p.1 #1 · Which current e-mount lenses are best for Low Light captures?
Complementing a current thread that addresses the question which Sony body is best for Low Light photography, I wonder which lens should be aquired for this purpose. f-stop per se is not sufficient: a lens must be sharp at wide apertures!
p.1 #2 · Which current e-mount lenses are best for Low Light captures?
Sigma 14mm 1.4
Sony 14mm 1.8
Sigma 15mm 1.4 fisheye
Sony 20mm 1.8
Sigma 20mm 1.4
Sony 35mm 1.4
Sigma 35mm 1.2
The current best from above are probably the Sigma 14mm, Sony 20mm and Sigma or Sony 35mm. All are the best wide open sharp corners ever made for Emount.
The zooms are very great, but not as good as the best primes in the corners wide open.
Zooms:
Sony 12-24mm 2.8
Sony 16-35mm 2.8 II
Sigma DN 14-24 2.8
I personally own the Sigma 20mm 1.4, Sigma 35mm 1.2 and the Sigma DN 14-24mm 2.8. These Sigma primes are good at 60mp in the corners at 1.4. So I’m pretty happy with that. I only occasionally shoot astrophotography, so couldn’t justify the Sigma 14mm 1.4, but if I was more interested in it it would be top of my list.
p.1 #4 · Which current e-mount lenses are best for Low Light captures?
I find the Voigtländer 21mm f/1.4 Nokton to be excellent. Perfect for inside churches and cathedrals. Great on M-mount, too. Not exactly lightweight, mind you (I care about that more on Leica than Sony). And irrelevant if you want autofocus, of course.
p.1 #8 · Which current e-mount lenses are best for Low Light captures?
TakenWild wrote:
Sigma 14mm 1.4
Sony 14mm 1.8
Sigma 15mm 1.4 fisheye
Sony 20mm 1.8
Sigma 20mm 1.4
Sony 35mm 1.4
Sigma 35mm 1.2
The current best from above are probably the Sigma 14mm, Sony 20mm and Sigma or Sony 35mm. All are the best wide open sharp corners ever made for Emount.
But some of them have terrible vignetting.
The Sigma 35mm F1.2 has 3.76 stops vignetting, that means it has darker corners than the Sony 35mm F1.4 GM at 3.08 stops vignetting, even without acknowledging that it probably also has worse light transmission.
p.1 #9 · Which current e-mount lenses are best for Low Light captures?
Actually the Sigma 35/1.2 has less vignetting than the GM 35/1.4 when stopped down to 1.4.
Edit. In fact most DSLR 35 1.4s vignette the same as the Sigma stopped down to 1.4. The Canon EF, the Tamron and the Sigma. The only one that is better is the Nikon F mount, which is a far weaker optic. They all vignette over 3 stops at 1.4.
FFaccount wrote:
But some of them have terrible vignetting.
The Sigma 35mm F1.2 has 3.76 stops vignetting, that means it has darker corners than the Sony 35mm F1.4 GM at 3.08 stops vignetting, even without acknowledging that it probably also has worse light transmission.
p.1 #10 · Which current e-mount lenses are best for Low Light captures?
Also, just telling numbers isn’t that useful, as it doesn’t show where the vignetting is. Look at ‘The Digital Picture’ charts they will give you a better idea of how these 35mm vignette. The Sigma 35/1.2 cleans up across most of the frame very well by stopping down. The GM 35/1.4 not so much. The Sony vignettes more in the mid frame and doesn’t clean up as well stopping down.
FFaccount wrote:
But some of them have terrible vignetting.
The Sigma 35mm F1.2 has 3.76 stops vignetting, that means it has darker corners than the Sony 35mm F1.4 GM at 3.08 stops vignetting, even without acknowledging that it probably also has worse light transmission.
p.1 #11 · Which current e-mount lenses are best for Low Light captures?
The new Viltrox 16mm f1.8. And according to Dustin Abbott's review? Beats out the Sony 14mm f1.8. And for half the price. I own it but really haven't used it to its potential yet.
p.1 #12 · Which current e-mount lenses are best for Low Light captures?
Any list that includes the Sigma 20mm f/1.4 DG DN should be dismissed outright 😂 The light transmission on that lens is utterly dreadful with mean vignetting amounting to -3.68 EV (-3.82 in the corners).
p.1 #13 · Which current e-mount lenses are best for Low Light captures?
What a silly comment. The Sony 20mm 1.8 vignettes more than the Sigma does when they are both at f2. Moreover the Sony vignettes closer to centre than the sigma does. For example at f2 the in the ASPC edge the Sigma has a -0.6EV compared to the Sony at just over -1EV. If you shoot at f2.8 the Sigma preforms even better again than the Sony. The Sigma at f2.8 out competes all zooms and the Sony GM 24 for vignetting. It is as good as you can get vignetting wise for anything around 20mm @f2 or f2.8.
