Good news
is that the KOLARI US company, also has a EU branch - which makes it way easier, to do modifications on your camera, without having to send it to the US, and all the hassle with customs - which always endangers, where you might end up paying twice for tax. The tax you already paid when you bought your camera in Europe...
It was already long time ago, i heard that Kolari offered much thinner glass / sensor stacks. It means, that instead of the thick glass covering the sensor - leading to very blurry corners when you adapted a lens such as Leica M lenses. The original Leica M cameras have a very thing glass, in order to achieve much better sharpness in the corners, due to the way the light rays fall onto the sensors, especially with Leica M lenses.
These days, the modifications can be done by Kolari in the EU, and the have an extreme thing sensor glass. All of the sudden, i could actually use those tricky Leica M lenses on my old Sony A7s camera ("Dark Knight"), which it's still amazing high ISO quality still rivaling the best on the market. Although only 12 MP - but i always felt that this was never a limitation.
I remember lenses like the itsy teeny tiny Leica Elmarit-M 28mm ƒ2.8 was horrible in the corners - practically unusable. Also the wonderful Leica Summilux-M 35/1.4 ASPH FLE, wasn't very good, neither in the corners nor at the borders. Not as bad as the 28mm Elmarit. Knowing how well the Summilux-M 35/1.4 performs on a Leica, it felt always weird to see the degradation with the Sony camera...
425 Euro / 5000 SEK
So, the modification at Kolari EU cost around 425 €. I do not know if there is shipping included. They write. Notice, that these modification to a much thinner sensor stack, can be performed on Sony, Nikon Z, Canon R as well Panasonic S1 series cameras.
Can be done on Nikon, Canon, Panasonic or Sony cameras
So, in theory i could either do this modification on the Sony A7s, or perhaps on the 30 MP Canon R. Both have no IBIS. The Sony A7s i used primarily as an "extended" Leica M9, due to that the Leica M9 is so limited at high ISO, the Sony brought light into the darkness due to the fantastic combo of high quality even at very high sensitivities (ISO's). My thought goes to the Sony A7s... I am not sure if i would like to perform the modification on a Canon EOS R... The latter i use primarily for making digital duplicates from film negatives. And for that, the camera is stellar.
Me, likely choosing the Sony A7s
The Sony A7s, I haven't used for ages... so i think i rather choose the Sony A7s. It is a small camera, and together with small Leica M lenses, AND the Kolari sensor stack modification would literally make it into a fantastic Leica "M" camera on steroids.
Kolari EU writes (link)
And i think this is several years older text,
since they now support other camera
modifications as well
Introducing our new Ultra-Thin Filter Conversion
We are happy to announce that we are now offering an Ultra-thin conversion for the A7 series. This new filter is only 0.2mm thin, 4x thinner than our previous thin filter conversion! At this thickness, the UT outperforms the V2, and performs compatibly to the Leica M9 in terms of corner sharpness. The UT filter is also AR coated to reduce sensor reflections. This is our new default thin filter conversion. Our old V2 conversion service is no longer available for purchase.
Introducing our Thin-Filter Conversion
As one of first full frame mirrorless camera, the Sony A7-series (A7, A7r, A7s, A7II, A7RII, A7SII, A7R III, A9) holds a lot of promise for users of legacy 35mm lens, thanks to it's short flange distance and wide range of adapters available. Unfortunately, these cameras have less than optimal performance on many classic lenses owing to the extra glass of the lowpass/IR filter that is attached directly to front of the sensor.
When these lenses were originally designed for film cameras
there was nothing between the lens and the film, so adding an element to the optical path causes degradation of the image, particularly toward the edges/corners. Our friend Roger at LensRentals wrote some excellent articles explaining the science behind this that you can find here. The Sony A7 series is particularly problematic since it uses a very thick sensor filter which makes many otherwise excellent lenses unusable at the corners by 'smearing' the image – something (unlike vignetting or color shift) that cannot be corrected later.
