide has also been updated, although the prices now are close to what they were about a year ago when I last updated it, so no
big deal. Also, the Sony lens chart has been updated with the new lenses recently from Sony like the 16-50mm F/2.8 and 500mm F/4 G. This page now covers
only alpha lenses. New NEX lens chart page on the NAV bar. I've decided to list the NEX lenses on a separate page, in the same style as the Sony lens chart
above, however, for this chart I'll be showing NEX lenses from all manufacturers, like Sigma and Tamron.
Canon has brilliantly achieved what Sony tried so hard to do in 2005 with the R1, and that is
to make a large sensor, fixed lens camera that provides the same image quality of a DSLR,
at the same price point or less. However, Canon had a design constraint that Sony
never had to deal with; small size. Today, there are many small mirrrorless camera
systems out there with great image quality, like the Panasonic/Olympus 4/3, Samsung, and Sony NEX, plus the smaller
sensor Nikon 1 system that isn't quite as good as a DSLR, especially at high sensitivities.
Unfortunately, the mirrorless designs out now have lenses that are almost
as big as the cameras, or bigger! The portability of these systems is seriously compromised
when adding the lenses---whoops! More pancake lenses please! The Canon G1X fixes
the size and lens issues, thereby eliminating any need to go out and buy more lenses for your interchangeable lens
camera so you can take better pictures, or so one thinks...
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The Sony VCL-ECF1 is a cool little add-on lens for people wanting a fisheye experience using the Sony NEX system. While
this converter is not an optical masterpiece, it actually works well, and can be very fun if you know
how to use it. It's not for 'getting it all in' in a general sense, so don't use
it simply as you would a wide angle lens. Check out my boring Sony 16/2.8 fisheye review for ideas, or Flickr for interesting fisheye compositions, some good, some bad.
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Sony designed the NEX 16mm pancake lens to be used with a couple of different converters, one of which is the ultra wide angle 0.75x. This converter gives
you the same coverage as 12mm, or 18mm in full frame (135 film) format; that's pretty wide!
The Sony NEX VCL-ECU1 ultra wide angle converter is very handy if you're going on vacation and don't want to take a bunch of gear, or if you want to go really wide once
in a while, without the expense of an ultra wide zoom lens. With that said, the small,
Sony NEX ultra wide converter turned in a pretty good performance for an add-on device,
but if you look at your images at the pixel level, you probably won't mistake it for a good
ultra wide angle lens. See if this converter is right for you!
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The newest Sony NEX lenses have been very impressive so far; including the spectacular, but expensive
CZ 24/1.8, the inexpensive 50mm prime reviewed a couple of weeks ago, and don't forget the nice 55-210mm zoom. Unfortunately, Sony's hot streak has come to an abrupt end with the new 30mm F/3.5 macro lens. It's not that
it's a bad lens, it just isn't very impressive. If you want a true macro lens, and don't mind using
manual focus, along with a working distance of about an inch at the max reproduction rate, then go for it. If you're
looking for a small sharp prime as a walk-around lens in this focal length, I'd look elsewhere, like the kit ( 18-55mm) lens. With that said, there are a few good qualities to mention; like the lack of distortion,
light fall-off and a good macro shot. Well, after all, it is a real macro lens, and it does a good job at close
focus, but you probably won't be able to achieve a 1:1 size in the field, especially when you have to get so close to the
subject. Sony didn't include OSS (optical SteadyShot) inside for some reason, maybe they had a certain price point in
mind. Without OSS, there will be more camera shake and fuzzy pictures, which may be really noticeable when shooting
close to the subject.
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The Sony NEX 50mm F/1.8 OSS lens is a welcome addition to the NEX family, producing sharp images with good contrast at nearly all apertures, very smooth bokeh,
and almost no distortion. While there isn't really much to dislike about the lens, there are a few qualities I'd like
to see improved. One, the reproduction ratio is a little low, so you can't focus very close. The other thing I
noticed right off is; I see a somewhat high amount of axial color fringing, (occurring all over), but that kind goes away
as you stop down, and isn't so noticeable in low light. I'd consider the color fringing issue to be minor to moderate
depending on how picky you are. Landscape shooters using smaller apertures (F/5.6-8) should not be bothered by this,
or people shooting in low-light with limited DOF. Check out the review to see if it meets your demands!
