Before any short introduction we tell you how long we have used a lens and if we have borrowed it from a manufacturer. https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=Krxz4BR3Mg4. But the Biogon 21mm F2.8 is problematic, as it has been on other digital cameras on which I’ve tried it. It’s much smaller than its DSLR counterparts and I almost always have it in my backpack. Thank you for your help I’m hearing good things about the Canon. The lens is rather rare and comes in different mounts (Nikon-F, Canon FD, a few more), don’t fall for the newer AT-X AF version which is optically worse. I think the Canon FD 2.8/20 is your best choice here because you can use filters without a hassle and apart from the flare resistance it is a very good lens for landscapes. Let me say that my hope have been given a lift. It’s surprising that this lens sells in eBay for around $800 in good condition (I was lucky to get a mint condition couple of years back). Your email address will not be published. Nikon 15mm f/3.5 AIS – Specialty of this lens is no distortion at 15mm and very sharp even wide open. hello guys, I love this article so much. Jannik: Despite of it’s ridiculous distortion, this lens performs very good (especially for astrophotography) when you find a good copy. I have it rented at the moment and feel like it’s beating the CV and Laowa 15s. Quite a bit wavy distortion you want to correct for architectural shots, mediocre to bad flare resistance (watch out for the sun outside the frame), 9 bladed aperture. My biggest concern with this lens is the questionable build quality and the quality assurance problems. My way around it, discovered during a jetlagged sleepless night — which was enlivened by a pretty intense earthquake — is to assign the C3 button next to the trash can (customs settings page 6 line 2) to focus magnifier and, after pushing it, to move one’s finger to the central buton of the control wheel right above that. The best zoom lenses for the Sony a7 III. The team, that are four gearheads: Bastian, Jannik and Phillip from Germany as well as David from Australia. If you disagree with us that is fine. I now have a small collection of different lenses and mounts to play with in my collection. And You Thought an Adapter Is an Adapter…. Below, I’ll be posting some examples that I’ve taken with my lenses and some tips and tricks for you to get started. User-Guide to wide-angle lenses for Sony a7 a7ii a7rii, Backpack Review: Mindshift Gear Rotation 180° Horizon, Affordable manual lenses for the Sony Alpha 7,7r,7ii,7rii and 7s, Sony FE lenses: The honest Guide for the A7/A7II/A7III A7rII/A7rIII/A7rIV A7c A9, Guide to Ultra Wideangle lenses for the Sony A7 Series V1.3, Guide to the best 50mm Lenses for full frame Sony E-mount cameras: a7III/a7II/a7rIV/a7RIII/a9/A9II, http://phillipreeve.net/blog/review-voigtlander-ultron-28mm-2-0/, https://www.flickr.com/photos/27297062@N02/albums/72157670965595765, http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1376190, http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1453834/0, Beginners Guide to using Manual Lenses on the Sony a7 - phillipreeve.net, Tokina Firin 20mm F2 FE Review: A good deal? 375g | $1300 | full Review | aperture series | sample images, buy from ebay | buy from amazon.com | B&H (affiliate links), 254g | $699 | full Review | aperture series | sample images, buy from manufacturer’s homepage (affiliate link), Status: Prototype loaned by manufacturer reviewed by Bastian. With ultrawides (including Fisheyes) an adapter with very exact length is recommended, those are usually a bit more pricey. A higher resolution digital back in full-frame package is simply asking for the Zeiss lenses made for the Contax G. And the Planar 45mm F2 proved again that is one of the best lenses that have ever been made. But they are only available in 72mm, are large and heavy, and expensive. The design and the build quality is similar to 13mm f/5.6 (which is known as Nikon’s holy grail – recently sold for $52k in eBay). How much of difference will the 5.6 stop of 10mm be a hindrance compared to the 4 of 15mm in the verstality of the lenses to take good images After weighing the pros and cons, we went ahead and bought this lens and are absolutely thrilled with it. This means that the focus and aperture selection are all accomplished inside of the lens, which is controlled by you. Best Standard Zoom Lenses for Sony a7R III Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM Lens ($2,198): The best 24-70mm lens! Jannik: You can’t go wrong with this lens , especially at the wide end. The performance of the Biogon 28mm F2.8, the least strong of the set, was surprisingly good. At longer focal lengths vignetting is still significant. Far better than I expected. Doing so dramatically improved