Viltrox AF 13mm F1.4 E Mount Review

Dustin Abbott

August 26th, 2022

Back in May of this year I spent extended time reviewing the Viltrox AF 13mm F1.4 STM for Fuji (on a FUJIFilm X-T4 camera). I concluded that it joined the 85mm F1.8 as one of their best lenses to date and was a very compelling option on Fuji if one is looking for a wide angle, wide aperture prime lens. Fast forward three months and I’ve been spending time with the Sony E-mount version of the lens. There is obviously a lot of crossover between the two versions of the lens, so this won’t be a completely new review, but I was interested to see how what I saw particularly in the autofocus department carried over to Sony. I also have the opportunity to see how well the lens covers the full frame image circle on Sony, something I didn’t have the opportunity to do on Fuji. So if you are a Sony E-mount (APS-C) shooter that is looking for a reasonably priced, high performing wide angle prime, read on and see if the Viltrox 13mm F1.4 STM is the lens you’ve been looking for.

Why do I consider the new 13mm F1.4 to be one of Viltrox’s best? Because it builds on the formula they’ve had to date but improves some key areas of weakness that I’ve consistently seen over my many Viltrox reviews. The Viltrox AF13 has an evolution of autofocus performance that I’ve continued to see from Viltrox, where the gap between their lenses and first party alternatives is rapidly closing. They’ve done a great job of reducing distortion and chromatic aberrations relative to previous lenses. That’s particularly impressive when you consider that this is the widest lens that Viltrox has made to date and also when you consider how wide the maximum aperture is at this focal length (F1.4).

So how wide is this lens? Since it is designed for APS-C cameras, you have to apply the crop factor of the camera to the effective focal length. Sony’s APS-C crop factor is 1.5x, which gives us a focal length of 19.5mm full frame equivalent. This is a great focal length. It isn’t extreme but is rather in what I call the “sweet spot” for most landscape and architectural use. Interior spaces look wide but still natural in a way that wider focal lengths can lack.

You can see the low levels of distortion in the lines of the room. This will be a nice lens for those that want to do real estate video or photos.

And how well does it cover the full frame image circle? Here’s a view over beautiful Quebec City on my Sony Alpha 1 in full frame mode:

…and here’s the same view with the APS-C crop mode engaged:

You can see that the full frame image circle is not thoroughly covered at all, with some strangely shaped mechanical vignetting from the lens’ innards. The lens does cover slightly more than the APS-C image circle, however, particularly if you change the crop ratio.

It’s not a perfect lens, as we’ll see, and there are still a few of the familiar Viltrox weaknesses around, but I do think the new Viltrox AF13 is one of Viltrox’s best efforts to date. The MSRP as it comes to market is $430 USD (though if you buy it from the Viltrox store and use code DUSTINABBOTT you can get 10% any Viltrox product, including this lens) . For that money you are getting a nicely built, versatile lens, though it isn’t a perfect performance. We’ll break down the strengths and weaknesses in this review. If you prefer to watch your reviews, you can check out my definitive video review…or just keep reading.

Thanks to Laowa for sending me a review loaner of this lens. As always, this is a completely independent review. *The tests and most of the photos that I share as a part of my review cycle have been done with the Sony a6400 along with the Sony Alpha 1 which will serve as my benchmark camera for the foreseeable future (my review here).

Viltrox AF 13mm F1.4 Build and Handling

There aren’t really any surprises here in the build and design of the lens. Viltrox has consistently made lenses that feel like anything but “plastic fantastics”. There’s a high degree of metal in their build quality, and in the case of the Viltrox AF13, that includes a metal lens hood.

The lens looks very natural on my Sony cameras, though the aesthetic is a little more of a match for Fuji cameras and lenses. The Viltrox AF13 is larger than typical size for many of Viltrox’s APS-C lenses, with a broader diameter that looks more like their full frame lenses. In many ways it feels more at home on my full frame cameras than my a6400. You can see how it compares to the Viltrox X-mount 33mm and 56mm F1.4 lenses:

It is 74mm in diameter (leaving a common 67mm front filter thread) and is 90mm in length. It weighs 420g. The 33mm (the 23mm, 33mm, and 56mm lenses are highly similar in size) is 65mm in diameter and 72mm in length, weighing only 270g. The Viltrox AF13 is in fact larger and heavier than the full frame 24mm F1.8 lens from Viltrox.

