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Best budget lenses under $499 for Sony a7/a7II/a7III

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You can easily spend a fortune on lenses for your Sony E-mount camera but you don’t have to. These lenses all cost less than $499 and give you great image quality on your a7/a7II/a7III/a7rII-series camera.

For each lens we have summarized the defining strengths and weaknesses. We hope this will make it easier to decide for yourself, if the lens could fit your needs. Please make sure to check out our in-depth reviews for a much more detailed discussion of each lens.

There are certainly other lenses which would deserve a spot in this list but we only include lenses we have used ourselves, so please don’t take it personal if we haven’t included your favorite lens.
Last Update: November 2019

If you purchase the lens through one of the affiliate-links in this article we get a small compensation with no additional cost to you

Voigtlander 5.6/12 M39

Compared to the DSLR lenses (like the Samyang 14mm 2.8) this lens is ridiculously small. This is a lens that will always easily fit into your bag, which is great if you not intend to shoot this wide on a regular basis. With the filter adapter it is even possible to use standard 77mm filters.

You should be aware of: The corners never reach excellent levels, huge vignetting, slow, not a good match for A7r.

175g + adapter | ~$450 | full Review | aperture seriessample images

buy from ebay | Sony E-mount adapters (affiliate links)

dancing houses prag prague praha gehry sony a7s voigtlander 12mm 5.6

Continue reading Best budget lenses under $499 for Sony a7/a7II/a7III

Review: Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 Di III RXD

Introduction

tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 2.8 review comparsion sharpness resolution contrast 42mp 61mp test sony a7rIII a7rII a7riv
Tamron 17-28mm 2.8 Di III RXD on Sony A7rII

Tamron’s first E-mount lens was the 28-75mm 2.8. Compared to the 24-70mm 2.8 lenses Tamron decided to give up a bit of zoom range to realize an affordable and compact yet fast standard zoom.
This 17-28mm 2.8 shares these qualities on paper, so let us see if the optical performance can keep up with our expectations.
Last update 07/25/19: Sharpness Close, Focus Shift, Alternatives, Pro/Con table added

Sample Images

tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 2.8 review comparsion sharpness resolution contrast 42mp 61mp test sony a7rIII a7rII a7riv
Sony A7rII | Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 | 20mm f/11
tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 2.8 review comparsion sharpness resolution contrast 42mp 61mp test sony a7rIII a7rII a7riv
Sony A7rII | Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 | 28mm f/8.0
tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 2.8 review comparsion sharpness resolution contrast 42mp 61mp test sony a7rIII a7rII a7riv
Sony A7rII | Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 | 28mm f/2.8
tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 2.8 review comparsion sharpness resolution contrast 42mp 61mp test sony a7rIII a7rII a7riv
Sony A7rII | Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 | 17mm f/2.8
tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 2.8 review comparsion sharpness resolution contrast 42mp 61mp test sony a7rIII a7rII a7riv
Sony A7rII | Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 | 28mm f/2.8

Continue reading Review: Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 Di III RXD

Building a lens kit

Introduction

carl zeiss loxia 85mm 2.0 sonnar sony a7 a7r a7r2 a7rm2 alpha alpha7 review
Loxia 21mm 2.8 – Loxia 35mm 2.0 – Loxia 85mm 2.4

When you start getting more involved with photography – and especially when you prefer using prime lenses – at some point it makes sense to spend some thoughts on building a lens kit.
In this article we want to give you a few ideas of what to consider when building your own lens kit and show you some of ours in the end.

Continue reading Building a lens kit

Review: Sony FE 24mm 1.4 GM

sony gm 24mm 1.4 fe wide angle review sharpness bokeh astro coma astrophotography sony a7rii a7riii 42mp
Sony FE 24mm 1.4 GM on Sony A7rII

The FE 24mm 1.4 GM is a lens that Bastian, David and Jannik preordered the lens based on the spectacular specs: It is significantly lighter and smaller than competing lenses and affordable (for a GM lens at least). In this review you can read why they did not regret the decision.

Sample Images

Sony A7III | Sony FE 1.4/24 GM | f/8 | full size

Sony A7III | Sony FE 1.4/24 GM | f/1.4 | full size

Sony A7III | Sony 1.4/24 GM | f2.2 | full size

Continue reading Review: Sony FE 24mm 1.4 GM

Guide to Macro Lenses for the Sony a7 series

In this Guide to Macro lenses David and Phillip give you all the relevant information you need to find the right macro lens for your Sony Alpha 7/9 series camera. No matter if you are just an occasional macro shooter or pretty serious about macro.
Last update: July 2020

Macro lenses allow you to capture much smaller objects so you can reach outside of our normal human perception. They can be found in many camera bags because they do not only excel in capturing tiny insects but they also perform quite well in other roles like portrait and landscape photography. You couldn’t buy a more universal prime.

Sony FE 2.8/90 used as a landscape lens

So which one is right for you? At first you should decide for yourself where you want to put your focus. Do you want to capture nothing but tiny insects? Or do you want to use the lens for other purposes most of the time and only capture occasional macro images?

A macro lens used to capture something really small

Things to consider when buying a macro lens

Continue reading Guide to Macro Lenses for the Sony a7 series