When I purchased an a7III to dip my toes into the Sony FE world, I decided that I needed a native lens to go with it. I’m a prime guy, and if I’m going to have one lens, it’s going to be a wide to normal length prime. The 28 f/2 seemed like a reasonable candidate to get me by, while I contemplated switching systems and pondered the world of FE lenses.
Coming from Canon EF primes, the 28 feels feather light. It’s really incredible, and on the camera it’s barely noticeable in terms of weight. I quickly found that this freed me up to shoot in ways that I rarely would or could before. The 28 f/2 combines with the a7III for a system that allows one to shoot from the hip with the flick of the wrist. The combo is super light, and the autofocus system can keep up with just about anything I could find to test it on.
Side note: shooting moving subjects up close with a wide/fast lens is, in my opinion, one of the most difficult scenarios that one can throw at an AF system. At close distances the relative subject distance changes rapidly, requiring a lot of work from the system. Compare this to a fast moving subject at a distance where the AF system is tracking quickly, but making relatively small changes. I found the zone AF mode (AF-C) to work beautifully with the 28 f/2 in these shoot from the hip, up close type situations.
Love/hate relationship for this hybrid shooter (but mostly love)
There’s a lot to love about this lens, especially for hybrid shooters. Video AF is very solid, and this lens seems like it was practically designed with gimbal use in mind. The focal length also happens to be very useful on the a7III, with it’s great S35 crop mode. In S35 mode, the lens becomes equivalent to something like a 42mm field of view, which happens to be very near a common and versatile cinema focal length.
What’s not to love? Well, the lack of a AF/MF switch is a little difficult to get used to, especially as a hybrid shooter used to manual focusing in video. It’s rather inconvenient to go through button pushes and menus to switch from AF to MF and back. Even worse, the manual focus operation is drive by wire, and it’s…tolerable (for me), not great, not the worst I’ve used. There is a variable response to the MF ring (focus rate vs physical movement of the focus ring changes depending on how fast the ring is turned), and there is some perceptible lag. This is not a lens I’d want to rely on for precise manual focus.
Optics
It’s difficult to be overly critical of a 200g lens with blazing fast autofocus, and in fact, the 28 f/2 is also quite sharp in the center of the frame wide open at f/2. Where this lens suffers is with some rather pronounced barrel distortion (see example below). For photos, this can be easily corrected in post, but it may be more of an issue for video shooters. It’s also worth noting that distortion correction in post will effectively narrow the AOV by a millimeter or two and introduce a slight bit of smearing in the corners, making this lens a little less attractive to discerning landscape shooters. Corner sharpness does leave a little bit to be desired, but it sharpens up when stopped down, and this will be especially apparent on high megapixel models like the a7R series. The 28 also suffers from noticeable purple fringing and chromatic aberration. Longitudinal CA is particularly noticeable. This may be forgivable given the price point and size of the lens, but it’s certainly there. The minimum focus distance is another compromise at 11.4”, leading to a only a .13x max magnification, a little below average for a lens of this type.
The 28/2 can produce some nice looking background blur, the quality of out of focus highlights leaves a little to be desired. Out of focus highlights aren’t perfectly uniform; there is some fringing and “onion ring” appearance evident in certain situations. This can translate “busy” looking bokeh. So, while the bokeh can be a little distracting at times (think sunlight filtering through trees), the overall appearance of background blur is quite nice. This lens really does have an impressive transition from sharp focus to smooth background. The 28 also has 9 rounded aperture blades. This results in out of focus highlights that are relatively circular when stopped down. Despite this, sunstars are well defined when stopped down and quite pleasing. There is also some significant vignetting at f/2, but I actually prefer this in fast lenses. Vignetting is still pronounced at f/2.8, and reasonably controlled at f/4.
Despite some optical compromises and considerations, I find this lens to be very impressive given the size and weight for a full frame, 35mm format lens. Sony seemed to compromise MFD, vignetting, and distortion, to arrive at a very compact design while maintaining very impressive sharpness and contrast.
Side note: It’s worth noting that shooting with electronic front curtain shutter (EFCS) enabled at high shutter speeds can affect rendering and bokeh (this is not a knock on the lens, but attributable to the camera system). The EFCS effect can be completely mitigated by turning that feature off.
Sharpness Comparison
I’ve included the sharpness comparison from my Sony 24 f/1.4 GM review. The 28 performs very well on the a7III, and is especially good in the center. The file can be downloaded and viewed here.
Barrel Distortion and Correction
The 28mm f/2 uncorrected shows significant barrel distortion.
Barrel distortion is easily corrected with a lens profile, but at the expense of a slight crop and some smearing in the extreme corners.
Build Quality
The 28 f/2 weighs 200g! That’s crazy to me for a full frame lens. Fit and finish are quite solid, and Sony claims this lens is dust and moisture resistant. The lens is not fully weather sealed as it lacks a gasket on the mount, but that isn’t a surprise at this price point. Features are very minimal, just a (drive by wire) manual focus ring. Sadly, there is no AF/MF switch, and that’s a little off-putting for me on a lens that retails for $450. The 28 f/2 has an all metal barrel and smooth finish, which sounds good on paper, but I wonder how well it will hold up over time. Compare this to the similarly priced Canon 35 f/2 IS, and the Canon just feels like it can weather little knocks and dings and scrapes better than the Sony could over time. Granted, I have zero empirical evidence to support this (I don’t intentionally put my lenses though torture tests), but I do feel the need to be a little careful when handling the Sony.
Interestingly, Sony also offers two wide angle add-on converters for the 28mm (16mm Fish-eye and 21mm Ultra Wide). I have no experience with them, buy apparently they are quite usable. This potentially adds to the versatility and cost effectiveness of this lens.
Wrap up
The Sony 28mm f/2 is a great lens for the budget conscious buyer looking for a wide/fast lens. It is a standout lens where the use case calls for a small, lightweight, indiscreet setup. I personally find the 28 f/2 much more appealing from a value and use standpoint than the $800 35mm f/2.8 ZA. For street shooters, gimbal users, video AF users in general, I would recommend giving the 28 a serious consideration. It is a great lens for fast high angle or low angle shots when you’re among the action…no need to “f/8 and be there” when you have the 28/2 and third gen a7 or a9 series AF-C.
The elephant in the room is that Sony lacks a native 35mm f/2 or similar lens. There’s nothing between the relatively expensive 35 f/2.8 ZA and the more expensive (and heavy) 35 f/1.4 ZA. So, for many users, the 28 is currently as close as we can get.
Pros:
Very lightweight
Fast autofocus in AF-C and very good video AF performance
Should say “built for gimbal use” on the box
Sharp wide open (with the exception of corners)
Nice looking sunstars (stopped down) if you’re into that sort of thing
Could be better:
Pronounced barrel distortion
Chromatic aberration (LoCA and fringing) at wide aperture
Lack of AF/MF switch
Manual focus implementation is just okay (variable with some lag)
Pronounced vignetting (if this is a concern for you)
Sample Images
Have to move quickly to keep the precious a7III out of the water. No problem with the 28mm f/2.
Stopped all the way down to f/5.6 just to see what would happen.
AF remains reasonably capable in difficult lighting, as long as there is some contrast to grab onto.
Exploring every inch of the midwest. Where there are trains, we will go.
I’m running along beside him, camera at a low angle. No problem with the 28mm f/2 and a7III.
Also works when the action slows down a bit. Sharp, and renders quite nicely at environmental portrait distances.