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Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Lenses

First Impressions: Sony 35mm f1.4 (Full Frame E Mount)

Chris Gampat
No Comments
04/23/2015
4 Mins read

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Sony 35mm f1.4 Full Frame E Mount lens first impressions product images (2 of 6)ISO 4001-100 sec at f - 2.5

Two years ago, Sony released the full frame E mount cameras along with a handful of lenses. On a personal note, with the way Sony treated most of their Alpha line in the past, I wasn’t expecting much. But wow, was I wrong. Not only has the Alpha A mount line received lots of refreshes with fast primes, but they’re reaching the E mount line now, too.

Sony’s 35mm f1.4 for full frame E mount cameras is currently in our hands for review. When we first took it out of the box, we were amazed by its size. More so than any prime lens that I’ve held for the system, this is a giant lens. In fact, it’s pretty much as large as a 35mm f1.4 lens for a full frame DSLR.

While the large size is a bit off putting, what isn’t so jarring is the image quality.

Tech Specs

Specs taken from the B&H Photo listing of the lens.

Performance
Focal Length 35mm
Comparable 35mm Equivalent on APS-C Format Focal Length: 52.5 mm
Aperture Maximum: f/1.4
Minimum: f/16
Camera Mount Type Sony E (Full-Frame)
Format Compatibility 35mm Film / Full-Frame Digital Sensor
Sony NEX (APS-C)
Angle of View 63°
APS-C Picture Angle: 44°
Minimum Focus Distance .98′ (.3 m)
Magnification 0.18x
Elements/Groups 12/8
Diaphragm Blades 9, Rounded
Features
Image Stabilization No
Autofocus Yes
Tripod Collar No
Physical
Filter Thread Front:72 mm
Dimensions (DxL) Approx. 3.09 x 4.41″ (78.5 x 112.0 mm)
Weight 1.39 lb (630 g)

Ergonomics

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Sony 35mm f1.4 Full Frame E Mount lens first impressions product images (3 of 6)ISO 4001-100 sec at f - 2.5

The Sony Zeiss 35mm f1.4 lens is one that is pretty darn solid and standard with a touch of both the future and vintage. No, it isn’t steampunk, but it is cool in many ways. We start our tour at the front of the lens which has a massive 72mm filter thread on the front.

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Sony 35mm f1.4 Full Frame E Mount lens first impressions product images (6 of 6)ISO 4001-100 sec at f - 2.5

The lens becomes something pretty big when it’s mounted to the camera. It is indeed large, but for what it’s worth it’s still quite balanced with the body. The lens is characterized by an aperture ring towards the back and a focusing ring towards the front. Keep turning the ring and you can set the lens to an A mode for automatic control or camera control.

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Sony 35mm f1.4 Full Frame E Mount lens first impressions product images (5 of 6)ISO 4001-100 sec at f - 2.5

Without the lens hood, the Sony 35mm f1.4 becomes smaller, though still quite hulking for the cameras that it mounts to.

Build Quality

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Sony 35mm f1.4 Full Frame E Mount lens first impressions product images (4 of 6)ISO 4001-100 sec at f - 2.5

It’s solid. The lens is said to be splash resistant, though that doesn’t mean that it may survive an extremely heavy rainfall. What you should be well aware of is the smooth aperture ring designed for video use. If you switch it to the A mode, then it will allow the camera to operate the aperture.

What we’re really amazed at is just how much larger it is than Sony’s 35mm f2.8. The f2.8 lens can fit into a pocket but the f1.4 version is quite a monster.

Ease of Use

For the most part, all you’re doing is mounting it to a camera, focusing, shooting and enjoying what you’ve got. But since there is the inclusion of an aperture ring, you’ll want to consider this when holding the lens. If you’re not used to working with them, sliding your fingers could accidentally turn it if you’re amongst the more clumsy sort. Otherwise, it’s a good idea to hold the lens by the focusing ring area.

Autofocus

When mounted on the Sony A7, we found the 35mm f1.4 to be not as fast to focus as the f2.8 version, but still not really too terrible to hold us back. We wouldn’t use it for street photography unless it was in manual mode and we used the zone focusing system but for most daily shooting tasks it’s probably good enough.

And by all means, this lens is still no slouch even in low light performance. It’s still ahead of Fujifilm and just about on par with Samsung, but it isn’t beating anything that Olympus has.

Image Quality

f1.4, tried to focus on her eye as well as I could. Model: Asta Pardes
f1.4, tried to focus on her eye as well as I could. Model: Asta Paredes

At the time of writing this post, we’ve spent around three hours with the lens and have been able to shoot a couple of images with it and using an off camera monolight to get even sharper images. Here’s what we’ve got.

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Sony 35mm f1.4 Full Frame E Mount lens first impressions photos (12 of 19)ISO 1001-250 sec at f - 1.4

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Sony 35mm f1.4 Full Frame E Mount lens first impressions photos (1 of 19)ISO 2001-80 sec at f - 5.6

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Sony 35mm f1.4 Full Frame E Mount lens first impressions photos (11 of 19)ISO 1001-250 sec at f - 1.4

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Sony 35mm f1.4 Full Frame E Mount lens first impressions photos (2 of 19)ISO 2001-80 sec at f - 5.6

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Sony 35mm f1.4 Full Frame E Mount lens first impressions photos (10 of 19)ISO 1001-250 sec at f - 1.4

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Sony 35mm f1.4 Full Frame E Mount lens first impressions photos (3 of 19)ISO 2001-80 sec at f - 5.6

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Sony 35mm f1.4 Full Frame E Mount lens first impressions photos (9 of 19)ISO 1001-250 sec at f - 1.4

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Sony 35mm f1.4 Full Frame E Mount lens first impressions photos (4 of 19)ISO 2001-80 sec at f - 5.6

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Sony 35mm f1.4 Full Frame E Mount lens first impressions photos (8 of 19)ISO 1001-250 sec at f - 1.4

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Sony 35mm f1.4 Full Frame E Mount lens first impressions photos (7 of 19)ISO 1001-250 sec at f - 1.4

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Sony 35mm f1.4 Full Frame E Mount lens first impressions photos (5 of 19)ISO 2001-80 sec at f - 5.6

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Sony 35mm f1.4 Full Frame E Mount lens first impressions photos (6 of 19)ISO 1001-200 sec at f - 1.4

First Impressions

So far, we’re liking the Sony 35mm f1.4 lens. It’s got great colors, fair autofocusing performance (but good for its size) and a solid build quality. However, it’s very expensive. Part of this reason could be because of the integrated aperture ring.

We’re already deep into our review, so stay tuned for more.

autofocus color image quality lens sony sony 35mm f1.4
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Chris Gampat

Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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