The Japanese Blog Ichie-inc (translation here) posted a first 20mm pancake lens test. They compared the performance of the lens with the “older” 16mm pancake. It’s up to you to comment if the 20mm lens is better than the 16mm or not 🙂
The lens will ship in April in EU and US countries (April 10 according to BHphoto).
The more expensive and certainly better performing 50mm f/1.4 Zeiss A-mount lens will ship from very late may only. Preorders are up at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here) and SonyStore USA (via AlphaCameraDeals). In Europe at Wex UK and Amazon DE.
45 Responses
inb4 rants about FF NEX 😀
its a nice addition to the the NEX system and the size is nice, though personally I couldn’t justify buying it at the full retail price
Already having the 16mm f2.8 with 0.75x magnification adaptor providing 12mm f2.8, I seen no justification in laying out money for just one more lens to have to interchange and be minimally a marginal longer focal length. Better off get the 16-50mm pancake zoom lens.
I remember hearing a Sony rep telling people that the ECU1 and ECF1 converters aren’t compatible with the new SEL20F28…and here we see some people using it with OK results. I don’t believe anymore what Sony tell the world unless someone test it.
I never trust any sale person.
Why reacted negatively to this positive reality? You should be happy that the converters indeed support the 20/2.8 as well. If Sony said they’re compatible,but the reality they’re not then I would understand your bad remark bout sony.
have you seen the Q&A video on Sony youtube channel “SGNL” about using the a99? There was a videographer asking question about some features of the a99 while doing videos. She asked how to keep a constant aperture in video (let’s say, f/5.6 while using the SAL70400G through all the zoom range). The answer? Maybe she should buy the SAL70200G to keep a constant aperture because he (Sony guy) believes she was using a “3.5-5.6” 70-400mm Sony lens and that isn’t the best solution. WTF.
Why keep harping on about that? It is obvious to anybody with half a brain cell that the Sony guy got mixed up with the maximum aperture of f3.5 for AF and the maximum aperture of the 70-400mm. Christ it was a slip of the tongue, of course he knew the aperture range of the 70-400mm.
I guess YOU have never said anything factually wrong when you actually know the correct answer, but made a slip up.
Problem is…he represents a Worldwide Corporation and there is reputation and money at game with every release, documentation or interview. I’m sure they had the chance to make a good review of what they were about to put on Youtube, but guess what? They didn’t. I made mistakes in the past and I’m sure I will keep doing something wrong sometimes but in no way I put a company in a embarrasing situation where I did answer a client with wrong information, specially if I had the chance to make a review of what I was supposed to say.
What I’m trying to say is…their “engineers” don’t even know what their products are and don’t know what really their limits are. You see in that Japanese website that they’re using the ECF1 and ECU1 converters even if Sony said they weren’t compatible. And what you see? They’re!
Why do you get so mad at salespeople? I always ignore them, I do my own research about products online. Just shut up already.
I’m not mad, it’s hilarious. It was supposed to be a Sony engineer giving answers.
Maybe I am naive, but I would love to see this lens in a kit with the NEX-3N, as it would make it the most pocketable NEX out there. What I really need is a RX10, but in the meantime it could be amazing.
Any hints of a kit with this lens coming up?
it looks great 😀
i know it is a different focal length but still surprised how well sel1018 does compared to the primes.
hmm it would have been better looking if the converters were black colored also.
really interesting wall photographs in this comparison !
No interest in PanCake lenses. I’d buy the Sigma 19mm f/2.8 instead.
lets just be happy that we have more lens to consider still …. waiting for an 50mm 1.4f ..heh ^^
You mean a 35mm 1.4 right? Because of the crop factor.
I personally am looking for a 24 1.4 aka 35 1.4. But this won’t come because they want to sell the Zeiss lens.
I’m pretty sure he was talking about the FF 50 1.4 Zeiss
This is a nice prime but not at the retail price. I just purchased the Art series Sigma 19mm from B&H. I’ll have it tomorrow!
If its a pancake ima put sizurp on it ya feel me.
Yall think dis tip with fit on my a230. I just copped at da goodwill. Got that tip for 150 with a 18-155 lens. Im tryin to learn as much as possible so I can. Take pics. Propper ya know.
Sorry, what?
The man says that if this lens is a ‘pancake’ lens, he will give it some love.
He is also asking whether the lens will fit his a230 which he got at a thrift store for 150(likely USD) with an 18-155 zoom lens. He is trying to learn as much as he can so he can improve his photography.
No, my man, unfortunately this lens will not fit your a230. Your camera is an SLR and this lens is for Sony NEX, a mirrorless camera.
hahaha Love the translation!!! LOL
I think westcider should write camera and lens reviews…
Thanks brutha , sold the a230 tip fo 275 on craigslist ya feelme. I ordered the 3n-nex off the Sony. Website store. Ima sell the lens dat they give 1650mm n get that fresh pancake. Ima try to do that streets photog like that. Kim brutha. My streets be way more popin than the one he be in so u know ima get good pics ya feel me. Thanks yall ill post some of dem pics on the Flickr n keepyall posted. One love , Sony is truth!