Michael Demeyer, a photographer in San Francisco
approached us and suggested using our experience in IR modifications, where we replace these sensor filters, to improve the A7-series performance on Leica and other rangefinder lenses by replacing the filter in these cameras with a thinner version. He loaned us a Leica M-mount Voigtlander 21mm Color-Skopar F4.0 lens, widely known as problem because of it's very short exit pupil distance, to use for development.
We are pleased to announce that, after 4 months of development work, we are able to offer this service – a thin filter replacement for the Sony A7-series that significantly improves corner sharpness of legacy lenses (especially wide-angle rangefinder lenses) compared to the stock cameras. Using the same techniques proven in our successful IR modifications, we install a much thinner filter (of Schott optical glass) and then recalibrate the focus on the camera to compensate for the thinner glass. With continuing developments, we are now installing an even thinner corrosion resistant version of this filter that is durable even in humid regions.
Other Sony cameras
We are also now finally able to support the A7II, A7R II, A7SII, and A9 for conversion. We wanted to be sure that our conversion was able to maintain proper IBIS stabilization features and wanted to have it tested independently to eliminate any bias. Jim Kasson has done some extensive quantification on the level of shake reduction the A7II can reach, and he agreed to test our A7 II mod. He went above and beyond and developed a system to accurately shake the camera, and his conclusion was "It's clear that, in this case, the IBIS operation is in no way impaired by the Kolari modification."
You can see his full results here.
Below are 1:1 pixel crops of the image corner and center taken with the 21mm Color-Skopar lens at f11 on a Sony A7 before and after modification.
As predicted by Roger and Brian's analysis
the center is not changed by this modification but the corner performance is dramatically improved. (Note that these images have been compensated for the lens fall-off using the standard tool in Lightroom and are color balanced based on the white target in the center.)
While improving the sharpness significantly, it is important to note that we have not seen changes to the color-shift or vignetting that occurs with some lenses (including this one), which we believe is a function of the sensor design and not the filter stack. As mentioned earlier, unlike the image 'smearing' that is improved by this modification, vignetting and color shifts can be addressed with tools like CornerFix and those in Lightroom.
Now, you might be wondering how this modification impacts performance with the original Sony lenses. Luckily we have not seen a significant change in performance with lenses designed for the A7-series cameras and Roger at LensRentals has independently run his own tests on a modified A7r and seen the same thing. You can see his results here.
Lloyd Chambers of diglloyd has also kindly ran a series of independent tests for us in a real world setting, you can see his results here, with high resolution comparisons available with a subscription.
Phillipreeves.net
Here the EXCELLENT link to Phillipreeve.net and his findings about the various modifications - followed by extensive, but well made illustrations / samples. He also shows plenty of examples with various lenses - as well native Sony lenses - which sometimes get worse in the corners.
So, it is about HOW and for WHAT you wish to use a Sony Camera. If it is to make it into a "Leica M" type of camera using Leica M glass (but also film era high speed lenses ƒ1.2 etc - then the Kolari UT glass certainly gives much better performance at the borders and corners.
Phillipreeves does a marvelous job to explain and show it all.
Highly recommended a read, if you wish to dig deeper.
Warning: Potential Kelvin Shift
When shooting with the UT conversion, some of our users have encountered significant color shift with certain lenses. Derek Zaraza provides an excellent in-depth review on this topic and how to correct for it along with a thorough investigation into the filter's overall performance.
Important links:
A summary of tests done with various lenses: here
General discussion of the service: here
The Kolari Vision Thin Filter Modification allows the Sony A7-series cameras to deliver on the promise of a modern non-Leica solution for legacy and modern rangefinder lenses. At this time the modification is available for the A7, A7s, A7r, A7 II, A7R II, A7SII, A7R III, and A9.
Main Features:
• Greatly improved corner sharpness
• New thinner filter, with thickness the same as reported to be used in Leica bodies
• Humidity and corrosion resistant glass for best durability in humid regions
• Slightly past infinity calibration to allow infinity focus with any Leica adapter
• Included anti-aliasing filter removal as part of the service
• AR coated ultra-thin filter for reduced reflections
• Fully maintained IBIS functionality in the A7 II, A7R II, A7SII, A7R III, and A9
• Maintained dust reduction system in the A7 II, A7R II, A7SII, A7R III, and A9 |
