This blog is devoted to the application of optical fibers in photography. I have several homemade (DIY) flash adapters channeling the light from the flash close to the lens. The technique can be used mainly for macro photography, but I will show examples for wide angle close focus techniques as well. The recent version is called fiberstrobe V3, hence the name of the blog is "fiberstrobe".

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Review of the Sony SEL30M35 30mm F3.5 macro lens for NEX (E) system (I)


Introduction




Sony’s only dedicated macro lens for the NEX system seems to be a strange choice. The short focal length for macro is quite unusual. Tokina and Pentax made a 35mm f2.8 macro and Nikon has a 40 mm F2.8 macro. Sony has a similar 30mm macro for the alpha mount and I guess the NEX version is based on the same optical formula. The Pentax and Tokina was most probably co-developed in a same way as the 10-17mm Fisheye zoom. Overall, the short focal length is not very popular among macro lenses. To reach real close-up or even 1:1 macro range these lenses should be really close to the subject, therefore these short lenses are not really up to photographing skittish animals. However, in case of static subjects it can be a cheap alternative. They are good to show a bit more about the environment.
After reading the reviews of the SEL30M35 I was not overall impressed and decided to wait for a longer focal length macro. I really hoped that tamron will release the 60mm f2.0 or the sigma will come up with the 70mm f2.8 macro lens. Not happened and not even rumoured so far. The only macro lens on the horizon is the Zeiss 50mm lens that will most probably be overpriced. In addition, I don’t consider Zeiss as an expert of macro photography. Reviews were also not that much impressed by the quality of the Leica DG Makro-Elmarit 2.8/45mm macro lens (MFT system) for the high price. The Olympus 60mm f2.8 macro is a better choice for MFT users in my opinion.
I kept my eyes on this lens but I was hesitating for a long while. Considering it’s low price compared to other macro options I recently took the plunge and purchased a SEL30M35 lens. I paid only 229 euro in the local Saturn shop. It’s most probably the cheapest macro lens currently on the market. The Sony SAL version for the alpha mount is similarly priced (or even cheaper) but it’s more or less the same lens for a different mount. Nikon’s 40mm macro comes close, it’s listed for 249 euro in the new Brenner catalogue.
After few days of using the lens I was pleasantly surprised and I like this small gem more and more. I also decided to do a more detailed test comparing its performance to other adapted macro lenses. The test material I produced is still growing so I decided to write this review as continuously updated one. Now, after the introduction I will show only few photos to give you an impression about the performance of this lens on a NEX-5 body. These are jpeg pictures with minimal post processing because I don’t like to spend too much time at the computer to process my photos. I like to shoot it right. I used the twin-flash adapter with the HVL-F20S flash, which proved to be a perfect company of this lens camera combo.
Below are some pictures that I recently  took before I start the more detailed analysis of the lens:

 






Except the last two photos, I used my DIY twin-flash adapter for the lighting. This adapter just fit perfectly to this lens:
That's it for today just to give some impression about the quality of this small lens. Not a dog at all.

Details

I was hesitating to refer to other tests and reviews or not. Finally, I decided to share also the conclusions of other test sites, because of their better test laboratories/systems, but also to show some conflicting results and maybe to show some usual errors. My biggest grippe of the previous reviews is the lack of tests in the macro range. It’s a dedicated macro lens and it should be tested in the close-up and macro range. This was a major motivation to carry out this review. Technical details and specifications you can find on the official Sony page: (http://www.sony.co.uk/product/ddl-fixed-focal-length-lenses/sel-30m35)

Build quality, ergonomics:

This lens has an excellent build quality using some light metal (brass is suggested by other reviewers) and good quality plastic. It has a similar simple but solid feeling as the SEL50F18 has but it’s lighter. Most probably it’s the lightest macro lens on the market (138g) and the whole camera (NEX-5) is well balanced with this lens and not front heavy. Just to compare, the Tokina 35mm macro is 340g and the Nikon 40mm macro is 235 g. The SAL version of this Sony lens is 150 g and both recent MFT macro lenses are heavier (Leica 45mm macro and the Olympus 60mm f2.8 macro lenses are 225g and 185g, respectively). The lens and camera combo won’t fit to your pocket but I don’t require this from a macro set up. It will fit to a small bag and you won’t feel your shoulder after a photo trip. The lens has a strange hood that is small enough to leave on the lens also during transportation. Both the lens and the hood have a filter thread (plastic) with 49mm diameter that seems to be standard for the E mount. I like the stylish silver color but many photographers would prefer it in black. All other reviews agreed that the build quality is very good. It has an internal focusing system so the front elements won’t protrude or rotate during the focusing. It’s an advantage if you want to use a polarizer.

