Is the Sony 90mm macro on A7RV a good all-rounder?

[TWMR]

Having an incoming A7RV in the mail from Sony and would like to get some pointers on lenses.

Some background on planned usage: I bought the A7RV mainly as upgrade to my current underwater rig, which I will build out over the next few months. I have about 7 years of underwater macro photography experience but very little surface photography skills.

For the scuba setup, I will be using the Sony 90mm macro for the foreseeable future with a possible extension to underwater wide-angle photography later on - if budget permits.

Now, for surface photography I am mainly looking to use the A7RV as 'standard' camera for family pictures, vacations, and the usual city and some landscaping. However, this is purely meant for fun and not for portfolios or business purposes.

Given my use case, could I leverage the 90mm macro for surface photography as well or should I look for a smaller prime (perhaps a 50mm) or go with something similar to the Tamron 28-75mm F/2.8 as an all-purpose fun/travel lens?

TIA - any advice is super appreciated!

 

[AlephNull]

Having an incoming A7RV in the mail from Sony and would like to get some pointers on lenses.

Some background on planned usage: I bought the A7RV mainly as upgrade to my current underwater rig, which I will build out over the next few months. I have about 7 years of underwater macro photography experience but very little surface photography skills.

For the scuba setup, I will be using the Sony 90mm macro for the foreseeable future with a possible extension to underwater wide-angle photography later on - if budget permits.

Now, for surface photography I am mainly looking to use the A7RV as 'standard' camera for family pictures, vacations, and the usual city and some landscaping. However, this is purely meant for fun and not for portfolios or business purposes.

Given my use case, could I leverage the 90mm macro for surface photography as well or should I look for a smaller prime (perhaps a 50mm) or go with something similar to the Tamron 28-75mm F/2.8 as an all-purpose fun/travel lens?

TIA - any advice is super appreciated!

The 90mm is not a particularly short lens, so it might be a bit bulky for a vacation camera.

Macro lenses are sometimes described as “clinical”, too.

I’d suggest looking as a Sony 20-70mm f/4 as a vacation lens.

 

[Martin_99]

I would go for standard zoom lens, as mentioned Tamron or Sigma version.

 

[Ralf B]

..snip... for surface photography I am mainly looking to use the A7RV as 'standard' camera for family pictures, vacations, and the usual city and some landscaping. However, this is purely meant for fun and not for portfolios or business purposes.

Given my use case, could I leverage the 90mm macro for surface photography as well or should I look for a smaller prime (perhaps a 50mm) or go with something similar to the Tamron 28-75mm F/2.8 as an all-purpose fun/travel lens?

TIA - any advice is super appreciated!

Some lens data first from another review site (OpticalLimits, formerly Photozone) which I trust for decades now:

Sony FE 90mm f/2.8 G OSS macro ( SEL90M28G ) Review
Dimensions79×130.5mm, Weight602g, so a bit bulky, and beyond underwater macro, would do great as a portrait lens. But not an "all-purpose fun/travel lens" IMHO.

Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 Di III VXD G2 Review
Dimensions117.6×75.8mm, Weight540g, basically same size and "bulk", nice lens for "family pictures, vacations, and the usual city and some landscaping".
Notes: Pretty good "bokeh" for a standard zoom lens, gets a bit "soft" at its tele end (75mm). But you have the 90mm tele...

Sony FE 20-70mm f/4 G Review
Dimensions78.7x99mm, Weight488g: Smallest and widest (20mm FL) of the 3 lenses here. Sharkp across the total FL range. So, most versatile with two drawbacks: Lousy "bokeh" and max aperture of 4. But as you own the 90mm macro lens, if you want to shoot a portrait with nicely buttery smoothed out background, that Macro lens delivers.

My pointer would be the 20-70/4 G, but I am ownership-biased: I bought it exactly as the "all-purpose fun/travel lens" to complement my kit .

Enjoy the reading at provided links, good luck and "No worries" with your choice - and post some of the underwater pics of your A7RV + Macro set-up - MTIA!
Grüsse nach "Down Under"!
Ralf

 

[TWMR]

I would go for standard zoom lens, as mentioned Tamron or Sigma version.

