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What lenses are left to complete the FE system?

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sportyaccordy

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Let's leave out exotics like tilt-shifts and 200/1.8s.....

Sony has definitely made huge progress in filling out its lens lineup just over the last year. I came into the system in fall of 2016 with nothing but Canon glass, and now my only Canon glass left has (more expensive) Sony equivalents. Still though there are some glaring omissions IMO....
  • 35/2- enough keystrokes have been pounded over this one. There is precedent. Look at all the 50s available... crop, Loxia, Batis too I think.
  • Kit 70-300- I think a lot of FE shooters would like such a lens, but not enough to buy the $1000 version. Well, I don't. I was hoping the A7III would have native speed adapted AF-C, but it wasn't to be. Perhaps third parties will step in here. The Tamron 70-300 VC is excellent, fast and cheap.
  • 24/2.x- the 28/2 is excellent but 28 is not 24. Would be great if they designed it to use the ultra wide and fisheye converters as well.
  • New kit standard- 24-85/4- everyone has better kit zooms. Though this might step on the 24-105G's toes. Again 28mm is not 24mm and there's a reason 24mm is the FF standard.
Any others?
 
A native Sigma or Tamron FE 150-600mm.

Den
 
Last edited:
sportyaccordy said:
Let's leave out exotics like tilt-shifts and 200/1.8s.....

Sony has definitely made huge progress in filling out its lens lineup just over the last year. I came into the system in fall of 2016 with nothing but Canon glass, and now my only Canon glass left has (more expensive) Sony equivalents. Still though there are some glaring omissions IMO....
  • 35/2- enough keystrokes have been pounded over this one. There is precedent. Look at all the 50s available... crop, Loxia, Batis too I think.
  • Kit 70-300- I think a lot of FE shooters would like such a lens, but not enough to buy the $1000 version. Well, I don't. I was hoping the A7III would have native speed adapted AF-C, but it wasn't to be. Perhaps third parties will step in here. The Tamron 70-300 VC is excellent, fast and cheap.
  • 24/2.x- the 28/2 is excellent but 28 is not 24. Would be great if they designed it to use the ultra wide and fisheye converters as well.
  • New kit standard- 24-85/4- everyone has better kit zooms. Though this might step on the 24-105G's toes. Again 28mm is not 24mm and there's a reason 24mm is the FF standard.
Any others?
Click to expand...
none of your mentioned lenses are of any interest to me.

I am hoping for:
  • compact 35 f/1.4 - less bulky and heavy than the current ones and lighter please - Sigma seem to be still working on such a lens even though they brought out many halfheartedly lenses in FE mount
  • GM 135 f/1.8 or f/2.0
  • Lightweight slower 135 mm lens
  • DO 300 f/4.0 or DO 400 f/4.5 to f/4.8 maybe?
beside that I am pretty happy with the current line up of lenses.

Loxia 21 and 35 do a fine job and the G 12-24 is as good as it gets for wide angle lenses.

There is also a rumor about a 200-600 - I guess this is going to be really heavy and big - I might be tempted to buy that but only if it is as good or better than the 100-400 - f/5.6 would be nice but then it is automatically heavy and expensive - price is not an issue but carrying that monster a whole day could be exhausting.

We'll see ;-)
 
joger said:
none of your mentioned lenses are of any interest to me.
Click to expand...
I didn't ask you if they were.
joger said:
I am hoping for:
  • compact 35 f/1.4 - less bulky and heavy than the current ones and lighter please - Sigma seem to be still working on such a lens even though they brought out many halfheartedly lenses in FE mount
Click to expand...
Physics are physics. A 35 1.4 worth making/buying is going to be the size of pretty much every FE 35 1.4 available (600-700g, 67mm filter etc.).
 
sportyaccordy said:
Let's leave out exotics like tilt-shifts and 200/1.8s.....

