This is likely the one prime most of you will buy along the A7-A7r camera! And according to our source it will cost 1100 Euro exactly! Yep, it’s quite a huge lens and you would expect a f/1.4 aperture for that. But the lens has been designed with one precise goal in mind. Deliver the best possible sharpness and contrast on all apertures and on the full image area. Sounds good!
49 Responses
The glass investment is still a problem that makes people hesitate to jump into Sony’s camp.
The fact is that stellar lens is not necessary to be expensive. There are several 50mm primes in market that are very outstanding Nikon 50/1.4G ($439) and Sigma 50/1.4G ($399) are really awesome with friendly cost. Pana/Leica 25mm/1.4 is also great and highly praised for m4/3 format.
Just a moment…….it is an so called “Full Frame” lens?
Like the Canon EF-L 1,2/50 or 1,4/50?
Like the Nikon AF-s 1,4/50g?
Like the Sony 1,4/50?
Same sensor size?
But it is as slow as the other 1,8/50 lenses, priced around 150,- and the price is like the Canon 1,2/50L ?
It has to be the best lens ever made I think or am I wrong in some way?
Like a Leica…..
This will be the biggest issue with the new sony ff cameras: lens prices. Expect premium prices on every lens, even the less ‘special’ ones.
P.s. about same dof of fuji 35mm f1.4 for almost three times its price.
“But it is as slow as the other 1,8/50 lenses, priced around 150,-”
Ouch! That gotta hurt!!
Sorry, but since I use the 24×36 format (Yashica/Contax was the first with the 1,4/50mm Planar) you could buy the 1,8 or 1,4 or 1,2/50mm lens. Later you could find 2,0/50mm for low price offers. And this Sonnar is 1,8!
Thank you Sony.
At this cost, I prefer my canon 50/f1.2.
It does not look that big…
For 1100 euro better be amazing.
1100 Euro for 50/1.8 prime????
It has to be the best prime that human have ever invented.
It’s a fraction of the price of the 50mm F1.4 Zeiss Otus lens for Canon and Nikon.
http://www.mirrorlessrumors.com/here-is-the-image-of-the-zeiss-sonnar-55mm-f1-8-fe-lens-for-the-a7-a7r/
And that lens is a specialty lens meant for a very small niche of photographers. And it’s still overpriced. This is the mass-market normal prime for this system…and the price is insane.
I would rather take smaller, software-corrected lens instead.
The ongoing fetish about bulky “perfect” lenses is getting tired. (And then there is the price.)
In the past, when we had 5-8MP sensor, that was justified. But now, with the 16MP being the smallest resolution, there is plenty of pixels to spend on the software correction, resulting in only negligible IQ loss.
“This is likely the one prime most of you will buy along the A7-A7r camera.”
Oh, yeah! Leica killer right there! LOL!
Aperture size is really only an issue for gear geeks, for the more serious shooters, IQ is more important. However price and loss of size advantage is more likely to hold me back…
Looks like a DSLR design with an extension tube added at the back. Wrong lens for mirrorless.
Yup! I bet a Canon EF 50/1.8 plus adapter is more compact and much cheaper.
Canon is APSC lens
No it’s not. The EF 50/1.8 is most definitely a full frame lens. It costs $110. Now, it’s built like a piece of crap and is only so-so at f/1.8 (but very sharp by f/2.5)…this Zeiss I’m sure will be better, but the Zeiss should have hit $500 tops.
tell me, because I don’t know many Zeiss lenses under $500 tops. This lens probably was designed for the full frame A7 sensor in mind. If this is the case you must disagree with the pricing of the Zeiss Canon/nikon mount 50mm lens prices.
You know, I was going to buy a 5-series BMW, but then I realized that a Fiat was more compact & more affordable.
By “DSLR design”, do you mean with lens elements in a tube with a focusing ring around the barrel?
What do you imagine a lens should look like for a mirrorless camera?
Should it have triangles? Antennae, perhaps? Should it have a voice interface, like the new iPhones? I don’t know; you’re the genius, you should design a really amazing lens that will cause all of us to take magical photos.
