Sony SEL35F28Z E Mount Full Frame Sonar T* FE 35 mm F2.8 Zeiss Prime Lens - Black

Product Information

The Sony FE 35mm ƒ/2.8 Zeiss has a close focusing distance of 1.15ft (35cm) with a maximum magnification of 0.12x (1:8.6 ratio), and as such, doesn't provide very good macro performance. Assessing the quality is a much harder challenge due in part to the infinite number of variables present in all available scenes. There is a moderate (normal) change in subject size as full extent focus adjustments are made with this lens.

From Sony there’s the FE 35mm f1.4 ZA (1500 EUR/USD) offering a two stops larger focal ratio which results in a much larger lens but also offers the potential for better Bokeh and shorter shutter speeds. It earned a recommendation in my Sony FE 35mm f1.4 ZA review. This focal length is wide enough to capture the big scene but not so wide that people and other subjects are readily distorted by the close perspective invited by ultra-wide angles. When it comes to buttons, rings or other exterior features, prime lenses are typically sparse and the Sony 35mm lens is no exception, with single 1-inch wide focus ring and not much else. The lightly-ribbed focus ring is very easily to rotate, with a buttery-smooth feel. Since the lens is a focus-by-wire system, there's no focus distance window built-in to the lens, nor is there a manual AF/MF toggle switch either -- that's controlled via the camera as well. On APS-C (aka DX or 1.5x or crop-frame) cameras, it gives angles of view similar to what an 50mm lens would give on a 35mm or full-frame camera. See also Crop Factor.This is super-sharp. At f/2.8 you usually will get some color fringes due to slight defocus and spherochromatism. I tested with deactivated vignetting correction (which affects the raw) but I wouldn’t be surprised if there was still some correction, other lenses improve much more from f/2.8 to f/4.

This Zeiss 35mm f/2.8 looks and feels very nice. It's very light, relatively compact and it feels sturdy. The design is simple and clean. The outer parts of the lens are made of metal. One nice touch is that all the markings are engraved and filled with paint. Not just printed on the hull like with the FE 2/28. Image stabilization: No optical stabilization of the lens. The Sony A7 Mark II bodies onwards provide built-in sensor-shift stabilization. Same with the other lenses in this comparison. [0] On a traditional DSLR with an optical viewfinder, IBIS results in an unstabilized view, meaning that stabilization was not helpful for composition or for providing a still subject to the camera's AF system. The lens seems to be built to high standards with a metal hull and a focusing ring which has zero play so it feels very nice.

AF-operation of both Sony ZA lenses and the Zeiss Batis is inaudible from the outside or if you record video with the built-in microphone. As you pull focus, you’ll notice some focus breathing: the image of the Sony FE 35mm f2.8 ZA becomes 6% more magnified when I adjusted the focus from infinity to 0.43m. This could be distracting when shooting videos but is par for the course: the other lenses in this comparison all increase their magnification between 5% and 6%. Since the Zeiss FE 2.8/35 is a modern lens with T* coatings and a very small front lens I expected better performance than I actually saw. So I think the Carl Zeiss Sonnar FE 2.8/35 ZA is a good choice if you are looking for a very small but capable lens. It works okay as a small landscape lens so I wouldn’t hesitate to take it with me when a light kit is essential. But more often when weight and size doesn’t matter that much I would take a sharper and easier to focus manual 35mm lens with me. Hot Extra 5% - 10% Savings Payboo Deal at B&H ends Tomorrow – Canon EOS R5, R3, and Many Other Items Included!