Sony E-mount lenses that might gain a cult or legendry status? Show 9 months ago 7 Which E-mount lenses to date do you think will at some point become legends\classics and gain cult status? Here are my honorable mentions: Sony Zeiss Planar T* FE 50mm F1.4 ZA | SEL50F14Z Was for many years the best 50mm lens for Sony until the GM 1.2 came along. There is something special about its rendering and it has that infamous Zeiss pop. Sony Sonnar T* FE 35mm f/2.8 ZA Still the smallest (along with the samyang 35 2.8). This lens has a unique drawing, zeiss colors and despite being a slow lens its sharp and has that Zeiss pop too. Sigma 45mm F2.8 A very unique and special lens. The smoothest OOF rendering that even makes harsh backgrounds appealing. Over creates very pleasing images of anything. Wide open close up, the subject glows and this renders it very useful for close-up flower photography. Full body and waist up portraits at about F3.2 look really good. Son FE 85mm F1.4 GM There is something special about the images, colors and the bokeh of this lens. Gets my vote ahead of the new sharper Sigma 85 1.4 DG DN for portraits. Other honorable mentions that didn't make the list: Loxia 50mm which I prefer over the Sonar 55mm. Sony a7 IV Nikon AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D Nikon AF Nikkor 180mm f/2.8D ED-IF Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 1,4/35 Carl Zeiss Planar T* 1,4/85 +15 more  SafariBob • Veteran Member • Posts: 4,473 Re: Sony E-mount lenses that might gain a cult or legendry status? In reply to Bijo Sam • 9 months ago 1 Bijo Sam wrote: it’s a great lens, a couple of things that I think might be issues down the line is unreliable af and sample variation. Not sure there are that many out there Sony Sonnar T* FE 35mm f/2.8 ZA Still the smallest (along with the samyang 35 2.8). This lens has a unique drawing, zeiss colors and despite being a slow lens it’s sharp and has that Zeiss pop too. also suffers from sample variation, it’s also a bit slow. Sigma 45mm F2.8 A very unique and special lens. The smoothest OOF rendering that even makes harsh backgrounds appealing. Over creates very pleasing images of anything. Wide open close up, the subject glows and this renders it very useful for close-up flower photography. Full body and waist up portraits at about F3.2 look really good. don’t know it well enough to comment Son FE 85mm F1.4 GM There is something special about the images, colors and the bokeh of this lens. Gets my vote ahead of the new sharper Sigma 85 1.4 DG DN for portraits. agree that rendering is special. Other honorable mentions that didn't make the list: Loxia 50mm which I prefer over the Sonar 55mm. I think all the loxias, as well as most of the Zeiss branded lenses generally are candidates. good list. most of Sonys special lenses are g-lenses imo: 200-600 12-24 f/4 90mm 2.8 I also think the samyang 35-150 and sigma 14-24 are very special. I do love the Nokton 50 f1 and 40 1.2, but would probably get them in m Mount. The new tech art adapter is also special. honorable mentions to the sigma 100-400 & tamron 50-400. the Sony 70-400 is very special, but needs to be adapted these days. As is most of the Minolta glass Sony RX1 Sony a7R II Sony a7R IV Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS USM Sony 70-400mm F4-5.6 G SSM +6 more 50/1.2GM In reply to Bijo Sam • 9 months ago 3 Reading the specs on this lens (and the a7Rv) is what got me to buy into the E-mount system. The E-mount throat diameter is also too small for this lens to even exist, which is pretty legendary IMHO. Sony a7R V Sony 135mm F1.8 ZA Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* Sony 135mm F2.8 (T4.5) STF Sony FE 20mm F1.8G Sony FE 50mm F1.2 GM +28 more Impulses • Forum Pro • Posts: 12,197 Re: Sony E-mount lenses that might gain a cult or legendry status? In reply to Bijo Sam • 9 months ago 5 Sony 20/1.8 G, I almost feel bad for Sigma tbh... If the Sony didn't exist everyone would've loved their 20/2, but that Sony is just unusually good for the price and by UWA standards. How does it have less cat's eye than my 35GM (and/or than most of my other lenses tbh)?? It just does a bunch of things exceptionally well with very few flaws. The 20/1.4 DN is impressive in it's own right, but the 20G is a little killer. Tamron and/or Samyang 35-150, just a really really unique offering for event photography IMO. It's unclear whether any other system will have something like that in the immediate future. Samyang 75/1.8, I doubt it's gonna attain