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A native 21mm F2.8 lens is coming, but ?

Annna T

Active member
Look at that :

A 21mm F2.8 lens, in native FE mount and only weighting 290gr.

That is exactly the lens I would like and I wonder why neither Zeiss nor Sony has already offered one.

I don't know that company, but if the corners behave (aka you need sharp corners on a wa lens for architecture) and the distorsion remains well controlled, then in the absence of a 21mm Zeiss or Sony, I'd be really tempted !
 
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Vivek

Guest
I think Zhongyi are on a roll. First, I want to get their 50/0.95 lens and then the 21/2.8.

I am utterly disappointed with Zeiss labelled Cosina. Sony are busy making slow zooms.
 

gurtch

Well-known member
I would be very interested in a lens like this. I just returned from a three day trip where 100% of the seascape images I made were with an A7R and EA4 adapter and 20mm Minolta f2.8 lens. One of my favorite lenses; however switching back and forth with the Minolta/Adapter combo, and the FE 35mm and FE 55mm was a real pain in the blowing sand and cold weather. It would be nice to use a native 20 or 21mm nd leave the adapter home
Dave in NJ
 

turtle

New member
The argument of technical impediments is clearly not valid: Sony has made a 16-35mm zoom, that perform better at the 16mm end than at longer focal lengths... If they can make this lens perform very well at 16, a 21 or 24mm prime must surely be easier. Personally, f4 works for me...

I don't get it either.
 
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Vivek

Guest
Can't stretch the zoom to a prime.

Leica have this trielmar that does wonderfully well on A7 series cams. They do not have a prime that will come close to it.

I doubt if Nikon's 14-24 f/2.8's performance is matched by any prime.
 

JorisV

New member
The Fuji X 14mm (21mm eq) is an excellent wide prime lens, obviously for a smaller sensor.

Hopefully Sony over time delivers something of the same quality.

In the meanwhile it looks like it will be the 16-35 zoom, or the Zhongyi, or the upcoming 28 with converter.
 

Tim

Active member
The Fuji X 14mm (21mm eq) is an excellent wide prime lens, obviously for a smaller sensor.

Hopefully Sony over time delivers something of the same quality.

In the meanwhile it looks like it will be the 16-35 zoom, or the Zhongyi, or the upcoming 28 with converter.
The Fuji 14mm is the one lens that nearly made me jump into the system. I still may yet.

+1 on the hope that Sony deliver something, We'd expect it to be larger of course but wides do give some reason to the APSC sensor.
 

biglouis

Well-known member
I'm quite happily using the CV Ultron 21/1.8. It was the lens (along with the 55/1.8) which I bought with the camera when first adopting the system.

LouisB
 

MGrayson

Subscriber and Workshop Member
I just tested a Zeiss 21/2.8 Biogon and a CV 21/4. Both worked better than I expected. Not perfect in the corners, quite nice everywhere else.

--Matt
 

turtle

New member
Primes are easier to design to a higher standard than a zoom. The fact that some zooms are better than some primes does not mean that the first statement is untrue, only that some zooms have been designed to perform better than some primes.

Leica has a few lenses that perform better than the tri-elmar at a given aperture and, were Nikon to make a 21mm f2.8 zoom at the same price point as the 14-24, we can be pretty confident it could be made to perform even better. However, with primes, they tend to be made faster, which of course impacts the design equation substantially.

The flange focal distance of the A7 may mean that good primes cannot be as small and short as Leica M lenses, but if Sony can make zoom that performs very well at 16, 21 and 24 mm, they could make a prime that performs even better.

The reason why the wide tri-elmar performs well on the A7 series is due to the tele whatsit design, as I understand it, rather than because it is a zoom per se. Primes could be designed in the same way, reducing the angle at which light hits the sensor.

Can't stretch the zoom to a prime.

Leica have this trielmar that does wonderfully well on A7 series cams. They do not have a prime that will come close to it.

I doubt if Nikon's 14-24 f/2.8's performance is matched by any prime.
 
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