That’s not to say that this is an onerously large or heavy lens (it isn’t), but in some ways its size and bulk make it feel like a more premium lens. It has that feel, too, with all metal construction and a dark, sleek look that is a cut above most lenses at this price point.

What is unfortunately still missing is weather sealing. This is (at least) an internally focusing lens, so there is nothing that moves where dust might intrude. There is no gasket at the lens mount, though there is a USB-C port there that allows you to do firmware updates right to the lens.

I’m a fan of this approach, as it eliminates the need for a separate dock or lens station for firmware updates, and I find the process a little more intuitive than even doing firmware updates through the camera. This allows Viltrox to future proof their lenses and continue to improve them through firmware.

There is an aperture ring on the lens that behaves similar to many Fuji lenses. It is clicked (no de-click option) with 1/3rd stop detents and you can twist it fully to the left if you want automatic control of aperture within the lens.

There are no switches on the barrel, which sets it a little behind lenses like the recent Sony 11mm F1.8 and 15mm F1.4 G lenses that I reviewed.

The other ring is the wide zoom ring. It has ribbed, metal surface with nice grip and feel. This is a better experience than many lenses, with enough weight and feel to seem almost like a mechanical manual focus ring. Certainly a better experience than many mirrorless lenses.

There is no image stabilization, so I actually preferred using the lens on my Alpha 1 in APS-C mode as opposed to the a6400 because I could take advantage of the IBIS there. Your mileage may vary depending on what camera body you’re using.

There are nine rounded aperture blades inside, and it seems like Viltrox is doing a better job of having properly centered aperture blades.

One lingering Viltrox weakness remains, and that is in minimum focus and maximum magnification performance. MFD is 22cm (8.7″) and the resulting magnification is only 0.10x:

Opportunities to get really close to things and blur out backgrounds will be limited with this lens.

Beyond those few weaknesses, however, this is a very nicely executed package. The lens feels high quality in the hands, and it handles quite nicely. Of Sony’s APS-C bodies (at the moment), the a6600 is the best match due to having a deeper grip than the other bodies, but that’s a given due to the size of the lens. I would say the lens offers quite good “bang for the buck” in terms of quality.

Autofocus Performance

I was very impressed with the STM motor on the Viltrox AF 13mm F1.4 on Fuji as I found it a better experience than I had seen even on any NATIVE Fuji lens (surprisingly). Autofocus was fast, quiet, and smooth. I experienced the best focus pulls that I’ve ever seen on a Fuji camera, with fast, smooth focus pulls with no obvious stepping (typically a weakness for Fuji lenses). I could not pick up any sounds during focus with the onboard camera. I was interested to see if the same would be true on Sony, and I was pleased to see that autofocus remained excellent. In most all situations I found that autofocus was fast, quiet, confident, and accurate.

I also found that the transitions from my face to my hand during my tests were smooth and confident, with focus immediately returning to my eyes when the obstruction was removed. Focus breathing is also minimal, making this a nice lens for video or vlogging (due to the excellent focal length for this task).

In short, this was the best video autofocus performance that I’ve seen on a Viltrox lens.

I also had good performance for stills, with good eye detection and accurate focus even at closer focus distances and F1.4. In this composite shot, you can see that I had accurate focus at F1.4 at a variety of focus distances as I had my wife move throughout this beautiful space.

I had no problems in lower light situations as well.

The only time I saw any focus issues at all were a very few occasions at smaller apertures in lower lighting conditions where I saw a bit of pulsing, but this is not at all unusual to experience with wide angle lenses on Sony bodies with all points active. There can almost be too much to focus on. I was always able to get the shot that I wanted, though.

In short, autofocus was excellent, and the addition of the USB-C port allows firmware updates to further improve focus results in the future.

