Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* E 24mm F1.8 ZA Review - Review 2022

The Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* East 24mm F1.8 ZA ($1,099.99) is an older lens, released when Sony was still calling its Alpha line of APS-C mirrorless cameras NEX. Despite its age, it's a phenomenal performer, fifty-fifty on the latest 24MP camera bodies. Information technology's sharp from border to edge at f/1.8, shows no distortion, and is capable of capturing images with a shallow depth of field thanks to a solid close-focus capability. It'south an expensive lens, but 1 that's worthy of beingness named Editors' Selection.

Design

The Zeiss 24mm F1.viii ($1,098.00 at Amazon) is a large prime, measuring 2.6 by ii.v inches, weighing 7.9 ounces, and supporting 49mm forepart filters. Its barrel is metal, and it ships with a matching blackness metal hood, which is reversible for storage. Information technology'due south gratuitous of adornment, save for the blue Zeiss badge. The only control is a knurled metallic manual focus ring.

Manual focus is electronic, which is a downer for photographers who eschew autofocus. Turning the focus ring simply activates the internal focus motor to adjust focusing elements, rather than moving them mechanically. This method doesn't provide solid tactile feedback. If you're a manual focus fiend, consider the Zeiss Loxia 2.8/21, which doesn't support autofocus, but delivers a true mechanical manual focus experience.

The Sonnar doesn't feature optical image stabilization—wide-bending primes seldom practise. Its wide aperture and field of view lessen the need for stabilization for stills; you should be able to hand hold a sharp shot at 1/xxx-2nd without likewise much difficulty. But if you're looking at the the lens for handheld video work, be aware that yous'll end up with jittery footage. At printing time, the Alpha 6500 is the only APS-C trunk with built-in stabilization.

The lens is designed for use with APS-C bodies, which take paradigm sensors smaller than 35mm motion picture. Because of that, its field of view is roughly equal to a 36mm lens mounted to a 135 organization. You can use the Sonnar with full-frame models similar the Alpha vii II, but the camera will automatically crop images to match the smaller APS-C sensor size, reducing resolution. You tin change settings to use the entirety of the sensor, only photos will have a dark blackness circle surrounding them.

The 24mm F1.8 focuses every bit close as 6.2 inches (16cm). At its closest working distance it projects images onto the image sensor at ane:4 life-size, giving it a decent macro capability. When working that close y'all'll have quite a bit of control over depth of field, with f/ane.8 images blurring backgrounds significantly.

The Sonnar was released before Sony started to seal its premium APS-C bodies from dust and moisture. If y'all plan on using it with an Alpha 6300 or 6500, be aware that you should avert doing so in heavy atmospheric precipitation. You'll need to reach for an Atomic number 26 lens to completely protect sealed models.

Image Quality

I tested the 24mm F1.8 with the 24MP Alpha 6500. At f/1.8 information technology is uncommonly sharp, notching 2,749 lines per moving-picture show meridian on Imatest's center-weighted sharpness test. Our test image is simply as sharp at the edge of the frame as it is at the middle. The score is well in excess of the 1,800 lines nosotros want to see at a bare minimum.

Stopping down to f/2, f/two.8, and f/four nets similar sharpness scores. There's a modest improvement at f/5.half dozen (2,883 lines) and f/8 (ii,916 lines), which is just about as much resolution as you tin can look from a 24MP image sensor. Diffraction sets in at narrower apertures, cuting resolution at f/11 (ii,683 lines), f/xvi (2,149 lines), and f/22 (i,260 lines).

Come across How We Test Digital Cameras

There'south no distortion of which to speak. The straight lines on our test chart appear only as straight in photographs. In that location is some dimness at the corners of the frame at f/1.8 and f/two—they're virtually two stops (-2EV) dimmer than the center. It's lessened at f/4, and the frame is evenly lit at f/v.6 and narrower. JPG shooters tin rectify this automatically with in-camera correction, and Raw photographers can eliminate the vignette look using a lens profile correction in Lightroom CC.

Conclusions

Bated from its asking price, at that place's not much to gripe about with the Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* E 24mm F1.viii ZA. It's an extremely sharp lens, even at the edges of the frame at f/1.eight, and it focuses quite close. Image quality is just phenomenal, and when shooting at a wide aperture yous get images with a blurred background to make your subject area pop. It's not perfect—a lack of weather sealing and optical stabilization keep information technology from getting a perfect score—but it should nonetheless exist considered equally the all-time wide-bending prime lens you can get for APS-C Sony cameras, and our Editors' Pick.

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Further Reading

• Tamron Details Affordable 70-180mm F2.8 Zoom Lens
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• Oops! $13K Camera Lens Sells for $95 Due to Prime Day Error

Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/cameras/14471/sony-carl-zeiss-sonnar-t-e-24mm-f18-za-review

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