AF/MF:

The AF is fast and precise in the normal range but getting slower at very close distance. The major problem is that the lens is prone to try to focus on the background and miss the target most of the time. For macro I usually switch to manual focus with focus peeking. It allows a very precise manual focusing. AF is silent which can be good for video (I haven’t made any video with this lens yet). Manual focusing is “by wire control”, which was strange at the very beginning. You can rotate the focusing ring as you want but you won’t see how far you are from the closest distance. You can also use Direct Manual Focus (DMF) function to fine tune the AF.
 

Distortion

Nothing to worry about the distortion in field conditions. Maybe for taking photos of your stamp collection SEL30F35 is not the most appropriate lens due to a slight barrel distortion reported by other review sites. Checking my test photo below I really have to search for it. For nature photos it’s hardly an issue. (See my test photos as examples):
 

Bokeh (Out of focus area)

I’m not completely happy with the out of focus area. Sometimes it can be busy, but depending on the applied apertures it can be quite OK. The description of the lens claims rounded blades but actually at higher f stops you can see the heptagonal shape of the iris.

 iso200, f18
iso200, f18
iso400 f11
Click on the photos to enlarge them. I'm happy with the bokeh of the first two photos, but in the 3rd photo the highlights are harsh a bit in my opinion.

Vignetting (Light fall-off)

It’s not an issue in my opinion for macro. Photozone reported that “light fall-off is hefty at f/3.5 (~1.6 f-stops) - this will be noticeable in most field images” while Andrew Alexander from slrgear commented that “there's just a hint of it at ƒ/3.5, but the corners are just barely more than a quarter-stop darker than the center, so I think you'll be hard-pressed to notice it.” There is a bit of corner shading fully opened but at F8 it’s not visible. Most of my macro photos taken at even higher f stops. I guess that bad vignetting reported earlier is due to the lens hood left during the test. I will take photos soon to test this hypothesis.


Sharpness/resolution

I’ve found most of the contradiction in previous reviews in the description of the sharpness/resolution of the lens. My major problem with their result is that sharpness was never tested in close-up or macro distance. Imatests are usually done at a distance of few meters (10-30 feet). Hardly the working distance of my intended usage of this lens

Photozone was quite strong:
“The center quality is, undoubtedly, excellent if not outstanding but the border and corner quality falls totally apart especially at large aperture settings.” “Unfortunately the general performance can be regarded as inadequate for a macro lens.” Really? Not one macro or close-up photo was taken during this test. Check the ridiculous interesting sample images. Any macro photo? Not a single one. Not surprisingly the verdict is very bad, 1.5 star out of 5.

The LensRentals.com also performed a detailed Imatest (again, not at macro distance) and their results are slightly different. The numbers can’t directly compared between the two test sites due to the different methodology. However, LensRentals compared many lens on NEX7 and checking their resolution table the SEL30F35 performed quite well. Fully opened it’s not much behind Sigma 30mm and Sony-Zeiss 24mm (at f/2.8) regarding the center sharpness. Average sharpness (measured at 13 points including the center, 4 corners, 4 sides, and 4 mid points) is also quite acceptable.

Let’s see some own results first at close-up range. I built few test columns from Lego and stuck the same tranfer pictures to the middle part and to the corners. There was more light on the left due to the window arrangement in the room:

Below the crops from varios parts of the test panel: top, upper left corner; middle, center; bottom, bottom right corner)



  iso200, f6.3




iso200, f16

I think the results are not so bad. Either fully opened or stopped down the resolution looks good even in the corners. As expected though the center is always the sharpest part.
Just for comparison I took some test photos with my sigma 50mm f2.8 macro lens just for comparison and surprisingly the results were much worse.

Only the center was sharp while the corners were smeary, especially the left side and even stopping down hasn’t improved the corners. First I thought it is due to wrong alignment and the right side is just not in the plane of focus, but the left side is also not really sharp. Now, I think it’s more due to the bad quality of my cheap adapter. LensRentals explain this phenomenon in details with more examples: 

http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2013/09/there-is-no-free-lunch-episode-763-lens-adapters

Other optical errors:

Not much to write here. The color rendition of this lens is very good if not excellent. There is a bit of chromatic aberration, but I had hard time to find examples among my photos (you can see some CA in the crops of test photos above). Taking photos into the direction of the sun is challenging for most of the lenses, but not much flare I observed in my photos with the nex macro lens. SEL30F35 is not worse than my other lenses. See an example below:


Underexposing the photo helps sometimes. The same subject without any traces of flare:

Verdict


This is a wonderful small lens fitting perfectly to the NEX-5. It’s highly recommended especially considering the current price. It’s not for all purpose and not for everybody. I would say it’s a speciality lens. Below I collected some potential applications.