Viltrox AF 13mm F1.4 Image Quality

Viltrox has pulled out all the stops with this lens and has included a number of exotic elements in the optical construction, leaving an MTF results that looks quite good at F1.4 and great when stopped down to F8:

As noted earlier, there are a certain trends/traits that I associated with Viltrox lenses, and while some of these are improved here, there are a few lingering areas that I would like to see Viltrox improve upon. That being said – I think this lens (along with their surprisingly strong 85mm F1.8) is one of their best lenses to date.

One area where I do see clear improvement is in the area of LoCA (longitudinal chromatic aberrations). Viltrox lenses have frequently suffered from more fringing than what I would like (particularly green fringing after the plane of focus), but I find that the Viltrox AF13 is delivering a nicely neutral performance here. There’s no fringing showing up in the high contrast zones looking out these windows, which is an area where an otherwise good lens like the Sigma 16mm F1.4 suffered.

That’s real progress.

I’m also satisfied with the control of LaCA (lateral chromatic aberrations) that typically show up along the edges of the frame with high contrast transition points (like the bare branches against the bright sky below).

There is little fringing to be seen here, which is another positive development.

If we move on to vignette and distortion we find even more positive developments. There is next to no distortion at all (I did no correction) and vignette is moderate, requiring a +54 to correct (right under two stops).

That makes this a good lens to consider for those who do real estate or interior photography (or video), as lines are naturally nice and straight without correction, which also means that you retain a wider angle of view (nothing is lost in correction). I was very happy using the lens to photograph interiors or objects with straight lines.

So far things are looking very positive. We’ll move on to inspecting our test chart. This test has been done on a 24MP Sony a6400 sensor, currently the highest resolution sensor that Sony offers in the APS-C space. I use a high end tripod and two second camera delay to ensure vibration doesn’t affect images. Here’s a look at the test chart that we will examine at high magnification:

If we take a look at crops at F1.4 from the center, mid-frame, and lower right corner, we find that center and mid-frame performance is very good, and while there is some drop-off towards the corners, they remain pretty strong.

This night scene in Quebec City was shot at F1.4, ISO 3200, and you can see that the lens is perfectly capable of making detailed images even under these challenging conditions.

Stopping the lens down will produce only minor improvements in the center and mid-frame, but you can see obvious improvements in the corners at F2.8:

I shot at night in Quebec City at apertures of F1.4 and F2 and got nicely detailed images:

Shoot at more typical landscape apertures like F5.6 and you will be rewarded with nicely detailed images across the frame.

Minimum aperture is F16, but you will see some effects of diffraction, so I would recommend staying at an aperture no smaller than F11 if possible.

I often don’t find Viltrox color rendition top tier (processing needs a delicate touch to avoid colors going garish), but I do think that they are making progress in this area. I can’t say that colors looked much different than other lenses I used alongside the Viltrox. I had plenty of images where I felt like the image as a whole (including the color) was very nice.

Here’s another where I felt like saturation levels were nice and intense but still natural.

Any lens with a wide angle of view and a large maximum aperture is going to be a potential candidate for astrophotography. The Viltrox AF13 is no different. I had a slightly difficult time nailing focus perfectly in the dark, but I did find that there is a bit of coma at F1.4 that seems to improve by F2, where the results were quite good (mostly some stretching of star points due to the length of the exposure). *These results from Fuji version of the lens.

This is a definitely a candidate for all kinds of night-time photography due to the great focal length and maximum aperture.

The low magnification levels of the Viltrox mean that there won’t be a ton of opportunities for high diffused backgrounds even with the F1.4 aperture. I found the bokeh quality where I could capture it to be only average – neither particularly bad or particularly good.

Flare resistance is really situational, in that there were certain images where I experienced a high level of flare and others where it was fairly well controlled. The worst performances seemed to be when the sun was near the edge of the frame, while the best results came with the sun a little further into the frame. Certainly not a flawless performance – I’ll let you judge for yourself from these images.

I’ll conclude this section by noting that my overall feelings about the Viltrox AF13 are very positive. I think this is one of their best lenses to date, and the list of optical strengths in my opinion far outweigh the list of optical flaws. You can check out more photos by visiting the image gallery here.

