Product Reviews

Bought this lens a few weeks ago and loving it, Its compact and ideal for fitting in your pocket if using a different lens, Ideal for street photography or close up photos of things like Museum artifacts.

I bought this for street photography due to its size. I am very happy with it, it produces some great images

I use this lents in my A7III and this is excellent combination

An extremely light, small size, sharp lens at all f stops

It came unexpected so disappointed by the lack of this feature. Even for only test image profiles for generating a JPEG to use when in mobility. This is a basic feature that lower price camera has and the lack of it surprised me very negatively

I bought this lens so that I can travel with a small lightweight prime for general shooting and it fits this bill nicely. Image quality is very good and I haven't noticed much in the way of distortion or CA's. Autofocus seems a little slow, but perfectly acceptable for this type of lens. In an ideal world it would be F2 but of course that would add to size, weight and cost. I do think that UK RRP is too much for tis lens though.

Definitely my go to lens. You can keep all the big aperture lenses. I can be bothered taking my A7iii and this lens everywhere and anywhere.

I am particularly fond of 35mm lenses, they just suit what I do. A 35 and 85 are pretty much all I need. This lens is really good, sharp all the way through, although I don't tend to use it below 5.6. Light weight, easy to carry. When I'm feeling lazy and I just want a light, fast, simple set up for street type use, this lens on my A7iii is all I need, or want! As to whether the peculiar lens hood supplied with the lens does any good is debatable. I use it because it came with the lens, it hasn't caused me any problems and at least provides an unobtrusive solution. Good lens, highly recommended for anyone into street work. Price, a little bit heavy, but...........

One of the first prime lens I purchased this so far I have been super impressed.

I bought this lens for street work mainly but it hardly leaves the camera as I like to use it for portraits as well.

What a banger! I wish all primes were this good and this small. It's 35mm, so I don't care if it doesn't open up to 1.4 and neither should you, unless your goal is to impress people on Y**Tube. 2.8 is thin enough for most things that it's worth the tradeoff not to have a family-size can of soup sticking off the front of your camera. The *retail* price is a little high, but within the field of 35mm prime options, I think it was worth it. I just wish every lens came with a programmable focus hold button on the side. I know it's too much to ask, but seriously.

A reasonable 35mm lens - but f2.8 is a little slow for a fixed focal length 35mm. Performance is reasonable but not outstanding. The external finish is fragile and scuffs easily. For the price this is slightly disappointing. I bought this for the compact size - which is the best feature of this lens.

Equipped with my A7R III, I simply do not need an F-Stop lower unless I need more bokeh that a smaller aperture would offer for portrait photography with a 35mm lens. The bokeh on this lens is great for portraits. My typical day time street photography is usually done at a range of 4.0 to 8.0 and this lens is a beast such that a 2.8 F-Stop is just fine. An aperture of 1.4 or 1.8 on the 35 mm prime lens is much larger and would not accommodate my particular needs for size. The low light performance on my A7R III is spectacular as well as my older A7 using this 35 mm lens. I can toss this into my backpack being my go to lens for landscape and casual portrait photography. I use a 50mm or 85mm at 1.8 F-stop for posed portraits but usually I do more street photography, landscapes, and family candid shots such that the 35mm 2.8 works better for my needs with great resolution detail. A great overall lens.

I bought this days after I got my A73. this is my first lens for this body apart from the kit lens. I now own a few other Sony lenses for different purpose but this lens always stay on the camera. Good for travel and street photography. I have done landscapes and portraits too. As Martin Parr said, if i need to live with one lens for the rest of my life, it would be 35mm. The optics quality of Zeiss glasses needless to say, it's outstanding.

Lightweight, fast autofocus, an ideal travel lens.

I bought into Sony full-frame for something smaller than DSLRs deliver, and if you did the same, this lens is a gem. It's very sharp wide-open, and while f2.8 isn't a huge max aperture, you'll love the size and build quality. When fitted on my A7R3, it makes it a neat, compact package that is easy to take out on a social event when you want the best quality. It also makes a perfect travel companion to the FE 24-105 G OSS for when you don't want the weight. The lens hood seems odd to start with, but it works very well indeed, and it's easy to remove to get the true pancake size. I'm a little disappointed it didn't come with a lens bag, but this is by no means a deal-breaker (just a bit mean IMHO). I've been amazed at the colour rendition and sharpness, and while you can't quite get the separation that f1.8 or 2.0 would deliver, the size more than makes up for that.

The quality of this lens is exceptional. Crazy sharp, compact, light and looks great on the Sony A7ii

This has become my favourite Sony full-frame lens ... 35mm is a sweet spot for many genres of photography and this is a great 35mm among many others that are available.

