Home · Register · Join Upload & Sell

Moderated by: Fred Miranda

New fredmiranda.com Mobile Site

New Feature: SMS Notification alert

New Feature: Buy & Sell Watchlist

FM Forums | Sony Forum | Join Upload & Sell

Is this a good A7C lens plan?

JustAnother
Offline
•
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Is this a good A7C lens plan?

Hi everyone,

I am moving to Sony and to full frame with an A7C, and trying to plan a bit what lenses to buy. I am just a hobbyist using the camera for travel, street, portraits, and landscape, although I would like to get a bit into astrophotography as well. Previously I used a 24mm f2.8 (APS-C) a lot, so I have gotten the camera with the 40mm f2.8 and it feels good.

Around this, I am planning to buy a wider lens and one with more reach, my main options at the moment are:

- Sony 20mm f1.8
- Sigma 90mm f2.8.

I value the compactness and weight a lot, so those seem to be a good option. Is the 20mm/40mm/90mm a good way to cover most needs?

The main alternatives I am considering are:

For the 20mm:
- Sony 24mm f2.8 matching the 40mm. The format is perfect... but in terms of quality the 20mm seems to be on another league and would allow me to get into astro better than the Sony. But again, the size and weight of this one are just perfect.
- Samyang 24mm f1.8
- Sigma 24mm f2

In general, 24mm might be more usable than 20mm? But also closer to 40mm, can be cropped from the 20mm, and I have a few pictures from the APS-C on 16mm to 20mm (equivalent) that I really like. However, the main benefit of the 24mm is the weight and size:

20mm+40mm+90mm: 841gr.
24mm+40mm+90mm: 630gr.

For the 90mm:
- Sony 85mm f1.8. Faster, but also heavier and bigger than the Sigma. On this one I have less doubts!

Edited on Aug 13, 2023 at 05:02 PM · View previous versions

Aug 13, 2023 at 04:17 PM

Slalom
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Is this a good A7C lens plan?

Have you allowed for the weight of an adapter. Also a small lens on an adapter may seem quite large.

Aug 13, 2023 at 05:00 PM

JustAnother
Offline
•
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Is this a good A7C lens plan?

Slalom wrote:
Have you allowed for the weight of an adapter. Also a small lens on an adapter may seem quite large.

I wrote Canon a few times but I meant Sony! Apologies for the confusion, moving from Canon (and selling) to Sony and not fully used to it yet!

Edited the original message.

Aug 13, 2023 at 05:03 PM

walknorth
Offline
•
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Is this a good A7C lens plan?

I regularly take out my A7C with Sony 20mm, 40mm, and Sigma 90. In a small case I have space to add a sandwich, flask, book, or Sony 135 or FX30. Sometimes, Sony 16-35PZ and Sigma 90.

Got the PZ for video, but surprised how muchI like it for stills.

The Sony 20 is a great lens. The cost and bulk of adapting a Canon 20 would discourage me.

Have fun!

Aug 13, 2023 at 05:16 PM

JustAnother
Offline
•
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Is this a good A7C lens plan?

walknorth wrote:
I regularly take out my A7C with Sony 20mm, 40mm, and Sigma 90. In a small case I have space to add a sandwich, flask, book, or Sony 135 or FX30. Sometimes, Sony 16-35PZ and Sigma 90.

Got the PZ for video, but surprised how muchI like it for stills.

The Sony 20 is a great lens. The cost and bulk of adapting a Canon 20 would discourage me.

Have fun!

No plans to adapt a Canon at all... I just messed up my old and new systems

.

Glad to know of other people using that combination of three primes.

Regarding the 16-35PZ... it's an interesting one. It's even lighter than the 20mm, and could also the 40mm focal length as well Maybe I should think about it

. I don't think I need f1.8 except for the occasional astro...

Aug 13, 2023 at 05:23 PM

lensfan
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Is this a good A7C lens plan?

I got both 20G and 24G. Use them mostly on A7R5.

24mm is my most used focal length ever, however recently I have been using longer FL lenses as they deliver more goodness for my pixel-peeping passion.

20G is the best in 20-28mm range. Corner performance of 24G is not great on 61MP by today's standards but I'm fine with it overall as a walk-around lens - I started to save medium sized RAW files when using 24G and it seems to work for me.

Aug 13, 2023 at 05:53 PM

JustAnother
Offline
•
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Is this a good A7C lens plan?

lensfan wrote:
I got both 20G and 24G. Use them mostly on A7R5.

24mm is my most used focal length ever, however recently I have been using longer FL lenses as they deliver more goodness for my pixel-peeping passion.

20G is the best in 20-28mm range. Corner performance of 24G is not great on 61MP by today's standards but I'm fine with it overall as a walk-around lens - I started to save medium sized RAW files when using 24G and it seems to work for me.

With the praise I see for the 20G it is hard to let it pass... I am thinking about buying the 20G to have now:

20/1.8 + 40/2.8 + 90/2.8

I would have the 40mm for most of the travel/street photography, and have the 20mm as an "optional carry" for landscape / night / interior.

Having both, do you think that will work well?

If I feel that I miss the super compact wide lens I could always pick up a 24G.

Aug 14, 2023 at 06:50 AM

lensfan
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Is this a good A7C lens plan?

I use 24G and 40G with hoods attached but I use 20G w/o hood. Size and weight are same to me - I simply don't feel either of them on the camera as I'm used to heavier and larger camera/lens combo.

24G by no means it is a bad lens but I'd love to see better corner performance.

20G is a bit too wide for me personally (I don't do landscapes or interior shots) and I find 24mm optimal for travel/city.

In real life scenarios fringing on 24G and 40G does not really bother me but 20G is superior in this department.