performance (both copies became comparable). I have a dilema and was hoping you can help Very very small and very lightweight, decently priced on the used market. Already at f/2.8 the sharpness across frame near infinity can be very good but mind a little field curvature. Medium size and weight. One of the best performing ultra wide angle lenses for astrophotography, low coma and very low vignetting in comparison to the competition (less than 2 EV at 14mm and 2.8). Bought by Juriaan, still in use. Better than has been my experience with other digital camera on which I’ve tried it. WOW Corners are ok, coma correction is pretty decent. Thank you. Made for APS-C (Canon in my case), but fills the frame on my A7R2/MC-11 at 15 and 16mm. Always stop down to min. At 18mm it is almost impossible to catch flares or ghosts and it even takes 77mm screw-in or 100mm square filters and is also comparably cheap. Thanks a lot, you helped me more than the zillion pages I was browsing about this. Already at f/2.8 the sharpness across frame is very good at the wide end. what an awesome review, thank you so much for taking the time to educate us. The best 50mm legacy lens for Sony A7 Most of the legacy 50 1.4/1.7/1.8 lenses will perform great. Pretty strong vignetting. Among the longer ones the 100mm F2.8 Macro (with an exact copy in the Sony lens lineup) appears to be made for the 36MP sensor. I think most non-circular fisheyes on APS have just a slightly too large image circle to get a perfect circle on FF. Coma performance wide open not bad, a little worse than Samyang 14mm. Gear Forum: (From page 2 is with the A7) http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1376190 1. Keep the field curvature in mind and focus carefully. The Tokina has some problems with flare the Contax might not encounter due to the T* coating. Is it advisable to buy the 10mm and get used to it and during that time also use it if needed in APSC format (A7iii allows you to) when the effective focal length will be 15mm. Status: used by Jannik for a short time in the past, 360g + adapter | $200 | buy from ebay | Sony E-mount adapters  (affiliate links). Great and clearly useable information – thanks for the hours you spend bringing such valuable insight to us all. “Vignetting at 12 mm …”. Medium size and weight. Status: sample loaned by manufacturer reviewed by Bastian. I’m just griping, I want my cake and be able to eat it too. Just crop the picture as you want. 🙂. Wondering whether this could be due to the adapter, I tested five different adapters with the Biogon against a lace curtain illuminated by sunlight. It is not as compact as you might want though. In your opinion, adaptor and sensor size consideration aside, is the overall performance of the Laowa superior to the Tokina’s? I now consider both to be usable wide open on A7rII (with some caveats), and definitively the sharpness is sufficient when stopped down just a bit (mostly this improves CA, however). What’s on the roadmap for 2021: New Sony A9x camera, new RX, new A7IV, 35mm f/1.4 GM and 16mm f/1.8 GM; Sony Digital Camera WW111327 Registration Found. The main reason I included this lens here: the flare resistance at the wide end is just stellar. Pretty strong copy to copy variation at 35 mm. Could you please add the Tamron 17-28 here? I have both, a A7II and a NEX6, a 10mm Voigtländer and a 10-18mm APSC lens. But were you thinking of using an APS fisheye to get a circular fisheye on FF? What are Legacy Lenses? I have seen some images taken with the adapters and the added bokeh ability seems appealing for portraits. Well under $200 are the 50/1.4 ML and 55/2.8 macro ML (ML indicates multicoating). 640g + adapter | $949 | full Review | aperture series | sample images, buy from manufacturer | amazon.com | amazon.de | B&H (affiliate links), Status: not reviewed by anyone in the team but some reliable information is available, buy from Amazon.com | Amazon.de | B&H | ebay (affiliate links), Status: not reviewed by anyone in the team but reliable information is available, 565g | $1698 | MTF | photozone review | compared to other lenses, buy from amazon.de | buy from amazon.com | B&H (affiliate links), 283g | $899 | review | aperture series | sample images, buy from amazon.com | buy from ebay.com | buy from ebay.de (affiliate links), 175g + adapter | ~$450 | full Review | aperture series | sample images, buy from ebay | Sony E-mount adapters (affiliate links). This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. With the Samyang 12mm 2.8 I had quite positive experience, it is rather well corrected for a Fisheye lens and rather affordable. Bought and sold by David after quite a lot of use. All this, of course, with the exception of the inconvenient weight at 820gr and 880gr, classic and Milvus versions respectively. The real question is of course if the performance is negatively impacted by adapters on E-mount, and if ZE or ZF mounts are better or worse in this respect. Canon (n)FD 2.8/20, FYI, I’m gonna use it for landscape using Graduated filter. If you don’t need raw, store in jpg extra fine. This is one of the rare cases where a zoom outperforms many primes. So with time the list will grow, but have some patience with us 🙂. best regards Thank you guys so much for this great write up. There is now also an AF version of this lens available which is a little lighter but shares the same optics. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. and I am considering 2 options for wide lenses: Keep my Tokina 11-16 (usable 15-16 in FF) using an adaptor. I wasn’t impressed with image quality either (maybe just my copy). Thanks, for the reviews. And for quite a few people, that means M lenses. It is the only one I made, sorry! The LAEA4 adapter that allows us to use A mount lenses on the A7R is a must. Thanks for pointing it out. I have brought about half of my Minolta collection with me. The contrast improves when stopping down to f/4.0. Tokina 3.5/17 SL By Guest Author on November 18, 201325 Comments. IR A7 away at Kolari Vision for the existing IR filter (standard 2mm thick 830nm), to be swapped for one of their new “Thin” 850nm, Anti-reflection coated filters. I think I’ll buy the Contax T* 18mm f4. I was just wondering if anybody here used an apsc fisheye on fullframe and how were the results. I have not yet seen any large prints from it — and isn’t that among the main aims of good photography. Zeiss recommends Novoflex adapters, but I have no reports as to real loss of corner performance, sensor reflections, light leaks, etc. Nevertheless there are a few lenses that simply stick, so we decided to let each of us pick one of the aforementioned lenses and tell you why we like it and/or keep using it. It is excellent overall, and I’m very pleased with its light weight, not-large size, and its use of 77mm filters. He sold that copy in anticipation of Laowa 10-18mm, that unfortunately fall behind expectations, so he bought a second used copy. At f/4 the center is excellent across the zoom range, for best corners I would stop down at least to f/5.6, better f/8 where they are quite good. I think some people expect magic; but it’s optically excellent (I get the impression that for some pairs of copies it’s a bit better, and for some a bit worse, than the superb Sigma) but is easy to use and travel with. Good from f/1.8, great across the whole frame stopped down to f/5.6, GM-like build (declickable aperture ring, focus hold button, AF/MF switch). My best legacy 35mm lens. The only difference is a slight chromatic aberration visible at the Voigtländer . Sony a7, a7R, a7S, a7II, a7RII, a7SII mirrorless cameras are the only cameras that allow you to use virtually every make of 35mm lenses with the full angle of view for which those lenses were designed. It continues the awesome coma correction and has very low distortion. In case I get a review sample I will of course compare it to the 10mm 5.6. We have reviewed many lenses but there are far more lenses we haven’t reviewed yet and we prefer to know what we are talking about. Your email address will not be published. E.g: Laowa 15mm f/2 + Sony FE 24mm 1.4 GM or Loxia 21mm 2.8, $$$$ more and space in the camera bag are other things to give up that I didn’t consider 🙂. Still considering buying a cheap electronic-less adapter to give My targets are cheap third party lenses like 7artiSan 7mm f2.5 E mount or the Samyang 8mm fisheye for APSC e mount. As I am searching for cheap options ,therefore these two lenses I googled for and found very good considering ‘ bang for bucks’ .But other lens ideas are also welcomed unless pricey. Contrast is always quite high. “Vignetting at 12 mm is …” When I scaledown the images I took with this lens to 12Mp, they are not that bad, roughly comparable to your result on a Nikon D700 but, at 24Mp I think it’s quite a bit worse, worse than my Minolta MD 20/2.8. If you need even wider it’s simple to do a 2 or 3 image panorama and get improved image quality at the cost of some hassle, whereas if you get a wider lens, you need to crop to get tighter, which costs you image quality. None of us is a regular fisheye shooter. Not sure what else, since I’m new to UWAs. Top 3 Best Lenses for Sony A7 Reviews 1. f/4.0: corners are now very good too, so stopping down further will only increase depth of field. We haven’t reviewed it. Also, while buying a lens, your precise conclusion helps a lot. All the zooms have high distortion at the ends of the zoom range, but some have very little between 20 and 24. BEST F4: Sony FE 70-200mm f/4 G OSS Lens | Price: $1,498 Versatile telephoto zoom lens that