In the earlier days of Sony’s digital transition from Minolta, there was a lens like no other that really had a special impact on how portraits looked. That lens was the Sony Zeiss 135mm f1.8 for A mount. When I reviewed the lens, I remember absolutely falling in love with nearly every photograph I made with it. Granted, I had ample light, ample space, and great subjects to photograph. In fact, it was really hard for anyone to not look good with that lens. Even looking back now, I like it more than the current G Master lens and I can see why I loved it so much more than many other lenses at the time.
For years, photographers swore by the Canon 135mm f2 L lens for Canon EF. But for some odd reason, I was never able to personally get into that lens and what it delivered. And after looking closely at why the older Sony 135mm f1.8 is more appealing, I begin to figure it out. This lens had a Sonnar design — and some of my favorite lenses had Sonnar designs. For example, the Fujifilm 35mm f1.4 has one. These lenses are meant more for image quality and not for focusing performance per se. And for years, I always wish that brands could fuse both of them together with an apochromatic design of some sort.
Sony should be praised for the innovations they’ve made with lens design. But at the same time, it should be acknowledged that they fetishize reality to the point where photographers end up not using their imagination. Further, all of the lenses they make end up looking the same. And for a photographer who thinks, like me, that ends up being very boring.
Most importantly, I wish that photographers spent more time actually making better images that are testaments to their portfolio instead of trying to make images for likes and online content.
I truly wish that Sony could bring back lenses like the 85mm f1.4 Planar, which had such a beautiful look to it that it’s hard to want to do any editing to your images at all. This era had far more authenticity to it.