20G is incredible for museums: distortion appears at really close distance, can get that thing entirely from close distance, a lot of DoF at high aperture. Great optically and bright. Great for low light too. 1.8 wont help to freeze the action but 20mm allows for higher exposures when needed.

JustAnother wrote:
With the praise I see for the 20G it is hard to let it pass... I am thinking about buying the 20G to have now:

20/1.8 + 40/2.8 + 90/2.8

I would have the 40mm for most of the travel/street photography, and have the 20mm as an "optional carry" for landscape / night / interior.

Having both, do you think that will work well?

If I feel that I miss the super compact wide lens I could always pick up a 24G.

Edited on Aug 14, 2023 at 08:02 AM · View previous versions

Aug 14, 2023 at 07:56 AM

MitchB
Offline
•
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Is this a good A7C lens plan?

Other compact travel-centric lenses to consider:
Tamron 20-40 2.8
or
Sony 16-35 f4

I have the Tamron 20-40 and it's a great lens, just not quite wide enough for me.

Budget small-ish portrait lens:
Sony 85 1.8

Aug 14, 2023 at 12:18 PM

mojoh
Offline
• •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Is this a good A7C lens plan?

JustAnother wrote:
20mm+40mm+90mm: 841gr.
24mm+40mm+90mm: 630gr.

FE 20-70/4 (488gr) and crank up iso a stop or two.
FE 14/1.8 when u r serious on astro.

Aug 14, 2023 at 03:04 PM

JustAnother
Offline
•
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Is this a good A7C lens plan?

mojoh wrote:
FE 20-70/4 (488gr) and crank up iso a stop or two.
FE 14/1.8 when u r serious on astro.

I think in terms of versatility and quality the 20-70 would cover most of my needs and could just stay on the camera all the time (except e.g. for things like astro). But that means having 488g attached to the camera at all times, the 40mm is only 173g and much more confortable for that, even if that means having two other primes in the bag. And I think I prefer having 500g extra in the bag better than 300g extra in the camera.

In any case, I will check if I can find a 20-70 to try a bit, maybe I am wrong there.

Aug 15, 2023 at 03:30 AM

ftllens
Online
• • •
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Is this a good A7C lens plan?

no 20/40/90 is perfect. also 20g is perfect for video with a7c in the instances you need it.

Aug 15, 2023 at 03:53 AM

mojoh
Offline
• •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Is this a good A7C lens plan?

JustAnother wrote:
In any case, I will check if I can find a 20-70 to try a bit, maybe I am wrong there.

Yes, do try out the 20-70 mounted on the A7Cxx. And see what limitations you come up against. My personal prime lens weight limit is < 400g, but that’s on bigger A7xx bodies giving better balance.

I used to shoot primarily primes until I recently started mixing and matching them with a 16-35PZ and learning to accept trade-offs while prioritizing lens attributes.

My wish is for Sony to make a short wide angle zoom, with a maximum of two times focal length, constant speed around F2.8~3.5, less than 400g and GM-like image quality and colors. (Tamron managed one with their 20-40/2.8 at 365g)

And with this high quality short zoom, I’d throw in primes at each extreme end - a 12 (or 14mm) and a 90 (or 100mm) and call it a day ..for now

Aug 15, 2023 at 10:30 AM

kthung2
Offline
•
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Is this a good A7C lens plan?

You mentioned astrophotography as an interest as well, but I don't think anyone else has touched on this yet. This is a bit of a niche lens need, but I have the Venus Laowa 12mm/2.8. It's MF only but I have gotten some great results with it. Could be good for some interior/architectural photography too.

Aug 15, 2023 at 11:03 AM

JustAnother
Offline
•
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Is this a good A7C lens plan?

With the announcement of the A7CR I am seriously considering the upgrade, then relying on:

Sony 20mm f1.8
Sony 40mm f2.5
Sigma 90mm f2.8

But having basically a continuous range of focal lengths:

The 20mm could easily cover 20-40mm, as well as low light situations and indoors being the fastest of all. Similarly, it could do the job for astro and also landscape and panoramas with stitching.

The 40mm would be the main lens for street, travel and general walk-around. It could easily cover 40-80mm and be the "lens for everything".

The 90mm would act as a portrait and mid-telephoto lens, being able to crop up to 180mm (15MP) or 220mm (10MP).

The whole kit would cover 20-200mm in 841gr, but also the ability to have 40-80mm with a single 173g lens, or a combination of 20-40 and 90-200mm in two lenses. With this setup, in most cases, I would just carry one or two lenses, and with the A7CR this would mean a lot of versatility.

An alternative would of course be the 20-70 as someone mentioned. With 488gr and a single lens to easily cover 20-140mm... that could be then complimented with a small prime (the 40mm probably, but I would miss some really fast lens).

Just giving a small update with my thoughts while I wait for the new cameras to be out!

Sep 07, 2023 at 04:49 AM

engel001
Offline
• •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Is this a good A7C lens plan?

I am surprised the newer Sigma i-series 17mm does not get mentioned. Lack of users or is it underwhelming? $599 and only 225 grams.

Sep 07, 2023 at 06:02 AM

treacle
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Is this a good A7C lens plan?

20mm, 40mm, 90mm seems like a great prime kit to me!

Sep 07, 2023 at 05:27 PM

ramesesthe2nd
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Is this a good A7C lens plan?

I think 20mm is a great lens but a little too big and heavy for the A7C series. It is perfect for full sized mirrorless cameras.

If compactness and weight are your main selection criterion, Sigma 24mm f/3.5, Sony 24mm f/2.8 G, and Sigma 17mm f/4 are better choices.

Sep 07, 2023 at 07:05 PM


FM Forums \| Sony Forum \| Join Upload & Sell

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.