In summary
The Distagon T* FE 35mm f/1.4 is a strong performer and well worth considering by owners of Sony’s FE mount cameras who want a fast prime lens with a moderately wide angle of view. This lens is able to capitalise on the superior high ISO performance of Sony’s recent ‘full frame’ cameras, making it a good choice for photographers who enjoy low-light shooting with excellent depth of field control.
With the same angle of view as the slower Sonnar T FE 35mm f/2.8 ZA we reviewed in October 2013 but a two-stop faster f/1.4 maximum aperture, this is a more versatile lens for its single focal length, particularly for low-light shooting and depth-of-field control. Unlike the Sonnar lens, this lens is designed primarily for Sony’s ‘full frame’ α7 and α9 cameras but it can also be used on cropped sensor NEX and Alpha (α) cameras.
At the 35mm focal length, it can be used for everyday snapshots, street photography, landscapes and some portraits. On a cropped-sensor camera, the 52.5mm effective focal length makes it more useful for portraits and some close-ups, although with a minimum focus of 30 cm it’s not a macro lens.
As well as being quite an expensive lens, this lens is also relatively large and heavy. Weighing 630 grams and roughly 112 mm long, it will take up quite a lot of space in your camera bag. We think it’s best partnered with Sony’s ‘full frame’ cameras.
The piezoelectric motors controlling focus and aperture adjustments are quiet, smooth and unobtrusive, making this lens a good choice for shooting video.
Full review
Announced in March 2015, the Zeiss Distagon T* FE 35mm f/1.4 is the first E-mount lens with a fast f/1.4 maximum aperture. Although designed primarily for ‘full frame’ cameras, it can also be used with cropped-sensor bodies, where it covers a similar focal length to a 52.5mm lens on a 35mm camera. Its wide maximum aperture makes this lens well suited to low-light shooting, although it can also be used for environmental portraiture.
Side view of the Zeiss Distagon T* FE 35mm f/1.4 lens without end caps and lens hood. (Source: Sony.)
The Distagon design places a large negative lens in front of an ordinary lens to achieve a short overall focal length with a wide maximum aperture. This results in a lens that is physically large with a complex construction to correct aberrations, making it expensive to produce.
The optical design of the lens showing the positions of the exotic glass elements. (Source: Sony.)
Accordingly, the optical design of this lens is relatively complex, as shown in the diagram above, comprising 12 elements in eight groups, with one Advanced Aspherical (AA) and two aspherical elements, which control astigmatism, field curvature, coma and other spherical aberrations. Zeiss T* anti-reflective coatings have been applied to each lens surface to minimise internal reflections associated with ghosting and flare.
Autofocusing is driven by a direct drive Super Sonic Wave system, which uses a linear piezoelectric actuator to move the focusing group. Focusing is totally internal and the system is fast and precise in operation.
This lens lacks stabilisation, and it’s not really necessary since Sony’s cameras come with sensor-shift image stabilisation built-in. The nine-blade iris diaphragm closes to a circular aperture, contributing to a pleasing bokeh quality at wide aperture settings.
Dust- and moisture-sealing makes this lens usable in challenging environments, although it’s not totally waterproof. The lens is normally supplied with front and end caps plus a petal-shaped hood and a case. However, neither the hood nor the case was supplied with the lens we received for this review, for which we used Sony’s α7R II camera.
Who’s it For?
With the same angle of view as the slower Sonnar T FE 35mm f/2.8 ZA we reviewed in October 2013 but a two-stop faster f/1.4 maximum aperture, this is a more versatile lens for its single focal length, particularly for low-light shooting and depth-of-field control. Unlike the Sonnar lens, this lens is designed primarily for Sony’s ‘full frame’ α7 and α9 cameras but it can also be used on cropped sensor NEX and Alpha (α) cameras.
At the 35mm focal length, it can be used for everyday snapshots, street photography, landscapes and some portraits. On a cropped-sensor camera, the 52.5mm effective focal length makes it more useful for portraits and some close-ups, although with a minimum focus of 30 cm it’s not a macro lens.
As well as being quite an expensive lens, this lens is also relatively large and heavy. Weighing 630 grams and roughly 112 mm long, it will take up quite a lot of space in your camera bag. We think it’s best partnered with Sony’s ‘full frame’ cameras.
The piezoelectric motors controlling focus and aperture adjustments are quiet, smooth and unobtrusive, making this lens a good choice for shooting video.
