After a brief hiatus from RU-vid to catch up on actual photography and film work, I'm back! Rather than do technical spec reviews I like to chat about how gear is to use in the real world, for both professional and personal use. Today I'm talking about a lens I've been shooting for the best part of 18 months for both film and photography, professional and personal - the Sony Zeiss 35mm f/2.8. Give it a watch to see if it could be a fit for you :) It's a Full Frame 35mm lens for the Sony Alpha Mirrorless system. It's super light weight, small enough to lose in a pocket, and comes with an awesome square-aperture lens hood that makes it look super stealthy while street shooting. I really appreciate when you like (and even dislike) my videos - it helps me to grow the channel and to continue making relevant content to help other content creators make their best work. It’d mean the world to me if you would consider subscribing to the channel and turning my notifications on. Thanks again for watching and see you next time! Here's a link to the lens in case you want the tech specs or to buy one: @t And here's the camera I use it on: @t
2023, and I'm still using this lens constantly. I use it on both the A7c and the A7Riii. It's just too good. I swap it out for the Asahi Pentax 28/3.5 SMC Takumar when I want to go zone focus vs auto focus. They're my go-to street lenses and just never let me down. Discreet, fast, lovely rendering, plenty sharp. Supposing one doesn't need faster aperture, it's still unbeatable to this day.
I got this lens back when I started getting into photography and didn't realize there was a difference between full frame and crop lenses. So I used it for years on my A6500 and it became my favorite lens, I've gotten some of my best photos with it. And then when I switched to full frame, it's still an absolute champion.
We did the same in 2018, it’s a learning curve but your back will thank you! The 2.8 is superb, I do love the 1.8 for lower light though when I can afford to take a slightly bigger lens
Have shot this lens since 2014 on my A6000. I knew I’d jump to full frame eventually, and eventually did with a 2nd hand A7. Now years after that, this lens still going strong on my A7C. There’s not much tech these days that lasts so long and stays completely relevant.
100% Agree! What a standout lens, and I bet the prices will drop a little now the GM is out!? Can't beat the 2.8 for travel though, that thing is nuts.
Great review! It was one of the first lenses I bought for my Sony and I loved it so far. Reviews weren't so pro this lens in the past mostly because of the price when it first came out, while optically no one said anything bad about it actually. The 35 1.8 suffers pretty bad CA (Worse than 55 1.8ZA, which is impressively bad in the first place), if I have to pick a faster lens at this FL I'd either go for the Sigma 35 1.2 Art (if size and weight doesn't matter) or the Zeiss batis 2/40 (if you want it compact)
Thanks so much! Yes the 1.8 has quite a bit of CA but I don't really see it in under most circumstances - the 2.8 just can't be beaten though, but yes I'm after a 40mm f/2, I used one last year and it's absolutely stunning, I just wish it was a 50mm as it would be my only lens for filming!
I love this in super 35 on the a7 :) I bet that combo with the a6600 is tiny! Would love to try it out but desperately trying not to buy any more gear at the moment!
I bought mine second hand in as new condition. I also use it on an A5100, which I also got for nearly next to nothing, and that gives me an aps-c camera which fits in my pocket.
Love this lens as a "normal" lens on my A6600. It's badly overpriced when new, (about US$600.) but quite reasonable as a used lens. Mine was about US$350, I think.
Did you know you can fit 40.5mm filter on the hood ! I have Circular polarizer on the hud and looks like you still have the lens cap on. "Opps Correction 40.5 mm".
Gordon, I did NOT know that! That's awesome, I love having the plastic hood on which makes it more inconspicuous, but yes having a CPL or ND on there would be even better!
Hi, I loved using this lens with the 55mm f/1.8, they make a great small lightweight pair for travel. I also like using the 85mm 1.8 with it as there's more variety there, but usually I'd take this and the 55mm as it's such a small and light package for travel or days out.
@@faircloughstudios2552 Have a look for the Tamron 28-75/2.8 and/or 17-28/2.8. The 28-75 is my workhorse for studio and One-Lens-Traveling with my Sony.
I own the batis 40 mm bit I just got one of these that it pop up at 300 usd!!... I will try it out and even maybe sell the batis 😬, which is magnificent but to big 🤷🏻♂️and 3 times more expensive
Gustavo Ibarra I absolutely love the Batis 40 - I used it about a year ago but didn’t end up buying it. Compared to that the 35mm 2.8 is tiny and super light weight, but doesn’t focus as close.