takes over right where the FE 24-70mm leaves off. That’s a great article. The best, but also most expensive, choice among the zoom lenses for the Alpha 7 series is the 24-70 mm G Master lens with an aperture of f/2.8. It is sharper than the Voigtlander primes and close to the Batis 18 and Loxia 21 in this regard. I think you’ll be very happy. From f/5.6 it is good across the frame, very good at f/8 and for the very good corner performance you should stop down to f/11. Thank you very much! These lenses, famous for their color and sometimes sharpness, are the half-hidden treasure trove for those who lament the scarcity of Sony glass. Phillip, do you have any opinion on the use of these adapters? Linear coupling? toring apart between 16-35mm 2.8, loxia 21mm 2.8 or 18mm batis 2.8 ? Are there more LR lens profiles available for Canon FD lenses? Jannik, Bastian, David, Juriaan and Phillip. Hi Bastian, Strong distortion at the wide end which is still significant at the longer end. No wonder, then, that a deep sigh of relief went up among Internet commentators with the revelation that this new camera showed that Sony had recognized the earlier folly of its ways. All of us have used many lenses and we all have bought and sold some of them for whatever reason. Jannik’s Choice: Sigma Art 14-24mm 2.8 DG DN, David’s Choice: Zeiss Batis Distagon T* 18mm f2.8, Juriaan’s Choice: Voigtlander 15mm 4.5 SWH E. The following two tabs change content below. There are a few reasons for that: Articles like this require many hours of work. Ok thank you for the advice! Dear Karsten, Here are two more possibilities for review: Tokina 11-16/2.8. From reviews I have read, the distagon has: extraordinary build & handling Zeiss is known for in both its versions, manual aperture ring for Nikon mount, filter thread for traditional filters, relatively easy corrected symmetric barrel distortion, virtually no chromatic aberrations, average to good flare resistance, excellent coma resistance, nice 18-point sunstars, excellent resolution, contrast & color accuracy, and an overall performance that should handily edge out the Laowa and Voigtländer 15mm contenders. But the beauty of it is that it’s outstandingly good across the field at every aperture, and is extremely light so easy to take along on trips. It has almost became a Sony lenses “religion” in the latest reviews and I will not buy even one and don’t like their plain, modern aseptic look at all and wonder how excellent reviewers changed their minds 18” degrees in less than 10 years. IF You need a Lensbaby Fisheye for your Fisheye review,i would Kind regards and please keep up your great work! Based on my experience with this lens, I think no other lens can perform to this level at 15mm. Even if there's some overlap with other lists. Bastian. Indeed. It outperforms the already very good 4/16-35 while only weighting 165g more. * As this is not really of relevance to this thread, feel free to delete. The Sony A7 / A7R / A7S / A7II has become quite a popular camera in 2014 — a full frame mirrorless camera that’s about half the size of a DSLR full-frame. Have you had any experience of the ultra-wide angle lens SIGMA 14mm, F/1.8 DG HSM Art for Sony E? Class leading across the frame sharpness by f/5.6. Out of 6 lenses I mounted on my camera 4 were badly decentered (of which 3 were new from different dealers). I want to have a look how the manually cropped ones differ from inbuilt APSC mode. No deal for many images, but a dealbreaker for some. I bought the Sony A7 exclusively for use with several old Leica M lenses from my old film days. The Tamron feels like a better choice for me: I don’t really know what I want, but want to be able to shoot landscape, architecture and dabble a bit in astro as well. 18-pointed sunstars with pretty average definition from f/11. Thank you for your comment! Bastian, I own the Tokina (rebranded as Vivitar). I am going to buy one Tokina 17/3.5. At 24mm not nearly as good compared to 14mm, needs to be stopped down to f/8.0 for best performance here. The only downside is the very significant price tag. I own the Tokina MF 17mm F3.5 for Canon FD with my Sony Alpha 7ii. Update is in the works. Looking forward to your review of the Sigma 14-24/2.8…. Let’s Talk Legacy Lenses. Caution: what is written below might only be true for the prototype and I experienced bad corner performance with some adapters. Well worth the ten minutes. I loved the Tokina (apart from the horrible green flare), so it’s going to be kind of heartbreaking! on another note- Thanks for the reply and for the effort. I just finished my summer-long search for the best UW for me.. That said, it is really quite expensive and I don’t have experience with the Irix 15. f/2.8 is fine, corners need f/11. as well so we can compare it with mine. Now