These Cheap E Mount Lenses Are Must Haves For The Sony A7 III

These Sony E Mount lenses aren’t only affordable, they’re incredible performers too.

The Sony A7 III is a fantastic Full Frame Mirrorless camera that can be picked up for the low price of $1,998. The camera is absolutely packed to the rafters with features such as class leading eye autofocus, 4K video, 10 FPS burst mode, and 5 axis in-body image stabilization, but as we know, cameras are nothing without lenses. Fortunately there’s a plethora of affordable Sony E mount lenses that will allow you to churn out quality results over and over again. The bang for your buck E Mount lenses we will be featuring here cover everything from fast wide angle primes, to telephoto zooms and everything in between. 

The Sony A7 III is a jack of all trades camera that shook up the camera world when it was released. It’s great all around performance lends itself well to street photographers, documentarians, portrait photographers, photo journalists, wedding photographers and so many more genres. The A7 III’s versatility is matched by the ever growing library of versatile E Mount lenses that offer exceptional performance, and value for your hard earned money. If you’re looking for bang for your buck E Mount lenses for your Sony A7 III (or any other Sony E Mount camera for that matter), this list is for you. Check out the E Mount Lenses that will give you the most for your money below.

 

Laowa 15mm f4 Wide Angle Macro Lens

 

Pros

• Great colors! Not super saturated either!
• Great sharpness when used carefully
• Focusing so close that you’re touching the subject is kind of insane
• Due to the really close focusing feature, you can get get some awesome bokeh from this lens
• Fantastic metal built quality
• Very fun!
• Built in perspective control with lens shift is a really awesome feature
• Very affordable
• Design of the focusing scale forces you to be very careful.

Cons

• Lens hood gets in the way when shifting the lens, but you kind of need to expect that.
• Front element tends to get dirty. For that reason it’s best used with a UV filter, that’s not necessarily a con but more like something extra to remember
• Some may complain that it’s “only f4” but that doesn’t matter much.

Check out our full review

Buy now ($799): Amazon

 

Rokinon 20mm f1.8 (Sony E Mount, FE)

 

Pros

• A budget friendly lens with excellent performance
• Smooth focusing
• Feels nice

Cons

• Big on the Sony E mount lineup of cameras
• Though this won’t be a con to lots of people, it’s a very standard lens that is very clinical in its image creation. Personally, I need some character that helps me to create photos that don’t look like everyone else’s.
• Why no depth of field scale?

Check out our full review

Buy now ($449): Amazon

 

Sony 28mm f2 (Full Frame E Mount)

 

Pros

• Very sharp at any aperture
• Beautiful bokeh
• Nice, small size
• Lightweight
• Pretty Affordable

Cons

• No weather sealing (EDIT we are wrong about this)
• Metal build on the exterior, though almost hollow feeling because it’s so light weight.

Check out our full review

Buy now ($423): Amazon

 

Rokinon 35mm f2.8 FE (Sony FE Full Frame E Mount)

 

Pros

• Sharp image quality
• Good bokeh
• Focuses pretty much as closely as the Sony version. It isn’t as accurate in low lighting or as fast though.
• Affordable

Cons

• Weather sealing would have been nice but I understand why it isn’t there.
• Focus motors can be a bit loud at times with later cameras.

Check out our full review

Buy now ($278): Amazon

 

Lensbaby Burnside 35mm F2.8 (Sony FE)

 

Pros

• Solid aluminum construction means the lens can withstand considerable abuse during field use
• Buttery smooth focus ring
• Dreamy bokeh quality
• Vignette Control is an interesting way to dial in your vignette and bokeh quality in camera

Cons

• Lack of weather sealing
• The front lens cap is of the pressure fit design, so forgetful or accident prone photographers should take care to put it away in a secure location while shooting with this lens
• Clicked aperture ring means this lens may not be suitable for video shooters

Check out our full review

Buy now ($399.95): Amazon

 

Lensbaby Sol 45 (45mm f3.5 Sony E Mount, FE)

 

• Gorgeous colors
• Fun effects
• Embracing this quirky and experimental effect
• Fairly sharp
• I love that the locking ring recenters the optics.
• Small size

Cons

• Interchangeable apertures are DESPERATELY NEEDED

Check out our full review

Buy now ($199.95): Amazon

 

Rokinon 50mm f1.4 AF FE (Sony E Mount, Full Frame)

 

 

Pros

• Contrasty images
• Sharp photos
• Beautiful bokeh
• Metal feeling build on the exterior
• Autofocus that works pretty darned well

Cons

• Autofocus isn’t as fast as Sony’s
• Really wish it had weather sealing, but the price point isn’t really for that
• Pretty big

Check out our full review

Buy now ($549): Amazon

 

Sony 85mm f1.8 FE (Sony E Mount, Full Frame)

 

Pros

• Great image quality
• Fast focusing with the Sony a7r II and in good lighting it will focus quickly with the Sony a7
• Nice feel; though not as great as the G Master 85mm f1.4 lens.
• Weather resistance built in
• Compact size

Cons

• Honestly, not a darn thing.

Check out our full review

Buy now ($573): Amazon

 

Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 Di III RXD (Sony FE)

 

Pros

• Weather sealing
• Sharp optics
• Fast focusing in pretty much any situation
• Nice bokeh
• Small and lightweight
• Considerably under $1,000
• More than good enough for what most photographers will need to do: there is going to be much less measurbation in this review than normal.

Cons

• Some folks may gawk at the fact that it isn’t a Sony G Master lens and will fetishize the G Master series in the same way Canon shooters put L glass on a pedestal vs many others.

Check out our full review

Buy now ($879): Amazon