Thanks Dustin. Once again, a balanced view of the lens you are reviewing. You provide great analysis for people interested in using equipment in the real world. Just great work.

Thanks Dustin, appreciate your review.

Great review, thanks! I just missed a bit more of info on the Astro side, but I understand that is hard to gather such info during summer… :)

Barrel distortion is automatically corrected when the lens is used on the A7R3 in all jpeg file size options and the in camera lens distortion correction function becomes inoperable, so this correction can be left in the "off" postion with this lens in jpeg. Great job with your review (as always) Dustin. I like this little Sony lens and for those that don't shoot a lot of critical wide angle photography the cost/performance ratio is favorable. Easy to take along in a camera backpack and have handy when you need it.

I was very sceptical about this lens but I actually love the outlining. Not every day that a compact modern lens is delivered that actually has character. Feels a little bit like a more vintage lens in terms of size and rendering, without the 'drawbacks' of bad flaring, low contrast and manual focus. Nice review (got a lot more info here on the character than in other reviews), and nice addition to the lens line up.

Love my 50mm f/2.5. FYI you can put a filter on the lens itself and then put the hood on, just like the Zeiss 35mm f/2.8. This is what I do on my 50mm, have a protector filter on the lens, then put the lens hood on over it. Works great for when I'm in a crowded area bashing my camera up against people, as even the filter is protected by the hood.

Wanted to love this lens but my tests showed the following compared to Sony 35mm f/1.8. I set both lenses in the same F stop: 2.8. Same white balance. Put the resulting video in Catalyst Browse and that is what catalyst reported: 35mm at f/2.8 Shutter speed ended up as 1/1000. 24mm at f/2.8 shutter speed ended up 1/500. Plus 24mm had way more vignetting in video, jpegs, and RAW compared to 35mm. And 35mm lens is not even a G lens. That 24 mm lens does not deserve G mark at all. It is losing the whole stop of light compared to 35mm lens at the same F stop 2.8, so Sony lied. I was taking videos and pictures of a completely white wall. Plus coloring was way off for 24mm. The resulting image was bluish while 35 mm resulting image was true white. There is no good 24mm compact lens for Sony at all. Viltrox? Nope. Samyang? Nope. I have not tried Sigma one. Should I?

Your reviews are actually DEFINITIVE. I personally find Tamron to produce little warm tones, both onmy A7M3 and M2. My Viltrox 85mm produce beautiful colors. But my 28-200 Tamron produce bit warm to my liking.

I just picked up this lens to use on the FX3 and FX6. It looks good, and interestingly, lens distortion correction is locked on and you can't disable it, this goes for both cameras. For my purposes the presumed quality drop is a non-issue. But I would have liked to have the option, in some scenes I actually want lens flaws. The 40mm is fantastic too.

Hello Dustin! Have you tried installing a lens hood from a 24 mm lens to a 50mm lens, is it suitable?

Hello, Dustin, thank you for the detailed review! Would you recommend to get this lens as an addition to the Sigma 28-70mm? My main reason would be the extra bit of wide angle, the compact size and also the weather sealing.

Splendid review. Quick question: can the 24mm lens hood be used on the 40mm and 50mm, are they interchangeable? I'm assuming the lens caps are all interchangeable. One more: do you think the 40mm or the 50mm would pair well with the Tamron 28-200mm as a dedicated prime? The prime would be in the bag for a bit of fun and to provide a little more light and bokeh when needed. The alternative would be to pair the 28-200mm with a faster prime but curious to get your thoughts. I like to travel light and compact. 🙏U for these helpful and enjoyable reviews.

I have the set of three for street photography to go along with my A7c. Makes an excellent little set up. That body with the 40mm in this series is my go to for throwing a camera set up in my bag when I’m just walking around or on my normal daily routine.

Great review. I keep this lens parked on my A7SIII and I don’t think twice about taking my camera everywhere with me now vs. before with that kettlebell they call a 24-70, lol. Image quality competes with g master in my opinion, especially considering the price.

So, since the 25mm Batis and the 24mm f2.8G are about $100.00 difference used... which would be better do you think? I am a news and sports photographer who values 1. fast AF 2. excellent build quality AND character/quality of image... I have the 50mm 2.5G and I do like it a LOT but I also have the 18mm Batis and I LOVE it too... I'm torn, as you can see.

Seems like an awesome trio for street photographers.

Hi,thanks for your interesting review. Do you think image quality wise the tamron 24 mm f2.8 lens is in pair with the Sony lens?