This lens brings the compact A9 alive making a discete light combo but with ecellent IQ and resolution.

Not the fastest but still very sharp. Made for a very compact high grade camera to take on vacation.

Bought this lens when I purchased my A6000. Works great on the crop sensor. Almost I repeat almost a 50mm lens with the crop. But it's not. But almost. Looks great is very small. Great travel lens. Now I've upgraded to the A6500 and wow even better photos. Love this lens.

I've had this lens only for 2 weeks but I was immediately impressed by the quality of images it produces - it's very satisfying to use. In addition, it is a small lens so, when mounted on my Sony A7r, it's no bigger than a lot of micro four thirds kit but with full frame and high resolution.

As I am sure many owners know,when I purchased my A7R 3 years ago, this and the 55mm were the initial 2 lens releases. I got the 55mm first and it was/is a fantastic gem of a lens.Was not really impressed with the 2.8 aperture on this 35mm and thought I would hold out for a f2 or 1.4. These have come out but are HUGE (especially the latter one of course). And I kept seeing plenty of happy reviews about this lens so after 3 years decided to bit the bullet. Should not have worried. It is a beautifully small lens that fits the ethos of the compact A7R perfectly. It focuses silently and quickly but does not always lock on as quickly as my other lenses (hence the missing star). Surprisingly sharp also, and bokeh is ok at 2.8. It is so light and small you can carry the A7R and lens in a not very large coat pocket!

Been using this lens a few weeks now, and attached to my A7Rii is super fast in AF, and superb in low light conditions in an auditorium where I can't use flash, this lens gives me pin sharp images that I need.

Fantastic quality lens, offering stunning picture quality. Great for travelling compared to the larger lenses often provided alongside. A little expensive so do shop around for the best possible price.

Really happy with the quality of this lens, although I'm disappointed because it the lens is not supported by my A7's

This is an older lens now but represents excellent VFM. Of course there are better wider portions around but the quality & size of this optic remain impressive. Whether in a A7 or Nex (52mm) it is small, light and delivers amazing results.

A great all round F2.8 lens for street photography.

Bought this lens as first to go to lens - coming from a traditional video camera and being new to this type of camera for video I wanted to start with the basics. The 35mm prime allowed me to concentrate on the fundamental principles without being distracted. This lens is so small and light it was nice to use with the A7S, the autofocus when used was surprisingly quick and sharp. I can see me having this in my bag always.

Small size and big on quallity. Does not seem to come with a lens hood but is recessed behind a lens cover.

Love this lens, small, light and very sharp. This was my first FE lens purchase to go with my A7S and I love what it can do. Sharp corner to corner even at wide apertures, colours come out true. I thought about the 35mm f1.4 but the weight, size and image quality of this one makes it a no brainer. Good for portraits, cityscapes and travel.

This is my favourite lens always on my A7. It's very light but high quality, sharp great colour and fast focus. Great value for money.

On the A7R this is small, fits in my pocket. Sharp as a razor, beautiful natural colour. The lens copes so well with 36 MP.

I have always had a 35mm fixed focal length lens in my camera bag and soon after up-grading to the Sony Alpha 7, which came with the 28-70 "kit" zoom lens, I purchased the Sony/Zeiss 35mm. Having looked at various revues of the lens on-line the first thing that surprised me was how small and light the lens was, even with the supplied lens hood fitted. That fact was brilliant for me as I had moved from the big, bulky and heavy full frame Nikon system to the Sony Alpha system solely because of the big savings in size and weight the Alpha system offered. To date I have taken about 250 shots with the lens and can report that these all have excellent sharpness and resolution.

I love this lens! It's incredibly sharp and lightweight.

Very light sharp lens. Just what I wanted for fell walking.

I use this lens with my A7s, and it's my first autofocusing lens. In fact, it's my first lens that does anything automatically for that matter. I put my 'old school' pride aside and committed myself to learning my new camera and new lens. Truth be told, I love it. While yes there's a certain satisfaction with dialing in everything manually, you know what's more satisfying? Getting the shot. This lens is great and surprisingly versatile. I thought I might get frustrated with 2.8, hoping for something faster, but then forgot that the A7s makes up for it with it's performance at high ISO's, so it's sort of a moot point. Also, the size of the lens is PERFECT for the camera, so I wouldn't compromise the size for an extra stop of light. It's really a great lens, I would recommend it to anyone looking for a 35mm lens.