Your logo should be a unicorn.
I’m just sayin’…
It is Zeiss quality. I am a Zeiss user and it worth each cent. It must be an amazing lens.
sony could do a big win but will be a big fail… good intentions bad brand company… you always ruin everything!!!!! damn sony
dude, i think someone laced your weed with something bad – or maybe you ate too many ‘shrooms? you gotta be careful with those, man! they’ll mess you up, and you’ll end up posting crazy crap on the internet.
Yikes. Yesterday I read about the A7 and decided it was a game-changer. My thoughts about upgrading my Micro 4/3 gear (or switching to Fuji X) went on hold.
But now that I see how expensive it’s going to be to migrate to the Sony system, I’m right back where I started.
It looks as if Sony plans to position its line of wide-aperture, fixed-focal-length lenses as Zeiss-branded and premium-priced. In other words, if you prefer this type of lens, it’s going to be a lot more expensive to buy a working A7 system than a Fuji or Olympus system with lenses of similar optical quality. I guess it’s a “36x24mm tax”…
Of course, when launching a high-end FF camera, they could have started off with inexpensive mediocre prime lenses… is that really what you were hoping for? No, REALLY? Because, I’m just thinking – stick with me here – that it might just have been better to offer these new cameras along with a few lenses that are actually capable of maximizing the sensor’s potential… you know, like what Sony actually decided to do.
If you’d like to pair this camera with a lens that’s affordable and just “okay”, may I suggest the kit lens?
So the big question for those who think that the price on this is OK: Will you still be OK when the prices for all the other lenses in the system scale like they do in EVERY other lens system? That is, if the 55/1.8 is $1100, then the f/1.4 normal will come in around $2300. That good for you?
Ok, now a 35mm f/2 – We’re looking at at least $2,000 for that one as well. Now add an 85/1.8. That’s another $2,000.
In almost every lens system on earth, going from f/1.8 to f/1.4 is at least a doubling in price. Moving from the normal lens to 35mm or 85mm is at least a doubling in price at the same aperture (and sometimes more). Ok, now add an ultra-wide. These are typically about 3x the cost of the normal lens, so we’re at $3,000 for an ultra wide, and now let’s go for a 200mm f/2.8, which generally runs about double the f/1.4 normal prime…so we’re at around $4,000. Grand total for an ultra-wide, normal, short telephoto and 200mm telephoto will be only a measly $10,000.
Still think that 55/1.8 is reasonably priced?
Do I think Sony will charge the above prices for the above lenses? No…I don’t, which makes this lens the outlier. If they DO charge that much, well, good luck to you Sony.
Okay, let me see if I’ve got this straight… you take the square root of pi, times the inverse of the hypotenuse, cubed, and that shows that a high-quality Zeiss-designed lens is overpriced now at €1100 if the manufacturer might – perhaps – charge somewhat more for a theoretical and as-yet non-existent lens, which, if ever built, won’t be until 2015 at the earliest…? So, the lens that DOES exist now is too expensive by comparison to the Awsome Future Lens?
Yep. Makes perfect sense.
Well done.
It’s no game changer , it’s a rip off. Most will think twice before embarking in a new system. I can see a mix of legacy and basic lenses – but if a 50mm costs 1000, then there is no hope, unless Sigma or Tamron come to the rescue.
But then why get such a system? Not that it is specific to Sony – see the E-M1 and the 12-40- It is as if Japanese companies, in the face of dramatic sales decrease, had decided that only the top tier deserved attention.
This is unfortunate, because it will probably decrease sales even more. If people need to take pictures without thinking twice, they will use a smart phone. Enthusiasts there are plenty, but money is what it is.
So 35mm will stay a v. secondary system, small (body) size or not. Sony has never been the Salvation Army, and has wasted a lot of formats before…
Hey Amalric, I’ve got news for you: the mid- and upper-tier IS what matters to camera manufacturers. Know why? Because the lower tier is gone. People who don’t really care or don’t know the difference make their little snapshots with their phones and don’t know any better.
