Looking for THE ONE lens for the Sony A7R

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kxl

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I am thinking about getting THE ONE lens to be bolted onto my A7R. My requirements:

  • IQ on A7R must be equal to or greater than the Sony 55/1.8 FE
  • Same size or ideally smaller than the 55/1.8 FE
  • Must be either 28mm or 35mm
  • Must be f2.8 or faster
  • Must cost less than $1300

Do the above requirements narrow down the option to just the 35mm Loxia?

Anecdotally, I have heard/read that the FE 28mm and FE 35mm's IQ are not up to the 55/1.8 FE's IQ. Can you tell the difference by just eyeballing it or are we talking about pixel peeping / mtf test differences?

I know that some adapted M lenses may meet the requirements, but the 28mm and 35mm that meet my cost ceiling have been inconsistent.

I am honestly curious to hear about other options.

Your thoughts?
 
I have probably five 35mm f/2 lenses.
I think all of them can be used on A7 with adapter and neither of them are approaching $1300

Or I'm clearly missing something from your question :D
 
shadowfox said:
I have probably five 35mm f/2 lenses.
I think all of them can be used on A7 with adapter and neither of them are approaching $1300

Or I'm clearly missing something from your question :D
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Or more likely, I'm not being clear with my question. :bang:

THE ONE LENS must meet ALL of my requirements. I've owned/borrowed a few 35mm M-mount lenses under $1300 and their IQ leave something to be desired compared to the FE 55/1.8 (Req. #1). These include both ZM's and a couple of CV's.
 
kxl said:
Or more likely, I'm not being clear with my question. :bang:

THE ONE lens must meet ALL of my requirements. I've owned/borrowed a few 35mm M-mount lenses under $1300 and their IQ leave something to be desired compared to the FE 55/1.8 (Req. #1). These include both ZM's and a couple of CV's.
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That's because the 55mm F1.8 is probably the best AF 50mm ever made. The M-mount equivalent would be somewhere between the 50mm Summilux ASPH and the APO-summicron. That's beyond the realm of Zeiss ZM performance, even the planar 50 doesn't do quite as well wide open.

The Sony 35mm F2.8 is close enough in center sharpness, but overall it's still a bit lacking. If you shoot infinity at f5.6 and beyond, though, it should be good enough for most applications. I sold mine for the 16-35mm F4. The one stop isn't as good as lens stabilization for handheld shooting.
 
YYV_146 said:
The Sony 35mm F2.8 is close enough in center sharpness, but overall it's still a bit lacking. If you shoot infinity at f5.6 and beyond, though, it should be good enough for most applications. I sold mine for the 16-35mm F4.
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I have heard of many cases where people are not quite happy with the 35/2.8 (even at its price point), and I have seen clearly uneven edge sharpness from it. It can perhaps be better characterized as a good compromise rather than a great lens.
 
THE ONE lens is the 55/1.8 - if you want 35mm, just save a few months for the 35/1.4 - it seems to be comparable to the 55/1.8, just bigger and much more expensive. The 28mm is a nice affordable lens, not intended to be comparable to the 55mm.

Oh, the unevenness of the 35/2.8? It seems Sony has a hard time getting their QC/QA right, this sounds like a decentering problem some other E-mount lenses (like the 35/1.8) also suffer from.
 
The new 25 2.0 Zeiss Batis is slightly wider than your two options but price should be just about within your budget, might be worth a check.
 
Addy101 said:
THE ONE lens is the 55/1.8 - if you want 35mm, just save a few months for the 35/1.4 .
Click to expand...

Over my limit, but yeah, I'm aware of that lens and and if if I had the money or decided to save up for it, that lens would definitely be the top contender, probably even above the Loxia.


Jan Pedersen said:
The new 25 2.0 Zeiss Batis is slightly wider than your two options but price should be just about within your budget, might be worth a check.
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Probably a bit too early to tell and 25mm is a bit too wide for me to be THE ONE lens.
 
None to my knowledge.
A7r is horrible adapting most 28/35 M lenses, so say goodbye to all M-mount not saying most great 28/35M lenses already price out your budget.
Any top notch 35mm SLR lens is not small, unless slow.
Native lens, 28/2 ruled out, probably 35/1.4, out of budget bit though

Conclusion, burn some more money to get the A7RII and a 35 summicron ASPH : )
 
I know this is heresey on this forum but I mostly use the FE 24-240mm lens on my A7r.
I just like its versatility.
 
There are a couple of cheap vintage options as well, take a look at the 35/2.8 FDn for instance.

35/2.8 FDn on the A7R

It really depends on what you use it for. For instance, for closer range documentary-style pictures the corner smearing of the rangefinder lenses is not a big deal in practise.
 
Take a look at DXO.

The 28mm Sony is the best lens in its focal length bracket. As a general rule, wider lenses score lower, so the 28mm and the 55mm are not directly comparable.

If you don't care for this sort of testing, then it does not matter.

kxl said:
I am thinking about getting THE ONE lens to be bolted onto my A7R. My requirements:

  • IQ on A7R must be equal to or greater than the Sony 55/1.8 FE
  • Same size or ideally smaller than the 55/1.8 FE
  • Must be either 28mm or 35mm
  • Must be f2.8 or faster
  • Must cost less than $1300

Do the above requirements narrow down the option to just the 35mm Loxia?

Anecdotally, I have heard/read that the FE 28mm and FE 35mm's IQ are not up to the 55/1.8 FE's IQ. Can you tell the difference by just eyeballing it or are we talking about pixel peeping / mtf test differences?

I know that some adapted M lenses may meet the requirements, but the 28mm and 35mm that meet my cost ceiling have been inconsistent.

I am honestly curious to hear about other options.

Your thoughts?
Click to expand...
 
Picking up an A7r with kolari mod. I've got an m-hexanon 35mm f2 lens that will hopefully have strong results. Will keep you updated when i receive the camera
 
kxl said:
My requirements:

  • IQ on A7R must be equal to or greater than the Sony 55/1.8 FE
  • Same size or ideally smaller than the 55/1.8 FE
  • Must be either 28mm or 35mm
  • Must be f2.8 or faster
  • Must cost less than $1300
Click to expand...

What's wrong with the 35mm 2.8 FE Sonnar? And don't even try to say it isn't good enough.
 
jsrockit said:
What's wrong with the 35mm 2.8 FE Sonnar? And don't even try to say it isn't good enough.
Click to expand...

It's the best 35 for the A7r, except the FE 35/1.4, which is huge and expensive. Loxia is second best.

However, many copies of the 35/2.8 are decentered, so you have to watch that, new or used. Used they go around 600.

Now, it is possible the new CV 35/1.7 ultron is going to be very good.
 
uhoh7 said:
It's the best 35 for the A7r, except the FE 35/1.4, which is huge and expensive. Loxia is second best.

However, many copies of the 35/2.8 are decentered, so you have to watch that, new or used. Used they go around 600.
Click to expand...

I get that... but it seems most people just ignore this lens not realizing it is a great lens.
 
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