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Smallest lightest portrait lens for Sony A7R
- Thread starter SonyRocks
- Start date
SilvanBromide
Veteran Member
It depends a bit on how much latitude your definition of portrait FL has.
If you can find it under $500 used, and assuming a 55mm would suffice, then you could do a lot worse than the FE 55 f1.8. You may need to crop in a bit in some situations.
Failing that, since the native 85s (Bastis and GM) are well out of your budget, even if you could find them used (and the GM is not small and light either), your other option would be to look for an adapted lens from another format.
For example I recently saw a decent deal on a used 90mm A-mount which should have reasonable IQ and FL for portraits. Along with an A to E adapter it would be around what you are looking to pay. The issue here is that the addition of the adapter plays havoc somewhat with your 'smallest' criterion.
If you are willing to go with MF-only, there may be some other options.
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Former Canon, Nikon and Pentax user.
DPR Gallery: http://www.dpreview.com/galleries/4331313816
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M
Mathieu18
Guest
Does it have to AF? The Sony 85/2.8 is a nice lens if you don't need the speed, but it's not great for MF since you're on an A7R. $150 for the lens plus an adapter.
Voigtlander 75mm f/2.5 is a very sharp lens and nice and small. Great MF option and I can't imagine much smaller. Runs under $350.
Voigtlander 75mm f/2.5 is a very sharp lens and nice and small. Great MF option and I can't imagine much smaller. Runs under $350.
Sean_Jayhawk
Veteran Member
The Contax G 90/2.8 is an excellent performer for portraits and it's small. There are a number of adapters you can use and one even has AF, but most are dumb . . . though, my Metabones adapter is fairly smooth and not too heavy. The lens without the adapter is quite lightweight.
Contax G 90/2.8 on A7
On A7RII
and
On an A7R mk1
3 cameras, same lens. It's great.
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My recent favorite shots
My photo page on Facebook
Contax G 90/2.8 on A7
On A7RII
and
On an A7R mk1
3 cameras, same lens. It's great.
--
My recent favorite shots
My photo page on Facebook
Wow thanks guys these are som excellent options I didn't think about. Since I have the fe 55, I want to get as close as 100mm as I can. The 85mm Sam (The adapter looks bulky though) and 90 sound good. Can anyone comment on the canon 100mm f2 or Nikon 85mm 1.8 on Sony a7r?
blue_skies
Forum Pro
+1 on the suggestions above, I still have these lenses:
- CV75/2.5 (not the f/1.8 version)
- CG90/2.8
- A85/2.8
- OM100/2.8
The CV75 is likely the smallest, the CG90 was my most popular at one time.
All have high IQ.
blue_skies
Forum Pro
small, fast, cheap, and good don't mix.
If you want small, keep it at f/2.8 or above, it is sufficient for portraits (at 85mm+).
Philnw2
Senior Member
blue_skies
Forum Pro
For the A7r you need the LA-EA4 adapter for the 85. The LA-EA3 only works (well) on the A7x-ii models.
Tech art will only do CDAF on A7r, I believe. EA4 will do PDAF.
Dave Sanders
Senior Member
I can really only comment on this lens as it is the option I have used most on my A7r. I use it with a Yeenon one focus adapted to get a much closer minimum focus distance. It's sharp in the centre wide open and renders very nicely. Bokeh is good, if not perfect. It's small and built beautifully...I have the silver and love the finish. Looks slick.
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Dave Sanders
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Dave Sanders
Two came to my mind, both can be found under $500: Nikon AIS 50 F1.2 and Ais 105 F2.5. have both and love them both.
Rol Lei Nut
Veteran Member
The smallest and lightest are probably the Leica Tele-Elmarit 90mm 2.8 and the Leica Marcro-Elmar 90mm 4.0. But the first will probably be over budget and the second definitely.
Just a little bit heavier is the Minolta M-Rokkor 90mm 4.0, which would be within your budget.
Still light & small, very good and within budget is the C/Y Zeiss 100mm 3.5.
None of these are ideal for taking pictures of blur with a nose tip poking out somewhere, if that's your thing, but f/2.0 and faster lenses are much bigger.
Just a little bit heavier is the Minolta M-Rokkor 90mm 4.0, which would be within your budget.
Still light & small, very good and within budget is the C/Y Zeiss 100mm 3.5.
None of these are ideal for taking pictures of blur with a nose tip poking out somewhere, if that's your thing, but f/2.0 and faster lenses are much bigger.
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Lightshow
Veteran Member
There are lots of options in the manual lens market.
CV90/3.5 APO in LTM, Tiny, sharp and awesome colour, I almost bought one, still might, I ended up getting the Leica M 90 Cron APO Asph, it's bigger, very expensive, but amazing.
I have a Topcor 9cm/3.5 in LTM that I just bought, I hope it is amazing, I'll know in a week when I'm off work, I already have a similar lens but is in Exakta mount, it's great.
Canon also has a tiny Rangfinder lens 100/3.5 LTM, it's quite good.
I picked up a "Super Rokkor 85/2.8" in LTM, I haven't used it much yet, seems good.
CZJ 80/2.8 Tessar
Contax 85/2.8, Canon 85/1.8, SMC Pentax M 85/2, Minolta MD 85/2
Super Multi Coated Takumar 105/2.8, OM 100/2.8, Nikkor 105/2.5(Rangfinder or SLR)
Both Canon and Minolta made a 100/2 that are great, Fuji has a 100/2.8 that's nice too but these might be out of your price range.
Topcor RE 100/2.8
I could go on and on....
Does lightweight mean including a lens adapter ?
The new Sony 50 mm FE weights 185 gram and costs less than $500
The Canon 40mm pancake lens is 130 gram (nice image quality, but below the Sony Zeiss FE 55mm ) is 130 gram. An lens adapter weights at least 106 gram and adds on size...
The new Sony 50 mm FE weights 185 gram and costs less than $500
The Canon 40mm pancake lens is 130 gram (nice image quality, but below the Sony Zeiss FE 55mm ) is 130 gram. An lens adapter weights at least 106 gram and adds on size...
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