Conclusion

The Viltrox AF 13mm F1.4 is a very welcome addition to the Sony APS-C catalog, though I do feel like it is a little more competitive in the Fuji space due to the higher prices of many native Fuji lenses. It’s a little hard to argue this 13mm F1.4 over a lens like Sony’s 11mm F1.8 when that lens has more features (including weather sealing) and is significantly smaller. I really like the Viltrox, but the Sony is probably the stronger value at just $110 more. To be fair, though, 11mm is not 13mm, and F1.8 is not F1.4. There are still reasons to consider the Viltrox. It is a fairly sophisticated lens for such a new brand, with good build quality, excellent autofocus performance, and a strong optical showing. A lens with this wide of a focal length and this large of a maximum aperture isn’t easy to engineer, but Viltrox has pulled it off with a fair amount of aplomb here.

It’s not a flawless lens, proving a bit flare prone and with soft corners until F2.8, but those weaknesses are easily outweighed by an exceptional performance in distortion and chromatic aberration control. The Viltrox does top the Sony in distortion and vignette control, which could be a significant factor for some. Yes, I would love to see Viltrox start to employ weather sealing into their designs, but it’s also reasonable to point out that many lenses in this price range also lack weather sealing.

At a price point of $429 USD, the Viltrox AF13 offers great value for money. Sony shooters have more options than what I could point to on Fuji, but I do think there is still a market for this lens. At the very least, the Viltrox AF 13mm F1.8 STM is evidence that Viltrox is going to be a force to be reckoned with in the future.

Pros:

Nice build
STM focus motor is quiet, smooth, fast, and accurate
Faster maximum aperture than some competing lenses
Smooth, quiet, confident focus pulls in video
Excellent center and midframe sharpness at wide apertures
Good control of aberrations
Very low distortion for a wide angle lens
Fairly good coma control
Good lens for interiors due to straight lines
USB port for firmware updates
Good price to performance ratio

Cons:

No weathersealing
Corners soft at wide apertures
Can be flare prone

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Keywords: Viltrox, Viltrox AF, Viltrox 13mm, Viltrox 13mm, F1.4, f/1.4, STM, Viltrox AF 13mm F1.4, Viltrox 13mm Review, Viltrox 13mm F1.4 Review, Review, Dustin Abbott, a6500, a6400, Alpha 1, Hands On, Video Test, Sharpness, Autofocus, CA, Video AF, Autofocus, Eye AF, Lens, Comparison, Test, Dustinabbott.net, Sample Images, Sample Video, Let the Light In, Burst, Action, #letthelightin

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Viltrox AF 13mm F1.4 E-Mount Image Gallery

Dustin Abbott

August 26th, 2022

Back in May of this year I spent extended time reviewing the Viltrox AF 13mm F1.4 STM for Fuji (on a FUJIFilm X-T4 camera). I concluded that it joined the 85mm F1.8 as one of their best lenses to date and was a very compelling option on Fuji if one is looking for a wide angle, wide aperture prime lens. Fast forward three months and I’ve been spending time with the Sony E-mount version of the lens. There is obviously a lot of crossover between the two versions of the lens, so this won’t be a completely new review, but I was interested to see how what I saw particularly in the autofocus department carried over to Sony. I also have the opportunity to see how well the lens covers the full frame image circle on Sony, something I didn’t have the opportunity to do on Fuji. So if you are a Sony E-mount (APS-C) shooter that is looking for a reasonably priced, high performing wide angle prime, read on and see if the Viltrox 13mm F1.4 STM is the lens you’ve been looking for.

Why do I consider the new 13mm F1.4 to be one of Viltrox’s best? Because it builds on the formula they’ve had to date but improves some key areas of weakness that I’ve consistently seen over my many Viltrox reviews. The Viltrox AF 13mm F1.4 has an evolution of autofocus performance that I’ve continued to see from Viltrox, where the gap between their lenses and first party alternatives is rapidly closing. They’ve done a great job of reducing distortion and chromatic aberrations relative to previous lenses. That’s particularly impressive when you consider that this is the widest lens that Viltrox has made to date and also when you consider how wide the maximum aperture is at this focal length (F1.4).

