Most compact set for Sony A7

[andk]

Hi there,

I recently purchased a Leica Elmarit-M 28mm for my Sony A7 and I absolutely love the image and small form factor.

Now I'm looking for a complete set to travel the world with.
My favorite focal lengths would be 21mm, 28mm, 50mm and 85mm.
Unfortunately I can't afford to go all Leica on all of those 4 lenses.

Is there a cheaper alternative that makes a really good and especially compact set?

I think rangefinder lenses are the way to go to save as much space and weight as possible.
Although I thought about Olympus OM Zuiko lenses as well but the adapter itself is already pretty big.

Thanks

[hoanpham]

Zeiss M lenses.
Voigtlander is also compact, 35/1.4 or 40/1.4.
Canon ltm 50/1.8 or 50/1.4.
Zeiss Contax G lenses if you got a good adapter. 35/2 and 90/2.8 is awesome. 21/2.8 gives color shift in the corners.
Leica/Minolta ltm 90/4 is often preferred instead of contax g 90/2.8.
Sony 28/2, zeiss 35/2.8 these are AF.

[Abbazz]

You don't mention what kind of pictures you want to take. You won't use the same lens for available light pictures of people in a dark interior and landscape pictures taken in bright sunlight.

If you are looking for quality lenses, compact and cheaper than Leica, you might want to check Cosina/Voigländer products.

21mm is difficult, as most rangefinder ultrawide lenses do not play well with the A7 sensor. The Ultron 21/1.8 gives good results but it is neither compact nor light. Old SLR ultrawide lenses are usually quite bulky when you factor in their adapters and often disappointing when used on high resolution sensors. The Zeiss Loxia 21/2.8 is great lens but it is really expensive and not so compact... If you really want a tiny lens, the Color Skopar 21/4 is hard to beat. It suffers from color casts (correctable) and smearing in the corners but image quality improves when the lens is stopped down at least to F/11. Check the really nice pictures taken by fellow member Kuuan on this thread: http://forum.mflenses.com/voigtlaender-color-skopar-f4-21mm-t68947.html

I prefer 40mm over 28+50mm, so I would suggest either the Leica/Minolta Summicron/Rokkor 40/2 (nice lens, small and affordable -especially when branded Minolta) or the Nokton 40/1.4 (faster lens but a bit more quirky than the Leica/Minolta).

As for a short tele, I really love the Apo-Lanthar 90/3.5, which is compact and sharp as a tack. There is a version in Leica mount and another one available in various SLR mounts. I prefer the SLR version, because it focuses closer and reaches 1:4 ratio out of the box (try to get it in Pentax or Nikon mount, since it has a real aperture ring, contrary to the one in Canon mount). But it might be easier in your case to get the Leica Mount version so you don't have to carry a different adapter. If you use a Leica adapter with built-in helicoid, it will help to focus closer.

A full kit with Color Skopar 21/4, Summicron/Rokkor 40/2 and Apo-Lanthar 90/3.5 would fit in a ridiculously small bag and shouldn't cost you a fortune if you buy used lenses and shop carefully.

Cheers!

Abbazz

[oldali]

Hi, Leica Elmar 50/2,8 collapsible is not so expensive as other Leicas. (Or Elmar-M more cost and more lQ.)

Tiny as possible. I bought one this week.

[Antoine]

Any of these Leica M with a techart auto focus adaptor... compact and super performance... unfortunately, you would need the A7ii A7Rii or A6300

For ultra wide Minolta 20mm f 2.8 is very compact but you have the long adaptor

[andk]

Thanks for the replies.

The Voigtlander lenses look great.
Is there a website that lists all of them. There must be older ones as well, right?
All I found ist this: https://voigtlaender.com/vm-mount.html

[tb_a]

[memetph]

You have to be careful . Rengefinder lenses , especially UWA WA , have usually a poor performance in the corners with the A7 ( corner smearing, color cast).
What about your Leitz 28mm?
Regarding modern rangefinder standard lenses I would consider the Nokton 40 1.4 which I like very much.
For 50mm have a look at Zeiss Planar 50 f2 M mount.

For longer focal lengths, the RF lenses have no theoritical advantage to the SLR ones when it comes to the size.
They will be simply slower ( lens diameter cannot be too big).
For compactness, quality and price , in my opinion nothing beats the Zeiss Sonnar 85 2.8 . It is a stupidly cheap lens.
It exists in Rollei QBM version really tiny ( 49mm filter diameter) and in Contax Yashica mount.

[tb_a]

[buerokratiehasser]

Unless you wish to peruse the NEX pancake lenses, or the M-AF plastic zooms (35-80 II/N or 35-105 II/N),..

what comes to my mind is the "Small Bauble", 55/1.8.
Mine is labeled Revueflex, but it is probably a relabel of a famous brand.
Very small, nice IQ.

The plastic zooms I mentioned aren't really top-notch. Their main point is their range in such a small package. If you don't have the M-AF adaptor already I would pass on these.

[thebbm]

olympus zuiko Om series are not as small as Leica M lenses but very compact

[meanwhile]

[leemik]

The wide angles are such a problem on the Sony's that I would just spend your most of your budget on the 21/2.8 Zeiss Loxia.. You have the 28 elmarit already.. if you don't, the 28/2 Sony autofocus is actually a decent compact lens that is not very expensive.. for a 50mm there are a TON of cheap options.. I personally like Canon Rangefinder 50's.. they are super cheap, compact and can give you a modern look or vintage depending on what you prefer. The 85's.. Jupiter-9, Nikkor-P.C. 85/2 are good, cheap and fairly compact.. The Zeiss contax G 90/2.8 is a great lens for cheap too.. I'd probably go for the Zeiss here.

