Which 24 and 35mm for A7

caribou · Joined: 22 May 2011 Posts: 44 Location: France

Hi everybody, I'm looking for, perhaps, buying an A7 to fit with my 24x36 lenses that I use everyday (Zuiko OM) and time to time when I want a "characteristic" lens (Jupiter-3 and an early Helios 44).
Usually I like wide angles. I've got a Zuiko OM 24mm f/2.8, I really like it with my Olympus E-P5 and a speedbooster and I liked it when I got a Fuji X-E1 but it seems it is not so great with an A7.
So the question, which 24 and 35mm would you by for a Sony A7 ?
I want it :
-Not too expensive (max 500€)
-Compact (I won't by a Leitz R, they are excellent but too big and heavy for me)
-Pretty fast, at least f/2.8

stingOM · Expire: 2012-12-27

Sigma 24mm f2.8 is cheap but superb:
http://www.16-9.net/lens_tests/24mmcup/pentax/24mm_groupc1.html

LucisPictor · Expire: 2013-12-03

A friend of mine has used a Canon FD 2.8/24 for a while on his A7R and was pretty OK with it.

Aanything · Expire: 2014-05-30

The best 24mm lens I had so far is the nikkor ais 2.8/24.
I still have to find any weakness to it.
As for 35, I bought a nikkor 2.5/35 for rangefinder cameras that is truly superb: sharp, great colors, wild bokeh with a bit of swirl wide open, much cleaner and more modern feel stopped down.
And it's tiny, which can be a nice feature on a7.

caribou · Joined: 22 May 2011 Posts: 44 Location: France

Thanks for your suggestions, I'll look for each.

Aanything · Expire: 2014-05-30

Aanything · Expire: 2014-05-30

But, I found a thread by member nordentro with some samples from this lens with the a7r.
Quite impressive results, if you ask me.

http://forum.mflenses.com/nippon-kogaku-w-nikkor-3-5cm-f-2-5-ltm-and-a7r-t63967.html

Nordentro · Expire: 2015-01-29

The Nikkor 35mm ltm is a nice gem for sure. Corners are not fully sharp wide open, but comes nicely in when stopping down. The Canon ltm 35mm f/2.8 is another gem and have better corners wide open but are less sharp in the middle compared to the Nikkor. Both are great really, and very compact Wink

kansalliskala · Expire: 2016-12-30

Distagon 35/2.8 are pretty cheap (under 200€)

caribou · Joined: 22 May 2011 Posts: 44 Location: France

Well, if I buy an A7 this Nikkor seems to be a good choice for me...

Rick1779 · Expire: 2014-06-06

best 24 tried so far, the pentax FA*24/2, not so good at manual focusing but great lens

for the 35mm the 35/1.8 HH or MD from minolta

shapencolour · Joined: 03 Oct 2013 Posts: 270

The best of my 24mm lenses on the A7.Compact and under 500Euro:

Minolta MD/MC/MC SI Rokkor 24/2.8
Distagon C/Y 25/2.8
Canon nFD 24/2.8 and 24/2.0
Oly Zuiko 24/2.8 and 24/2.0

The best of my 35mm lenses on the A7.Compact and under 500Euro:

Zeiss Distagon C/Y 35/2.8 MM
Canon FDn 35/2.0
Minolta MD Rokkor 35/2.8 with 49mm and 55mm filters,plain Minolta MD 35/2.8 - probably the best bang for the bucks

And a tad behind:
Oly Zuiko 35/2.0 and 35/2.8
Pentax M 35/2.8
Yashica ML 35/2.8
Flektogon 35/2.4 CZJ

There are more good 35mm and 24mm options among Konica Hexanons/Canon FD SSC/Zeiss ZF/ZE/Minolta MC/MD,but bigger,heavier and more expensive (Zeiss).

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 4043 Location: Switzerland

Boris_Akunin · Joined: 22 Aug 2013 Posts: 392 Location: Bremen, Germany

If f/2.8 is fast enough for you, the Minolta MD35/2.8 looks like a good choice, even on the A7RII, it's quite impressive.

If you want a faster lens, the MD35/1.8 might be worth a look too:

[source: artaphot.ch)

If size & weight are a factor, the MDII versions tend to be the smallest:

source: rokkorfiles.com

Rick1779 · Expire: 2014-06-06

in 35mm

- Jupiter-12 is a must have
- Flektogon 35/2.4
- Minolta Rokkor HH 35/1.8 (if you are interested i'm planning to sell mine Very Happy

)

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9096 Location: Houston, Texas

I'm surprised your Oly 24mm is not so good on your A7. Zuiko lenses are usually superb.

