Sony FE 28mm F2 E-mount lens review by QuietOC
 QuietOC#44249 date: Mar-21-2019 | |
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| sharpness: 4.5 color: 4 build: 4 distortion: 3 flare control: 4 overall: 3.9 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Sigma 24 F1.8 EX DG Sony 24 F2 SSM Distagon Tamron 24 F2.8 OSD Rokinon AF 24 F2.8 Minolta AF 24 F2.8 Sigma AF 24 F2.8 II Discover/Neewer 25 F1.8 Canon EF 28 F1.8 USM Sigma 28 F1.8 HS & EX DG Minolta MD & AF 28 F2 Minolta MC 28 F2.5 Canon EF 28 F2.8 IS USM Minolta/Sony AF 28 F2.8 Neewer 28 F2.8 Konica Hexar 28 F3.5 Sigma 30 F1.4 DC DN C & EX DC Sigma 30 F2.8 DN Art Sony DT 30 F2.8 Macro SAM Neewer 32 F1.6 Zeiss 32 F1.8 Touit |
| price paid: | 355 USD (used) |
| positive: | Center sharpness Internal linear focus Dust and moisture-resistant Lens Compensation |
| negative: | Barrel distortion Chromatic Aberration Misalignment/variation Metal exterior Plastic filter threads Focus breathing 15 FPS burst tracking |
| comment: | This is the second least expensive Sony FE lens after the FE 1.8/50. It is nearly twice the price of that lens. The retail price has been $450 since introduction with frequent $25 discounts and a couple of $50 discounts. It has a similar allow veneer and control ring as the older primes. "Made in Thailand" I bid too much on an auction for a like-new copy with the original packaging. A $200 "refurbished" copy had worse alignment. A third used copy with original packaging was slightly better aligned. Every copy had some amount of misalignment. Image quality is better than the FE 28-60, 28-70, 24-70 ZA, and 24-105 G zooms. Outside of alignment, the main optical flaws are distortion and chromatic aberrations. It has more barrel distortion than the other 28mm primes. Distortion compensation is applied to the live-view and cannot be disabled on the A7 cameras. The distortion compensation can be disabled on the A6000. It has more lateral CA than the Canon EF 28mm F2.8 IS USM. It is as bright wide-open as the older Sigma and Canon 28 F1.8 primes despite those lenses being larger and heavier. The Sony also has less purple fringing. It is decent as an APS-C lens, but there are sharper, smaller APS-C primes. It also lacks optical stabilization which would be useful for this normal angle-of-view on APS-C. Canon's 28 F2.8 has image stabilization. It does look fancier than the plastic bodied FE 50 F1.8. It is not as pleasant to touch. It shares the ALC-SH112 plastic petal hood with the 18-55 OSS kit lens. The filter threads and front of the lens are plastic. The dedicated Ultra Wide Converter attaches via the hood bayonet. The optical flaws of the base lens remain issues using the converter. The Tamron 20mm F2.8 has much better image quality and is also lighter the converter by itself. Overall a nice basic wide prime if you find a well-aligned example. |
; 20MPrating summary
- total reviews: 13
- sharpness: 4.69
- color: 4.69
- build: 4.08
- distortion: 3.31
- flare control: 4.23
- overall: 4.20