User Tools

Site Tools


photo:sony35mm

35mm full frame lenses for Sony E-mount

introduction

  • one of the reasons for shooting full frame instead of the more compact Micro Four Thirds system is to gain better background blurring and subject isolation with wide angle lenses which is more difficult to achieve on cropped sensor cameras without resorting to f/0.9 lenses
  • in this regard, the Sony 35mm f/2.8 lens does not make very good sense, particularly at the price - you may as well use a much more affordable and jacket pocketable system such as an Olympus OM-D with 17mm f/1.8 lens and shoot this at f/4 to gain the street photographer's desired DOF (they would shoot f/8 on full frame with a 35mm lens) - but if you don't want to own two systems then the f/2.8 lens may be attractive as a compact albeit over-priced option
  • the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 ART lens is one of the best 35mm lenses ever made and is highly regarded but it is large and heavy and not great to carry around on streets all day - it is more appropriate for wedding photographers and fashion photographers who appreciate its shallower DOF, sharpness and bokeh and don't mind the weight BUT it seems not everyone loves the bokeh - see http://www.diyphotography.net/sigma-art-lenses-great-glass-shitty-bokeh/

comparison of AF lenses

Sigma EF 35mm f/1.4 ART Sony FE CZ Distagon 35mm f/1.4 ZA Sony FE CZ 35mm f/2.8 ZA
price $US899/$AU970 + adapter $US1600/$AU2244 $US/$AU738
weathersealing No Yes No
aperture ring No Yes, de-clickable No
AF motor DDSSM stepping
weight 665g + adapter 630g 120g
length 94mm + adapter 112mm 37mm
filter 67mm 72mm 49mm
diaphragm 9 9 7
close focus 0.3m m m
dXoMark score 42 44 39
sharpness at f/1.4 79% in centre, 61% at edge 68% in centre, 61% at edge N/A
sharpness at f/2.8 82% accutance centre, 70% at edge 82% accutance centre, 66% at edge 81% accutance centre, 66% at edge
transmission wide open T1.6 T1.5 T2.8
distortion 0.3% 0.5% 0.8%
vignetting at f/2.8 0.6EV (1.8EV at f/1.4) 1EV (1.7EV at f/1.4) 1.8EV
lateral CA at edge at f/2.8 8micron 4micron 7micron
shallow DOF 2 EV better 2 EV better base level
bokeh reasonably nice edges but mod. onion ring and cat's eye at edges “excellent”, but some onion ring cat's eye shape as vignetting, severe onion rings, busy
long. CA some
coma need to stop down to at least f/4 to reduce
comments can use on Canon dSLRs too, best bang for bucks but heavy heavy, expensive almost pocketable on an a7II, a nice street lens, but may as well shoot with Micro Four Thirds system
other like most recent Sony lenses, focuses stopped down at your selected aperture. This means that autofocus performance steadily drops as you stop down, since smaller apertures mean less light, and more depth-of-field (less phase difference) for the autofocus system to work with. By F9, phase-detect fails altogether, and you'll experience significant hunting in AF-C. faster AF than the Sony 35mm

other AF lenses

  • Sigma 35mm f/1.2 DG DN
    • coming late 2019
    • 82mm filter; 11 rounded blades; close focus to 0.3m giving 0.19x magnification; 17 Elements in 12 Groups;
    • 3.46“ x 5.36″ / 87.8 x 136.2mm; 38.45 oz / 1090g
    • $US1499
  • Sony 35mm f/1.4 GM
    • announced Jan 2021 as a more compact yet higher quality lens
    • 14 elements in 10 groups including two XA (extreme aspherical) elements, a single ED (extra-low dispersion)
    • Nano AR Coating II
    • close focus 27cm (10.6”) giving 0.23x mag.
    • twin XD (extreme dynamic) linear autofocus motors; Linear Response MF
    • de-clickable aperture ring
    • 11 rounded blades
    • 67mm filter
    • 524g (1.16lb), 76 mm dia. x 96 mm
    • $US1400
  • Samyang AF 35mm f/1.4 FE
  • Samyang 35mm f1.8
    • announced Sept 2020
    • close focus 29cm; not weathersealed; no MF/AF switch; no lens fn button;
    • new Linear STM AF motor;
    • custom switch to allow change of function of MF ring;
    • 58mm filter;
    • 210g;
    • $US399
    • announced Oct 2020
    • 9 elements in 8 groups incl. 1 ASPH; Nano-multilayer coating; 7 blades;
    • close focus 35cm; 52mm filter; 67 x 72mm; 295g;
  • Tamron 35mm F/2.8 Di III OSD M1:2
    • 67mm filter; close focus 0.15m giving 1:2 magnification
    • $US349
  • Rokinon 35mm f/2.8 FE

Canon EF mount lenses

  • an alternative if you are hunting bokeh is the, bigger, heavier, weathersealed Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L II although this is $AU2650!
  • a compact alternative is the $AU800 Canon EF 35mm f/2.0 IS but the IS would only work on Sony with the Metabones adapter
  • an even more compact options is the $AU199 Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 STM pancake lens
photo/sony35mm.txt · Last modified: 2021/01/14 08:42 by gary1

Donate Powered by PHP Valid HTML5 Valid CSS Driven by DokuWiki