Best 28 or 35mm for Sony A7

[Jan Pedersen]

Counting the number of threads about the Sony A7 in it's 4 flavors now available it appears to be a popular camera choice on the forum.
Maybe that in part inspired me to buy one and in this case the A7II which I am really enjoying after a few days fooling around testing and looking at images.
I have several 50mm lenses that all works well with the camera but nothing wider that jives with the sensor.
I was hoping my 35 V4 Cron would work better than it does at least wide open, at f4 and down it is acceptable and will work for now.
Also have the CV Ultron 1.7 in ltm mount and it performs just about the same as the Cron in the corners.
I have one more 35mm which is the Nikkor S mount 3.5 2.5 but I don't yet have an adaptor for the Nikkor rf lenses.

My question therefore goes mostly on which one of the 28 or 35mm lenses have you found to have the cleanest corners on the A7?
Will the Nikkor 3.5 2.5 work any better than the Cron or the Ultron?
I am aware of the modifications that can be made to the A7 but I am not ready to take that step yet.
Thanks.

 

[uhoh7]

For the stock cameras with no sensor mods this is easy:

FE35/2.8
FE28/2

Film lenses do not reach their potential with the thick cover glass in these FLs, although a few are pretty good. Nothing at 35, including loxia, beats the specially built FE 35/2.8.

And no 50 is as good as the FE55 on these cameras.

Unfortuneatly the A7II cannot yet be adapted to do really well with most film glass, but the other models can have thinner cover glass installed and the sensor moved forward for 400 USD. On one of those cameras you might like your v4 cron very much 🙂

 

[Jan Pedersen]

The new 28 f2 could be interesting when it becomes available, the price is certainly affordable.
I was hoping that there would be at least one 35mm that would do well but I take it that it is not the case.

 

[uhoh7]

The new 28 f2 could be interesting when it becomes available, the price is certainly affordable.
I was hoping that there would be at least one 35mm that would do well but I take it that it is not the case.

The best of the RF bunch are the FLE and the huge CV 35/1.2

The problems are most apparent at infinity in distant details. The closer you get the less issues.

But the FE35/2.8 is actually a great lens. You should be able to find a used one around 500USD.

The downside is manual focus, the natives are not that nice to MF.

I have a SLR 35/2, the FD SSC radioactive one which is pretty good with that sensor, but I'm sure the FE35/2.8 is better.

Here it is at F/8:

DSC00077-2 by unoh7, on Flickr

and f/2 WO

DSC00074-2 by unoh7, on Flickr

This is on the identical sensor you have in the A7II

So there must be some other SLR lenses which are at least this good.

one last WO:

DSC00114-2 by unoh7, on Flickr

this was my favorite 35 on the camera, but soon after I bought a used M9, which is 35 and 28 heaven 🙂

 

[rhl-oregon]

Don't know what's best, just getting used to what I can mount ;-)

Here's the 35 2.8 C Biogon

Some cropping for the sake of the subject, but I don't recall the sort of corner vignetting I got from a 28 1.9 Ultron or the 21 4.0 Skopar.

And here is the tiny 28 3.5 Kobalux:

These are bright sun/small apertures; I imagine you'll want to see wide open/lower light to make a more informed judgment. But it seems pretty safe to guess that slower/daylight lenses will give better wide open results, and of course ISO boost is not a problem for the A7.

Here's an indoor iso800 f3.5 minimal crop with the Kobalux. I was sitting 3.5 feet away-- minimum focus distance. The corners are darker, but this suits the subject.

I'll be testing my OMZ 28/2 soon. I like the OMZ 50 1.8 on the A7, but the adapter is a hunk of tube...

 

[Jan Pedersen]

Thank you both for the samples, more work to be done before I can pick one up.
I am not familiar with the FE35 2.8 but assume it is the Sony?
The 28 Kobalux looks pretty good.
Thanks.

 

[rhl-oregon]

Yes, FE is native. I may get one at some point just to have AF, but when I got the A7 it was with the determination to make my M, ltm, Contax G and OM lenses work--I'm quite happy with the Fuji X/XF 35 1.4/60 2.4 as a lens/sensor match + AF.

So I'm shooting what I have--ZM 50 1.5/2.0, 90 Elmar-C, CV 40 1.4, OM 85/2 and 3 standard Contax G lenses in addition to the ones already mentioned above--in order to find the combinations that for the subjects And tones I like. Not being a color junkie seems to make the process easier ;-)

The Kobalux is ltm, so it can be happy on my Canon L1 and M5/Konica RF too. Oh, and no one seemed to want to buy my Nikon S orphans (35 2.5 and 135 3.5), so they'll get a screen test too.

 

[vytasn]

Sony FE 35 2.8 is the best 35mm that I have tried on the A7 and A7ii, compact and corner to corner sharp - no need to look anywhere else. For wider lenses I found that SLR lenses work better than M mount lenses. My SMC Pentax 28mm 3.5 is stunning on the A7ii, you can find it for less than $100.