The kolari mod should only be done if you plan on never using Native Sony glass or vintage slr wide angles because the side effect is that it smears some of those.

--mike

[meanwhile]

[Lightshow]

CV15III in M mount, the CV 21/1.8 is a bit big to qualify as small, but it's good, the best option is the WATE, but is insanely priced.
The silver Canon S 35/2.8 LTM is tiny and works great on my A7r and NEX-7 without any colour shift.
Leica M 50/2 is one I'm looking at, V3 I think(the one without the tab), for LTM there are lots of options, Canon S 50/1.4 & 50/1.2(smallest f1.2, has a larger diameter), Topcor-S 50/2, Super Rokkor 50/2 & 50/1.8, Fujinon 50/2, Nikkor 50/2
Rokkor 85/2.8 LTM is quite compact.
Canon S 100/3.5 LTM and CV 90/3.5 APO are both quite compact.
I transplanted the Contax G 45/2 into a Rokkor 55/1.7 body, it's fairly small, you just need the 2 rings to do the job, that is of course the hard part, sebboh has done up some 3D printing files, the drawings are available (I have them) to machine them if you have access to a lathe or cnc.

[Oldhand]

I'll second the little Canon 100mm f3.5 LTM
Also you might like to consider the Canon 50mm f1.8 LTM or a Jupiter 8
Even smaller is the Steinheil Munchen Cassar S 50mm f2.8.
All good lenses IMHO
T

[padam]

To save space and weight (and have little difference in colour rendering), you might want to go for one single set of a brand so that you can use a single adapter for all of them.

OM Zuiko
Konica AR
Canon FD
Minolta MD

Any of these will work just fine, I would probably start getting the wide-angle first because they are in high demand ( like Konica 21/2.8 Canon 20/2.8 Olympus 21/3.5 or Minolta 20/2.8 )
filling up the rest of the set should be pretty easy. And no, I don't think they are that big because all of these lenses are small.

Yes rangefinder lenses are a bit smaller, but on they wide-end they do have their issues and cost way more - despite that I use them a lot - yikes

[stevemark]

[coase]

If you want good corners, it's hard to use rangefinder lenses around 20-28mm on the A7. I think that the AI Nikon 20mm/f4 may be the smallest high quality wide angle you can find in that range. I like it a bit better than the Olympus.

For ultra ultra wide, I live with the Voigtlander 15 LTM's weak corners and crop a bit, so that I get an effective 17mm or so out of it.

[kds315*]

Excellent work Stephan, thanks for sharing your extensive experience!!

[Lightshow]

I've added a few lenses to my previous post

[Matt721]

I've had a similar experience looking for the perfect small kit. I finally decided on getting the kolari UT mod done to my A7 (Newest, even thinner stack). They did an excellent job btw. The lenses I carry around in a small Tenba 9 insert bag daily are the tiny Voigtlander 28mm f3.5 LTM, 50mm f2 Summicron and the Minolta 90mm f4 (2nd Version). I am also trying out the Voigtlander 20mm F3.5 SL since it's tiny in size as well, and even with the adapter it balances well on the A7. The only downside to the mod is you have to use the flat field lightroom plugin for the 28mm and set custom white balance profiles in lightroom. Really not that much work though. The Tenba 9 is so small I just chuck it in my backpack everyday, since there's no reason to leave it at home anymore. Nice feeling to travel light.

[pinholecam]

Here is my own list from what I have or tried :

CV12/5.6 - small for what it is. Very usable on the A7 w/o the smear compared to the CV15 v1/v2. The vignetting and slight color cast on the corners are easily compensated for with a lens correction profile in Lightroom.

CV15 viii - the best small UWA for the A7. No smear or color cast issues.

CV21/1.8 - not that small or light wrt RF lenses, but its really small wrt a 21mm with f1.8 aperture. Its also highly versatile with that fast aperture for environmental portraits or stopped down for landscapes.
I'd consider it as no issues with the A7

Pentax M20/4 - pancake and mostly good stopped down at f11 for landscape. Only the far corners smear, but they are either cropped off with the application of a lens profile or don't matter in the photo.

Voigtlander 20/3.5 - about the same as the Pentax.


28mm - Don't know of a cheap RF one that is that good stopped down. My most used 28mm is the Pentax K28/3.5, its excellent, but not exactly small.


50mm - Most old RF ones are not that good in the off center even stopped down (Yes, that means most of the Russians).
I've found good results with the Canon ltm 50/1.4, but its starting to get a bit big.
The Industar 61 (53mm f2. will be good if you can find a good copy, but I have 2 and they are both decentered. (the good side is really good)
I have tried the Leica Cron DR and v1 collapsible, they don't sharpen up to tack sharp on the off center by f8.
The Elmarit 50/2.8 was good.


85mm - the Canon ltm 100/3.5 is really very nice, but hard to find.
Most SLR 85mm in the f1.8-f2 range are good.
I like the Pentax M85/2 despite its weakness to CA.

[andk]

Thanks for all the replies.

Looks like a Leica-M set is not what I'm really looking for.

I will keep my existing Minolta MD set and take the 20, 28, 50 and 85 with me.

If I want to go even smaller and lighter I will get the same focal lengths from Olympus. Doesn't cost a fortune.

I can then always add a Loxia 21 if I really feel like this is the focal length I wanna use the most.