By Tata Rossi 23 days ago, Cameras & Lenses
Choose one of these Sony A7 lenses for stunning portraits, wildlife, and macro
Sony A7 is a highly functional full-framer that boasts a selection of top-notch features and delivers stunning image quality. However, all these goodies are useless without a pro-level lens. Fortunately, nowadays the market offers a great selection of premium optical accessories to match the performance of Sony A7 sensors.
If you have not dealt with full-frame E-mount lenses yet, read about these six models, which are suitable for capturing portraits, wildlife, macro, wide-angle, and astrophotography. The price of accessories listed here ranges from $542 to $2,090.
Of course, when looking for the best Sony A7 lenses, photographers should take into account their wishes, priorities, and budget. So, I considered functionality, portability, and price-to-performance ratio to create this selection of the most decent models.
Here you will find both lenses produced by Sony and introduced by other brands. If you are a photographer who is always on the go or a videographer, lightweight lenses, which are usually quite expensive, should be your priority.
Lens type: Full frame E-mount | Minimum focus distance: 0.38 m (1. 25 feet) | Filter diameter: 77 mm (3 in) | Size (WxL): 8.3 x 11.3 cm (3.2 x 4.4 in) | Weight: 23.4 oz (663 g)
With Sony FE 24-105mm F4, shooters can produce both wide-angle and telephoto photography. Not only that, this model delivers images of top-level quality and has a robust and durable construction. When configured at the lowest f/stop value, the lens captures a vivid and clear picture over the full focal range. This eliminates the need to bring several accessories with you to a shooting location and change them according to the situation.
This Sony lens also attracts photographers with a perfectly-built body, whereas a fast, precise, and silent AF allows naming it one of the best Sony A7 lenses for anyone.
Lens type: Full frame E-mount | Minimum focus distance: 0.22 m (0.73 ft) | Filter diameter: 55 mm (2.1 in) | Size (WxL): 6.5 x 7.3 cm (2.5 x 2.8 in) | Weight: 280 g (9.9 oz.)
Are you surfing the web seeking a portable lens to shoot medium wide-angle photos? Sony FE 35mm F1.8 is what you require. Being a perfect accessory for a full frame camera, the lens provides quite wide FOV, which is ideal for taking street photos, portraits, capturing medium-sized buildings or landscapes, where ultra-wide zooms that get everything in the picture is not necessary.
Even when set at the maximum aperture, the lens provides crisp and clear images. Reliable AF is also a selling point. Besides, Sony FE 35mm can blur images helping you achieve original effects to spruce up your pics. Its bright maximum aperture of f/1.8 allows a photographer to take shots of excellent quality even in dim spaces.
Lens type: Full frame E-mount | Minimum focus distance: 0.19 m (0.62 ft) | Filter diameter: 67 mm (2.6 in) | Size (WxL): 7.4 x 11.7 cm (2.9 x 4.6 in) | Weight: 575 g (20 oz.)
Regardless of whether you want to take landscape or wildlife shots or work in narrow interiors, Tamron 28-200 F/2.8-5.6 is a perfect fit. The moderate price and impressive zoom range are key benefits of this model. But if compared to original Sony models, its focal length range is relatively narrow.
Besides, this model features a reduced working distance of 19 cm, while Sony FE 70-200 mm f/2.8, for instance, has a focal length of 96 cm. Notwithstanding, the lens offers superior close-up performance when capturing tiny things.
Top-rated picture quality and terrific sharpness across the entire zoom range are the most appealing aspects of this lens. Another considerable plus is the space-saving design, which makes it an indispensable companion for any traveler. Shooters also select this model because of its noiseless AF, which works lightning fast, and its watertight body.
Lens type: Full frame E-mount | Minimum focus distance: 0.96 m (3.1 ft) | Filter diameter: 77 mm (3 in) | Size (WxL): 8.8 x 20 cm (3.4 x 7.8 in) | Weight: 1480 g (52.2 oz.)
This is one of the Sony A7 lenses, which offers excellent performance when capturing distant objects, delivering pro-level telephoto shots. Its ability to capture scenes with fantastic precision even in a poorly lit environment is really impressive. Even when shooting at a maximal aperture, the lens boasts an impressive performance taking crisp pics regardless of the zoom range.
Photos with a high level of detail are what make Sony FE 70-200 mm f/2.8 stand out among other models. It also appeals to shooters with virtually noiseless autofocus, which makes this lens an indispensable accessory for wildlife photographers.
Furthermore, attaching Sony FE 70-200 mm f/2.8 to your camera allows the creation of an eye-grabbing bokeh effect to jazz up your images. Choose it to snap concerts or indoor sporting events as the lens will please you with fantastic shots even in low-lighting shooting scenarios. Thanks to its wide aperture and great focal length, this accessory also delivers stunning portraits.