Had this lens a few weeks now , on my A7s. As an all round general use lens it is fantastic. It is permanantley fixed to the camera , small size and light weight make it the perfect travel camera / lens combo. The images from this lens are pin sharp. Slightly expensive perhaps but well worth every penny , excellent results and great build quality does in fact deliver good value in my opinion. Could be slightly faster perhaps but that would increase size and weight, It is perfect for me.

Great lens, very sharp, very small. Won't let me use Steady Shot when mounted on my A7s. "Not available with this lens" message when trying to activate Steady Shot, which is puzzling since this is an OSS lens!!!!

Zeiss quality, light, sharp, small, priced about right, and native to your A7R system; what else could you ask for!!!

Really, you cannot go wrong. Small and light really complements the A7R camera. This is my "hiking/landscape" lens, when I want to carry the least amount of weight. Fast enough for good depth of field shots. As mentioned in the title. very sharp.

I sold my Canon gear with three L lenses to go lightweight. This SEL35f28ZA is four oz. I find I get more out of using this one prime than I did from Canon's 24-70mm. I like the tiny hood. I probably would have bought the SEL55F18ZA if I were to do it again, but I'm excited about the FE 90mm macro just announced for next years release. While there are camera combinations that are also excellent the Sony mirrorless fits the bill for me.

Extremely sharp and very nice bokeh. A bit of vignetting at some settings. This lens makes for a fantastic compact walk-around package together with Sony's A7 series cameras. Recommended without reservation.

The days of big, super heavy prime lenses are finally over. This little 35, attached to my Sony A7R is just great. And it is tiny and weighs almost nothing. Great walk around lens and the f2.8 gives me good Bokeh when I want it. Can't say enough good things about this little lens.

I bought this beautiful lens first to pair with my Sony Alpha 7 but followed it later with the Zeiss 24-70 zoom. So, I have two lenses so far to compare. Of these the 35mm is lovely and my favourite. It is light, easy to use, minimalist and very sharp. More than that though is the overall 'look' of the images. I don't regret my purchase. By the way, the 24-70 is great too, if a little heavy as an every day carry round lens.

I have been using this lens for a few months now, in the main for landscapes. The image quality is excellent , sharp and very clear. Some of the images have been printed at 450*650 with no loss of quality. Brilliant.

This lens is capable of resolving maximum detail from Sony's full frame A7R camera. Sharp across the frame at most apertures, and with a F2.8 maximum aperture offers excellent out of focus detail when needed.

This item is one of the best lenses I purchased! Get it.

Very sharp and contrasty, good color. Vignetting is stronger than I was hopping for, bokeh is a tad nervous. Overall a great leans for the A7/A7R thanks to its tiny size and minimal weight.

The Zeiss brand is worth it. Using it on an alpha7R -- a great combination. Little if any post processing sharpening is needed.

The Sonnar T* FE 35mm F2.8 ZA is a prime lenses that is fast, sharp, and provides excellent quality from to edge. Out of all the lenses and different cameras that I've used to the past, I have to say right now 35mm is the best I've seen. I have to say my favorite settings are f2.8, 5.6, and 9. Now I just ordered the Sonnar T* FE 55mm F1.8 ZA, and I will let you know after I spent some time with it, how the two compare side-by-side. I'm thinking that the 35mm be still my personal favorite out of the two.

This is one of the best lenses I've ever had! It shoots clear and crisp footage as well as great photos.

I am using the lens with my a7r. It provides very high image quality even wide open at f2.8, with optimum sharpness around f4 to f/5.6. The lens does the 36mp camera justice unlike many lenses I tried on a 36mp DSLR (another maker) I used to have. My criteria is finely detailed landscapes being reviewed at 100% pixel-peeping on my 25" monitor. The lens is excellent not just in sharpness but in overall tonal rendition (color and contrast). The bokeh is usually good, esp. at f/2.8. The lens provides a very pleasing overall effect - sharp but smooth and natural looking. Being able to get this level of image quality in such a small lens is astounding to me. The build quality seems very good to me - metal plus high quality plastics (not all plastics are created equal). Not only does the lens work well with autofocus but it is a pleasure to manually focus it as well. I can get exact focus very easily and consistently (which I cannot say of the experience I've had with even the best lenses, AF or manual only, on DSLRs).

This is an excellent lens. It is light but in no way poorly constructed. Has quite a precision feel. The images with the A7r body are spot on: crisp, sharp, no distortion. Makes a delightful combination. AF is fine.

I received my 35mm f/2.8 today, I am rather disappointed in the build quality of this lens. It is VERY light.. which can be useful but also ..to me.. gives me a sense of plastic.. The lens uses a 49mm filter thread and I do beleive that the threads are indeed plastic.. For $800.00 I feel the lens could be better built...sorry Sony