 

[Jan Pedersen]

Robert, that is the exact same reason i bought the 7II. I have some nice ltm am M mount lenses that i wanted to experience on a non film camera and a Leica is today out of reach for most and for me not worth the money.
The FE35 might just be what i need in addition to the many 50's i have but i could possibly also try my 24 2.8 and 28 2.8 Ais lenses, just not to keen on the long adaptor Nikon lenses require.
I would very interested to hear how the Nikkor S3.5 2.5 performs but have a feeling it would have the same problems as other rf lenses have with that sensor.
Maybe i will have a look at the Pentax 28. Thanks.

 

[jsrockit]

I was hoping that there would be at least one 35mm that would do well but I take it that it is not the case.

What's wrong with the Zeiss 35mm 2.8 FE?

 

[Jan Pedersen]

I should have been more clear when i asked the question, i was thinking manual focus range finder lenses but unfortunately it remained a thought.
The Zeiss FE35 2.8 i'm sure is a fine lens and i might try one when budget opens up again.

 

[taemo]

people have complained about the CV 35 1.4, CV 35 2.5 performance on the A7 but me personally I never had any issue with those.
I have a 35 cron IV now and this as well works fine for me on the A7.

my CV 21mm and 25mm are usable on the A7 in B&W but yeah you do get color shifts in color, my UWA lens on the A7 is my OM 21mm 3.5, I'm thinking of adding a C/Y 28mm 2.8 or AIS 28mm 2.8 but it's not really urgent at this moment as I have my GR for this focal length

 

[YYV_146]

I should have been more clear when i asked the question, i was thinking manual focus range finder lenses but unfortunately it remained a thought.
The Zeiss FE35 2.8 i'm sure is a fine lens and i might try one when budget opens up again.

I shoot the 35mm F1.4 Summilux FLE and 35mm F2 Zeiss. Both work fine and are sharp slightly stopped down, at around f2.8-4.

 

[sonny0205]

Zeiss Biogon 35mm f2 by Zhiqi0205, on Flickr

I'm using a 35mm f2 biogon, the corner seems okay for me...and I didn't see any color shifts..

 

[slarty54]

it's nice to have money to burn

it's nice to have money to burn

if you can afford to experiment to see if expensive rangefinder glass will work on your a7/11 ,please do.
But us working or retired A7 fans would rather just know cheapish slr solutions that work for wides.
fd canon 20/2.8, mc rokkor 24/2.8 ,mc rokkor 28/2.5 si, mc rokkor 35/1.8.
I have done lots of comparisons with the rokkors vs others eg fd 28/2.8 which is good on the a7 but not in the same league as the rokkor. You will not want for resolution with any of these mc rokkors.
And now the downside is that to get the superb mechanicals of the mc series, with all the corrective elements we are talking HEAVY. The 28/2.5 is over 400g and is as big as the kit zoom and the others are much the same.
I don't mind if I get results .

 

[maitani]

the kobalux 28 3.5 did well on the A7 considering it's tiny size, sharp corner to corner, good tonality, modern rendering.

the best lens I've used on the sony when I still had it was the second generation R-Elmarit 28 2.8 E55, but this one doesn't come cheap usually. the Zeiss Distagon 28/2 is perfect on a Nikon fullframe, but didn't do as well as the leica on the A7 at least not wide-open to near-wide open.

 

[Jan Pedersen]

Just received a cheap Nikkor to E mount adaptor and can now use my older primes.
The 28 2.8 Ais works very well on the A7 but the long adaptor takes away a bit of the compactness that was one of the reasons I bought the A7
The Summicron works fine on closer ranges so I can definitely live with that.
I prefer to use what I have but might want to buy that one special WA sometime in the future. Maybe the Sony 28 2.0 will be good, time will tell.

 

[rhl-oregon]

I did the same for my Zuikos--28, 50, 85. Nice to get digital results at their native focal lengths, even if the adapter is a bazooka tube. However, it's not as though the A7 itself is such a featherweight that they topple it, or me for that matter.

I'll post something from the S-35 2.5 soon. I have been shooting with it and a 90 Elmar-C, and with the OMZ 28/2 & 85/2 (a few of the latter are in the rff gallery from Sunday 3/8).

@Maitani:
I'm glad to have the little Kobalux, and not only for the A7. It will go on the Hexar RF for a street outing soon.

 

[Sanders McNew]

To go from the sublime to the absurd: The Sony is my first
digital camera. I've mounted an Industar 69 -- a 28mm
half-frame pancake lens. I'm still shooting for squares (a
leftover from a life of Rolleiflexes) so I just crop the really
bad vignetting and use the center. Here's a sample:


Charlie last night by sandersnyc, on Flickr

It's not a Summilux but it costs only $30. 🙂

 

[eleskin]

Just bought the 28mm f2.0 FE from DigitalRev

Just bought the 28mm f2.0 FE from DigitalRev

Well, I could not wait, and just bought the brand new 28mm f2.0 FE lens for $449 and it will be at my door this Tuesday, March 17th! I did not want to wait until the end of the month for B&H, and I am very surprised at the speed of the order and delivery form Hong Kong! I will give my impressions as soon as I get it. This might be the sleeper lens we all have sought and a perfect landscape street shooters lens. I am reading reports of excellent resolution and flare control. It may be the much better buy than the Zeiss 35mm 2.8 FE, and in fact, the best of any buy (it might run circles around some of the Leica lenses and other adapted options for the price. This lens might answer the prime question of this thread!