This holiday season, we’re looking at fun and affordable lenses for your mirrorless systems. There will be both unique lenses and some overlap thanks to the vast number of third-party lenses hitting the market for all major brands. In this guide, we’re covering lenses for the Sony E mount. From ultra-wide-angle lenses suited for landscapes and architectural images to super telephoto ones for sports and wildlife, we’ll be covering a variety of focal lengths are variety of uses.
Lenses
7Artisans 10mm f/2.8 Mark II Fisheye Lens for Sony E
Outside of the 16mm Fisheye conversion lens for the FE 28mm f/2, Sony has no true fisheye lenses. In recent years, it seems many major manufacturers have stepped back from making these broad focal length lenses. Luckily, a number of third-party lens manufacturers have taken to filling out the uncommon lenses in major brand lineups.
The all-manual 7Artisans 10mm f/2.8 Mark II Fisheye is durable and designed to perform in various shooting conditions. Its large field of view is ideal for landscape, travel, and even underwater photography. The f/2.8 maximum aperture and glow-in-the-dark depth of field markings makes this an excellent option for a variety of lighting situations. It can also produce interesting perspectives thanks to its 5.9” minimum focus distance. This lens is also well suited for video thanks to a de-clicked aperture ring.
Venus Optics Laowa 10mm f/2.8 Zero-D FF Autofocus Lens
Keeping with the ultra-wide-angle field of view, is the Venus Optics Laowa 10mm f/2.8 Zero-D FF lens. This lens is Venus Optics first autofocus lens in the Laowa lineup as well as the world’s widest f/2.8 full-frame rectilinear lens. That’s right, this is not a fisheye lens. It delivers an impressively wide perspective with minimal distortion, making it perfect for capturing landscapes, architecture and night skies. It can even serve as a close-up lens, with the autofocus designing affording a minimum focus distance of 4.7”.
Unlike many other ultra-wide-angle lenses on the market, the Laowa 10mm f/2.8 has a built-in 77mm filter thread, allowing you to attach UV, CPL, and ND filters without the need for any special adapters. And, if 10mm is too wide, Venus Optics has recently introduced a 12mm version.
Viltrox AF 28mm f/4.5 FE Lens
A classic street photography lens in an ultra-thin package. The Viltrox AF 28mm f/4.5 FE lens is just 2.1 oz, yet comes equipped with autofocus and an innovative feature in its integrated cap. With the flip of a slide lever, you can cover the front element from dust and dirt.
The unique front element is designed to produce breathtaking starburst when facing any backlit points of light. Additionally, the front element is coated to reduce reflections and protect against droplets, dirt, and smudges. As Viltrox’s lightest lens, it’s the perfect choice for on-the-go shoots. Simply slide the lens into your pocket and go!
Tamron 35mm f/2.8 Di III OSD M 1:2 Lens
The Tamron 35mm f/2.8 Di III OSD M1:2 is a versatile, wide-angle lens suited for almost every scenario you can imagine. The 35mm focal length is a preferred choice thanks to its wide field of view, but natural perspective. If it’s too narrow for your style, Tamron also offers a 20mm and 24mm lens in this series. They share a 67mm filter thread so you can easily swap filters between lenses at your convenience.
This lens delivers exquisite optical performance thanks to the combination of LD and GM specialized elements which control aberrations and Tamron’s BBAR coating which reduces ghosting and flare. One of the most captivating features is the close minimum-focus distance of just 5.9” for a maximum magnification ratio of 1:2.
TTArtisan 50mm f/1.2 Lens
An APS-C format lens, the TTArtisan 50mm f/1.2 is a versatile short-telephoto portrait lens with an effective focal length of 75mm (Full-frame equivalent). With an f/1.2 maximum aperture, this lens offers great control over depth of field and when paired with the 10-blade diaphragm you’ll get exceptional bokeh quality.
The lens is constructed primarily of metal, and while not overly heavy, the weight is palpable. The hefty construction paired with manual controls serves to slow you down and truly make you appreciate what you’re doing as a photographer. If speed is a necessity, this may not be the lens for you.