cult status but it's literally one of the reasons I'm shooting E mount. I'd been waiting for years for additional compact primes that could round out a small FF kit that wasn't significantly larger than my M4/3 kit. When I saw that SY I did a double take, all the 85s are so much larger without any clear advantage to the other f1.8s. Only other short tele prime this small is the Sigma 90/2.8 DN. Heck, 135mm lenses, all of them on E mount... RF has 1, the other FF mirrorless mounts have 0, I guess that 90/2.8 DN works as an equivalent for APS-C (tho obvs not in speed), and M4/3 has the Oly 75/1.8. I'm a sucker for longer fast teles like that. The 12-24s are fairly unique too and the 200-600 G remains a tough value to beat. The big winner is the mount that manages to house this wide variety of 1st and 3rd party options tbh, you might see some of these or something like them on other mounts, but you likely won't see all of them on any other mount. E mount, you da real MVP. Panasonic GX850 Sony a7R IV Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 75mm F1.8 Sony FE 20mm F1.8G Samyang AF 75mm F1.8 FE +33 more Voigtlander 65mm F/2 APO In reply to Bijo Sam • 9 months ago 5 I haven't used any other lens that makes it so clear you can aim for a focus point half way between two adjacent pixels, but can't get any better than that. Sony a6300 Sony a7C Zeiss Loxia 21mm F2.8 Sony FE 85mm F1.8 Voigtlander 65mm F2 Macro APO-Lanthar +1 more Sync80 • Junior Member • Posts: 39 Re: Sony E-mount lenses that might gain a cult or legendry status? In reply to Bijo Sam • 9 months ago My votes for legendary Sony lenses would include the 135 GM and the 600 GM. Both are amazingly sharp and will likely be the best available for many years into the future. OP Bijo Sam • Contributing Member • Posts: 669 Re: Sony E-mount lenses that might gain a cult or legendry status? In reply to Impulses • 9 months ago Impulses wrote: Oh yes, definitely the Samyang 75 and the Sigma 90mm f2.8 as well. The Samyang is sharp, small and has lovely rendering and bokeh. The Sigma 90mm is probably imo the only other lens in its contemporary line up that has that special creamy oof rendering of the Sigma 45mm. I dont know much about the other lenses you listed, I am sure they are unique in terms of focal range and aperture, but is there anything special about their rendering compared to similar lenses? Sony a7 IV Nikon AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D Nikon AF Nikkor 180mm f/2.8D ED-IF Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 1,4/35 Carl Zeiss Planar T* 1,4/85 +15 more OP Bijo Sam • Contributing Member • Posts: 669 Re: Voigtlander 65mm F/2 APO Aidan Williams wrote: I haven't used any other lens that makes it so clear you can aim for a focus point half way between two adjacent pixels, but can't get any better than that. Haven't ever tried it but I have seen numerous posts of Voigtlander APO lens owners raving about these lenses and their color reproduction. Definitely worthy of a classic status. Sony a7 IV Nikon AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D Nikon AF Nikkor 180mm f/2.8D ED-IF Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 1,4/35 Carl Zeiss Planar T* 1,4/85 +15 more OP Bijo Sam • Contributing Member • Posts: 669 Re: Sony E-mount lenses that might gain a cult or legendry status? In reply to Sync80 • 9 months ago Sync80 wrote: I have never tried either, but, is there anything unique\special about the rendering aside from sharpness for these lenses? Sony a7 IV Nikon AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D Nikon AF Nikkor 180mm f/2.8D ED-IF Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 1,4/35 Carl Zeiss Planar T* 1,4/85 +15 more toughluck • Veteran Member • Posts: 4,039 Sony 100/2.8 T/5.6 STF maybe? In reply to Bijo Sam • 9 months ago 4 It's the best STF lens on the market by far. Other STF/APD lenses aren't even in the same league when it comes to using the apodization element effectively. The only lens that comes close is Minolta/Sony 135/2.8 T/4.5 STF, but it's manual focus and needs to be adapted. Sony a7 IV Sigma 135mm F1.8 Art Sigma 14-24mm F2.8 DG DN Tamron 70-180mm F2.8 Di III VXD Sigma 24-70 F2.8 DG DN +3 more Impulses • Forum Pro • Posts: 12,197 Re: Sony E-mount lenses that might gain a cult or legendry status? In reply to Bijo Sam • 9 months ago Bijo Sam wrote:Impulses wrote: Well the 35-150s just have a very unique range, and good rendering for zooms. No first hand experience with them myself... My Samyang 135/1.8 is