So how wide is this lens? Since it is designed for APS-C cameras, you have to apply the crop factor of the camera to the effective focal length. Sony’s APS-C crop factor is 1.5x, which gives us a focal length of 19.5mm full frame equivalent. This is a great focal length. It isn’t extreme but is rather in what I call the “sweet spot” for most landscape and architectural use. Interior spaces look wide but still natural in a way that wider focal lengths can lack.

You can see the low levels of distortion in the lines of the room. This will be a nice lens for those that want to do real estate video or photos.

And how well does it cover the full frame image circle? Here’s a view over beautiful Quebec City on my Sony Alpha 1 in full frame mode:

…and here’s the same view with the APS-C crop mode engaged:

You can see that the full frame image circle is not thoroughly covered at all, with some strangely shaped mechanical vignetting from the lens’ innards. The lens does cover slightly more than the APS-C image circle, however, particularly if you change the crop ratio.

It’s not a perfect lens, as we’ll see, and there are still a few of the familiar Viltrox weaknesses around, but I do think the new Viltrox AF 13mm F1.4 is one of Viltrox’s best efforts to date. The MSRP as it comes to market is $430 USD (though if you buy it from the Viltrox store and use code DUSTINABBOTT you can get 10% any Viltrox product, including this lens) . For that money you are getting a nicely built, versatile lens, though it isn’t a perfect performance. I break down the various strengths and weaknesses of the lens in my thorough video review or in my text review. Or…just enjoy the pretty photos below!

Thanks to Laowa for sending me a review loaner of this lens. As always, this is a completely independent review. *The tests and most of the photos that I share as a part of my review cycle have been done with the Sony a6400 along with the Sony Alpha 1 which will serve as my benchmark camera for the foreseeable future (my review here).

Photos from the Viltrox AF 13mm F1.4 E-mount

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Keywords: Viltrox, Viltrox AF, Viltrox 13mm, Viltrox 13mm, F1.4, f/1.4, STM, Viltrox AF 13mm F1.4, Viltrox 13mm Review, Viltrox 13mm F1.4 Review, Review, Dustin Abbott, a6500, a6400, Alpha 1, Hands On, Video Test, Sharpness, Autofocus, CA, Video AF, Autofocus, Eye AF, Lens, Comparison, Test, Dustinabbott.net, Sample Images, Sample Video, Let the Light In, Burst, Action, #letthelightin

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Laowa 10mm F4 “Cookie” Lens Review

Dustin Abbott

July 19th, 2022

By my count this is (at least) the 13^th Laowa lens from Venus Optics that I’ve reviewed. I’ve long felt that Laowa stands out for their courage in tackling challenging and unique projects, including wide angle macro lenses, very large aperture lenses, and now, a tiny “pancake” lens that Laowa quirkily calls a “cookie” lens. This tiny new wide angle lens, the Laowa 10mm F4 Cookie (hereafter called the Laowa 10C for brevity), is truly tiny (measuring just 28mm in length weighing only 136g despite its all-metal build by my personal measurements).

Despite such a tiny size, this is a very wide angle of view. It is designed for APS-C cameras, and gives a 15mm full frame equivalent with Sony or Fuji’s 1.5x crop factor, a little tighter with either Canon (1.6x) or M/43 (2x). It’s a LONG way down to my shoes at this focal length!

This isn’t a toy, however, but rather a quality optical instrument capable of producing detailed, rich images.

One thing Laowa has proven very good at, and that is controlling distortion. That remains true even in this tiny lens, so you can get great lines in a photo even without any kind of correction.

A pancake/cookie lens may not be for everyone, but there are real advantages of having such a wide angle of view in a tiny package, so Laowa clearly feels that there will be a productive market for this lens at its reasonable price point of $299 USD. Is it for you? You can get the full picture by either watching my video review below or reading on to get the full picture.

Thanks to Laowa for sending me a review loaner of this lens. As always, this is a completely independent review. *The tests and most of the photos that I share as a part of my review cycle have been done with the Sony a6400 along with the Sony Alpha 1 which will serve as my benchmark camera for the foreseeable future (my review here).