LAARILEY wrote:
Any list that includes the Sigma 20mm f/1.4 DG DN should be dismissed outright 😂 The light transmission on that lens is utterly dreadful with mean vignetting amounting to -3.68 EV (-3.82 in the corners).
p.1 #15 · Which current e-mount lenses are best for Low Light captures?
TakenWild wrote:
What a silly comment. The Sony 20mm 1.8 vignettes more than the Sigma does when they are both at f2. Moreover the Sony vignettes closer to centre than the sigma does. For example at f2 the in the ASPC edge the Sigma has a -0.6EV compared to the Sony at just over -1EV. If you shoot at f2.8 the Sigma preforms even better again than the Sony. The Sigma at f2.8 out competes all zooms and the Sony GM 24 for vignetting. It is as good as you can get vignetting wise for anything around 20mm @f2 or f2.8.
I didn’t compare it to the Sony…
Poor performance is poor performance. It’s an f/1.4 lens that most people will buy to shoot between f/1.4 and f/2. The peripheral shading at f/1.4 is horrendously dark. It might clear up quickly when stopping down and it *may* be the best option at f/2.8, but who’s buying a lens to shoot at 2.8 in low light? Actual light transmission measurements would be a better comparison.
Presumably it’s Nikons larger throat diameter and shorter flange distance that allow the Nikkor Z 20/1.8 to outperform all of the options available for Sony cameras?
p.1 #16 · Which current e-mount lenses are best for Low Light captures?
Sounds like you are trolling. This is a Sony forum and the original question was about Sony mounted lenses. Yes the Nikon is better at vignetting but by f2 it’s almost negligible and the difference isn’t worth switching systems over. Furthermore, the Nikon 20mm Z is a weaker optical performer than either the Sigma or the Sony past the mid frame. So slightly more vignetting is a reasonable trade off for better sharpness.
LAARILEY wrote:
I didn’t compare it to the Sony…
Poor performance is poor performance. It’s an f/1.4 lens that most people will buy to shoot between f/1.4 and f/2. The peripheral shading at f/1.4 is horrendously dark. It might clear up quickly when stopping down and it *may* be the best option at f/2.8, but who’s buying a lens to shoot at 2.8 in low light? Actual light transmission measurements would be a better comparison.
Presumably it’s Nikons larger throat diameter and shorter flange distance that allow the Nikkor Z 20/1.8 to outperform all of the options available for Sony cameras?
p.1 #17 · Which current e-mount lenses are best for Low Light captures?
Low-light captures of what? Do you just want a list of fast, high objective performers or did you have a specific purpose in mind? Is resolution your only concern or are there other important attributes like focus fall-off, bokeh, natural vignetting, optical vignetting, flare resistance, CA and coma correction that might be important to your selection?
p.1 #18 · Which current e-mount lenses are best for Low Light captures?
I think you need to define what type of low light photography you are doing. For example if you are doing portraits usually your subject is in the center of the frame so light fall of does not matter much. Now on the other hand if you are doing astro photography light fall off can matter a lot since you usually want even illumination edge to edge.
A lot of mirrorless lenses are suffering from heavy light fall off wide open. I think this is do to lens manufactures trying to minimize the size of their lenses. For example if your doing astro photograph are you okay buying an f1.4 lens to use at f2?
For example I have been happy with the Voigtlander 21mm f1.4 for astro photography, but I use it at f2. Wide open at f1.4 I find the fall off starts affecting post processing to much for my liking. As much as modern sensors have really low levels of shadow noise you usually still want to keep adjustments under 5 stops. If you are already pushing up the corners by 3.5 stops, that only gives you about 1 stop of adjustment for the rest of your image.
p.1 #19 · Which current e-mount lenses are best for Low Light captures?
mcbroomf wrote:
Good list above. I would also add the Sigma 28mm F1.4
This lens is not sharp wide open, even in the centre, out of all Sigma Art F1.4 primes this one is least sharp. It's acceptably sharp at F2 in the centre and F2.8 in the corners.
p.1 #20 · Which current e-mount lenses are best for Low Light captures?
Outstanding wrote:
This lens is not sharp wide open, even in the centre, out of all Sigma Art F1.4 primes this one is least sharp. It's acceptably sharp at F2 in the centre and F2.8 in the corners.
I don't know anything about copy variation but mine is great WO. One caveat is that I'm using a Canon version with a shimmed Metabones adapter, but the Sony version is supposed to be the same (ie with the extension added/built on).