Thank you - Looks like the Tamron is a solid starter lens.

 

[TWMR]

Thank you AlephNull! Will look into the 20-70mm as well!

 

[TWMR]

Some lens data first from another review site (OpticalLimits, formerly Photozone) which I trust for decades now:

Sony FE 90mm f/2.8 G OSS macro ( SEL90M28G ) Review
Dimensions79×130.5mm, Weight602g, so a bit bulky, and beyond underwater macro, would do great as a portrait lens. But not an "all-purpose fun/travel lens" IMHO.

Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 Di III VXD G2 Review
Dimensions117.6×75.8mm, Weight540g, basically same size and "bulk", nice lens for "family pictures, vacations, and the usual city and some landscaping".
Notes: Pretty good "bokeh" for a standard zoom lens, gets a bit "soft" at its tele end (75mm). But you have the 90mm tele...

Sony FE 20-70mm f/4 G Review
Dimensions78.7x99mm, Weight488g: Smallest and widest (20mm FL) of the 3 lenses here. Sharkp across the total FL range. So, most versatile with two drawbacks: Lousy "bokeh" and max aperture of 4. But as you own the 90mm macro lens, if you want to shoot a portrait with nicely buttery smoothed out background, that Macro lens delivers.

My pointer would be the 20-70/4 G, but I am ownership-biased: I bought it exactly as the "all-purpose fun/travel lens" to complement my kit .

Enjoy the reading at provided links, good luck and "No worries" with your choice - and post some of the underwater pics of your A7RV + Macro set-up - MTIA!
Grüsse nach "Down Under"!
Ralf

Fantastic feedback Ralf B! Thank you very much for taking your time here!

I feel I am becoming a full-time review reviewer throughout this A7RV buying journey - and loving it

Will check on all of those links and details. This will greatly help to make my first steps in learning about surface photography with the best tools within my budget.

Gruesse zurueck nach DE!

Tom

 

[Architeuthis]

Having an incoming A7RV in the mail from Sony and would like to get some pointers on lenses.

Some background on planned usage: I bought the A7RV mainly as upgrade to my current underwater rig, which I will build out over the next few months. I have about 7 years of underwater macro photography experience but very little surface photography skills.

For the scuba setup, I will be using the Sony 90mm macro for the foreseeable future with a possible extension to underwater wide-angle photography later on - if budget permits.

Now, for surface photography I am mainly looking to use the A7RV as 'standard' camera for family pictures, vacations, and the usual city and some landscaping. However, this is purely meant for fun and not for portfolios or business purposes.

Given my use case, could I leverage the 90mm macro for surface photography as well or should I look for a smaller prime (perhaps a 50mm) or go with something similar to the Tamron 28-75mm F/2.8 as an all-purpose fun/travel lens?

TIA - any advice is super appreciated!

Hi TMWR,

We are in the same boat - I use A7R5 for UW since approx. 1 year. While passionate with UW photography, my over the water (OW) photography is mostly occasional family and travel...

The Sony 90mm is a great lens for UW macro. For more magnification and "real" macro, you need an additional diopter, such as the SMC-1 diopter from Nauticam. I have it always with me and the 90mm lens on a flip holder. The Sony 90mm is also good for making OW photos of items to sell e.g., on eBay. I would not take this lens as an allrounder for family and travel photos (but good to have it on the trips anyhow (in my case the trips are exclusively for UW-photos) for certain OW occasions)...

As standard lens, I decided for the Sony 20-70mm f/4. This can be used very well also UW with a domeport (I use Zen DP170) for not so small objects, e.g. portraits of creatures that are the size of a fist and larger. Not the mostly preferred focal length range UW, but 20mm is already some nice WA. Second only to real macro and real WA (fisheye), but fish portraits of fish (the size of a fist and bigger) with this lens and domeport are clearly better than with the 90mm macro lens and planport (because of the smaller working distance, I zoom out as much as the animal allows me)...