awfully impressive on every account, I kinda balked at the initial $1K price (for a SY...) but on sale for ~$700 it was really hard to resist. I think all the E mount 135s are pretty great tho (GM and the Batis which is APO). I think OOF rendering on the SY is even a little softer than on the GM, crazy cropping leeway heh. IIRC it even has marginally less cat's eye, all in a lighter package. The 20/1.8 G has unusually good rendering IMO, UWAs are usually meh in that regard but the 20G is great even beyond those standards. Smooth backgrounds, almost no cat's eye, and a short MFD that really helps leverage all that in some instances. Some people will only use a FL like that for landscapes or whatever but I think the 20G rises from the pack, and for $800 on sale? It's basically a baby GM w/o the speed IMO. The OP didn't say anything about rendering btw, just follow up questions or was that the criteria for cult status? Panasonic GX850 Sony a7R IV Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 75mm F1.8 Sony FE 20mm F1.8G Samyang AF 75mm F1.8 FE +33 more Impulses • Forum Pro • Posts: 12,197 Re: Voigtlander 65mm F/2 APO In reply to Bijo Sam • 9 months ago Bijo Sam wrote:Aidan Williams wrote: I haven't used any other lens that makes it so clear you can aim for a focus point half way between two adjacent pixels, but can't get any better than that.Haven't ever tried it but I have seen numerous posts of Voigtlander APO lens owners raving about these lenses and their color reproduction. Definitely worthy of a classic status. AFAIK they're some of the best corrected lenses out there, rivaling or besting GMs, but the wider ones don't necessarily have the nicest background rendering... CV's faster lenses are probably better than the f2 APOs in that regard (even compared at f2, it's not about the speed). I didn't mention them cause they're not exclusive to E mount... Panasonic GX850 Sony a7R IV Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 75mm F1.8 Sony FE 20mm F1.8G Samyang AF 75mm F1.8 FE +33 more araudan • Contributing Member • Posts: 926 Re: Sony E-mount lenses that might gain a cult or legendry status? In reply to Impulses • 9 months ago 1 Impulses wrote: snip The 20/1.8 G has unusually good rendering IMO, UWAs are usually meh in that regard but the 20G is great even beyond those standards. Smooth backgrounds, almost no cat's eye, and a short MFD that really helps leverage all that in some instances. Some people will only use a FL like that for landscapes or whatever but I think the 20G rises from the pack, and for $800 on sale? It's basically a baby GM w/o the speed IMO. The OP didn't say anything about rendering btw, just follow up questions or was that the criteria for cult status? I love the 20G and primarily use it in tight quarters for the reasons (decently bright max aperture, nice background separation ability, short MFD, etc.) you mention. I rarely use it for landscape but it is great there too. OP Bijo Sam • Contributing Member • Posts: 669 Re: Sony 100/2.8 T/5.6 STF maybe? 1 toughluck wrote: The Sony 100mm STF definitely! Sony a7 IV Nikon AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D Nikon AF Nikkor 180mm f/2.8D ED-IF Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 1,4/35 Carl Zeiss Planar T* 1,4/85 +15 more Rod McD • Veteran Member • Posts: 9,152 Re: Sony E-mount lenses that might gain a cult or legendry status? In reply to Bijo Sam • 9 months ago 5 Hi, Depends who you ask.... Among travelers, hikers, climbers, cyclists, kayakers, etc, Sony's tiny series is a breath of fresh air. And so are the Sigma i-Series, though they're not strictly Sony and not all small. They've changed my views on FF. There are a few other lenses in the same genre (eg SY 24/1.8, etc). After a decade of treating small as amateur, the manufacturers have finally worked out that a lot of people want small and excellent. The only problem with the tiny series is that there aren't enough of them. We need a 20/3.5 and an 85/2.8. And maybe a 'tiny' telephoto zoom. A 70-150/4ED could take in 4-5 useful FLs and they should be able to keep the design under 500g. Looking for excellence in small packages, NOT cheap options. Cheers, R Sony a7R III Fujifilm X-T4 Voigtlander 90mm F3.5 APO-Lanthar SL II Fujifilm XF 60mm F2.4 R Macro Fujifilm XF 18-55mm F2.8-4 R LM OIS +19 more Impulses • Forum Pro • Posts: 12,197 Re: Sony E-mount lenses that might gain a cult or legendry status? In reply to Rod McD • 9 months ago Rod McD wrote: FWIW, there's the manual Voigtlander 21/3.5 and