Still though there are some glaring omissions IMO....
  • 35/2- enough keystrokes have been pounded over this one. There is precedent. Look at all the 50s available... crop, Loxia, Batis too I think.
  • Kit 70-300- I think a lot of FE shooters would like such a lens, but not enough to buy the $1000 version. Well, I don't. I was hoping the A7III would have native speed adapted AF-C, but it wasn't to be. Perhaps third parties will step in here. The Tamron 70-300 VC is excellent, fast and cheap.
  • 24/2.x- the 28/2 is excellent but 28 is not 24. Would be great if they designed it to use the ultra wide and fisheye converters as well.
  • New kit standard- 24-85/4- everyone has better kit zooms. Though this might step on the 24-105G's toes. Again 28mm is not 24mm and there's a reason 24mm is the FF standard.
Click to expand...
I don't know that I'd say any of those are glaring omissions. There are already f/1.4 and f/2.8 35's. Sure, neither of them are f/2 and some people would prefer f/2 (or f/1.8) and this would be a good option to have. The 24-85/4 is just a slightly smaller, slightly cheaper version of 24-105/4. Again, nice to have, but it's not like there isn't a good alternative. I wouldn't expect a cheaper 70-300 from Sony, not the way they've positioned the FE system in the market.

I'd like to see a cheaper 100-400 ... again, it probably wouldn't be from Sony. But with the available 3rd part 100-400 and 200-600 lenses out there, there are a lot of enthusiasts who won't move from DSLRs to mirrorless until there's an alternative. (Sigma lenses with MC-11 might do the trick - I've never tried one - but native versions would be better still).

I think they have the bases pretty well covered at this point and can start filling in those lesser gaps, but I'm not sure they take precedence over some of the exotics (like the rumored 400/2.8). And I do think a couple of t/s lenses should be a priority now that the lineup is getting flushed out. The A7R series should be a solid choice for architectural/landscape photography. Oh - and a longer macro lens (180 or 200mm).

- Dennis
--
Gallery at http://kingofthebeasts.smugmug.com
 
Last edited:
sportyaccordy said:
Let's leave out exotics like tilt-shifts and 200/1.8s.....

Sony has definitely made huge progress in filling out its lens lineup just over the last year. I came into the system in fall of 2016 with nothing but Canon glass, and now my only Canon glass left has (more expensive) Sony equivalents. Still though there are some glaring omissions IMO....
  • 35/2- enough keystrokes have been pounded over this one. There is precedent. Look at all the 50s available... crop, Loxia, Batis too I think.
  • Kit 70-300- I think a lot of FE shooters would like such a lens, but not enough to buy the $1000 version. Well, I don't. I was hoping the A7III would have native speed adapted AF-C, but it wasn't to be. Perhaps third parties will step in here. The Tamron 70-300 VC is excellent, fast and cheap.
  • 24/2.x- the 28/2 is excellent but 28 is not 24. Would be great if they designed it to use the ultra wide and fisheye converters as well.
  • New kit standard- 24-85/4- everyone has better kit zooms. Though this might step on the 24-105G's toes. Again 28mm is not 24mm and there's a reason 24mm is the FF standard.
Click to expand...
Of those, the only one that would come close to interesting me might be a 24mm, but it would need to be an f1.4 prime (I already have the Batis 25/f2.0 and it's fine for most purposes.

Other ultra-wide and telephoto fast primes are the main areas where I would like to see the system filled out.

Speaking of which, a 135mm has been rumoured. I'm waiting to see if it is f1.8 or faster, and if so (depending also on IQ, of course) I may be interested.

Aside from that, it would be nice to see a few more pancake (or close to pancake) primes for folk who want travel very light. I love the 35mm/f2.8 for this purpose, but other FL options with a similarly compact form factor would be welcome!
 
sportyaccordy said:
joger said:
none of your mentioned lenses are of any interest to me.
Click to expand...
I didn't ask you if they were.
Click to expand...
this here is a discussion forum?
sportyaccordy said:
sportyaccordy said:
I am hoping for:
  • compact 35 f/1.4 - less bulky and heavy than the current ones and lighter please - Sigma seem to be still working on such a lens even though they brought out many halfheartedly lenses in FE mount
Click to expand...
Physics are physics. A 35 1.4 worth making/buying is going to be the size of pretty much every FE 35 1.4 available (600-700g, 67mm filter etc.).
Click to expand...
600 g would be fully acceptable - smaller as the current 35 f/1.4s is my goal.

Physics seem to be different for Leica then ;-)

Leica 35 mm / F 1.4 SUMMILUX-M ASPH
Leica 35 mm / F 1.4 SUMMILUX-M ASPH

review here

make it AF, ad a bit electronics and actuators and make it a bit bulkier for housing these parts.