As for 24mm lenses, I own a Canon 24mm f/2.8 SSC, a Nikkor 24mm f/2.8 AIs, and a Tamron 24mm f/2.5. A few years ago, I did a comparison test with the Tamron and Nikkor using a Canon EOS XS DSLR (10.1mp) and found that they were roughly equivalent. The Tamron exhibited a bit of flare wide open, but stopped down to about f/8, it was noticeably sharper than the Nikkor, especially on the corners of a 1.6x crop sensor. I was a little surprised by that. I also tested the Canon FD against the Nikkor and found the Canon to have a slight edge. All three of these lenses can be had for way less than 500 euros.

As for 35mm lenses, I have a few of them too: a Canon FL 35mm f/2.5, a Canon FD 35mm f/2.8, an old 35mm f/2 pre-AI Nikkor with an AI conversion done, and a Vivitar 35mm f/1.9. I love that Nikkor, but my favorite 35mm is the Canon FL. I've shot with the FL 35mm going all the way back to 1984. On a 35mm frame, it's quite sharp all the way to the corners. And one of the nice things about it is, since it is an FL lens, it tends to sell for less than an FD 35/2.8. I bought mine on eBay for $40US. The one I bought in 1984, I sold during the early 90s and found that I missed it, so a few years ago, I bought another one. The Vivitar deserves a comment too. I bought mine on eBay probably four or five years ago, but hadn't used it much -- and then only with film cameras because it is in Canon FD mount. Last year I bought a NEX 7, so I was able to use the Canon FL/FD mount lenses on it. When I mounted it to my NEX 7 and took some test shots with it, I was amazed at how sharp it is. That lens has been discovered by folks like us, who like to mount old lenses to digital cameras. As a result of this discovery, the Vivitar 35/1.9 now sells for big bucks on eBay, typically between $150 and $250. When I bought mine, it hadn't been discovered yet and I paid about $40US for it too.

padam · Joined: 09 Oct 2012 Posts: 175 Location: Hungary

The Minolta MD 35/2.8 (last version) is very sharp, very light (albeit not all-metal) and compact, very smooth-pulling focus. For character, there is also a 35/1.8 MD version.

The Canon FDn 35/2.8 and FDn 35/2 lenses are similarly good and probably easier to find.

sarrasani · Expire: 2020-05-14

my faves (among many I use and I used, and considering quality/price):

- 24 Olympus OM (not amazing sharpness.....but excellent and light-weight).

-35 ....Schneider Curtagon or, better (here we enter in the "legend" zone, as I call special lenses) leitz-R summicron.
microcontrast, detail, leica colours......IMHO very better than the zeiss, canon, nikon, olympus 35 I used.

Not so wonderful the Leica elmarit 24, another thing the (again legendary and IMHO better than distagon od japanese) 28 elmarit.

Sandro

dan_ · Expire: 2016-12-19

I've been in the same dilema when I upgraded to A7R2 - what wide lenses to get/use?

I have chosen to save a little and sell most of my older wide lenses to go for the best I could afford.
I ended up with 3 new wide lenses: Sonnar T* FE 35mm f/2.8 ZA, Batis 25mm f/2 and the Super Wide Heliar III 15mm f/4.5.
It was quite an expensive option and all my average, good and very good older wide lenses got sold (only few of the very best of them remained).
That's a decision I don't regret a second.

For a 35mm my advice is to add 50-100$ to your max. budget and get a Sony Sonnar T* FE 35mm f/2.8 ZA - very small and light, really excellent on FF and it has AF (for street photography), too.

As for a ~24mm lens - the 25mm Batis can't be beaten, but it's quite expensive. A Samyang 24mm f/1.4 is a very good option till you can get a Batis - you can sell it later and recover most of the investment (that's what I did before getting my Batis).

e6filmuser · Joined: 12 Nov 2010 Posts: 858 Location: Reading UK

I bought this because it was reputed to have good resolution and close focus:

Nikon Nikkor-N Auto 24mm f:2.8 Non AI.

Some images here:

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1447471

Raxar · Joined: 25 Mar 2014 Posts: 226

nFD 24/2.8 and nFD 35/2.8 are cheap - light - sharp and have good corners! but they are plasticity and have a little CA. also the nFD 20-35/3.5L is superb but the down side is a little bit slow.