Sony Full frame lens recommendation

[xiaosinsinful]

Recently switched from Nikon to my first full frame camera. Just wondering if anyone have any suggestions on which lenses should I start with. planning to do some landscape/travel photography.

Budget? can't afford / justify G master lens for my occasional usage.

Currently doing some researching and considering this few.



Sony 16-35 F4
Tamron 28-75 f2.8

maybe should get a prime?
can't decide between
Zeiss 55 f.8 or 35 f1.4 (probably secondhand)

any place can go down for hands on and try them out? might get a loaner lens from sony to try out

P.S any ND filter recommendation? Anyone tried the nisi beginner 2 filter pack?

 

[hawthorne]

Sony stores usually will have camera placed there for u to try and feel the lens. try visiting the shop at 313 and Nex as they are larger.

IIRC, sony provide lens rental too, u can check with them. (dun think they will have the Tamron for u to try out though)

Currently I'm using primarily the 24-70f2.8 GM. This lens is quite heavy and I need to use it with my smallrig 2122 L-bracket in order to hold it comfortably. I find the build is superb, compared to the Tamron, plus the additional 4mm on the wide-end makes the lens more versatile. That being said, it cost a lot more.

 

[ashketchum]

I'm currently using the Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 and I love it. It's sharp, no AF issues and handles portraits (with lovely bokeh) and street photography really well.

But the 28mm on the Tamron may not be as wide as you'd like if you were to do landscape photography, for that the sony 16-35mm f4 would be good.

Since you mentioned you are an occasional user, may not be good to get a prime. You'd be stuck with one that lens and that focal length. (unless you don't mind using Sony clear image zoom!)

Ultimately it boils down to your use case:
1. Portraits/Street photography - tamron
2. Landscape/Travel - sony

 

[xiaosinsinful]

Sony stores usually will have camera placed there for u to try and feel the lens. try visiting the shop at 313 and Nex as they are larger.

IIRC, sony provide lens rental too, u can check with them. (dun think they will have the Tamron for u to try out though)

Currently I'm using primarily the 24-70f2.8 GM. This lens is quite heavy and I need to use it with my smallrig 2122 L-bracket in order to hold it comfortably. I find the build is superb, compared to the Tamron, plus the additional 4mm on the wide-end makes the lens more versatile. That being said, it cost a lot more.

Wow thanks for the reply, I Facebook chat Sony and asked if they have any roadshows or setup for me to try the lenses , let’s just say their online chat isn’t their best suit.

And yes I’m aware of the lens rental program , might try the 24-70 and 16-35 , although I’m thinking of skipping the 24-70 range and getting the 16-35/70-200 combo for my travels/landscape photography

 

[xiaosinsinful]

I'm currently using the Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 and I love it. It's sharp, no AF issues and handles portraits (with lovely bokeh) and street photography really well.

But the 28mm on the Tamron may not be as wide as you'd like if you were to do landscape photography, for that the sony 16-35mm f4 would be good.

Since you mentioned you are an occasional user, may not be good to get a prime. You'd be stuck with one that lens and that focal length. (unless you don't mind using Sony clear image zoom!)

Ultimately it boils down to your use case:
1. Portraits/Street photography - tamron
2. Landscape/Travel - sony

At first decided to get the tameron as a one lens do all kind of arrangement , plus looking at how good the reviews are. But I was thinking of what I want to shoot in mind and rethink my decision , might rent a lens from Sony and try it out though

 

[hawthorne]

Wow thanks for the reply, I Facebook chat Sony and asked if they have any roadshows or setup for me to try the lenses , let’s just say their online chat isn’t their best suit.

And yes I’m aware of the lens rental program , might try the 24-70 and 16-35 , although I’m thinking of skipping the 24-70 range and getting the 16-35/70-200 combo for my travels/landscape photography

These are the 3 lenses in my arsenal:

28mm F2 with ultra wide adaptor. reason why I bought this is to find a cheaper way to go wide. The UWA allows the lens to go down to 21mm. The barrel distortion is quite extreme, but I guess this is expected with lenses this wide. Easily corrected via LR. The UWA cannot accept filters, hence, it's another cons. nevertheless, the setup is small and light. Good for lenscapes. I'll just bring the 28mm prime out when I'm feeling lazy to bring the GM out.

24-70F2.8 GM
At first, I bought the F4 version with my A7III. PwP gave me some discount during the Sony Days sale. then I sold it off after 1 month, Becos I read alot of online review, which made the lens sound bad and everyone was raving over the GM. although I'm not able to see the problems that others had highlighted . I also got quite a good lobang for the GM, so bit the bullet, bought it and sold it off.