Laowa 10C Build and Handling

I’ve noted the tiny size of the “Cookie”, and it is in many ways the most significant thing about the lens. The 59mm diameter (2.32” – just big enough to match the lens mount) is the biggest thing about it. It is barely over an inch in length (1.10”) and the 136g (4.8 oz) weight is so negligible that you probably won’t even notice it. If your priority is traveling light, then look no further.

I’m not sure the same can be said exactly about “discrete”, as while the lens is tiny, obviously, the silver color makes it more noticeable (at least on the black cameras like my Sonys) than a black lens would. I like it, though, as it adds some style to the camera.

While I like compact lenses, I’m less excited by pancake style lenses for the simple reason that there are inevitable compromises in handling and optics. The handling issues here are all around the reality that Laowa has had to fit in an aperture ring, focus ring, and hyperfocal markings in a lens that is only an inch long. The aperture ring isn’t bad, as it is very close to the lens mount and ridged for nice tactile response. I’m able to find it easily be feel when looking through the viewfinder. There are only full aperture stops/detents here, so if you wanted more finite control over aperture or a clickless option, this won’t be the lens for you. The aperture ring itself moves smoothly and precisely.

I’m less thrilled by the manual focus ring, which is smaller and located right up at the front of the lens. It’s harder to find just by feel, but perhaps more importantly this location along with the wide focal length of the lens means that I got a fingertip captured in several images (look at the lower right side of this image).

This means that finetuning focus while shooting video is going to be a challenge, though this will be a great gimbal lens for movement shots where you want to just set the desired focal length in advance and then just focus on getting the shot. The focus ring moves smoothly (Laowa is good at this) and has about 120° of rotation.

There are distance markings on that rotating portion of the lens, with hyperfocal markings at F4, F8, and F16 in between the two rings. As per usual, I find hyperfocal focusing less accurate than actually visually confirming focus. I used the hyperfocal markings and got this result:

…but got this (much better) result by just magnifying the image and confirming focus accuracy.

While the shots I’ve used to demonstrate this were taken on the Sony a6400, I will note that I preferred focus (as always) using the APS-C mode on my Sony Alpha 1 due to its superior viewfinder.

Speaking of full frame: I often am asked how a certain APS-C lens covers the full frame image circle and whether it can be used there. In this sequence of images you can see that 1) there is a fair bit of the full frame image circle left uncovered by the Laowa 10C 2) when you crop in you have very slightly more image left than the APS-C crop shown in image 3.

Those using higher resolution bodies like the Alpha 1 or a7RIV will probably still find the result useful in APS-C mode, though I wouldn’t buy this purely for use on full frame personally.

When you have a small lens dominated by multiple rotating sections, you will inevitably have some minor challenges in mounting/dismounting the lens, and that’s true here. There’s nothing “solid” to grab onto, which means you will almost certainly change your aperture/focus settings in the process of gripping the lens tight enough to twist and remove it. I find that gripping as much of the lens as possible does help.

Up front we have a small (and unusual) 37mm front filter size:

You can see from this image that the aperture iris has five straight blades. You are unlikely to see this in the form of bokeh (wide angle focal length with a small maximum aperture), but in this rare shot I could see the shape of the aperture blades (pentagon) in the flare pattern.

While I prefer rounded aperture blades in many lenses, I don’t mind straight blades in a wide angle lens like this for the simple reason that it is easier to create sunstars with straight blades (sometimes even at the maximum aperture). The Laowa 10C creates beautiful 10 pointed sunstars which really add style to an image:

As is the case with most Laowa lenses, the build quality is very high (all metal and glass) but there are a few key missing elements. This includes any kind of electronic communication (you’ll see no electronic contacts in the image below) and no weather sealing.

Things like metering and focus overlays work fine (these are generated by the camera), but you won’t get communication for recording some EXIF information (focal length, aperture, etc…) and there won’t be any cues for automatic in-body-image-stabilization (you will have to manually input the focal length if your camera is so equipped) or for any in-camera correction profiles. You will have to manually correct for, say, vignette, in post correction.

