In Australia used market, The Sony Zeiss costs around 350-400AUD (228USD) which basically 25% cheaper than the Tamron. It's kinda an obvious choice. Lenses don't usually break that easily so if you can go for a good used copy without dust/moisture in the elements. Go for it.
I’m guessing extra dollars are always worth for fast autofocus. Especially unless shooting landscape or a model who can wait for endless time, it is always about autofocus 🤔
LoL, Chris' humour has reached a new level. Their little review videos are becoming really funny, which is much needed when we're talking about 35m lenses
Sony really needs to drop the prices on some of those early E-mount lenses. Especially this and the 35 1.8 APS-C lens. At this point they’ve already paid off the tooling and they cost them pennies on the dollar to produce.
I just got the Tamron, and can confirm it's excellent. It's lightweight on the Sony, and it's sharp. Definitely has the image quality of prime lenses twice the price, the only caveat being the smaller aperture. At 2.8 it's plenty usable, but at f/4 it really shines. I usually keep at it at that aperture all the time as a walk-around lens for images with sharp with punchy contrast.
A serious omission is that the Sony Zeiss Sonnar 35mm f/2.8 T* ZA is made in Japan. (One of the very few Sony full frame e-mount lenses that is made in Japan). The Tamron FE 28mm f/2.8 is made in Vietnam. Most small Sony e-mount APS-C or full frame lenses have a 49mm filter thread. The 49mm is very common with Sony even during the Minolta a-mount era. 67mm filters of the same brand and type are always more expensive than 49mm filters. Plus the lens hood of the Sony Zeiss FE 35mm f/2.8 with the code ALC-Sh129 has a filter thread of 40.5mm can accept even smaller and maybe less expensive and heavy filters. The Sony Zeiss 35mm f/2.8 like most lenses with Sonnar design has good sharpness but suffers from serious chromatic aberration. The Sony Zeiss was one of the very first full frame e-mount lenses. It was even earliest than the kit lens Sony FE 28-70 f/4-5.6. It was made small and light in order to emphasize how small and light the Sony a6 and a6r cameras were in comparison to full frame dSLR in 2003. Since 2003 of the introduction of Sony a7 and a7R, the Sony Zeiss is still smallest and lightest full frame e-mount lens. Sony has two APS-C e-mount pancake lenses but it isn't interested at in a full frame e-mount pancake lens. Also don't forget to check the much cheaper Samyang/Rokinon full frame autofocus e-mount FE 35mm f/2.8 which have a very similar size and weight with the Sony Zeiss FE 35mm f/2.8.
I think someone mentioned this below, but the 35mm Zony 2.8 is probably best found gently used. Personally, I’ve come to love this lens for its rendition. The colors I find preferable to the equivalent Tamron or the Samyang. I also trust the build quality more for it. I found mine for a bit less than $400 USD (probably like 3.48 billion CAD with today’s conversion rate). If this difference is, say, a Samyang used for $300 or the Zony for $400, I think its a nod to the Zony. Definitely overpriced when it came out, but for travel and streetphotography (where fast, great auto AF is welcomed), buying used, this is one of the best deals on the A7 platform.
The Samyang formula is similar to the SonyZeiss 35 2.8 so the image quality is similar. The focus speed is near Sony made lenses. No sealing of any kind. Skinniest 35 FE.
Tamron is absolutely amazing, no doubts. But autofocus speed and the size of Sony Zeiss were decisive in my choice once I was seeking for a compact lightweight travellers lens. Got a second hand in perfect state for the same price of a brand new Tamron.
Its worth mentioning that the auto-focus will likely improve over time with future firmware release in the same way the auto-focus was enhanced on the now famous Tamron 28-75.
I just got the Tamron 35 f/2.8 and I must say I am disappointed. The whole left side of the frame are blurry. So possibly a decentered one I got. So I returned the lens.
Damn you nifty-fifty, damn you into friggin hell ! 🙂 I *love* shooting 35 & 40mm lenses since the later 80's, but 50mm always gets my nerves - too compressed, not wide enough. 35mm is perfect for 95% of anything, Chris.
I wonder if Tamron can fix the AF issue with a software update. They did that with one of their other lenses. The AF issue will be a deal breaker for some potential buyers.
The Rokinon / Samyang 35mm 2.8 is awesome too, and much smaller and lighter than the Tamron, and lighter than the Zeiss too - 85g for the Rokinon vs 130g for the Zeiss and 210g for the Tamron.
$800us for the Zeiss? I call BS or you guys need to find a new camera store. I payed $700aus which is less the $480us. And no this was not some special online price but from a traditional walk in camera store.
The Sony Zeiss FE 35mm f/2.8 T* ZA is one of the few and maybe the only one Sony e-mount lenses that is made in Japan. Most of Sony e-mount lenses are made in Thailand and some in China. The Tamron 35mm f/2.8 is made in Vietnam. The Sony FE 35mm f/2.8 is the first full frame e-mount lens and the lightest and smallest Sony full frame e-mount lens. Only the third party plastic full frame e-mount Samyang FE 35mm f/2.8 is slightly smaller and lighter. The Sony FE 35mm f/2.8 was introduced alongside with the Sony a7 series in 2003 before the 28-70mm kit lens in order to emphasize how small and light the a7 series is. However after seven years no smaller or lighter full frame lens has introduced by Sony. A full frame e-mount pancake is an omission by Sony. In 2015 the collaboration of Sony and Zeiss on lenses ended and the Sony Zeiss FE 50mm f/1.4 T* ZA was the last of the collaboration.
