Category Archives: Guides

Guides, lenses, Sony Alpha 7

Guide to the best 50mm Lenses for full frame Sony E-mount cameras: A7/A9/A1

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zhong yi mitakon 50mm 0.95 m-mount leica m10 sony a7riii a7riv sharpness bokeh resolution contrast review
Sony A7rII | Zhong YI 50mm 0.95 M | f/0.95

The 50mm lens is what used to be called a “standard” lens, though perhaps a very slightly shorter focal length gives the absolutely most natural perspective. For some of us here at Phillipreeve.net it’s a length we adore, and have more 50s than any other focal length. Others of us are less keen, finding it usually too short or too long. Obviously there is no right answer here, it depends on how each photographer sees the world.

We also have a general guide to FE-lenses, 9-18mm ultra wide angle lenses, guide to 20-28mm wide angle lenses, 35mm lenses, 85-200mm portrait lenses and macro lenses.

But it is a very versatile focal length with a wide range of applications. It can be used for slightly formal portraits, moderately environmental portraits, landscape, architecture – most things except wildlife or sport. You can also, with a little quality loss, crop down to a more formal portrait angle of view, and you can – with a gain in both quality and hassle – stitch frames to get wider angles of view for certain kinds of landscape.

In this article we summarize our experience with all the native E-mount 50mm lenses to give you a independent resource in one place for choosing the best 50 mm lens for your needs. We will cover AF E-mount, MF E-mount with electronic contacts, and lenses with the E-mount but no contacts.

Unlike most other review sites we have no association with any lens manufacturer apart from occasionally borrowing a lens for a review. We prefer independence over fancy trips and nice meals.

Before discussing each lens, we tell you which of us had or has the lens, and whether it was purchased or borrowed for review. In most cases we have bought the lenses new from retail stores or on the used market. 

If we have left any question unanswered please leave a comment or contact us on social media and we will do our best to answer it.

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.

Last update: March 2025, Sigma 50mm 1.2 and Sony 50mm 1.4 GM added, Sony 50 1.2 GM, 50mm 2.5 G and Sigma 50mm 2.0 DG DN updated, cleaned up

Continue reading Guide to the best 50mm Lenses for full frame Sony E-mount cameras: A7/A9/A1 →

Comparison, Guides, lenses

Guide to Ultra Wideangle lenses for the Sony A7/A9/A1 Series

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Leica M10 | Laowa 9mm 5.6 | f/8.0

We summarize our experience with all the native E-mount and a few manual legacy lenses in the 9-18mm bracket to give you a compact and independent resource for choosing the right super- to ultra-wide-angle lens for your Sony A7 cameras. In this summary we also included some adapted lenses we think are worth mentioning.

We also have a general guide to FE lenses, guide to 20-28mm lenses as well as a guide to 35mm lenses, 50mm lenses and 85-200mm portrait lenses.

We have no association with any lens manufacturer apart from occasionally loaning a lens for a review. Before any short introduction we tell you how long we have used a lens and if we have borrowed it from a manufacturer. But in most cases we have bought the lenses new from retail stores or on the used market. 

Many of these lenses are manual focus only (MF) whereas some of them feature auto focus (AF). There is also a noticeable amount of lenses listed here that do not feature electronic contacts to communicate with the camera (no Exif).

If we have left any question unanswered please leave a comment or contact us on social media and we will do our best to answer it.

Last update: September 2025; Irix 11mm 4.0, Laowa 12mm 2.8 AF, Samyang 14mm 2.4 XP, Pergear 14mm 2.8 II, Viltrox AF 14mm 4.0 Air and Sony FE 16mm 1.8 G added, some lenses updated

Continue reading Guide to Ultra Wideangle lenses for the Sony A7/A9/A1 Series →

Analogue, camera, Guides, lenses, Meta

Used Lens and Camera Shopping Guide for Japan

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Introduction

Sony A7rII | Zeiss Loxia 21mm 2.8 | f/4.0

If you are looking for used lenses or cameras, Japan can be a real dream destination. Having already been there two times myself I know from first hand experience that it isn’t easy to locate some of the more interesting stores though. My Finnish expat friend Juha Kannisto – who is living in Tokyo – has been helping out photographers from all over the world for years already when it comes to this topic.

I thought it would be useful to collect all this knowledge and turn it into an easy-to-access article, so here we are.

Continue reading Used Lens and Camera Shopping Guide for Japan →

Astrophotography, Guides, lenses

Best Astro-Photography Lenses for the Sony A7 series

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Introduction

Sony A7s | Batis 18mm 2.8 | f/2.8 | ISO6400 | 20s

Landscape astrophotography is something I have been doing for several years. Luckily over the past few years many lenses have been released that make this task easier than ever. So today we are going to have a look at all the available lenses for your Sony so you can choose the one that works best for your needs.
Last update: December 2021

What is landscape astrophotography?

Sony A7s | Nikon AF-S 20mm 1.8G | f/1.8 | 3 shot panorama |

In landscape astrophotography you will usually try to have a combination of the starry sky (with Milky Way or Northern Lights) as well as some foreground (e.g. landscape) in your frame so we are mostly looking at ultra wide to normal lenses (for stitching) here.

Continue reading Best Astro-Photography Lenses for the Sony A7 series →