The minimum focus distance of the lens is a tiny 10cm (right under 4 inches), which means you’ll pretty much be on top of your subject at that distance.

Magnification is quite high (it looks to be in the 0.25x range), though getting that close with a wide angle lens means that a flat plane of focus is pretty much out of the question. You’ll have a “sweet spot” of focus like here:

That won’t stop you from getting some nice close up shots, though, so I consider this a very nice addition to the lens’ repertoire.

All in all, the build quality of the Laowa 10C is very nice, the lens is incredibly compact and small (you could easily throw it in a pocket to bring along), but as per usual there are a few handling compromises in such a compact design.

Laowa 10C Image Quality

The Laowa 10mm F4 Cookie lens has the ability to produce some great images despite its extreme size, and I was able to get plenty of highly detailed images out of it.

Longitudinal chromatic aberrations (LoCA) typically show up as purple/magenta fringing before the plane of focus and blue/green fringing beyond the plane of focus due to colors not being perfectly focused together. They typically diminish as the lens is stopped down to smaller apertures. There are going to be very few situations where longitudinal chromatic aberrations could be an issue (wide angle/small aperture), but there will be the rare close up shot where you might see a tiny bit of fringing.

Lateral chromatic aberrations (LaCA) show up as fringing on either side of contrast areas (like tree trunks, for example) along the edges of the frame. Unlike LoCA, they do not improve when stopping the aperture down, but are much easier to correct for (typically a one click “remove chromatic aberrations” box in editing software). There is a minor amount of LaCA in images from the “cookie” lens, but it is easily fixed.

The vignette and distortion section is a true mixed bag, as while the Laowa 10C does exceptionally well in the distortion department, it really struggles in the vignette category.

We can see a miniscule amount of barrel distortion that is exaggerated by the close focus distance to the chart. I used a +2 to correct for it, but I doubt you’ll need to correct for anything at typical focus distances. Lines look great.

Vignette is another story, however. It is very heavy at F4 (I pretty much need to max out the sliders), and remains heavy at all tested apertures. This is the area where the engineers had to compromise to keep the lens so small. You’ll most likely want to correct for that vignette, as even at 5.6 or F8 you’ll see some heavy vignette:

Here’s the same image after correction:

That’s a big difference, obviously, and most of us would strongly prefer the corrected version.

So how about sharpness? We’ll do our formal test on the APS-C image circle that the lens is designed for, using the 24MP Sony a6400 for this series of tests. Here’s a look at the test chart:

And here are the F4 crops at nearly 200% magnification, taken from the center, then mid-frame, and then extreme lower right corner:

We find a sharp result in the center of the frame, some drop at the mid-frame, but then the lens holds its own until the last percentage point or two at the extreme edge.

Stopping down to F5.6 provides only a minor boost to center sharpness and contrast:

Over in the corners there is a more even illumination and slightly better contrast, but resolution is largely unchanged.

The corners never get razor sharp, though sharpness seems to peak somewhere between F8 and F11.

Stopping down to F16 and F22 (minimum aperture) causes increased softness due to diffraction, so I recommend avoiding those smallest apertures and staying at F11 as a maximum.

Extreme corners never get amazingly sharp, but most of the image frame has nice, crisp results, which is in itself impressive for such a tiny optic. This image, for example, looks very nice other than the extreme edges, which are only acceptable.

The small maximum aperture of the lens means that getting highly defocused backgrounds are going to be rare, but the ability to get very close to your subject means that you can create some separation of your subject from the background.

Here’s another example.

Getting close with a wide angle lens does tend to exaggerate certain proportions (objects closest to the camera seem stretched), so this will work better with some angles and subjects than others.

Still, you can use that perspective in fun ways at times:

I don’t always love Laowa color rendition, but overall I felt like the colors from the Laowa 10C were fairly nice. I got a lot of great looking images with nice color rendition.

Flare resistance was interesting. In this beach setting looking into the full sun, there is very nice flare resistance with next to no ghosting or loss of contrast.