Zeiss has great AF, coating and is absolutely tiny. However Tamron is priced excitingly, macro capabilities are the unexpected plus and weather-sealing. All it all, it seems Tamron really did nicely here again. I'm sure they'll sell many of these, for good reason.
Yeah it would be a fairer comparison although most people who have compared the Samyang to the Sony Zeiss say the Sony is not worth the extra. The Samyang looks very sharp with great colors. I need another prime to go with my 55 1.8 Sony Zeiss but unlike the 55 the 35 does not seem to be as highly rated?
I’m a telephoto shooter : 70-200 and 200-600 lenses, but wanted a cheap, compact sharp portrait lens for general walk about photos and this Tamron has been perfect. As you mentioned in the video - focus speed is poor but everything else is great and I love the lens hood design too 👍🏻
This lens is often put aside just for the AF, but I'd say it's the #1 "lens for money" on Sony FE. - image quality right from 2.8 is superb from corner to corner, even in close-ups at minimum focus distance - very good contrast and sharpness without looking overly or artificially sharp - thanks to the minimum focus distance of only 14/15 cm, it is very versatile and doesn't suffer from perspective distortion like you get on a 24mm lens - CAs are low - handling and grip are very good: the lens is small, yet at the same time big enough to give you a proper touch to it - hood: very smart solution, doesn't add any size to your lens - price: it was around 170€ by the end of December The AF, however, for sure isn't the fastest, but 1) it is not terribly slow, 2) it's surprisingly reliable and 3) can be put to MF if the clicking sound is undesirable. Plus, if you set AF to "slow" for more soft transitions, it is a lot quieter in video. Nevertheless, it's not your all-around-package. You have to get used to its AF and know how to make the best use of it - which is certainly possible.
This review changed my mind from buying the Sony 35 2.8 to the Tamron. Photography is not my profession. I do own some moderately expensive Sony lens like the 24-105 and the amazing 85 1.8 but I couldn't justify neither of the 35mm 2.8 nor the 1.8 after watching some reviews. I am still waiting for the Tamron to come in, but I think t will be the right lens for my needs.
For daily photography i got samyang 35 2.8 sony lens for around 250$ and i am considering this 35 (only when it hits some good deals), only because of the close focusing, which is tempting. For my a7R3. For the paid work (baptism, weddings,) got 35 1.4 samyang -a very sharp lens.
I find the image quality of the Tamron surprisingly good for this price point! If the 20 mm can come up with similar quality, I know what lens to buy next …
Agree. I really hope they can improve this with a firmware update, but maybe this won't happen. Sony holds some shares in Tamron and they might want to protect their sales of both of their smaller 35mm lenses
I can see that the fast focus of the Zeiss would be an advantage for still photography, but is jarring in video, where I preferred the Tamron, which melted from one focus point to another.
A lot of SonyZeiss 35 2.8 lenses on the UK secondhand market at the moment. Average pricing is around £350-375 so close to the new price of the Tamron.
I prefer the zeiss for the size. You can get a used zeiss for 350 - 400€ in germany. I paid 350 for 6 mounths old one. So for me the pricetag in this comparision is not important.
@@natashanicole7408 I've read from two other users about the same issues. Also the barrell distortion on the 24mm was crazy and despite it being easy to correct, it's an optical flaw and was the second reason for me to return it.
For $350, it’s the lens to get. The Zeiss is very good in the corners wide open, and if tamron can beat it for less than half the price? You’ve got a winner. BTW, your AF test is flawed, AF-S is a poor way to test.
The new price on the Zeiss is absurd... but lightly used they're $350-400... not a bad deal. The issue with the Tam 35 2.8, as well as the Samy 35 2.8... is autofocus issues at night.
Jordan can add model to his list of skills like actor and video producer. The lens appears to do camera based firmware updates, so hopefully they will improve the autofocus situation.
I am just getting into photography I was taking pictures with a 13 year old point and shoot, so I took the plunge and bought a Canon SL2 with the kit lens EF-S 18-55mm IS STM Len so with this said what would you suggest for taking pictures and video at disney we are heading down there in early January. The camera store guy suggested 35mm 2.8 macro I did some reading and there were more lens that came up, they are EF 50mm F 1.8 stm, this len I heard mixed views on, the EF Stm 10 - 18 F-4.5 - 5.6 , 18 - 135mm stm I am going to take mostly videos and some pictures.
So you showed Tamron's AF-S focus speed at 1x video time speed, and Sony's AF-S video portion at 2x speed or more. How people are supposed to make judgements out of it? All I see is video speed increased, but can't say anything about the lens focus time and wobbling, because video speeds are different
Do you suggest this or the new Sigma 35mm f2 for a Daily-Outdoor ( trekking-climbing) use with a Sony A7ii? I actually use a Sony 24-70 F4, and the AF is good for my use.. I'd love to have a small, qualitative 35mm, and this Tamron looks perfect, but I'm afraid of the AF ( My A7ii Is not a Rocket for what concerning AF).