Nature macro photos:
Perfect for non-moving or not skittish subjects. Tripod or good lighting system is recommended. My twin-flash adapter is perfect for lighting. 
 

Food photography:
Almost perfect. It could be a faster lens or stabilization would help. Otherwise it’s really good:


Portrait:
Not recommended for typical portraits but if you want to include the environment in the photos this lens is a good choice:




Landscape:
Not really a landscape lens.

Street photography:
It has a natural field of view. However, it could have either a better “faster aperture” or optical stabilization to be a perfect lens for street photos. Considering the good low-light capabilities of recent sensor technology, this lens handles most of the situations well. I’m not really a street photographer, hence no samples here.

Conclusion
Putting all this together it’s a highly recommended lens. I would say it’s a must have lens for the Sony E system. The only thing could be a shop stopper is the upcoming Zeiss 50mm macro lens but be prepared for a higher price tag (I would assume a 4 times higher one).

More sample photos

Visit my Flickr pages for more sample photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fiberstrobe/sets/72157635762731334/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fiberstrobe/sets/72157636006351404/

Update

I've recently found out that the lens works well together with the VCL-ECF1 fiseye adapter. The angle of view is even wider with this combo, but it keeps the close focus ability of the macro lens. There are some limitations, e.g. you have to stop down the lens and the far away subject are never really sharp, but keeping these in mind you can take fantastic photos:

Find more description about this set-up under the following links:
http://fiberstrobe.blogspot.de/2014/08/sel30f35-vcl-ecf1-lens-combo.html
http://fiberstrobe.blogspot.de/2014/08/praying-mantis.html
http://fiberstrobe.blogspot.de/2014/09/put-sel30m35-lens-into-perspective.html

13 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  2. Excellent review! Newer a6000 owner here. I've been thinking about this one for a while. I've been using a Raynox 250 with the SEL1650, SEL35F18, and SEL55210, depending on situations, and I've been fairly happy with results. I usually have to get closer to subjects, but I don't mind as it's kind of exciting. I've been, however, playing around with purchasing either this, the newer Zeiss FE 90mm Macro (really expensive), the SEL50F18 (+ Raynox), or the Sigma 60 (+ Raynox).

    Now that over a year has passed, what are your thoughts? Have you changed your mind about anything?

    I do have a couple of questions about it if you don't mind.

    (1) How much of a difference does the lack of OSS make for shooting macros? I don't use tripods, preferring instead point and shoot. Is that going to make my life miserable with this lens?
    (2) Does the close working distance cause shadowing from the built-in flash? One of the things I like about the lenses I mentioned above is that I *can* use the built-in flash. The only exception is with the SEL55210, but even still, up to about 90mm, it isn't a problem.

    Thanks in advance!

    Derek

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    Replies
    1. Hi Derek. No regret.It was actually very cheap and it has produced me many stunning pictures. SEL55210 combined with the Raynox is a good macro setup. Maybe the sel30M35 will be not needed, but it would give you a different perspective.
      I recommend to add some flashlight with a diffuser. I'm planning to buy the A6000 soon and will also add a nissin i40 flash, which would give a perfect macro setup. OOS is not required for flash macro photography.
      The bilt in flash is not the best light source without some modification, but I would really recommend an external flash with some light modifier that also aims your light. Not necessarily a complicated fiber optics solution but something simple could also works.

      Cheers

      Marcell (fiberstrobe)

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    2. Thanks Marcell!!!

      After reading your review and thinking about it for a couple of days, I decided to give it a go, knowing that I could just return it within a couple of weeks if it doesn't live up to my expectations. I have to say, after one day with it, I am very intrigued.

      I've experimented with several macro setups using the Raynox. I liked the Raynox+SEL55210 because of the amount of magnification I was able to use, but the depth of field suffered, it was difficult to keep steady due to the weight, and the images were not as crisp as I would have liked. I then switched over to the Raynox+SEL1650, and that gave me a much better depth of field, but the image quality could have been a little better. I finally settled on the Raynox+SEL35F18, and while the images were not as large as the aforementioned setups, the quality was much better, allowing one to even do a little cropping if necessary.