Seems to be quite nice and 328 g and only 46 mm filter size



--
__________________________________
A7R III - one camera to rule them all
ISO 9000 definition of quality: 'Degree to which a set of inherent characteristic fulfills requirements'
I am the classic “Windows by Day, Mac by Night user'
“The horizon of many people is a circle with zero radius which they call their point of view.” Albert Einstein
"In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move." Douglas Adams
 
joger said:
this here is a discussion forum?
Click to expand...
Right, but discussions still have boundaries and parameters.
joger said:
joger said:
joger said:
I am hoping for:
  • compact 35 f/1.4 - less bulky and heavy than the current ones and lighter please - Sigma seem to be still working on such a lens even though they brought out many halfheartedly lenses in FE mount
Click to expand...
Physics are physics. A 35 1.4 worth making/buying is going to be the size of pretty much every FE 35 1.4 available (600-700g, 67mm filter etc.).
Click to expand...
600 g would be fully acceptable - smaller as the current 35 f/1.4s is my goal.

Physics seem to be different for Leica then ;-)

Leica 35 mm / F 1.4 SUMMILUX-M ASPH
Leica 35 mm / F 1.4 SUMMILUX-M ASPH

review here

make it AF, ad a bit electronics and actuators and make it a bit bulkier for housing these parts.

Seems to be quite nice and 328 g and only 46 mm filter size

--
__________________________________
A7R III - one camera to rule them all
ISO 9000 definition of quality: 'Degree to which a set of inherent characteristic fulfills requirements'
I am the classic “Windows by Day, Mac by Night user'
“The horizon of many people is a circle with zero radius which they call their point of view.” Albert Einstein
"In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move." Douglas Adams
Click to expand...
Not sure why this is relevant. Sony lenses are designed to be "future proof" for high resolution sensors to come. I guarantee the 42MP sensor will expose this thing's flaws. M mount lenses are designed to a completely different philosophy that doesn't prioritize technical brilliance.

In any case you are more than free to buy this lens and a Techart Pro. There you go, light 35 1.4 with autofocus. Replicating such a lens would be a waste of time for Sony.

--
Sometimes I take pictures with my gear- https://www.flickr.com/photos/41601371@N00/
 
sportyaccordy said:
In any case you are more than free to buy this lens and a Techart Pro. There you go, light 35 1.4 with autofocus. Replicating such a lens would be a waste of time for Sony.
Click to expand...
No option for me.

1st and foremost the price is really prohibitive and I want Sony or anybody else to make it better for the higher volume market with modern calculation with the sensor stack from Sony in mind.

Make it for 2 or 3 k USD and I buy it the day it is announced - same goes for:
  • GM 135
  • DO 300 or DO 400
No-brainer to buy them provided they are optically close to perfection - which seems to be the case for most new Sony lenses and probably for optimized FE-mount Sigma lenses as well.
 
C47 said:
A small and light 35 mm f1.8.
Click to expand...
Agreed - also a nice idea!

The Loxia 35 with f/2.0 is not that bad - it is currently the sharpest compact native mount lens at 35 mm at f/2.0 on the market. All others are significantly bigger and heavier or less sharp :-/
 
sportyaccordy said:
Let's leave out exotics like tilt-shifts and 200/1.8s.....

Sony has definitely made huge progress in filling out its lens lineup just over the last year. I came into the system in fall of 2016 with nothing but Canon glass, and now my only Canon glass left has (more expensive) Sony equivalents. Still though there are some glaring omissions IMO....
  • 35/2- enough keystrokes have been pounded over this one. There is precedent. Look at all the 50s available... crop, Loxia, Batis too I think.
  • Kit 70-300- I think a lot of FE shooters would like such a lens, but not enough to buy the $1000 version. Well, I don't. I was hoping the A7III would have native speed adapted AF-C, but it wasn't to be. Perhaps third parties will step in here. The Tamron 70-300 VC is excellent, fast and cheap.
  • 24/2.x- the 28/2 is excellent but 28 is not 24. Would be great if they designed it to use the ultra wide and fisheye converters as well.
  • New kit standard- 24-85/4- everyone has better kit zooms. Though this might step on the 24-105G's toes. Again 28mm is not 24mm and there's a reason 24mm is the FF standard.
Any others?
Click to expand...
 
Compact 24mm F2.8, please! Or even slower to keep it small.
(I have the Batis 25mm. Fantastic optics, but I would love a more compact wide 24mm)

The 35mm F2.8 is my favorite lens to use.
Small, sharp, good colors, fast enough for low light and it have a brilliant lens hood for bad weather conditions.
 
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