Sony FE 55mm f/1.8 ZA Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* Review
27 July 2015
A few days ago I had the chance to test this lens, the Sony FE 55mm f/1.8 ZA Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* for the Sony full frame E-mount, which a very good friend of mine, Giuseppe Milo (check out his website), recently bought. Initially it was a test to compare that lens with my copy of the Fujinon XF 35mm f/1.4 R, something similar to my previous test with the Canon 50mm f/1.4.
But unfortunately the lack of focus distance scale of the Fujifilm lens sometimes is a problem, and I didn’t notice that with the fuji I wasn’t on infinite focus, but it was focusing a little bit earlier, not by much, but still it wasn’t a reliable test anymore, and it has to be re-done (I know, it was very dumb, but that’s the price you pay when you do things on a rush).
Anyway, the test with the Sony Sonnar 55mm was perfect, and here I’m going to write my impressions, and a sharpness test.
To be clear, the test has been done on a Sony A7 camera, on a tripod and using a remote shutter to avoid any possible shakes, and I’ve done multiple shots from for any single aperture step, starting from f/1.8 and then passing for any of the standard single stops (f/2, f/2.8, f/4 and so on until f/22 which is the minimum aperture possible with this lens).
Here you can find a summary of the specs for this lens:
Focal Length | 55mm |
Aperture | Maximum: f/1.8 Minimum: f/22 |
Camera Mount Type | Sony E (Full-Frame) |
Format Compatibility | 35mm Film / Full-Frame Digital Sensor |
Angle of View | 42.9° |
Minimum Focus Distance | 1.64' (50 cm) |
Magnification | 0.14x |
Elements/Groups | 7/5 |
Diaphragm Blades | 9 |
Autofocus | Yes |
Filter Thread | 49mm |
Dimensions (DxL) | 64 x 71 mm (Approx. 2.54 x 2.78") |
Weight | 281 g (0.62 lb) |