OW the 20-70mm is also very versatile for travel and family. I would not take the 28-75mm lens, I prefer to have more WA (and then to take the 90mm, when I really need longer focal length). When focused exclusively on OW, the Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 GMII, may be the better lens, as it is faster (but sharpness is, more or less, similar to the 20-70mm lens, according to the tests). I regard the 20-70mm as a very good allround lens, both OW for travel and family and better UW than the GMII lens, because of the wider angle at 20mm and the better performance behind a relatively small domeport...

To compensate for the "slow" f/4 OW (yes, I am spoiled ;-) ), I decided to go for primes. At present I have just one, the legendary Sony 50mm f/1.2 GM. Outstandingly sharp, slim depth of field and beautiful bokeh, certainly overkill for my applications (but big fun to make photos with it!). On my shopping list are additional fast 85mm (a new GMII version is to come out soon) and 135mm, for (family) portraits. I also plan to go for the 70-200mm f/2.8 GMII some day, but my OW photography does not have high priority, so I will take time until my collection for OW is complete (I just acquired a new WACP-C domeport for UW WA)...

Wolfgang

P.S.: Beautiful macro photos on your homepage!

 

[LouMeluso]

Of course, the FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro is a superb lens for a multitude of subjects and circumstances on land. That said, I just picked up the Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 G2 and I must say it's a terrific all-rounder. I have been using the FE 24-105 f/4 for a few years. The Tammy is thinner, shorter, lighter, faster, and sharper. Just a shorter zoom range. Be sure to get the newer G2 version if you go that way.

 

[Architeuthis]

Just an addition: In case you want to acquire a wet or dry optics for WA (WWL, WACP, FCP), you may also consider to take the Sony 28-60mm lens as your standard zoom lens (this lens is required to work with the Nauticam optics above)...

I have just ordered the Sony 28-60mm for use with my WACP-C, but it will not replace the Sony 20-70mm. I plan to use it exclusively behind the WACP-C...

 

[ahaslett]

I have an A7Riv, the 90mm macro and Tamron 28-75/2.8 G1. The 90mm macro is a bit heavy and has the classic macro characteristics of being optimised for close up shooting (therefore not so good for scenery), and not optimised for fast AF. The G2 version of the Tamron can do semi-macro and is lighter than the 90/2.8. It doesn’t have OSS but the A7Rv has decent IBIS.

For what you want, a classic normal zoom is the obvious solution. I looked at the 20-70/4 because it covers my favourite FLs but it is expensive in the U.K., has veiling glare and is only f4. It would have been in addition to the 28-75mm. I decided the 28-75mm plus my Loxia 21/2.8 is a better solution.

The best answer for you depends on your priorities and use cases. For example the Sony 20/1.8 is a bit large but is great for Astro and would complement a 28-75mm or 24-70mm.

Andrew

 

[SafariBob]

The 90mm is awesome, I own it.



maybe if you pick up a wide angle now, you could make do with those two as a combo. Particularly if it is a 16-35.

i’d recommend the Samyang 35-150 as a general lens

 

[TWMR]

Hi TMWR,

We are in the same boat - I use A7R5 for UW since approx. 1 year. While passionate with UW photography, my over the water (OW) photography is mostly occasional family and travel...

The Sony 90mm is a great lens for UW macro. For more magnification and "real" macro, you need an additional diopter, such as the SMC-1 diopter from Nauticam. I have it always with me and the 90mm lens on a flip holder. The Sony 90mm is also good for making OW photos of items to sell e.g., on eBay. I would not take this lens as an allrounder for family and travel photos (but good to have it on the trips anyhow (in my case the trips are exclusively for UW-photos) for certain OW occasions)...

As standard lens, I decided for the Sony 20-70mm f/4. This can be used very well also UW with a domeport (I use Zen DP170) for not so small objects, e.g. portraits of creatures that are the size of a fist and larger. Not the mostly preferred focal length range UW, but 20mm is already some nice WA. Second only to real macro and real WA (fisheye), but fish portraits of fish (the size of a fist and bigger) with this lens and domeport are clearly better than with the 90mm macro lens and planport (because of the smaller working distance, I zoom out as much as the animal allows me)...