LOL, nice one.
Great lens. SEL 20, 35 and 85 would be my main trio if I ever decide to stay with APSC.
Ah, the 85mm E-mount, now there is a lens I would like to see more of!
Why? Was 135 mm a popular length for you in FF-days? And for what? For portraits I find it too long, and for birding it’s too short. 85 mm is an excellent lenght for portraits on FF, but I can’t find much use for it on APS-C.
For my Nex I’d really like a fast 70 mm, but that’s never gonna happen I’m afraid…
To get back OT: 20 mm is OK, but given its dimensions, Sony could build a 2.0/20 as well. Thát would be nice!
Minolta made a 135/2.8 ‘pocket rocket’ for FF. Alot of people use that lens for FF. Just get Sony 50/1.8 or Sigma 60/2.8 if it’s too long.
My Konica 1.4/57 and Helios 2.0/58 make me quite happy, most of the time. They equal a fast 85 on FF. The Sigma (or Tamron) 2.8/60 is too slow – macro, isn’t it? A fast 70 mm could mean something like my Minolta 2.0/100 or Nikkor 2.0/105 (that stay on their shelf in these APS-C times).
Besides on my 18-200 Tamron NEX lens I never experimented with a length of 135mm. But yes, I do see it as the ideal portait lens, because I tend to shoot portraits at fantasy fairs and parades where it is not always possible to get very close to the subject. That said, from about two meters a head shot is viable and not really that far away I think. Maybe I am wrong, maybe I am right, but that is exactly why I would like to see some tests with it.
85mm is very viable for portraits on APS-C. True background separation when compared to a 50mm.
I’m looking forward to an 85mm on NEX, especially if it’s f/1.8. Would sell my 85/2.8 SAM A-mount, especially as I’m considering getting the Sigma 105mm macro OS, which is of benefit when using the LA-EA2 adapter.
As a matter of fact yes, 135mm was a classic FL for 35mm film. Leica, Nikon, Canon, Pentax – they all made them. But they have fallen out of favour in the past 25 years or so. 85mm is an excellent portrait length for APS-C (I’m talking head shots): it gives you a good DOF for keeping the face in focus while blurring the background, and the FOV allows the photographer to maintain a comfortable working distance from the subject.
If you prefer something closer to 70mm, Leica and Voigtlander make several outstanding 75mm manual focus lenses. The Leicas are, as expected, expensive, but the Voigtlander 75/2.5 is excellent, works well on NEX cameras, and can be found for a reasonable price. I’ve used it on both the Leica M8 (APS-H) and several NEX bodies for formal portraiture.
that’s what exactly had in mind. 20 35 85 all in sleek black finish. top it off with the new nex7n
😀
Interesting lens, pictures looks better than the 16f28, but seems to need post processing
But 20f28 + ECF1 looks like the 16F28 🙂
So what’s the conclusion of that article? I may be thick but I don’t understand if it’s better than the 16mm or not (considering, imo, that the 16mm is cr#p).
I wonder if its better than the sigma 19mm 2.8 that only cost 99.99
If this was f1.7 like the Panasonic they would actually sell.
If you have a Nex-3, Nex-C3, Nex-F3, Nex-5, Nex-5n or Nex-7 it will as poor as the 16mm
It seems like most of the new e-mount lenses really need the automatic lens compensation …
Fun fact: All of the m4/3 lenses have auto in-camera correction, same as Leica lenses.
I’m also quite interested in the actual quality of the new 20. My Japanese is not so good and the translation is a bit cryptic. I do love wide angles and like pancakes. For that I’m even quite happy with the 16mm. For most of the 24mm equivalent work corner image quality is not that important anyway. And together with the 24 Zeiss and 50mm it’s a perfect trio. For me 135mm didn’t work on FF as well. 50mm is great for a portrait lens, I always envied the 75mm 1.8 for the M-series.
And yes, I do like the Fisheye and extra wide converters as well considering the value for money they bring. With those you realy want to stop down to f8. No idea why you would like to put them on the 20mm if you already have the 16mm. To have a fisheye that is not really a fisheye? And to have a 22,5mm FF equivalent next to your 24mm FF equivalent?? Perhaps somthing lost in translation.
I was hoping this review would answer the question whether the 20 is sharper than the 16 pancake. I use both the WA and FE converters in an underwater Nauticam housing and have been disappointed with sharpness of the 16mm w/ both converters. I’m probably going to get the Zeiss 24mm to add to my lens selection. It uses the same 4.33″ Nauticam port as the Sony lens and converters, so I was hoping to get a wider angle than the Zeiss 24mm using the 20mm+WA/FE converters combination with the same port and a substantial increase in sharpness over the 16. I can’t make that determination with these pictures or poor Google translated review on the web and would like to see a professional lab comparison between sharpness on the 16 vs 20mm.