24/3.8 Elmar corner smear with a7R & a7RII

We’ve seen in previous posts that the Sony a7RII does wonders for the color casts that beset the a7R when used with short, pseudo-symmetric rangefinder lenses. Since the sensor stack is still the same thickness, I don’t expect any improvement in corner smear, but it’s certainly worth testing.

I attached a Leica 24mm f/3.8 Elmar-M ASPH to each camera and made an aperture series of this scene, shown at f/8:

Both images were developed in Lightroom with daylight white balance. The greater falloff of the a7R and the magenta corner casts are evident.

Checking the center at 300% magnification:

Similar sharpness.

Now the lower left corners, with a one-stop boost in exposure.

Same poor sharpness.

Same sharpness

Bored yet?

Same.

Same.

I guess we’ll have to wit for the Kolari thin stack modification to see sharper corners with rangefinder lenses.