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Quick review of FE35.4

Kenny Koo Photography
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Kenny Koo Photography Newbie

Kenny Koo Photography

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Few months ago, Sony announced 4 new full frame E-mount lenses. Among them, the Distagon 35.4 caught my eyes because of its huge size and first introduction of aperture ring. Just about a week ago, I was tempted to get this lens when I knew that pre-order was about to begin. After reading Steve Huff's first hand on review, I made my pre-ordered and brought it home last week.

 

35mm is common known as the best focal length for street photography. How does this 35.4 perform?

When I pick up the lens from the shop, it was my first time to actually see and touch the real stuff (no sample has been displayed before the day I picked it up) This lens is huge but not too heavy! I was feeling it is acceptable when I put it onto my a7s. After an hour of shooting it in street, I want to say it IS heavy. I believe for many mirrorless camera users like me, it is common to held the camera up and down with one hand for taking shots from different angles. This lens is not designed for this (unless you have a steel wrist). Once your hand got tired, the unbalanced feeling of lens and body was more noticeable (a7ii might be slightly better?). On the next day, I added the battery grip to my a7s to regain the balance between lens and the body... but wait. It is just like a DSLR setting! For those who love to shoot you food in front of you with a DSLR and big lens, this setting should be no big deal. But for me, this combo is just inconvenient for street photography. Also, the size of lens might be just too "obvious" for shooting people in the streets. When you use 35mm to take picture of someone (you don't know) close, this lens is too big and aggressive. That's why I will give it up and go for FE35/2.8 if I'm going to shoot/snap all day in the streets. (35/2.8 is one third the size of 35.4, and the AF speed difference is not too noticeable)

 

However, the shortest focus distance of 35.4 is even shorter than 35/2.8 (30cm vs 35cm), which means you can shoot closer to your subject with ridiculous shallow DOF and creamy bokeh. This is superbly useful for shooting objects/items that interested you. Another interesting finding is, 35.4 is wider than 35/2.8 (not sure whose issue).

 

Apart from the reasons of popularity and usability, Sony (35/2.8 & 35.4) and Zeiss (Loxia 35/2) have issued 3 full frame E-mount 35mm prime lens in 2 years, another reason I see this development is these 3 lenses are not completing with each other, they are designed for different purposes with different price range and specifications (I won't sell the 35/2.8 because I got this 35.4). I don't own a Loxia so I cannot go into detail about it. Since it is a MF lens with digital communication with a7 (just like those new Leica M lens), I can see it is targeting on the a7 users who mainly use manual prime with adapter. Compare with 35/2.8, I think the advantage of 2 additional aperture stops is not about low night performance, but the ability of creating shallow DOF and creamy zeiss bokeh. This is the magic of Distagon 35.4 to make the subject stand out and to produce super 3D images. Another character of this lens is the centre sharpness during wide open. It is very sharp but not that kind of razor sharp like FE55.8, it might be good for portrait photography? (I didn't have time and chance to try it with portraits, I would like to do it for my next article) Furthermore, Sony designed it as dust and moisture proofed with new SSM motor and new click-less-ible aperture ring, obviously it is classified as the top grade lens and forbidden to be low priced. But if you look at the price tag of ZM Distagon 35.4 (which is not made in Germany), this autofocus Distagon 35.4 is reasonably priced. I would highly recommend this 35.4 for a7 users who looks for a great AF 35mm for purposeful photo shooting (events/portrait exercises/studio...), 35/2.8 for day-to-day/carry around use like street photography and landscape photography.

 

If I compare Sony 35.4 with VM35.4, mechanically and physically they are so different. Autofocus vs manual focus; grande size coffee vs Oreo cookie size, so subjective to different shooting habits. But price-wise, Voigtlander Nokton classic might be the best buy for 35mm with f1.4 around HK$4K~5K. If money is not a concern, I would say Distagon beat the Nokton completely by its bokeh (VM is too busy for my taste) and shortest focus distance (VM needs 70cm). This VM is a bit lack of character. (Be fair, VM is non E-mount native lens and also with out digital correction)

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