      Comparing the SEL30M35 to the above setups, it's actually much closer to the Raynox+SEL55210 than I expected. Granted, at full zoom, that setup delivers better magnification, but the SEL30M35 doesn't have any of the drawbacks (weight and image quality in particular), and if you use the ClearImage Zoom, the SEL30M35 is easily able to hold its own. I am pleasantly surprised in this regard. Yes, you have to get closer to your subjects, but anyone who has used a Raynox should know that you have to do the same with that setup as well. Raynox users should actually find that the SEL30M35 feels kind of familiar as far as focusing distance goes (although I would argue it's much better than the Raynox because the focusing range isn't as narrow). I took test shots with each of the setups, and in my opinion, the benefits of the SEL30M35 outweigh its slight inferior magnification to the Raynox+SEL55210.

      While I generally shoot macro with manual focus, I have to say that equipped on the a6000, the autofocus is impressive. I experimented with both, Direct Manual Focus and Manual Focus, and unless you're trying to get a shot at full magnification, the DMF is nice for quick shots, which is especially helpful with moving subjects. I'll be using DMF more often with this lens.

      I didn't find it necessary to use any flash while the lighting was optimal, but as evening settled in, I started experimenting with it. It was useful around mid-focus (still close enough for a decent macro), but if you tried to get any closer to your subject, shadowing became a problem. An external flash is necessary if one plans on shooting in sub-optimal conditions and desires the closest shots.

      Out of sick curiosity, I attached a Raynox to the SEL30M35, but it didn't make any difference. In fact, it actually made it worse. For anyone equally curious, I would caution that they stay away from it. At best, the Raynox is redundant, and at worst, you lose the features that make the SEL30M35 nice (autofocus, focus to infinity, weight, etc.).

      Finally, whoever argued that the short focusing distance makes this a terrible lens for macros of insects is plainly wrong. As I mentioned before, the Raynox already requires one to get relatively close, but when you consider how nicely the autofocus works on the SEL30M35, the distance isn't nearly that much of an issue. You still need to cautiously approach your subjects, but I had no difficulty taking pretty decent pictures of flies, wasps, caterpillars, ants, and beetles tonight. I wish I could post a couple of the pictures to share. I feel like once I get a better feel for the operations of the lens itself, I'll be able to take very good pictures.

      I appreciate your review here and, combined with the competitive cost of the lens itself, I decided it was worth a shot. Like I said, I'm going to test it as much as possible over the next 10 days, but my early impressions so far are very favorable. I agree that many reviewers seem to have failed to understand how best to use the lens.

      Best,
      Derek

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  3. Thanks for the good review. I am planning on digitizing my old slides with the Sony NEX-5N using this Macro lens. Do you have any thoughts?

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  4. I really don't know anything about cameras. I recently bought the Sony A5100 but the kit focusing distance is just too long for my needs. I take photos of my nails so it's impossible to hold my arm far enough away and see the screen at the same time. I've googled all I can and this seems to be the lens that might work for what I need but most of the technical talk goes over my head :/

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  5. Best complete and detailed review i've seen.nice..tq marcel & derek.planning to get sel30m35 in my jewelry/gem products and video.im using a6000.

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  6. It's a very good lens for jewelry photos.

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  7. Sony pregius high end camera sensors always work perfectly with all the microscopes, telescopes and different other scientific apparatus in order to document all kinds of scientific observations that has the highest possible information and complicated details. Now it doesn’t matter if your field of investigation is quite small or quite large, when you will consider using sony imx253 sensors then you will find delivering some very high quality that has the perfect image resolutions of almost 30 megapixels. Therefore these are usually considered much better among other types of low sensitive camera sensors.

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  8. Been a year since i told you i would get it. And i got it few days later after that. It never stops to amazed me. Took beautiful jewelry/gemstones photos & videos with it on my a6000.
    Either with flash or not,manual or auto. Im not a pro but it makes me feel like one. Thank you!
    Btw will it work as vacation/family lens?

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  9. I take it with me for holidays, but I realized that it's rarely used. I prefer to take my macro photos more purposeful. Sometimes I managed to do real photoholiday, then it can be very useful.

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  10. Really informative review, thanks a lot for writing it. Just one question: I'm currently thinking about buying it for a macro photogrammetry set up. For that purpose it's very important that the images are as sharp and noise free as possible and that the DOF is as wide as possible (hope I wrote that correctly, I mean as much as possible of image should be sharp). Could you recommend this lense for the described setup?

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  11. Marcell, thank you for the review.

    There is great shortage of reviews like yours, done by people actually using a lens and knowing what they are doing.

    Your observations on Photozone test are spot on; time and time again I found that my own assessment of a lens differs from what measurebators would lead you to believe -- and I own an almost complete Sony APS-C E mount line-up... One of the very few exceptions was this 35mm macro, but now I think I'll rectify that soon.

    Keep up the good work.

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