Wide rectilinear lens recommendation for A7Sii

H

Humanoid Typhoon

Well-known member
Hi all,

Currently I use an 11-16 tokina for my wides in Super 35 crop mode. I'd like to get something full frame and was thinking about purchasing (again) the Zeiss 21mm 2.8. Love the look and definitely miss it when I had it on my 5dmk3. However, just wanted to see if there is any other options out there. I'm open to anything wide and I'll be using it for real estate. I'm considering also the zeiss 15mm 2.8 and I could always use it in crop mode for a narrower field of view. I've only shot canon so I'm open to other mounts that can adapt to e mount. Any suggestions?

Thanks
 
You might want to try out your 11-16mm in FF mode. At 15-16mm you should lose any problematic vignetting. Of course if you're considering the Zeiss lenses I'm guessing you've got money to burn and you don't want any compromises like slightly softer corners.

The Nikon 14-24mm is considered one of the best FF UWA zooms available. This lens is the reason many landscape/architecture photographers have chosen Nikon rather than Canon over the years. You can get mechanical adapters which will allow you to control the aperture.

Canon have the new 11-24mm which is getting excellent reviews, but it makes even the Zeiss lenses look cheap! It's also a stop slower than the Nikon or the Zeiss primes which could be problematic indoors. Then there is Canon's 16-35 f/2.8L II, which may be more attractively priced.

Even Tamron now has a legitimate contender in the FF wide zoom market with their new 15-30 f/2.8 VC.

There's plenty of options in this area these days so it comes down to your own priorities: price vs IQ vs flexibility - Pick 2 of these and your choices become much clearer.
 
If you're OK with a fully manual, semi-vintage lens, the Tokina 17mm RMC f/3.5 is a great full frame lens. I use it all the time on my A7s. They come in a variety of mounts, Nikon, Pentax, Canon, Minolta, and maybe more. I have the Minolta version. At f5.6, it's razor sharp from corner to corner, full frame. Check and see what's available on ebay.
 
As deltoidjohn said: before you buy an expensive new lens, at least try your Tokina as a 16mm f/2.8 prime. It works.

My tests here (on a 5D2).
 
Thanks for all the replies! I've used the 11-16 as 16mm prime on my 5d3 and also have done some testing on the a7sii in 4k. Not too happy with the image quality in FF, doesn't appear to be as sharp. Out of all the options, it seems like the 11-16 may be the best solution. I've looked at some tests in distortion between the 15mm zeiss 2.8 and the tokina at 15 and it's "pretty" close. I have the 16-35 f4 IS though I'm not happy with the distortion. The 17-40 I previously owned had better distortion at the wide end. I've also used the 11-24 f4 though the bulbous lens is a deal breaker as I need to put a circa pol or ND on the front.

I like the idea of the nikon 14-24. Which adapter would work best for the A7Sii? Definitely familiar with how well regarded it is.
 
OK, if you've already tested the 11-16mm and found it doesn't meet your needs, then you're ready for:
* sharpness tests on wide angle zooms and wide angle primes, including assessment of copy-to-copy variation
* distortion charts

From that information, I would go for a prime: in general they are sharper and have much less distortion. If budget is no issue, the Zeiss 21mm looks awesome. Probably in Milvus form because they seem to have less copy-to-copy variation. Next-best could be the Zeiss 18mm.

It's a pity these sites don't cover FE lenses... (well, LensRentals is just starting out)
 
If you even consider zeiss 15mm....you should go for tamron 15-30mm VC this is just about as good as it gets...so no cropmode you can just zoom
samyang 14mm....distortion might be a problem..but very cheap
there are many other options........enough info about them everywhere. Sigma 12-24 the first one specially has little distortion compared to most. Canon 14mm also good for real estate and really is sharp enough.

There are also some vintage lenses no 2.8 but smaller en sharp enough. voigtlander 15mm would be perfect ( imho) because of the size on these e mout cameras

Sony 16-35 should be good enough and it is native so much easier ( never used it though ) otherwise canon has 3 of them and tokina 16-28 could be had for reasonable prices used....lol it's getting a long list.
 
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I love my 14-24 nikkor. It's as sharp wide open as the legendary 80-200. no vignetting. no dark corners. no abberations. it's bloody perfect. there is a gotcha tho. you can't use any filters as there is nothing to screw them on to. the nikon 16-35 vr f/4 seems to be a better option for film. according to the web it's just as sharp and is blessed with a filter thread.
 
If you don't mind manual i'd take a look at

Voightlander 21mm f1.8, is an awesome 21mm on full frame. If you want wider there is the 15mm (which i don't own) but also the 12mm which i do own, and that is stupidly wide. In fact i believe it's the widest full frame prime out there. All rectilinear lenses.

cheers
Paul
 
14-24 is much sharper it is just about as good as it can for any lens. Only since a few months it has been challenged by tamron.
Budget is the key here but all new lenses are good enough..specially for real estate i guess...havn't doen that ever so i wouldn't know ...i am guessing you always shoot stopped down and then most lenses should perform reasonably well.
 
If you're worried about threading nd on the front, the vizelex nd throttle has been my lens mount of choice on my a7s for Nikon glass.
 
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