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__________________________________________________________________________________ Sony NEX-7 review The NEX-7 turned in a great performance, especially when using high quality lenses, like the just reviewed CZ 24/1.8. With that combo, the resolution is almost unbelievable! Check out the review, and make sure you read the bottom
part; that's where all the good info is; the rest is basically an owner's manual quick-start guide. For
those of you curious about how the A900 with an equivalent FF lens like the Sony 35/1.4 G would do against the NEX-7 and CZ 24/1.8; sorry, no contest, the NEX would wipe the floor with the A900-35/1.4, although that's a hard jab at Sony's full frame commitment
more than anything else. A good portion of Sony's FF lenses are Minolta designs from the mid to late 1980s. If
Sony improves the AF speed on the NEX-7 or subsequent models to good phase detect levels, you can toss your DSLRs in the trash
can, I know I will. B&H photo is getting unannounced small shipments of NEX-7 cameras on a regular basis, so if you want one you may as well order it now. As always, you can return it if you don't like
it, or in the current market, sell it for at least what you paid for it, or possibly more.
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__________________________________________________________________________________ Sony NEX 55-210mm F/4.5-6.3 review The Sony NEX 55-210mm F/4.5-6.3 OSS telephoto zoom lens is relatively inexpensive, and provides image stabilization, super quiet focusing, along with a nice build quality.
Considering the price point of this lens, the optical performance is generally strong throughout the focal range, especially
at the long end, which is probably where most people will be using it if they have the standard kit zoom available too.
If you have a travel zoom, like the Tamron NEX 18-200mm or the Sony NEX 18-200mm, and find yourself using it mostly at the long end, the Sony 55-210mm would be a much better choice if sharpness is your
major concern. This lens has been selling like hot cakes, and B&H Photo's inventory has been wiped
out, but I'll try to keep up with the status and let you know when any new stock becomes available.
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__________________________________________________________________________________ Tamron NEX 18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 review The Tamron 18-200mm e-mount lens review is finally done. The skies have been mostly cloudy here lately, so it took some time to get all the test shots I needed.
This lens has optical characteristics that are very similar to the Sony 18-200mm NEX, also reviewed here. Which one is better? Let's put it this way; optically they're about the same, but if a
smaller and lighter package is important to you, try the Tamron; however, if you like taking sweep panoramas, get the Sony
version. Tamron screwed up something in the lens protocol, and the panoramas are improperly exposed, blurry and badly
stitched as a result. Tamron claims they're working on a fix, so we'll see. The good news is that
the lens compensations adjustments in select NEX cameras correct the Tamron for CA, distortion and light fall-off or ‘shading'
as Sony calls it. It's probably using the same corrections as the Sony 18-200mm. The Tamron 18-200mm is optimized for sharpness at F/5.6-6.3, which is fairly impressive, and seems to be better than the Sony at the long end
around F/6.3. At the wide end, (18-50mm), both lenses are very sharp across the frame, but both seem to lose contrast
as you zoom out to 200mm, especially off-center. I don't have the Sony NEX 18-200mm anymore, so I didn't compare the two directly.
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__________________________________________________________________________________ Sony Carl Zeiss 24mm F/1.8 review
Here's a little tid-bit that will make some people mad: I'm glad I don't have the Sony
35/1.4 G lens anymore, if I would've compared the Sony 35mm F/1.4 G using the A900, and the NEX CZ 24mm F/1.8 using the NEX-7 at apertures of F/1.8-4, the 35mm F/1.4 G would literally look like it was focused improperly, there would
be that much difference at those apertures! Both cover the same area and have the same megapixels, so it's a fair
comparison. Believe it or not; I'd prefer this combo (NEX-7 and 24/1.8) to the A900 with either the CZ 24/2 SSM or 35/1.4 G, even if they both cost the same, why? The NEX-7 and CZ 24/1.8 performs better than the A900 with either of the two lenses mentioned. Plus, I don't like the bulk and weight of
the full frame equipment, I enjoy traveling light, even if it's just across town.
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