Lens type: Full frame E-mount | Minimum focus distance: 80 cm (2.62') | Filter diameter: 67 mm (Front) | Size (WxL): 92 x 92 mm (3.62 x 3.62") | Weight: 452 g (15.9 oz)
Having the most suitable focal distance for taking portraits, ZEISS Batis 85mm f/1.8 offers precise and agile AF that boasts a balanced performance on the Sony cameras. Excellent IS also adds more points to this model. Bright f/1.8 maximum aperture allows for fine-tuned control over depth of field and ensures premium picture quality even when illumination is not sufficient.
The inclusion of three anomalous partial dispersion elements helps further boost the delivered picture quality by minimizing aberrations and color fringing. This makes images crisper and improves fidelity.
Besides, the lens features an anti-glare coating to decrease the amount of reflective light, and deliver highly contrasted and saturated images. Lastly, ZEISS Batis 85mm f/1.8 is supplied with superior IS technology that virtually nullifies camera shake and allows you to take fantastic handheld images.
Lens type: Full frame E-mount | Minimum focus distance: 0.28 m (0.92 ft) | Filter diameter: 82 mm (3.2 in) | Size (WxL): 8.8 x 12.1 cm (3.4 x 4.7 in) | Weight: 680 g (24 oz.)
You can acquire the lens for Sony A7III separately or in a package with other accessories like a backpack camera case, SanDisk 128GB, filters, and so on. Excellent sharpness at any configuration, speedy AF, and versatile zoom range for photographing in various wide-angle shooting scenarios are what attract photographers.
Furthermore, this model boasts a superior performance in poorly-lit spaces, which is great for snapping interiors or a night sky. Besides, this is one of the best Sony A7 lenses for producing mesmerizing bokeh, meaning that with it creating fantastic backgrounds is a cinch. Vignetting and distortion are the weak points of the lens, but removing these aberrations in post-production is not a problem, or even prevent them by configuring a camera properly.
| IMAGE | NAME | FEATURES | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Sony FE 24-105mm F4
SUPERZOOM
|
CHECK PRICE → | |
|
Sony FE 35mm F1.8
STREET PHOTOS
|
CHECK PRICE → | |
|
Tamron 28-200 F/2.8-5.6
ALL-IN-ONE
|
CHECK PRICE → |
When choosing the right accessory, it is pivotal to define the type of a photoshoot you are going to conduct. To find out what working distances and apertures you use oftener and what parameters you want your lens to have, I recommend testing one of the lenses presented in this list, if possible.
It is possible to affix Sony lenses using either A-mount or E-mount. The latter is specially designed for all models from Sony Alpha 7 series. Therefore, when choosing the lens produced by other manufacturers, considering the mount type is of paramount importance.
Most web stores like Amazon provides info about the mount type and compatible camera systems in a special section of the product on their webpage. If you have doubts, check the item description or take advantage of the “Confirmed Fit” checker created by Amazon developers.
Here is the trick on how to differentiate these two types: check the first letters in the model numbers. “SEL” indicate E-mount lenses, whereas “SAL” signifies A-mount lenses.
Note that E-mount lenses are not identical. For example, cameras from the Alpha 7 series come with a full-format sensor, whereas the models from the Alpha 6000 series are equipped with an APS-C sensor. And these factors influence the performance of optics on different cameras. So when looking for the best Sony A7 lenses, check the model's parameters to make sure it is compatible with your full-frame device.
When selecting the lens that meets all your photography needs, make sure its parameters allow taking the shots you want. For instance, 70 mm is a great focal distance for portraits, while 24mm provides ultra-wide perspectives. Besides, the Sony A camera offers a handy 1.5x crop mode, which narrows the FOV.
If you are looking for a decent telephoto lens, the Sony 70-200mm is one of the most appropriate choices. Thanks to the f/2.8 aperture, it is possible to apply the bokeh effect for backgrounds at any working distance to make a subject stand out. With high ISO settings and such a low f/number, the lens offers a brilliant performance in poorly-lit spaces, so pictures shot in sports halls or after sunset look amazing.
As said before, there are E-mount lenses tailor-made for such full-framers as Sony Alpha 7, and optical accessories specifically designed for cameras with an APS-C sensor. Both types have the same mount, so all models of lenses described in this article perfectly work with these systems. But pay attention to the fact that the crop factor affects the focal distance, so it will be different for every system.
Lenses might have different parameters. It is great that the variety of lenses made by other popular manufacturers is very extensive, with some decent models available for a moderate price. Tamron, Zeiss, Meyer Optik Görlitz, and Voigtländer are among the most reliable brands.
The Sony A7 is a mirrorless camera, which is positioned as the main competitor of modern DSLRs. It is fitted with a powerful 24MP sensor to take amazing pics, which you can easily print as posters without a drop in quality. The camera is light, has small dimensions, and offers many goodies like 425 phase-detection AF points, an Exmor RS image processor, and pro-level options.
