The Sony E Mount has a ton of lenses available. But the cool thing is that Sony bought the Minolta camera division many years ago. To that end, they took over the Minolta A-mount. The Sony a99 II was the last A-mount camera. Despite that, all the old lenses can be given a lot of new life. We were around to review many of those lenses from back in the day. So we’re rounding up some of our favorite old-school A-mount lenses to adapt to Sony FE cameras. Dive in with us!
You can view this article and much more with minimal ads in our brand new app for iOS, iPadOS, and Android.
The Phoblographer’s various product round-up features are done in-house. Our philosophy is simple: you wouldn’t get a Wagyu beef steak review from a lifelong vegetarian. And you wouldn’t get photography advice from someone who doesn’t touch the product. We only recommend gear that we’ve fully reviewed. If you’re wondering why your favorite product didn’t make the cut, there’s a chance it’s on another list. If we haven’t reviewed it, we won’t recommend it. This method keeps our lists packed with industry-leading knowledge. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Pro Tips About Lenses to Adapt to Sony Cameras
We’ve reviewed lots of lenses. So here are some pro tips on the lenses to adapt to Sony cameras:
- This list is focusing on the old-school Sony A mount, otherwise known as Minolta A-mount.
- If you use an official Sony adapter, you’ll be able to use most of Sony’s newer autofocus algorithms. Try it especially with face detection.
- These lenses don’t have the fastest autofocus. But they’ve got a look you’re going to love with every shutter click.
- The cool thing here is that there are tons of lenses to adapt to Sony FE cameras. But we’re focusing on the lenses that lots of other folks haven’t even touched.
- We’re very confident that you’ll see totally different results, especially with the 135mm listed here.
Sony 135mm f1.8
Why this lens?: The 138mm f1.8 from Sony is really nice. There’s character. And the newer G Master lens is very clinical in comparison.
In our review, we stated:
“Portrait photographers will be very happy with the sharpness the lens can deliver When combined with your studio lights to add more specular highlights, you can enhance perceived sharpness even more in real life use. Wedding photographers may find similar results, but 135mm is very specialized as a focal length so you’ll probably be keeping this lens in the camera bag unless it really needs to come out. In general though, the Sony 85mm f1.4 might be a better choice due to the fact that it is a much more versatile focal length. But the 135mm f1.8 should still be valued for its sharpness.”
Sony Zeiss 50mm f1.4
Why this lens?: This lens will produce a great balance of sharpness, nice bokeh, and just enough smoothness to not make you want to retouch too much.
In our review, we stated:
“But anyway, in all seriousness, the Sony Zeiss 50mm f1.4’s bokeh is quite creamy. Add in the fact that it can focus pretty darn closely and you’ll get some beautiful images that bokeh fiends will froth at the mouth for. Of course, the best bokeh is at f1.4, but the best balance of bokeh and sharpness is at f2.8. Heck, we’d even say f2 if you’re really careful.”
Sony 85mm f1.4
Why this lens?: The bokeh and colors from this lens are pretty awesome. It was made in the early 2010s and gives this nostalgic look of a time before the world started going into lockdown.
In our review, we stated:
“Overall lens sharpness is exceptional and gets better down to f5.6. In our life tests, we saw excellent sharpness in the corners and center area. Additionally, the lens resolved tons of detail which sometimes made retouching a bit more work than we’d typically like.”