The rest of us care, to varying degrees, and we’re the group their interested in. Trouble is, we’re not all the same, and tge manufacturers have to account for that.
For those at the really demanding end of the spectrum, there’s Leica & the digital medium format cameras. At the other end, there’s the m43 crowd, and they’re easy to please. In between, some want bigger sensors, some need affordability, some need need smaller camera bodies, some want optical finders or high-res EVFs… and Sony’s about to come to market with a product that touches all those hallmarks, and that will bring FF sensors closer to the mainstream, enthusiast end of the market.
Consider: What does the newest m43 Panasonic Lumix cost? $500 less than Sony will be asking for it’s new FF a7. What if the difference was only $100? Who in their right mind would buy the little sensor? That’s where Sony is headed, and I wanna go there, too.
Dear Camera Manufacturers,
Please give us something that is small and FF, but is cheaper than a Leica. I’d open my wallet immediately.
Camera manufacturers, now that you have given us this… please note that it is still not cheap enough. What we really wanted is for you to give me the camera, the one I dream about daily instead of photographing, for $200 because Nikon and Canon would. If you cannot do this, I will continue to voice my opinion on internet forum comments because my main concern in life is not to make great photographs, but to win the camera spec wars with my buddy.
Signed, the typical rumor site user.
No way would I give that much money for a lens of to often mind changing company like Sony.
They use the Zeiss name to late and without real justification.
No way should any normal prime lens this day cost so much unless it is made with flawless IQ and long term usage.
Buying into a system like FF nex is pretty risky now, since you will be investing quite a lot of cash in digital lenses only usable on the nex.
Well-said “CAMERAMAN”. That was both articulate and logical.
When one “invests” in a Fuji lens, they can use it on Olympus cameras, right? And we all know that Canon & Nikon lenses are interchangeable.
Sure, Zeiss designed the lens and told Sony to label it accordingly, but how dare Sony actually do that without your approval?!
And of course, you’re right about not spending money on a lens when the msnufacturer might “change their mind”… wait, what? Would they come take the lens back?
Oh! And you’re brilliant to point out that it couldn’t have flawless IQ, since it won’t even be officially announced until tomorrow… that means poor build quality & bad IQ, right? If this lens was any good at all, they would have released it years ago, and sold it for €129… without the Zeiss label.
You’re a genius, “CAMERAMAN”… or perhaps you’re a mad genius? Or perhaps you’re just mad. Yes, that’s it; that last one.
think this lens will show us what a sony 36 Megapixel FF mirrorless sensor can do.
looks like the sonnar 24 f1.8. very nice lens but huge and not pretty at all on the camera.
Ha ha ha! So many of these comments are just trolls trolling other trolls!
“It’s too big!” “It’s too expensive” “I’d really love this lens, if only Canikon hsd built it!” “I’m all about IQ, so I’m sticking with m43 Panasonic”. What a bunch of clowns!
Hey, guess what? The Sony FE 55 1.8 is a Zeiss- designed Sonnar lens with that company’s “T” coating. Almost none of you own a lens that good. Is the price too high? Maybe, but you get what you pay for. Is it too big? Compared to an m43 pancake lens? Yep. But in the e-mount ecosystem it’s not much bigger than the APS-C 35 1.8 – and that’s a pretty nice little lens in it’s own right. Here’s where the 55 will really shine: it’s a “normal” 55 on the a7, but it’s a portrait-length 82 on the NEX-6… and you can bet it’ll be razor-sharp on both cameras.
Are you “stickin’ with your m43” for the awesome IQ the little sensor gives you (ha!) or are you just not ready to end your love affair with Canikon? Fine. That’s your business and who cares anyway? But for some of us, Sony’s commitment to putting big, high-quality sensors inside reasonably compact & feature-laden cameras, and matching them with high-end lenses, all in a price-range that’s at least attainable by regular people, well… I really appreciate it, and I hope that I’m able to get my hands on an a7 & the 55/1.8 when they arrive at B&H.