Hello
I found your review very helpful, thank you. I intend to purchase a Sony NEX-5, and am considering whether to purchase a single 18-200 lens, instead of a combination of other separate lenses. I didn't see any mention of a tripod mount point, for the lens. I am a bit concerned about the weight of the lens, or to be more exact, the torque effect applied by the lens, when extended, on the camera's lens mount. Is there any way of mounting the lens/camera combination on a tripod, so the weight is more balanced? How stable is it, when the camera is mounted on a tripod with the lens fully extended?
Thanks in advance.
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[quote name='boxcorner' timestamp='1311742502' post='10250']
Hello
I found your review very helpful, thank you. I intend to purchase a Sony NEX-5, and am considering whether to purchase a single 18-200 lens, instead of a combination of other separate lenses. I didn't see any mention of a tripod mount point, for the lens. I am a bit concerned about the weight of the lens, or to be more exact, the torque effect applied by the lens, when extended, to the camera's lens mount. Is there any way of mounting the lens/camera combination on a tripod, so the weight is more balanced? How stable is it, when the camera is mounted on a tripod with the lens fully extended?
Thanks in advance.
[/quote]
Well, I used two tripods to stabilize the whole thing during testing.
On the more practical side - I'm now using ....
[url="http://jtec-online.com/"]http://jtec-online.com/[/url]
This improves the stability of the base unit quite a bit when mounting it on a tripod.
[quote name='Klaus' timestamp='1311743203' post='10251']
Well, I used two tripods to stabilize the whole thing during testing.
On the more practical side - I'm now using ....
[url="http://jtec-online.com/"]http://jtec-online.com/[/url]
This improves the stability of the base unit quite a bit when mounting it on a tripod.
[/quote]
Thanks. Interesting product, pity there's no support for the lens. Presumably Sony considers the body to be capable of withstanding the force that the lens applies to the mount, when fully extended. Imagine the Sony Alpha 75-300mm f4.5-5.6 plus Sony LA-EA1 adapter would be more stable, as it provides a tripod mount point forward of the body. How does the length of the 18-200 fully extended compare to the adapter plus 75-300 fully extended?
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[quote name='boxcorner' timestamp='1311752206' post='10254']
Thanks. Interesting product, pity there's no support for the lens. Presumably Sony considers the body to be capable of withstanding the force that the lens applies to the mount, when fully extended. Imagine the Sony Alpha 75-300mm f4.5-5.6 plus Sony LA-EA1 adapter would be more stable, as it provides a tripod mount point forward of the body. How does the length of the 18-200 fully extended compare to the adapter plus 75-300 fully extended?
[/quote]
The NEX was not designed for tripod use for sure (which seems fine regarding the target market).
The 18-200 is big, no doubts. The 75-300 will be even longer though. The 75-300 is a drive-screw AF lens and will as such not provide AF on the NEX.
You will need a SAM or SSM for that and the AF will be substantially slower in any case.
Understood, thanks. Nevertheless, I still find Sony NEX system's versatility appealing. Seems I need to consider this list of [url="http://esupport.sony.com/perl/swu-download.pl?upd_id=6193&SMB=YES#lenses"]supported A-mount lenses[/url].
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[quote name='boxcorner' timestamp='1311756599' post='10256']
Understood, thanks. Nevertheless, I still find Sony NEX system's versatility appealing. Seems I need to consider this list of [url="http://esupport.sony.com/perl/swu-download.pl?upd_id=6193&SMB=YES#lenses"]supported A-mount lenses[/url].
[/quote]
FWIW, I would avoid the f/1.8 SAMs. The AF of the 50/1.8 DT was dismal on the NEX5. I suspect the same is true for the 35.
Thanks for the tip. How about the DT 55-200mm F4-5.6 SAM (SAL55200-2)? I need AF to work, but not speed.
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[quote name='boxcorner' timestamp='1311759292' post='10258']
Thanks for the tip. How about the DT 55-200mm F4-5.6 SAM (SAL55200-2)? I need AF to work, but not speed.
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Honestly I do not know. The 18-55/3.5-5.6 works quite fine on the NEX so I'd guess that there shouldn't be a big issue with the 55-200 either.
However, the AF will be much slower compared to the native E-mount lenses. I reckon it will not help you now but there's strong evidence that Sony will announce an E 55-210mm f/4.5-5.6 durin g the next few weeks ... but then don't expect an immediate availability at this stage.
Till then I'd rather use the E 18-200 actually. The lens system is really a problem on the NEX side of life.
[quote name='Klaus' timestamp='1311763210' post='10259']
Honestly I do not know. The 18-55/3.5-5.6 works quite fine on the NEX so I'd guess that there shouldn't be a big issue with the 55-200 either.
However, the AF will be much slower compared to the native E-mount lenses. I reckon it will not help you now but there's strong evidence that Sony will announce an E 55-210mm f/4.5-5.6 durin g the next few weeks ... but then don't expect an immediate availability at this stage.
Till then I'd rather use the E 18-200 actually. The lens system is really a problem on the NEX side of life.
[/quote]
On the contrary, that's very helpful thank you. Think I would rather wait for the E 55-210mm. Hopefully it'll cost less than the E 18-200. Meanwhile, I need to decide whether to buy the NEX 5 now (probably with E 16 f2.8; not sure I would use 18-55 much), and get the LA-EA1 adapter plus A to whatever adapter, and use a legacy telephoto lens (albeit manual focus), or wait (longer?) to see if the rumoured NEX 7 materialises. Despite the dearth of E lenses, I find the burgeoning range of adapters encouraging.
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[quote name='boxcorner' timestamp='1311767043' post='10260']
On the contrary, that's very helpful thank you. Think I would rather wait for the E 55-210mm. Hopefully it'll cost less than the E 18-200. Meanwhile, I need to decide whether to buy the NEX 5 now (probably with E 16 f2.8; not sure I would use 18-55 much), and get the LA-EA1 adapter plus A to whatever adapter, and use a legacy telephoto lens (albeit manual focus), or wait (longer?) to see if the rumoured NEX 7 materialises. Despite the dearth of E lenses, I find the burgeoning range of adapters encouraging.
[/quote]
Well, regarding the focal length and aperture range it is viable to assume that we are talking about a lens in the 300-400$/EUR league which basically complements the 18-55 kit zoom. It is likely to see double lens kit offerings thereafter.
That all said - if you want more options ... consider MFT. It will take Sony a long while to reach that level of offerings.
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