Build and Ergonomics
Overall build quality is in line with other lenses in its class and similar to the SEL50F14Z lens we reviewed in February 2017. Like the 50mm f/1.4 lens, it is constructed entirely of metal, with a very solid metal mounting plate that fits closely to the camera body.
Its physical size is one of the prices you pay for the fast maximum aperture. As well as dust and moisture resistance, this lens sports dedicated aperture ring with click-stops that provides direct manual control over aperture settings. A slider switch on the lens barrel allows users to ‘de-click’ the ring for silent aperture switching while shooting movies.
Right at the front of the lens barrel is a bayonet fitting for attaching the supplied, petal-shaped lens hood, which reverses over the barrel for transport and storage. The lens accepts 72 mm filters, which screw into the inner side of the bayonet fitting.
The manual focusing ring starts roughly 15 mm behind the bayonet fitting. It’s 27 mm wide and entirely clad with fine ribbing that provides a good grip. The ring is well damped and smooth to operate in manual focus mode.
The lens uses electronic coupling to focus when AF mode is selected. There’s no AF/MF switch because manual focusing in the AF mode is engaged via a switch on the camera.
Immediately behind the focusing ring is a fixed section of the lens barrel that is 10mm wide with a step-down half way across it. The aperture ring slots in behind this section of the barrel.
It’s 11 mm wide, with click stops at 1/3EV intervals for aperture settings between f/1.4 and f/16 plus an A setting that enables the camera to set the aperture automatically. A band of fine ridging that covers most of the lower two-thirds of this ring provides a secure grip.
Behind the aperture ring is a 17 mm wide fixed section of the outer barrel that carries the Click on-off switch. This switch is easily reached by your left hand fingers when you’re cradling the lens.
The lens barrel continues for about 16 mm immediately behind the aperture ring then slopes down to the final 13 mm section before the lens mount. A cinnabar-coloured branding ring on the camera marks the junction between the lens and the camera body.
Like most Sony lenses, this lens has no focus or depth-of-field scales and no infra-red focus indices. It’s left to the photographer to assess these parameters.
Performance
We disabled all the in-camera corrections for most of our test shooting, restoring them for the Imatest testing so we could compare the effects of the corrections with the uncorrected raw files from the camera. The sample images shown for vignetting and distortion are based upon ARW.RAW files.
Subjective assessments of JPEG images taken with the α7R II camera showed them to be rich in detail ““ as you would expect from a 42-megapixel camera with accurate colour reproduction, modest saturation and slightly elevated contrast. Some softening was apparent at the widest aperture settings, although it was largely resolved by f/5.0.
The highest resolution in the central part of the frame was between f/3.5 and f/5.0. Diffraction reduced sharpness from about f/8 on. The graph below shows the results of our Imatest tests.
Some vignetting was evident at the widest apertures, although it wasn’t particularly obvious in many test shots. Stopping down to f/2.2 eliminated most of the darkening and the vignetting had vanished totally by f/3.2. Rectilinear distortion was barely visible and relatively minor for a wide-angle lens.
Lateral chromatic aberration was close to negligible at all aperture settings with the in-camera corrections switched off. The results of our test are shown in the graph below, with the red line marking the border between ‘negligible’ and ‘low’ values. No apparent coloured fringing was found in test shots.
Together, the review lens and the α7R II delivered good backlight performance in most situations. The lens wasn’t totally immune to flare and both artefacts and slight veiling flare could be produced in shots when a bright light source was inside the image frame. The camera’s dynamic range optimisation (DRO) system managed to keep contrast and saturation at usable levels with normal backlit subjects.
The wide maximum aperture made it easy to shoot close-ups with a very shallow depth of focus and control over the sharpness range in subjects was easy and effective with this lens. Examples are shown in the Samples section below.
Bokeh (out-of-focus softening) was generally very smooth at wide aperture settings and, although the best results were obtained in rather low-contrast lighting, transitions between sharp focus and blur were usually very smooth. Even when the aperture was stopped down to f/4, we found no evidence of outlining around highlights. Bokeh fringing, a common characteristic with fast lenses, was not detected.
Autofocusing was fast and accurate on the α7R II camera, which supports the proprietary Direct Drive SSM focusing system in the lens. It took roughly half a second to readjust focus between the minimum focus and infinity and the ability to de-click the aperture ring, coupled with the quiet operation of the linear AF motor, makes this lens well suited to video recording.