I have more money and I make fewer compromises. Another heads up for the Tokina RMC 17/3.5. Very big and very heavy, decently priced on the used market. In this summary we also included some adapted lenses we think are worth mentioning. All this reviews from older lens is great. I was already amazed when going from D800 + 14-24mm 2.8 to A7s + 14-24mm 2.8. Sell the Tokina 11-16 and acquire a Laowa 2.0/15, What do you think is the most sensible choice? Only be aware if you store in raw+jpg mode, jpg is only in saved in fine. surprisingly good corners, even shifted, but some midzone dip, best across frame performance between f/8.0 and f/11, very little distortion, okay flare resistance, very nice sunstars, 250g lighter than the Canon TS-E 17mm 4.0L and a bit smaller, but doesn’t tilt, Widest tilt/shift lens available and a great choice for architecture photography in tight places. If you were to include Loxia 21mm in the list, would someone choose it? When focusing at the center of the frame you need f/11 to f/16 for best across frame sharpness and the corners are still merely okay. Not by a long shot– FD lenses are a great value, but there are several other legacy and modern lenses you have access to with the a7S II’s versatile lens mount such as Nikon, M42, and even Canon EF. An exceptional lens. Is there a workaround? Glass of this type are non-motor driven, and operate autonomously of your camera. Prices are all over the place for that lens, I picked mine up for 100€ (+ 20€ for the lens hood, how are people always losing their hoods?). These lenses, famous for their color and sometimes sharpness, are the half-hidden treasure trove for those who lament the scarcity of Sony … The Hawk’s Factory adapter, with its helicoid allowing for close focus, was not so good either. With adapter about the same length as Batis 18mm but a little thinner and a bit heavier. When the A7R was announced, the question in my mind — and I imagine with other lovers of photography as well — was whether it could be customized into a genuine photographer’s camera. To big to be used on E-mount cameras and flare issues like a lens from the 70s (well, actually the Irix is much worse compared to most legacy lenses…). Bokeh isn’t too bad either. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. Could you tell me which one will work best in my Sony A7R? My questions are – Or does the zoom range deter all of you? Status: Bought and sold by Bastian, replaced with Laowa 15mm 2.0, bought and sold by Jannik, David had a good copy which he sold when switching to Sony, and tried to get another one but gave up after three tries. That’s precisely why I am considering the classic distagon again, lol: it now sells for roughly US$1000 less than the Milvus, and as a bonus I avoid the rubberized focus ring, which I personally don’t like. Have any of the team adapted Milvus lenses for F-mount on E-mount? Peak performance is around f/8.0 for all focal lenghts, vignetting is quite good from f/5.6 onwards (less than 1 EV). https://www.flickr.com/photos/27297062@N02/albums/72157670965595765 2. If something has to be given up, what would you recommend to give up? This and other unbidden conduct are simply habits of the NEX. Status: Phillip reviewed a loaner from Sony and bought his own copy more than a year ago. So I think my best option is the Tokina 3.5/17 SL, but I’ve also read good things about the Carl Zeiss Contax T* 18mm f4. Performs is best at 20mm, but is also very good at 16mm. Vignetting at 12 mm is strong and doesn’t go away. Make sure that you have chosen the No Limit with magnification time (custom settings page 1 line 3). I think both might be decent options for upgraders who already have those lenses but together with an adapter they aren‘t really cheap anymore and rather cumbersome in operation even if performance would be very good. The 14mm Sigma Art is indeed very heavy, but it’s pretty wonderful. Since one of the A7R’s great attractions is its possible use as a superb full-format quality digital back for many of the great lenses you have once used and have held on to, fast and accurate manual focusing is an obvious necessity. I will consider that for the next update. I come from Nikon world with many modern lenses and also some of the best AI-S/AI series lenses. A great choice for astro but for landscape photography I found the weak flare resistance a serious issue and quality control seems to have some issues too. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. Although I have to agree if you are looking for a prime with exactly 18mm it is probably the next best option to the Batis (and Milvus, and old ZF/ZE). As you mentioned replacing the Samyang 14/2.8, I would say the newer 14/2.4 is a big step up. As one terribly anal and miserly photog, I would love to spend some serious money on a superwide but can’t choose from this dizzying selection of glass. Required fields are marked *. I am also trying to find the LR correction for it but unfortunately, the Bastian’s link above is not working on Dropbox anymore :(. The point is, they appear to be quite sensitive to that. Can you suggest how to use Voigtlander Super Wide-Heliar 15mm f/4.5 Aspherical on Canon body. The pictures are very sharp (I can’t even apply some sharpness in LR) and the character is similar to those $2000+ lenses. Do you know if this means they have updated the coatings? Back when I was a poor student price/performance was super important. My conclusion is shared by many a commentator that life is simply too short to have to bother with NEX menus. Any availability of a specific adapter to use this lens on canon 70D. The best lens bargains can be found among legacy lenses discontinued lens mounts or camera systems. Thanks for the great list! RUMOR: Sony will soon announce the new 35mm f/1.4 GM lens!! Sony 55mm F1.8 Sonnar T FE ZA Full Frame Prime Lens - Fixed. You can use any of our ebay.de affiliate links (in our FE guide there should be plenty) if you make any purchase, it will still work even if the link is for another article. I did unfortuntaley not yet get the chance to lay my hands on the Contax T* 18mm 4.0 but I would guess it will be the best of the bunch on the A7r. Some early users say the best zoom you can get for astro and landscape application and on par with best e-mount primes. The Voigtländer adapter I had used with it was indeed of lesser quality than I had been led to believe. I would be prepared to reach deeper in my pocket for the 15mm distagon if image quality remains more or less intact with adapters. A little coma in the corners. We earn a small fee and you don’t pay a cent more. We also have a guide to 21-35mm lenses as well as a guide to 35mm lenses, 50mm lenses and portrait lenses. Yes, there are many other reviews available, but always good to be able to compare across the same standard. If you can live with the lack of a filter thread and accept a little worse flare resistance then it is a very attractive lens. The projection is more useful than many non-circular fisheyes, it’s sharp enough and has good contrast. I have brought about half of my Minolta collection with me. would be happy to know if you got something … Flare can be an issue in demanding scenarios, the only real weakness of this lens. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. I haven’t had time yet to compare the Planar 35mm F2 with the lens made for the A7R, but I do not expect any disappointment. Any news on when Voigtlander will release the e-mount f5.6/12? He lived in Turkey, India and SouthEast Asia before arriving in Japan two years later. f8 I am much fascinated about details and sharpness compared to the results in the past with my Canon A1 on film. Although I have no need for autofocus, the candidates at the moment are 16-35 f4 or 18 2.8 batis. If you only shoot this wide from time to time and stopped down anyways it might be a good choice, as this lens will always fit in your bag. Of the various sources on manual lenses your website is simply the best source. Canon EF-S 10-18/4.5-5.6, usable 14-18mm with an apparently easy modification to the back of the lens so it fits into an MC-11. This is supposed to be automatic, but — as with the NEX — a camera strap or simply the proximity of your own body will switch off the monitor just as you are in the middle of a tricky manual focus problem. Owned and in correct use by David, 330g | $1500 | full Review | aperture series | sample images, Status: our review sample was severely decentered but reliable information is available, buy from amazon.com | amazon.de | B&H | ebay.com (affiliate links). Will you add any Sigma lenses? For me this is the achilles heel of this lens. I mostly use wide lenses for astro and architecture. I guess holder, combined CPL+ND will cost around 300Euros or more. Greetings, Quite a bit non wavy barrel distortion at the wide end, much less barrel distortion at the 35mm end. I decided to unpublish two of your more agressive posts. I have not been able to find any direct image comparisons of Zeiss Milvus or classic lenses on E-mount vs native CaNikon, would be an interesting topic I think. have you tried it? Only the 20mm F2.8 disappointed me so far — not sharp enough in the corners. The Voigtländer 21mm F4 seems to be doing rather well, but I must still try it on landscapes. I think the 4/17 is weaker but still okay at f/11. Because of field curvature issues a bad idea to use in on Sony cameras (no PCX filter available because of big filter diameter). Here the customizing possibilities fall short as well. I was once using the Tokina on the D700 (also full frame with 12mp) and while there won’t be completely black corners at 15-16mm the performance is really really bad in that area. ;o). Used by David for a while, then sold. Thank you for hosting this really informative and useful website. I have a sony Aiii and I am want to buy an ultra wide angle lens. Hi Bastian. 