the 18/2.8 you probably already know about... And Sigma does have that 90/2.8 in the tiny series (plus the SY 75/1.8), not sure there's a pressing need for an 85/2.8 tbh but if Sony were to do one as part of the 24/40/50 series I'm sure it'd be interesting. And maybe a 'tiny' telephoto zoom. A 70-150/4ED could take in 4-5 useful FLs and they should be able to keep the design under 500g. Looking for excellence in small packages, NOT cheap options. Cheers, R Agreed, I'd love to see a truly small tele like that, maybe a little wider at the short end to make it even more versatile. I think Sony might get close to or even under 650g with the new 70-200/4 G II, but I'd love something even smaller that's basically in line with my primes or my 17-28. Until that comes around I'll likely just keep using different 135s and cropping as an alternative... My Canon FD 135/3.5 is like 325g (+adapter), my Oly 75/1.8 on a lightweight 2x crop factor M4/3 body is like <600g total (body+lens). Love the 35-100/2.8 (basically a tiny internal 70-200/5.6 equiv), nearly the same weight. Just wish I didn't have to run to another format or resort to vintage manual glass to get that kinda reach at that weight/size on my FF body! There's loads of overlap for lens size between formats at shorter FLs now, just need some more on teles even if it's trickier there. Panasonic GX850 Sony a7R IV Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 75mm F1.8 Sony FE 20mm F1.8G Samyang AF 75mm F1.8 FE +33 more Bread chef • Contributing Member • Posts: 555 Re: Sony E-mount lenses that might gain a cult or legendry status? In reply to Bijo Sam • 9 months ago 3 In terms of quality, versatility and usability the Sony FE 200-600mm must be somewhat of a neo-legend allready amongst the distinct group of bird and wildlife photographers. Enough so for Fujifilm and Nikon both having to come up with their own equivalent of the lens, the Fujifilm 150-600mm and the Nikkor 180-600mm. With both Fuji and Nikon lenses also 600mm on the long end, both (also) internally zooming, weathersealed and both with a certain form factor likeness to the Sony lens. The Fujifilm version however isnt a full frame lens and only f/8 on the long end (instead of Sony's and Nikon's f/6.3) but the resemblance is there nevertheless. The force is strong with the 200-600mm SafariBob • Veteran Member • Posts: 4,473 Re: Sony E-mount lenses that might gain a cult or legendry status? 1 Take non wrote: I agree. The 200-600 is the first super tele which allows “enthusiasts” to regularly take photos that 15 years ago would be good enough for national geographic. Sony RX1 Sony a7R II Sony a7R IV Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS USM Sony 70-400mm F4-5.6 G SSM +6 more Impulses • Forum Pro • Posts: 12,197 Re: Sony E-mount lenses that might gain a cult or legendry status? 1 Take non wrote: Yeah the 200-600 G has definitely sold well enough for others to take notice, and for Nikon to wanna undercut it on price slightly, I think that's a compliment. Kinda begs the question what Canon expects RF wildlife shooters to do, settle for the much more expensive 100-500 that's f7.1 at the long end? Push them to the $10K+ primes? Meanwhile we're now swimming in xx-600 & xx-500 & xx-400 options. Panasonic GX850 Sony a7R IV Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 75mm F1.8 Sony FE 20mm F1.8G Samyang AF 75mm F1.8 FE +33 more SafariBob • Veteran Member • Posts: 4,473 Re: Sony E-mount lenses that might gain a cult or legendry status? In reply to Impulses • 9 months ago Impulses wrote:Take non wrote:Yeah the 200-600 G has definitely sold well enough for others to take notice, and for Nikon to wanna undercut it on price slightly, I think that's a compliment. Kinda begs the question what Canon expects RF wildlife shooters to do, settle for the much more expensive 100-500 that's f7.1 at the long end? Push them to the $10K+ primes? Meanwhile we're now swimming in xx-600 & xx-500 & xx-400 options. I believe there has been a canon 200-600 Rf on the roadmap or at least patent for years. Sony RX1 Sony a7R II Sony a7R IV Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS USM Sony 70-400mm F4-5.6 G SSM +6 more Keyboard shortcuts: FForum MMy threads You may also likeLatest sample galleriesLatest in-depth reviewsThe latest Lumix puts a Four Thirds sensor in a full-frame body with boosted AF and a wealth of stills and video capabilities to create a Swiss Army Knife of a Micro Four Thirds camera. 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