At 16:56 "Stopping on down to f/5.6 also produces little advantage" but visible on screen there is a noticeable drop in sharpness when switching from f/4 to f/5.6 =(. That's my biggest concern about this lens, the corners become _worse_ as you stop it down. I hoped this one, at this price point, might be able to work for occasional hardcore landscape/architecture photos when stopped way down.

Does correcting the barrel distortion crop the image resulting in lower resolution / megapixel count? That distortion is alot.

Hi Dustin, I have 14f1.4gm, 85mm1.8, which one do you recon 40 or 24? For daily street, park use.

IDK why but I think wide prime lenses with such a massive barrel distortion are kindda cool! This lens can be used as around 20mm fisheye lens without the profile! Lol BTW I still hope you consider to put lenses with small and light construction like these 3 on your apsc camera or even the 21mp crop mode of A1 to show if they are a solid choice as a hybrid ff & apsc option by testing them on your great chart. Thanks for your admirable efforts.

Hi @Dustin Abbott, where i am this sony lens and the samyang 24mm f1.8 are the same price differing only about 20 bucks. Which would you suggest given the value? Thank you.

Thank you again for a very informative review. I recently swapped my Tamron 24mm f2.8 for a Samyang 24mm f2.8, because I wanted the smallest wide angle lens for my Sony A7C to take to restaurants and social functions. You compared the Sony 24mm f2.8 lens to other competing lenses especially the Samyang 24mm f1.8 which is larger, but I think that Samyang's 24mm f2.8 is a more direct competitor. Even though this lens has been out for a while, I believe that this is just about the smallest and lightest full frame E mount lens that is available. Yet no one seems to have compared it to the newer lenses. What are your thoughts, especially regarding optical performance?

currently running a Rokinon 24mm 2.8 on my Sony a7iii on a gimbal for run and gun live shooting and the autofocus is so unreliable as to be unuseable, especially outdoors in high contrast light and indoors in low-ish light. Sometimes it will actually detect and track faces while maintaining a frame-wide soft focus, never adjusting itself, and other times it racks itself into focus and back out of focus again as if it's correct. It's only a $200 lens, but if I'm going to trash it for a $600 lens, the Sony better be a lot better. Anyone have any comparison experience between these two?

i wonder how do these lenses compare to the good ol sony 28 f2...

Thank you for your review! You mentioned Samyang AF 24mm F1.8, but actually that lens isn't available for masses )

Whats the tripod's name on 4:32?

Which one sharper samyang or that sony

At 12:15 the horrible barrel distortion of the Sony FE 24mm f/2.8 lens. The quite similar in size and weight full frame SIGMA 24mm F3.5 DG DN lens has far less barrel distortion, is equally sharp but is a slower lens. Also the similar full frame autofocus Samyang/Rokinon FE 24mm f/2.8 design for mirrorless cameras has very little barrel distortion but is not sharp at corners full open. Of course most cameras can conceal digitally many optical problems of lenses and especially affordable convenient kit lenses and that is very good. My opinion is that such optical issues for a prime lens at that price is unacceptable.

Could you use the lens on an apsc?

Is it weather sealed?

❤❤❤

Why to by Sony FE 24mm F2,8 if you can have for a half-price awesome Samyang 24mm F1,8 (i have it)

Dustin - will you not be able to get rid of the distortion for video - I know you can for photo.

Not sure who these lenes are really for. On the one end the at the price point you start to approach F2.8 zoom lenes like Tamron 28-75, Sigma 28-70. On the other end you have Samyang's tiny series with brighter aperture, better image quality and lower price. When we talking about prime lenes, we are talking at least F1.8 or F2 because you sacrificed versatility for that. The image quality is just ok, steping down aperture on any other prime lenes you will get better result, the distortion is horrendous, is something you usually see on a super zoom lenes. I wouldn't call this kind of optical performance "strong". Not many people care about all the switches or aperture ring, you already have dials on camera for that. The only advantage might be been native, but in Sony system you can basicaly treat every lens as native. Sony really need to step up their game for these compact prime lenses.

The Tamron 24mm f2.8 is the much better deal. A third of the price, comparable sharpness, perhaps better flare resistance, and it can do 1:2 macro.

Samyang is 1.8 dof, Sony 2.8..dof

Ah now I don't know what to buy :/ Ok distortion is scary here, pass

For this price…NO. $300 is a fair price.

Another reviewer claiming that distortion is not good. Distortion is a lens characteristic, not an issue and it can add to images if you're a good enough photographer. If you're an amateur you'll perpetuate the myth that distortion is an issue that constantly needs correction.

If a lense is heavily dependent on software wizarding, keep it away. A masterful designed lense works even on a plane of film just by optical correction. This software profile wizarding is SO disruptive to the art of lensemaking.