Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T E 24mm F1.8 ZA Lens for Sony NEX Cameras
Product Description
This is the first Carl Zeiss lens to be released in the Sony E-mount lineup, employing the legendary “Sonnar” optical design for standout image dimensionality and presence. A spherical lenses located on either side of the aperture effectively compensate for distortion, while an ED element suppresses chromatic aberration. The overall result is excellent corner-to-corner sharpness even with the aperture wide open, for impressive overall resolution.
Product Details
- Product Dimensions: 2.6 x 2.5 x 2.5 inches ; 7.8 ounces
- Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
- Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
- ASIN: B005IHAI8O
- Item model number: SEL24F18Z
Customer Reviews
I pre-ordered this Zeiss lens very early on in August 2011. Getting this lens over a week ago, I wondered whether my implicit trust in Zeiss as implemented in a Sony E-mount is justified. I have used several excellent Zeiss lenses with my Nikon dSLR and wanted to give an auto-focusing version of the one of its proven design a try with the Sony NEX-5N.
It is early days yet I am already inclined to give this lens a 5-star on account of its very good performance wide-open and even more, when stopped down to f/2.5 onward. The center is sharp wide-open and the corners improves visibly by f/2.8. Color, contrast and detail is superb, while vignetting is minimal wide-open. This lens is very well-balanced and it is difficult to exaggerate how well this lens render.
The lens comes in a soft black bag and also comes with a hood that can be reversed into the lens for a compact carry. It takes a 49mm filter. Is the lens expensive? Do I want this lens to be priced less? Definitely. But as an owner of several Zeiss lens and knowing full well what these lenses can deliver, I cannot in good point claim that this lens is expensive. If anything, I would consider this lens as very good value. I could actually go farther in my praise of this lens but in this time of economic dislocation, it would be imprudent for me to say this so I will leave this praise where it is now.
If I am forced to look for a weakness in this lens, I would say that it exist in two areas. The first is that this lens is nowhere as small or as light as the Sony 16mm f/2.8. It is a fairly big lens and substantially increases the size of the NEX-5N when mounted. But I am very willing to forego my critical assessment of this lens' size and weight vs the Sony 16mm f/2.8 as the latter would be a very poor second and simply does not compare to this Zeiss lens in terms of its optical performance. It makes it very painful for me to look at the images taken with the Sony 16mm f/2.8 when I compare this with the Zeiss 24mm f/1.8.
Then as a dSLR user, I would actually look at the Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 and call it as small and light in relation o to the Nikkor 24mm f/1.4G which I use with the Nikon D7000 + MB-D11, and occasionally on several tests, with the NEX-5N. The Nikkor 24mm f/1.4G simply overwhelms the NEX-5N in terms of size and weight making an Arca-based lens-support all but necessary. Transitioning to the Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 on the NEX-5N from the Nikkor 24mm f/1.4G dramatically drives home the bulk and weight difference. From this perspective, this lens is neither big or heavy for me but believe that I should highlight its difference on this point vis-a-vis the Sony 16mm f/2.8. This lens' size via-a-vis the 16mm f/2.8 is easily justified and offset by its stellar performance.
The second area of weakness I see in this Zeiss lens is its tendency to flare and its chromatic aberration under harsh light transitions. While these perhaps cannot be avoided given its wide-angle coverage and its fast f/1.8 aperture, it can be a bit disconcerting when the much humbler Sony 16mm f/2.8 can easily match it in this area at the same aperture settings. I have the latest version of ACR and Lightroom and neither are very successful in removing the purple fringing. Yet I am quite accepting of this lens' weakness on this point as even the stellar Nikkor 24mm f/1.4G does not unduly out-perform it in this regard. Yes, the Nikkor 24mm f/1.4G is better but not by much. Given the size and weight penalty of using the Nikkor 24mm f/1.4G not to mention the lack of auto-focus when mounted on the NEX-5N, I cannot be overly critical with the performance of this lens.
EDIT: 2012 March 8
As expected, this lens holds up very well with the NEX-7. Used with the NEX-5N and NEX-7 weak AA filter, this lens renders scenes so indescribably well that one has to use this lens to appreciate how good it is. Matched with the higher resolution of the NEX-7, the details are incredibly sharp and clear though I make it a point not to shoot this lens beyond f/8.0 when lens diffraction will make its impact felt. Overall, I highly recommend this lens to anyone who wants to get the best possible image with their NEXs using a native E-mount lens.
I'll start this by saying that there is not much to choose from as far as lenses go for the Sony NEX line. The Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 fills the void of a great walk around street shooting lens. From the minute you unpack the box you start to see why you just spent $1,000 on a prime lens for a NEX camera. It comes with a soft leather Sony pouch. The lens hood is a high quality metal and plastic combo. The hood can be reverse fitted but will obstruct the manual focus ring though. The lens itself is built like a tank. All metal construction with an excellent large, smooth, manual focus ring.
Now on to the photo quality. Very sharp at 1.8 and tack sharp stepped down at 2.8-4. The lens produces wonderful images. It has a certain look to the photos similar to what you find in Leica photos and the Fuji x100 and other rangefinders. The boheh is silky smooth. Easily as good if not better than bright Canon L primes. One additional feature of this lens is that it has surprisingly good macro capability. Very uncommon for short prime lenses. Can focus from about 6 inches away. Perfect for flowers and even insects if you can get in close.
The focus is ok. While it is fairly accurate, there is some hunting and misfocusing in low light but I expected this and its not much of an issue with the great manual focus ring. This is also more to do with the NEX cameras using contrast detection versus Phase detection.
The only other gripe I could have would be the size. This lens is fairly large and heavy for a short prime but does not feel off balance when you are holding it. It is significantly larger than the 16mm 2.8 pancake lens, but it is far superior in photo quality to any lens I have tried on a Sony NEX 7. This is a perfect partner for this camera or any NEX camera.
If you can afford it I highly recommend it. Since pairing this with my new NEX7, my 7D has not left my house.
To sum up, here are pros vs cons:
PROS
- Great build quality
- Great lens hood and carry bag
- Excellent image quality
- Smooth creamy bokeh
- Has a certain style to the look of the photos
- A great walk around and street lens
- Good macro capability
CONS
- Might be too big for some
- A little slow to focus but this is mostly an issue with NEX cameras.
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