OW the 20-70mm is also very versatile for travel and family. I would not take the 28-75mm lens, I prefer to have more WA (and then to take the 90mm, when I really need longer focal length). When focused exclusively on OW, the Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 GMII, may be the better lens, as it is faster (but sharpness is, more or less, similar to the 20-70mm lens, according to the tests). I regard the 20-70mm as a very good allround lens, both OW for travel and family and better UW than the GMII lens, because of the wider angle at 20mm and the better performance behind a relatively small domeport...

To compensate for the "slow" f/4 OW (yes, I am spoiled ;-) ), I decided to go for primes. At present I have just one, the legendary Sony 50mm f/1.2 GM. Outstandingly sharp, slim depth of field and beautiful bokeh, certainly overkill for my applications (but big fun to make photos with it!). On my shopping list are additional fast 85mm (a new GMII version is to come out soon) and 135mm, for (family) portraits. I also plan to go for the 70-200mm f/2.8 GMII some day, but my OW photography does not have high priority, so I will take time until my collection for OW is complete (I just acquired a new WACP-C domeport for UW WA)...

Wolfgang

P.S.: Beautiful macro photos on your homepage!

Danke Wolfgang / Architeuthis!

Good to hear your feedback on the 90mm underwater. I am currently shooting with a CMC-2 on a flip (and a Saga +10 as backup) mainly through snoots and I am getting some halfway decent results (sometimes) with both.

How is the 90mm AF performing on the A7RV? I am hearing complaints about slow 90mm AF on the A7RIV but not sure if slow AF translates to the A7RV as well.

The Sony 20-70mm sounds like a very good lens, which can be leveraged across scuba and surface. Will definitely check that one out as well!

 

[TWMR]

The 90mm is awesome, I own it.

maybe if you pick up a wide angle now, you could make do with those two as a combo. Particularly if it is a 16-35.

i’d recommend the Samyang 35-150 as a general lens

Thank you - will check out the Samyang 35-150 as well and good to hear your feedback on the 90mm.

 

[TWMR]

Of course, the FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro is a superb lens for a multitude of subjects and circumstances on land. That said, I just picked up the Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 G2 and I must say it's a terrific all-rounder. I have been using the FE 24-105 f/4 for a few years. The Tammy is thinner, shorter, lighter, faster, and sharper. Just a shorter zoom range. Be sure to get the newer G2 version if you go that way.

Thinner, shorter, lighter, faster and sharper are pretty good arguments

The Tamron seems to be checking a lot of boxes as an allrounder it seems.

Thank you!

 

[TWMR]

Just an addition: In case you want to acquire a wet or dry optics for WA (WWL, WACP, FCP), you may also consider to take the Sony 28-60mm lens as your standard zoom lens (this lens is required to work with the Nauticam optics above)...

I have just ordered the Sony 28-60mm for use with my WACP-C, but it will not replace the Sony 20-70mm. I plan to use it exclusively behind the WACP-C...

Great info - will look into the 28-60 as well

Thank you!

 

[TWMR]

I have an A7Riv, the 90mm macro and Tamron 28-75/2.8 G1. The 90mm macro is a bit heavy and has the classic macro characteristics of being optimised for close up shooting (therefore not so good for scenery), and not optimised for fast AF. The G2 version of the Tamron can do semi-macro and is lighter than the 90/2.8. It doesn’t have OSS but the A7Rv has decent IBIS.

For what you want, a classic normal zoom is the obvious solution. I looked at the 20-70/4 because it covers my favourite FLs but it is expensive in the U.K., has veiling glare and is only f4. It would have been in addition to the 28-75mm. I decided the 28-75mm plus my Loxia 21/2.8 is a better solution.

The best answer for you depends on your priorities and use cases. For example the Sony 20/1.8 is a bit large but is great for Astro and would complement a 28-75mm or 24-70mm.