This lens is superb, the build is superb. Sharpness is fantastic, chromatic aberration is very controlled. But it's heavy and makes the camera front heavy. I need to use it with a smallrig L bracket to hold it in comfort. This is my go to lens. Using it for lenscapes and Street photography

I did not buy the Tamron becos it was out of stock during that time. Plus I usually shoot at the wide end, so I preferred the extra 4mm the GM gave me. During the early days, there were reports of bugs will the Tamron firmware too. I'm a bit OCD, wanting to go stock as much as possible rather than use 3rd party as much as possible.

70-200F4
I bought this used at a good discount. The 2.8GM is too heavy and expensive. Though I'm a bit disappointed that I cannot use a adaptor with this lens. Have not used it much. Taking at 200F4 give u really good bokeh.

For filters, I usually consider B+W

 

[mnd.ng]

Will vouch for tamron 28-75mm ! Sharp and cheap lens compared to native sony

 

[hawthorne]

Will vouch for tamron 28-75mm ! Sharp and cheap lens compared to native sony

Compared to which native Sony?

 

[fongwk8]

Hi there! I'm also a fellow Sony Full Frame User (A7ii to be precise), and I do a lot of landscape photography.

Just a few years ago, I was using the 16-35 mm F4 Zeiss lens for my landscapes. F4 is okay for landscape since most of the time I'm using F8-F11. The drawback of this lens is also the relatively large F4, which sometimes I wish the bokeh can look better. Furthermore, this Zeiss lens has 7 aperture blades, which gives you "14 rays" of sunburst.

2 years ago, I sold the F4 lens and bought the 16-35 mm F2.8 Sony GM lens, equipped with 11 aperture blades, producing 22 rays of sunburst. Am quite happy with this GM lens now. The drawback of this lens is the high cost.

[/url]The Hokokuji Diamond by Wai Kit Fong, on Flickr[/IMG]

For more images that I took using the Sony 16-35 mm F2.8 GM lens, please feel free to visit my Flickr.

 

[mnd.ng]

For me I wanted a standard zoom walkaround lens with fixed aperture at 2.8 - in which only FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM fits the bill, but its definitely very expensive.. tamron is a much cheaper alternative

 

[mnd.ng]

Compared to which native Sony?

FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM

 

[incubus07]

what lenses did you have from your previous nikon system?
Just find the equivalents for those

 

[mrkent194]

Get the 55mm f1.8, the only lens you need really.
Covers 95% of my needs when im shooting weddings!

Recently switched from Nikon to my first full frame camera. Just wondering if anyone have any suggestions on which lenses should I start with. planning to do some landscape/travel photography.

Budget? can't afford / justify G master lens for my occasional usage.

Currently doing some researching and considering this few.



Sony 16-35 F4
Tamron 28-75 f2.8

maybe should get a prime?
can't decide between
Zeiss 55 f.8 or 35 f1.4 (probably secondhand)

any place can go down for hands on and try them out? might get a loaner lens from sony to try out

P.S any ND filter recommendation? Anyone tried the nisi beginner 2 filter pack?

 

[RyanJ]

Recently switched from Nikon to my first full frame camera. Just wondering if anyone have any suggestions on which lenses should I start with. planning to do some landscape/travel photography.

Budget? can't afford / justify G master lens for my occasional usage.

Currently doing some researching and considering this few.



Sony 16-35 F4
Tamron 28-75 f2.8

maybe should get a prime?
can't decide between
Zeiss 55 f.8 or 35 f1.4 (probably secondhand)

any place can go down for hands on and try them out? might get a loaner lens from sony to try out

P.S any ND filter recommendation? Anyone tried the nisi beginner 2 filter pack?

prime or zoom is a matter of personal shooting style.

Speaking of zeiss, I was using an old Zeiss 35mmf2 ZM with voigtlander VME close focus adapter ( mechanism broke after about 4 yrs of abuse , likely to get another ) . Tiny wide cum macro lens + Sony A7r

 

[fongwk8]

prime or zoom is a matter of personal shooting style.

Speaking of zeiss, I was using an old Zeiss 35mmf2 ZM with voigtlander VME close focus adapter ( mechanism broke after about 4 yrs of abuse , likely to get another ) . Tiny wide cum macro lens + Sony A7r

Nice shots you got there

 

[ychwzone]

Get the 55mm f1.8, the only lens you need really.
Covers 95% of my needs when im shooting weddings!

Totally agree, light and sharp lens