Conclusion
The Distagon T* FE 35mm f/1.4 is a strong performer and well worth considering by owners of Sony’s FE mount cameras who want a fast prime lens with a moderately wide angle of view. This lens is able to capitalise on the superior high ISO performance of Sony’s recent ‘full frame’ cameras, making it a good choice for photographers who enjoy low-light shooting with excellent depth of field control.
The lens also provides superior control over common aberrations, although most can be addressed for JPEGs with automatic in-camera adjustments. Although some edge and corner softening is inevitable with wider apertures, control over distortion and chromatic aberration is very good.
We wouldn’t consider this lens as a first choice for Sony’s cropped-sensor cameras since more suitable lenses are available with the ‘standard’ 50mm effective focal length at a much lower price. The SEL50F18 is designed specifically for APS-C sensor cameras and priced at only AU$499 (RRP). However, if you own both ‘full frame’ and APS-C sensor cameras it’s definitely worth a look since it can be used with both cameras.
Since this lens has been on sale for more than two years, discounting is well established and you can expect to save at least AU$200 on Sony’s RRP if you shop around. The best price we found from a reputable re-seller was AU$2198, which is a big discount and less than you’d pay to import the lens. Grey marketers have lower prices but are risky to buy from as warranties may not be valid.
There are a couple of cheaper alternatives to consider if you’re looking for a 35mm prime lens for ‘full frame’ cameras with a Sony mount. The Distagon T* FE 35mm f/1.4 ZA lens (SEL35F14Z) is listed on Sony’s website at $2499 (RRP) but selling for around $2320 in some local stores. The Sonnar T* FE 35mm f/2.8 ZA (SEL35F28Z) has an RRP of $999 but can be had for $754 at some outlets. Sony also has an E-mount 35mm f/1.8 OSS (SEL35F18) for cameras with APS-C sized sensors listed at $599, which is commonly discounted to less than $550.
B&H has this lens listed at US$1598, which was equivalent to AU$1996.70 when this review was published. To that you must add just over AU$53 for shipping and around $267 for ‘duties and tax’, bringing the total to AU$2316.82, which is roughly the same as the best local price.
SPECS
Picture angle: 63 degrees (44 degrees on APS-C camera)
Minimum aperture: f/16
Lens construction: 12 elements in 8 groups (including 1 advanced aspherical and two aspherical elements plus Zeiss T* coating)
Lens mounts: Sony E-mount
Diaphragm Blades: 9 (circular aperture)
Focus drive: DDSSM (Direct Drive SSM) linear piezoelectric motors
Stabilisation: No (relies on in-camera IS)
Minimum focus: 30cm
Maximum magnification: 0.18x
Filter size: 72 mm
Dimensions (Diameter x L): 78.5 x 112.0 mm
Weight: 630 grams
Standard Accessories: Lens front and end caps, petal-shaped lens hood (ALC-SH137), semi-rigid case
Distributor: Sony Australia; 1300 720 071; www.sony.com.au
TESTS
Based upon JPEG files captured with the Sony α7R Mark II camera.
SAMPLES
Vignetting at f/1.4.
Rectilinear distortion. (Vignetting is also visible in this image.)
Close-up at f/1.4; ISO 200, 1/60 second.
Close-up at f/2; ISO 400, 1/60 second.
Close-up at f/4; ISO 1600, 1/50 second.
ISO 200, 1/160 second at f/7.1.
Strong backlighting with flare artefacts and slight veiling flare; ISO 100, 1/320 second at f/5.6.
ISO 1250, 1/60 second at f/5.0.
Crops from the centre (top) and corner of the above image at 100% magnification, the latter showing the relative absence of edge and corner softening.
ISO 200, 1/30 second at f/8.
Crop from the above image at 100% magnification showing central sharpness.
ISO 100, 1/250 second at f/8.
ISO 160, 1/60 second at f/5.6.
Backlit subject with shallow depth of field; ISO 100, 1/640 second at f/1.4.
ISO 100, 1/160 second at f/5.6.
ISO 400, 1/60 second at f/6.3.
SO 160, 1/60 second at f/1.4.
ISO 1000, 1/30 second at f/4.5.
ISO 160, 1/125 second at f/1.4.
ISO 100, 1/100 second at f/5.6.
ISO 125, 1/60 second at f/4.
Rating
RRP: AU$2,499; US$1,598
- Build: 9.0
- Handling: 8.9
- Image quality: 9.0
- Versatility: 8.5