Sony How Big Are the Sony FE Lenses Really?

Nice comparison! The Sony A7 and A7r have reset the bar. In 2015 the FE lens lineup should fill out, and that's when I might jump ship from Canon FF.
 
In FF land, slowish 35mm and 50mm (1.8) lenses are small to begin with. I have a pancake Nikon MF 50mm 1.8 that's as big as a Panasonic 20mm. I think FE fast zooms and wide/long primes will be close to the same size as DSLR equivalent lenses.
 
There's nothing about the current A7(r) gear that puts me off in terms of size / weight. The primes look fine and even the kit and Zeiss zooms look pretty reasonable. But I'm waiting to see what a couple of wider angle options will look like size-wise and a good 120-150mm portrait type lens. If they can deliver a 24 and/or 21 that's not too large and maybe some sort of ultra-wide (prime or zoom is ok with me - but something down around 14mm), and a portrait lens, then maybe I'll take a closer look at the system. As is, I would rarely ever use the 55 even if it's the best lens in the world and I don't see any reason to side-grade to an A7 and 35 when I already have an RX1 I absolutely love.

Definitely a system I'm keeping an eye on, but nothing compelling there for me yet...

-Ray
 
I wish the FE35 was a stop faster and wouldn't care if it's a little bigger. The FE55 is compact enough and the bod and two lenses (or more) easily fit in my smallest go-light bag.

Since my FE55 arrived I've not mounted the FE35 once. We are having a fling but it might last a while...
 
Of course the size issue with full frame gear will only manifest itself with telephotos, or very wide field lenses, and even in those cases, the larger max aperture examples will be worse cases. Certainly 35mm and 55mm lenses of not exceptional speed won't be where the size issue shows up. Of course those are the two examples for which the lenses could be virtually as small as for M4/3 gear. Come back when there's a 135mm f2 to compare to the Olympus 75mm 1.8, or a 28mm f2.5 to compare to the Panasonic 14mm f2.5 and see where we are then.
 
ell...as a die-hard (sad isn't it) pixel peeper, I'm impressed with the A7r & the Sony/Zeiss FE 35mm f2.8. I've also been walking around with a Konica Hexanon 55mm f3.5 macro and the detail from that is impressive also. However, not quite the same as from the 35mm. I've got a FD(n) 35mm f2 arriving soon to test against the Sony/Zeiss FE 35mm.
 
The 35/f2.8 is about where I expected it to be sizewise, and after handling/lusting a few around the shops it makes a sweet handling pair.

The 55/f1.8 not so much... Not saying it's too big, but compared to existing full-frame medium-fast 50's (there's a lot of them around) it's certainly not small, and to me the long-skinny design make it feel bigger in practice than it's weight/volume would suggest (in much the same way as my CV Nokton 25mm).

That said, they don't seem to have skimped on quality and I'd quite happily take one home :)
 
The 55/1.8 doesn't feel small or compact on the A7r, but it feels like it fits and balances very nicely indeed. It's just that the 35 is really dinky. And I'll take something this sharp wide open at f/1.8 over a slightly soft at f/1.4 lens that's bigger any day of the week.
 
Back
Top