I'm keeping both, the close focus from the batis is just superb for food photography, which the 35 can't really match. But while travelling I'd just bring the 35 cus it's just so tiny and useful while in cities.
Would appreciate your thoughts on the difference in IQ between the 35 f1.8 and the 35 f2.8; is there a noticeable difference in the colour, contrast. "look" of the photos, etc? Ha, ha, can I justify owning both?!
Wow I could talk about that for quite a long time! Yes there’s a difference, and I’d say broadly I think of it in these terms - the 2.8 matches the colour, look and contrast of the 55mm 1.8, and the 35mm 1.8 matches the 85mm 1.8. That’s the pairings I’ve tended to use when shooting, and it works really well. The 1.8 is sharper, but you won’t see it most of the time. At 1.8 it’s as sharp as the 2.8 wide open. The 1.8 has the more modern clean cool look while the 2.8 has a slightly warmer cast (to my eyes anyway) which looks a bit more natural. In an effort to downsize a bit I sold the 2.8 about a month ago. I really regret it. Technically the 1.8 is better in pretty much every way and was my main photography lens for weddings last year, but the size and weight of the 2.8 making it truly pocketable with those slightly softer more natural colours is worth more than sharpness and AF performance for anything that isn’t in super low light. If you can afford to keep both, do it.
@@faircloughstudios2552 Really appreciate your thoughtful reply and I suspected that the 1.8 , while technically superior may not have the 'character' of the f2.8. Thank you for your thoughts on the lens pairings. I will probably pick up the f1.8 some time soon as I had a chance to test it out just before the pandemic set in and was very impressed with it. The 55 and the 35 f2.8 are both Zeiss co branded lenses so that may explain their natural affinity. Perhaps you could borrow back a 35 f2.8 and do a comparison review of the two smaller Sony 35 and expand your thoughts on lens pairings. That is a subject that hasn't been explored in detail by other RU-vidrs........
Now that’s a superb idea, I’d love to do that comparison, we have a few combinations we use for photography and a few for filming so it would be great to explore that :) and yes that’s absolutely it. The 2.8 has more character, but I do love the focus hold button on the 1.8, it’s a lot more useful than I initially gave it credit for. The 2.8 and 55 also share a filter size of 49mm so you only need to carry one set of filters with that combo too
@@faircloughstudios2552 Ha,ha- no pressure but I will look out for your pairing /comparing review(s)! Thanks for all your feedback to my thoughts on the 35mm lenses!
Many thanks. I'm thinking about buying the Sony FE 35 mm F1.8 (SEL35F18F) or the Sony/ZEISS Sonnar® T* FE 35 mm F2.8 ZA (SEL35F28Z). Can you help me further? Which one would you take? The following is very important to me: Brilliant image quality and fast, reliable eye autofocus. It should also be good for filming sometimes. My heart says Sony/ZEISS Sonnar® T* FE 35 mm F2.8 ZA (SEL35F28Z) because I have an affinity with ZEISS. But my mind says Sony FE 35 mm F1.8 (SEL35F18F) because I think it's more technically advanced and might be a better match for my Sony Alpha 7C. I am not an expert, but I would appreciate your feedback. Many thanks and greetings from Germany!
Many thanks. I'm thinking about buying the Sony FE 35 mm F1.8 (SEL35F18F) or the Sony/ZEISS Sonnar® T* FE 35 mm F2.8 ZA (SEL35F28Z). Can you help me further? Which one would you take? The following is very important to me: Brilliant image quality and fast, reliable eye autofocus. It should also be good for filming sometimes. My heart says Sony/ZEISS Sonnar® T* FE 35 mm F2.8 ZA (SEL35F28Z) because I have an affinity with ZEISS. But my mind says Sony FE 35 mm F1.8 (SEL35F18F) because I think it's more technically advanced and might be a better match for my Sony Alpha 7C. I am not an expert, but I would appreciate your feedback. Many thanks and greetings from Germany!
It’s a stunning lens, we actually have 2 of them - it does help that I filmed in 4K on the a7iii, it’s a strong codec and you really get the benefit of the sharpness of the 55 that way :)
