{"id":21896,"date":"2025-03-08T10:15:33","date_gmt":"2025-03-08T09:15:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phillipreeve.net\/blog\/?p=21896"},"modified":"2026-03-23T20:08:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T19:08:02","slug":"guide-to-best-sony-e-mount-35mm-lenses-for-a7iii-a7ii-a7riv-a7riii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/phillipreeve.net\/blog\/guide-to-best-sony-e-mount-35mm-lenses-for-a7iii-a7ii-a7riv-a7riii\/","title":{"rendered":"Guide to best Sony E-Mount 35mm Lenses for A7\/A9\/A1 series"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"review<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

35mm is a very popular focal length with a wide range of applications ranging from landscape over astrophotography to environmental portraiture and many consider it the best choice when only using one prime lens. We decided to summarize our experience with all the native E-mount and a few legacy 35mm lenses for the Sony A7 series<\/strong> to give you a compact and independent resource for choosing the best 35mm lens for your needs.<\/p>\n

We also have a general guide to FE-lenses<\/a>, 9-18mm ultra wide angle lenses<\/a>, guide to 20-28mm wide angle lenses<\/a>, 50mm lenses<\/a>, 85-200mm portrait lenses<\/a> and macro lenses<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Unlike most other review sites we have no association with any lens manufacturer apart from occasionally loaning a lens for a review. We prefer independence over fancy trips and nice meals.<\/p>\n

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. If you want to support our independent reviews please consider using one of the affiliate links. It doesn’t cost you anything and helps us a lot<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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

Last update:<\/strong> March 2025, cleaned up a bit<\/em><\/p>\n

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5 Questions to consider before deciding on a 35mm lens<\/h1>\n

There is no best 35mm lens for everyone, since individual needs are so different. This is why you won’t find any ratings in terms of stars or points out of 5 in this guide. Instead here are 5 questions to help you reflect on what you need in a 35mm lens. If you already know what you need you can skip to the lenses discussion directly.<\/p>\n

1. What will you use your 35mm lens for?<\/h2>\n

A lens might perform very well for one application and fail for others. The Zeiss Loxia 2\/35 for example is a favorite of many landscape photographers but we can only recommend against using it for a wedding. Our favorite wedding lens, the Sigma 1.2\/35, on the other hand is a behemoth of a lens you probably don’t want to carry on a longer hike. Other lenses like the Sony FE 1.8\/35 aren’t the best in any category but cover a wide range of applications well enough. So before deciding on a lens you should ask yourself what you want to use your lens for. Here we present a few scenarios to make it clearer what aspects matter for those.<\/p>\n

\"sigma
Sony A7rII | Sigma 35mm 1.2 Art | f\/1.2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When shooting a wedding<\/strong> you will probably care most about bokeh, good sharpness across most of the frame from wide open, speed and AF which should be fast and reliable. Price may or may not be an important aspect. Requirements for shooting family<\/strong> are similar with a bigger emphasis on AF-speed for smaller children.<\/p>\n

\"sigma
Sony A7III | Sigma 35mm 1.4 Art | f\/1.4 | pano from 4 shots<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For astro<\/strong>-photography you want a fast lens with good coma correction and as little vignetting as possible. Many people also prefer manual lenses here.<\/p>\n

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When photographing a landscape<\/strong> or architecture<\/strong> you will probably care about good sharpness at f\/8 or f\/11, high contrast, good flare resistance, manual focus experience and maybe nice sunstars or small weight.<\/p>\n

2. What is your budget?<\/h2>\n

You can spend anywhere from $150 to $1500 for a 35mm E-mount lens. You can also adapt a good legacy 35mm for a little over $50. As a rule of thumb more money gets you better optical quality, better build quality, better reliability and faster lenses. There are some rather embarrassing exceptions to this rule of thumb in the E-mount 35mm lineup though.<\/p>\n

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taken with a $50 Canon nFD 2.8\/35<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How much should you spend? If you are on a very tight budget but a competent photographer you will get very good results out of a $50 lens but you will have to deal with a few scenarios where you would have gotten better results with a more expensive lens. But keep in mind we all know that guy who reliably gets bad results out of his $4000 Leica lens. Since available income differs so much it is impossible to give a general recommendation here but it is a good idea to consider how much you will use a lens, how much joy you will get out of using it and count that against much how much you will miss the money it cost you.<\/p>\n

When considering the price of a lens also look at the long term cost of it. A cheap $350 lens which breaks after 1 year of use costs you $350 for a year of use. A more expensive $600 lens you bought used that can be sold after a year for $550 costs you $50 for a year of use. And it was probably more enjoyable to use in that year. There is also an effect called “early adopter tax”: the value of newly released lenses usually depreciates rather quickly in the first year.<\/p>\n

3. Size & Weight<\/h2>\n
\"laowa
Laowa 33mm 0.95 CF and 35mm 0.95 FF, Sony FE 35mm 1.4 GM, Sigma 35mm 1.2 Art DG DN<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The lightest 35mm E-mount lens ist the Samyang 2.8\/35 at 86g, while the heaviest lens, the Sigma 1.2\/35, weighs 1090g. The three most important factors for the weight of a lens are speed, vignetting and the degree of optical correction. The Sigma 1.2\/35 is not only 2.5 stops faster than the Samyang: its optical design is also a lot more complex which results in much higher sharpness and better correction of aberrations. The Sigma also has a lot less vignetting.<\/p>\n

Again needs are very different: If you do a lot of hiking you probably don’t want to carry the very heavy Sigma, but a slower, lighter lens. As a wedding photographer on the other hand performance will usually be more important than weight. Lenses also need to fit into your camera bag.<\/p>\n

4. How fast does it need to be?<\/h2>\n