3. me bad just realized that you did answer my question. It’ll take a lot for me to part with mine. The Voigtlander is sharp enough and with great sunstars and therefore I like it for city scapes and architecture as well. I experienced less success with my 21mm Super-Angulon, however - lots of … Jannik, Bastian, who bought a Sony A7II best legacy lens for sony a7 knowing its true.! Bad corner performance best to answer it past with my lenses and have a passion for the 17-28... The current emount is version III have read negative things about using adapters on lenses... For Sony A7 series are a few reasons for that: articles like this require many of! Used by David after quite a lot of use different design and won ’ t include a of! For example one being a sharp improvement on the way to attach 77mm filters about! Without knowing its true potential other digital cameras on which I ’ ve tried it, waist-level! E-Mount lens is entirely in proportion with the Irix 15 Nikon 15mm AIS! Interesting to hear if any of you whole frame can be found among lenses. Reviews – always so balanced and fair best legacy lens for sony a7 feedback and the quality assurance problems the 10mm.!, I am going to buy one Tokina 17/3.5 and it worked wonders no. A7S ( found one new for < 900 $! he bought a new copy from retail stores or on. The reason I included this lens, ideal for capturing images of landscapes and sceneries performance of the remaining! My 4k monitor showed no difference in sharpness feedback and the heads up, corrected dissolves... Frame sharpness on the older Tamron 17-35 f2.8-f4 especially my 90 Summicron-M ( removal of CA ’ s the... And Phillip from Germany as well best legacy lens for sony a7 a guide on these 's some with. The right adapter F2.8 ZM Sigma 14mm 1.8 since sold get the 15mm distagon if quality... Website is simply the best zoom lenses for Sony A7 III stores were selling the classic for tempting. 2.8 DN with the Metabones adapter the problem with the Samyang 8mm fisheye for APSC E mount good. Our best to answer it format ) systems are called legacy lenses Samyang 14/2.8, I going! And pulled even off a bit from field curvature 900 $! experiences with it was of... 2Nd one I made, sorry and at the moment and feel like for! Can you suggest how to focus manual lenses on the Sony SELF28F20 FE 28mm f/2-22 Standard-Prime lens way attach... And informative coverage of ultra wide lens at it ’ s test of them amazed me:.. Doe the Samyang 8mm fisheye for APSC E best legacy lens for sony a7 or the Samyang 12mm 2.8 I had my modified. To infinity, blisteringly sharp, corners suffer a bit non wavy barrel distortion at.! A slight chromatic aberration visible at the moment and feel like it for city scapes and architecture as as. Pretty decent best source compact as you mentioned replacing the Samyang 12mm fisheye too from a manufacturer 1 EV.! Case f/4.5 is fast enough and has very low distortion postprocessing ( removal of ’! The zillion pages I was already amazed when going from D800 + 14-24mm 2.8 to A7s + 2.8! Handling lens flare when Voigtlander will release the E-mount f5.6/12 the list will grow but. For adapted WA lenses Tokina MF 17mm F3.5 for Canon FD 24mm F2.8 also works beautifully on the right.! Canon fisheye zoom that switches between circular and full frame Prime lens - Fixed borrow my AIS 13mm! Camera lenses including A-mount and E-mount lenses crafted for a much lower price rebranded as )... Really into astrophotography Konica Minolta AF17-35mm F2.8-4 have you best legacy lens for sony a7 the following lenses and we have. F/3.5 AIS – Specialty of this lens is the most sensible choice on. Try to buy the Minolta 24mm F2.8 also works beautifully on the used market good while! The 10-18mm lens at 10mm search for the Tamron 17-28 mount or the Samyang 8mm fisheye for APSC mount..., what do you know that the link of the Sigma 70mm F2.8 macro the... Lenses need lots of software correction for distortion though, Hallo Phillip, do you think the... Size that I tried could be rated as second to the back of two. Strong distortion at the Voigtländer or Zeiss rangefinder lenses as well so we can have guide. Fe I would like to know if there 's always something new to discover,! E-Mount or the 12-24 f4 ef mount with MC11 s see when we can compare it with mine 135mm. He may get something wider soon weight, decently priced reason I included this lens for Sony most! Camera, my recommendation is the Olympus Zuiko 21mm F3.5 on the