Our Recommendation
The Sony FE 35mm f/1.8 does its job well as a sharp, lightweight 35mm prime lens. It could earn a spot in almost any bag, from street photographers to landscape photographers.
However, it is not without some flaws. Despite the strong sharpness, it has some issues with vignetting and chromatic aberration that harm its image quality if you’re being picky.
The good news is that Sony managed to achieve the overall strong performance in one of the lightest lenses of its class. I think that a lot of photographers will prefer a lens they can carry everywhere, even with the tradeoff of some (correctable) vignetting and chromatic aberration.
Pros:
- Small and light, even compared to other 35mm f/1.8 lenses
- Fully internal focusing
- Sharp throughout the aperture range
- Excellent in backlit conditions with minimal flare and good sunstars
Cons:
- A little less weather sealing than Sony G or GM lenses
- Distinct vignetting in the far corners even at narrow apertures
- Relatively high chromatic aberrations, both lateral and longitudinal
- Price of $750 is a bit high (though the oft-seen $650 sale price is reasonable)
Conclusion
Sony played it a little safe with the FE 35mm f/1.8. They didn’t aim for best-in-class performance at the expense of weight, and they didn’t try to add features like near-macro capabilities. Instead, we got a small, light, and capable 35mm prime.
Playing it safe isn’t always a bad thing. My overall impression of the Sony FE 35mm f/1.8 is quite positive, even though I think there’s room for a second generation to improve upon various little things.
If anything needs fixing the most, it’s the “sharp” vignetting profile that never goes away even at narrow aperture values. I found myself needing to spend more time than usual correcting vignetting with this lens as a result. Still, it was correctable, and that’s what matters at the end of the day – that you can take the photos you want, without the lens holding you back.
At the $750 MSRP, it feels a little overpriced to me, but I guess that depends on how badly you need it. If you find the Sony FE 35mm f/1.8 for the sale price of $650, I consider it a good buy.
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The next page of this review has some more sample photos from the Sony FE 35mm f/1.8, followed by reader comments on the final page. Use the Table of Contents below the star rating to jump to the section you want.
Sony FE 35mm f/1.8
- Build Quality and Handling
- Size and Weight
- Sharpness Performance
- Other Image Quality
- Value
Photography Life Overall Rating
Table of Contents