Viltrox AF 85mm f/1.4 Pro FE Lens
85mm is one of the most popular portrait focal lengths. It’s for that reason that many photographers opt to shoot with the versatile 70-200mm focal length, but these lenses tend to be big and expensive. Alternatively, we can opt for a prime, which come with additional light-gathering abilities. The most common aperture you’ll see in an affordable 85mm prime is f/1.8, but Viltrox has changed the game with a competitive f/1.4 offering.
The Viltrox AF 85mm f/1.4 Pro FE Lens is a bright, fast focusing prime for Sony E mount that comes in a fraction of the price of its G Master counterpart. This lens delivers great sharpness and visually stunning bokeh. Ergonomically, the lens feels good and offers many of the same features as the G Master, such as a physical aperture ring and programmable function buttons. It also features a 2.6’ minimum focusing distance which allows shooters to capture close-up dramatic portraits.
Tamron 16-30mm f/2.8 Di III VXD G2
Even portrait photographers can benefit from a dramatic perspective, and few lenses do it with the quality and affordability of the Tamron 16-30mm f/2.8 Di III VXD G2. It’s sharp, lightweight, and snappy to find focus. The minimum focus distance of just 7.5” makes it ideal for capturing dramatic scenes and creating beautiful bokeh.
An exciting addition to these lenses is their compatibility with Tamron’s Lens Utility software, which allows users to customize functions and easily update firmware. At more than half the price of the larger FE 16-35mm f/2.8 GM II, it’s no wonder why this lens is a popular choice for landscape photographers.
Sony FE 20-70mm f/4 G Lens
The FE 20-70mm f/4 G is an innovative standard zoom designed to accommodate the vloggers and content creators out there with a wider field of view at its shortest focal length. This has the added benefit of serving landscape and travel photographers well as you can fit more in the frame while maintaining a standard zoom range for everyday use. With its enhanced autofocus features, the FE 20-70 f/4 G delivers fast AF performance in both video and still shooting scenarios.
Its compact form-factor makes this a great lens for travel. Hybrid construction using both metal and plastic maximizes portability while not compromising durability. The lens’s dust and moisture resistant design makes it reliable in any environment.
As with many of the latest Sony FE lenses, the 20-70mm features a wide assortment of physical controls on the lens itself, such as a dedicated zoom, focus, and aperture rings, customizable focus hold buttons and a focus switch to seamlessly swap between autofocus and manual focus.
TTArtisan 250mm f/5.6 Reflex Lens (M42)
Reflex lenses, also known as mirror lenses, are essentially small telescopes. Unlike the typical super-telephoto lens, these use a series of angled, circular mirrors to gather light and reflect the light back and forth until a highly magnified portion of the image reaches your camera’s imaging sensor. Due to this design, the resulting bokeh is unique to say the least. Distant lights or reflective surfaces will appear in a ring or donut-like pattern. The TTArtisan 250mm f/5.6 Reflex Lens is no exception.
This lens is fully manual and features a fixed f/5.6 aperture. The unique bokeh produced by reflex lenses great benefit subject matter in portrait or nature settings. Its full metal construction is especially handy for those looking to use the lens in less controlled settings. This lens features an M42 mount so you’ll need an adapter to mount it on the Sony system.
Sony FE 100-400mm f/5.6-8 OSS Lens
Extreme telephoto reach has never been so accessible for Sony users. The FE 100-400mm f/5.6-8 OSS Lens is perfect for sports and wildlife photography, packing the power of larger zooms in a lightweight ultra-compact package. Even with such a portable build, the 100-400mm lens comes equipped with the Optical SteadyShot image stabilization system and lightning-fast autofocus, capable of keeping up with Sony’s fastest cameras, ensuring users nail even the toughest shots.
While not as durable as it’s G Master counterparts, the 100-400mm lens provides users with a dust and moisture resistant construction as well as a zoom locking mechanism to keep the barrel from creeping open while you’re on the move. Additionally, the lens is compatible with both the 1.4x and 2.0x teleconverters, so you can reach focal lengths up to 800mm.
While this list encompasses some of our picks for fun, affordable lenses for the Sony E-mount system, there are just too many options to list them all. Many of the lenses in this article are just one of many in a series featuring many focal lengths. If you’re interested in learning more about photography, read more on the B&H Explora page!