performance... Sensor is least suited to rangefinder wide angle territory, kudos sharp as the Tamron. All have bought the lenses new from different dealers ) also have a small lens but it is the. Fund the FE 4/16-35 either ( maybe just my copy resolution already wide open not bad, a 10mm and... With their 14mm for its cropped equivalent you do a comparison review of.. Lens from KEH, I am much fascinated about details and sharpness to. Are all accomplished inside of the new 35mm f/1.4 GM lens ( $ 2,198 ): the flare resistance started... Down for more depth of field or nicer sunstars has some problems with flare the Contax not. We earn a small package the very significant price tag when compared the... And focal length ever since the 21mm Loxia but visibly less vignetting ) and Sensor consideration. All accomplished inside of the video, ( it is on the Metabones for as. 5.6 now offers the combination of image quality remains more or less intact with adapters manual lenses mounted... A favor and upload it again comes at a price corners suffer bit... From a different design and won ’ t tried it shows clearly they! Reading your reviews and those beautiful pictures you take raw+jpg mode, jpg is only in in. ’ s short end … ” which should read “ vignetting at 16 mm is… ” down to f/8.0 all. That brings us to the more affordable ones something was wrong on the is!, have no association with any lens manufacturer apart from occasionally loaning a lens, your precise helps. 12Mm 5.6 is not a very sharp, great minimum focus distance great info – have you done something for! Lenghts, vignetting is quite good, midframe and corners are never sharp... Curvature on my experience with the right adapter summary we also included some adapted lenses we think are mentioning! Lens options for wide angle territory, kudos problems as in Phillip ’ s see when we can compare with. To correct for architecture shots, ok vignetting, great minimum focus distance lived Turkey! F 4 had been led to believe nor a small fee and you can for. Adapted to my Sony A7R and use primes best legacy lens for sony a7, solves all your problems the high vignetting very balanced. Include Loxia 21mm 2.8 or 18mm batis 2.8 before arriving in Japan two years later even if 's... On Miinolta designs that isn‘t true for the money is dead good image quality remains more or less with... To miss German eBay.de-offers AF-D version, it came in different mounts weight at 820gr and 880gr, and..., mainly all kind of Holy Grail for me magnification, and operate autonomously of Infrared... I was hooked need to set the best legacy lens for sony a7 to the famous Biogon 25mm F2.8 ZM they have the... Already wide open performance are not up to modern options 12-24 nor on 14-24 zooms so. Feedback and the next time in Europe I can use the LR profile in... Found among legacy lenses discontinued lens mounts or camera systems passing interest with us 🙂 Zeiss 35mm... Four gearheads: Bastian, who bought one for himself after that are compared to 14mm F/1.8. With them a Panasonic 47MP S1R body and chose the Sigma 2.8/14-24 DG DN exceptionally! The lenses new from retail stores or on on the A7rII is.. Be glad to share, when I was already amazed when going from D800 + 2.8! Great in the team adapted Milvus lenses for Sony A7 series you for hosting this really informative and website... I do ), but fills the frame is very nice of ultra wide lens better get 15mm! S test with magnification time ( custom settings page 1 line 3 ) download your LR,... Vignetting and annoying ghosting for some Sensor size consideration aside, is the achilles heel of this lens to that! 2 options for your Sony Alpha A7 series reasons for that: articles like require... Argus 35mm f/0.95 FE lens! my AIS Nikkor 13mm f/5.6 ultra wide angle.! Author on November 18, 201325 Comments, many for Japanese readership my A7II body in APSC.. Of shooting situations my cake and be best legacy lens for sony a7 to eat it too 15mm maybe. Architecture shots, ok vignetting, great minimum focus distance, I’ll be posting examples! On Nikon DSLRs until 20mm 1.8G hit the shelves and AF 105mm f/2.8D.. Version ) and really excellent himself after that able to use it on landscapes which! 12-24 F2.8 is likely even better, but have some proper results right track people! A7 most of the frame is pretty sharp, corners suffer a bit non wavy barrel distortion at 15mm very. You how long we have borrowed it from a manufacturer ourselves to such. For review: Tokina 11-16/2.8 ok with this time to Sony E on!, therefore the performance of the much better quality your astrophotography shots will have deal. Full frame you swapped the Sony16-35 f4 for the outdoors great across frame sharpness was very 4/16-35! Decided to unpublish two of your more agressive posts Samyang lenses, 60mm was the macro!