Sony FE 35mm F/1.8 Review

The Sony FE 35mm F/1.8 is an unassuming prime lens sporting a normal focal-length and moderately bright maximum aperture. Its combination of focal-length and aperture with Full-Frame coverage is very common. Multiple similar models are available for most lens mounts from both first and third-party manufacturers.

Sony currently makes 3 Full-Frame E-mount 35mm prime lenses, with F/1.4, F/1.8 and F/2.8 maximum apertures, respectively. The FE 35mm F/1.8 stands in the middle of the lineup in terms of brightness. The other two lenses were designed in conjunction with Zeiss and are more expensive premium optics. Among bright 35mm lenses, the Sony FE 35mm F/1.8 is the second lightest for E-mount and fifth-lightest globally.

This prime lens distinguishes itself by its compact and exceptionally lightweight build. It captures a 63° angle-of-view which is optically slightly broader than the human eye. The optical formulation of the FE 35mm F/1.8 makes it possible to focus down to 22cm from the focal-plane and achieve a maximum magnification of 0.24X.

On a Full-Frame camera, 35mm is a versatile focal-length suitable for all sorts of photographic subjects. It is generally used for daily life plus environmental and group portraits. Its bright F/1.8 maximum aperture makes this lens well-suited for shooting in available light and typical indoor lighting. A silent internal focusing system makes the FE 35mm F/1.8 whisper-quiet.

Construction

Externally, the Sony FE 35mm F/1.8 is extremely simple. The lens is made of a single cylindrical barrel interupted by a wide focus-ring, one button and a switch. Focusing is internal in this lens which made it easy for Sony to equip it with a weatherproof construction at a price compatible with their standard lens lineup, not the high-end G or ultra-premium GM series.

The front of the lens is threaded to accept common 55mm filters. A wide fly-by-wire focus-ring rotates extremely smoothly and continuously without stops. Between the focus-ring and lens mount, there is a round button which can be customized by the camera and a standard AF/MF switch. Given that the focus-ring is fly-by-wire, focus can only be changed when the camera expects it. This includes when the switch is in the MF position but also if the camera is set to MF or DMF mode, right after autofocus locks for the latter.

A front bayonet mount accepts a petal-type lens hood which is supplied with the lens. Compared to other Sony lenses, the FE 35mm F/1.8 has an exceptionally smooth satin finish which feels much more luxurious than the relatively inexpensive price of this lens! The build quality of the lens seems outstanding. Given that the barrel is made of a single tube, there is no flex anywhere.

Sony FE 35mm F/1.8 Sharpness

Standard lenses are comparatively easy to design and generally produce good results once stopped down from their maximum aperture. The Sony FE 35mm F/1.8 easily matches these expectations with excellent center-sharpness even wide open at F/1.8. There is a slight improvement from F/1.8 to F/2 and a barely perceptible one between F/2 and F/2.8 with peak sharpness achieved at F/3.5.

Corner sharpness is also really good. At F/1.8 and F/2, there is definitely mild softness which is visible on poster-size prints but would be difficult to notice on smaller ones. Stopping down to F/2.8 shows some improvement. At F/3.5, there is just a hint of softness left. Reaching F/4 maximizes corner sharpness where it remains a little softer than the center portion of images.

Diffraction hits around F/13 which leaves a wide usable aperture-range from F/2.8 to F/13 where creativity can be expressed without risking image-quality. Huge prints can be made with any aperture in that range.

Shown below are 5 crops taken from a photograph, repeatedly captured for each combination of focal-length and aperture. Smaller pieces are cropped from extreme corners of the images, while the middle wide crop is taken from the center of images. Select an aperture in a row for a desired focal-length to see the crops from the corresponding image. When judging image quality, understand that these are crops from a 61 MP image which is normally used to print images up to 45x30". On a computer display, these may appear much larger which magnifies image defects.

Performance

Normal lenses generally perform well due to their relatively simple optical formulation and the Sony FE 35mm F/1.8 breezes past expectations. This prime lens produces no measurable optical distortion regardless of focus-distance. Light focuses slightly differently across wave-lengths which shows up as very thin color-fringing in RAW files along edges of extreme contrast. Modern Sony mirrorless cameras correct chromatic-aberrations in software which removes virtually all color-fringing.

One issue that is persistent on this lens though is vignetting. Corners of the frame appear over 2 stops darker than the center of images. While stopping down normally eliminates the issue, this is oddly not the case for the FE 35mm F/1.8. One stop down from wide open shows a small improvement but it does not improve at narrower apertures. Luckily, vignetting is the easiest and least destructive issue to correct in software which Sony cameras do automatically. Those shooting RAW though have to deal with the tunnel-vision look themselves.

Optical elements inside this lens feature coatings which are highly effective at preventing flare. Image contrast remains high even in the presence of bright light sources around the edge of the frame. Overal and micro contrast are both excellent.

The autofocus performance of the Sony FE 35mm F/1.8 is truly impressive. Focus locks nearly instantly even in low-light when the lens is opened to a bright aperture. As always, it slows down a little in dim lighting. Under most conditions, this lens locks focus in under 1/4s. The focus motor in this lens is virtually silent. In fact, the aperture mechanism is louder than the AF motor, so there will be sound when shooting at small apertures as the lens stops down to capture the image. Some Sony mirrorless digital cameras feature an option to control whether the aperture opens during autofocus.

Conclusion

As standard-series lens with a normal focal-length and typical maximum aperture, the Sony FE 35mm F/1.8 surpasses expectations. Although it can be attributed to the simplicity of its design, it is hard to fault images captured by this lens. The output is tack sharp in the center with mild corner softness which improves quickly when stopped down. Vignetting is high and ever-present yet it is easily mitigated by image processing.

Autofocus just happens instantly and silently. Combined with its small size and light weight, this makes the FE 35mm F/1.8 one of the most portable Full-Frame lens on the market. It is even equipped with some weather-sealing to prevent adverse elements from entering the camera through the edge of the lens mount. To complete its appeal, this lens is very reasonably priced too.