Andrew

Great info! Aside from my preferred use cases, I am mainly driven by budget plus my better half.

Aside the 90mm - the Tamron 28-75mm and Sony 20-70 seem to be the lens everyone is gravitating towards.

 

[Glenn Barber]

Having an incoming A7RV in the mail from Sony and would like to get some pointers on lenses.

Some background on planned usage: I bought the A7RV mainly as upgrade to my current underwater rig, which I will build out over the next few months. I have about 7 years of underwater macro photography experience but very little surface photography skills.

For the scuba setup, I will be using the Sony 90mm macro for the foreseeable future with a possible extension to underwater wide-angle photography later on - if budget permits.

Now, for surface photography I am mainly looking to use the A7RV as 'standard' camera for family pictures, vacations, and the usual city and some landscaping. However, this is purely meant for fun and not for portfolios or business purposes.

Given my use case, could I leverage the 90mm macro for surface photography as well or should I look for a smaller prime (perhaps a 50mm) or go with something similar to the Tamron 28-75mm F/2.8 as an all-purpose fun/travel lens?

TIA - any advice is super appreciated!

The 90mm is not a particularly short lens, so it might be a bit bulky for a vacation camera.

Macro lenses are sometimes described as “clinical”, too.

I’d suggest looking as a Sony 20-70mm f/4 as a vacation lens.

Absolutely agree - the 90 macro is a fantastic lens and super sharp and I love mine - but the best all-arounder for the A7R5 is the 20-70 f4 - gave my 24-105 to my daughter and this one lives on the A7R5 while the A1 gets the 100-400 or 200-600 most of the time.

 

[novographer]

Having an incoming A7RV in the mail from Sony and would like to get some pointers on lenses.

Some background on planned usage: I bought the A7RV mainly as upgrade to my current underwater rig, which I will build out over the next few months. I have about 7 years of underwater macro photography experience but very little surface photography skills.

For the scuba setup, I will be using the Sony 90mm macro for the foreseeable future with a possible extension to underwater wide-angle photography later on - if budget permits.

Now, for surface photography I am mainly looking to use the A7RV as 'standard' camera for family pictures, vacations, and the usual city and some landscaping. However, this is purely meant for fun and not for portfolios or business purposes.

Given my use case, could I leverage the 90mm macro for surface photography as well or should I look for a smaller prime (perhaps a 50mm) or go with something similar to the Tamron 28-75mm F/2.8 as an all-purpose fun/travel lens?

TIA - any advice is super appreciated!

I do a lot of surface macro with my Sony 90mm. As mentioned by another member, its not a short lens and its kinda heavy. Also it hunts a lot in AF mode. It takes gorgeous images though. Super sharp and with excellent color and IQ. Even though I've tried portraits with it, It is a true blue macro lens.

You might be better off with a Sony 24-105 F/4 lens as an everyday do-it-all lens.

--
https://www.instagram.com/furballsforever/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/hrishib/

 

[Architeuthis]

How is the 90mm AF performing on the A7RV? I am hearing complaints about slow 90mm AF on the A7RIV but not sure if slow AF translates to the A7RV as well.

The performance of AF for macro of the A7R5/Sony 90mm combination, even with SMC-1 attached, is very good to excellent. The speed of the AF motor of the lens is still not fast, but AF and even tracking is very accurate. This is a big difference to older models, as A7R4 or R3, where the AF was reported to hunt and never find the position...

I, personally, cannot compare to AF performance of Sony 90mm on older Sony models, as I come from Oly EM1II with Zuiko 60mm and Pana 45mm macros. In different reviews and treads I read that people, who used the 90mm on older models, say the difference is "night and day". The difference must be really dramatic as e.g. for famous Alex Mustard the improvement in AF performance of the A7R5 (vs A7R4, which he tested ocasionally), especially with the macro lens, was the reason to switch his system from Nikon (D850) to Sony (A7R5/A1). Previous mirrorless cameras did not convince him..

Wolfgang