In this shot, you can see some veiling and a bit of prismatic ghosting. I find it somewhat artistic but a little heavy for my tastes.

Most interesting was this sequence of images. I noticed when composing this shot that there was a certain point where I got this very directional prismatic flare, but just a minor composition change would completely eliminate it.

That’s an interesting effect, but obviously an easily avoidable one if you but change the composition. There is no included lens hood, and this is probably one of the situations where the inclusion of a lens hood would eliminate that particular effect altogether (that may be a good or a bad thing depending on your aesthetic tastes). I summation, however, I would say that flare resistance is fairly good and I don’t think will be a huge issue.

All in all, the Laowa 10C provides a fairly strongly optical performance for such a tiny lens. Vignetting is very heavy, but I’ve seen even worse from larger Laowa lenses. The corners never get compellingly sharp, but for most situations they will probably be acceptably sharp. The low distortion and detail elsewhere is a real positive, however, allowing you to bring along this tiny lens and get nicely detailed wide angle perspectives to perhaps compliment another lens you have along. If you would like to see more images, check out my image gallery here.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I find the Laowa 10mm F4 Cookie lens to be an interesting new chapter in Laowa lens development. There are relatively few “pancake” lenses that come to market, but there are certainly plenty of people who like the concept. In this case I would prefer an autofocusing lens, mostly because I find the crowded real estate on this tiny lens leaves little room for the focus ring. In many ways, I’m most reminded of the tiny Voigtländer 20mm F3.5 I reviewed years ago. That too was a tiny, manual focus wide angle lens, though it was slightly more sophisticated in terms of having an electromagnetic aperture iris and thus electronic communication with the camera. I had a lot of fun with that lens, though, and I suspect that you might feel the same with the Laowa 10C.

It has some real strength aside from the obvious compact size, including very low distortion, good detail across a lot of the frame, and reasonably good control of aberrations and flare. Heavy vignette is the only significant optical flaw.

But that compact size is the headliner here. I was able to bring the Laowa 10C along regardless of what camera bag I was using. The Laowa fit fine in a side or front pocket even of a compact bag like a Lowepro toploader. The ability to bring along such a wide angle of view at so little penalty is going to make this lens very interesting for those who want to travel light or even those that want a wide angle lens to compliment a more conventional zoom or prime focal length. For these people, the price tag of $299 USD for this little “cookie” will be well worth it.

Pros:

Extremely compact size
Well engineered – feels quality
Stylish aesthetic
Very low distortion
Good center and mid-frame sharpness
Good magnification and close focus performance
Focus and aperture rings move smoothly
Good flare resistance overall
Great angle of view in such a compact lens

Cons:

Heavy vignette
No electronics
No weather sealing
Manual focus ring can be a little hard to find by feel

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Keywords: APS-C, Sony a6600, Sony Alpha, a6600 Review, Sony, a6600, Review, Dustin Abbott, a6500, a6400, Alpha 1, Hands On, Video Test, Sharpness, Autofocus, CA, Video AF, Autofocus, Eye AF, Lens, Comparison, Test, Dustinabbott.net, Sample Images, Sample Video, Let the Light In, Burst, Action, #letthelightin

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Laowa 10mm F4 Cookie Lens Image Gallery

Dustin Abbott

July 19th, 2022

By my count this is (at least) the 13^th Laowa lens from Venus Optics that I’ve reviewed. I’ve long felt that Laowa stands out for their courage in tackling challenging and unique projects, including wide angle macro lenses, very large aperture lenses, and now, a tiny “pancake” lens that Laowa quirkily calls a “cookie” lens. This tiny new wide angle lens, the Laowa 10mm F4 Cookie is truly tiny (measuring just 28mm in length weighing only 136g despite its all-metal build by my personal measurements).

Despite such a tiny size, this is a very wide angle of view. It is designed for APS-C cameras, and gives a 15mm full frame equivalent with Sony or Fuji’s 1.5x crop factor, a little tighter with either Canon (1.6x) or M/43 (2x). It’s a LONG way down to my shoes at this focal length!

This isn’t a toy, however, but rather a quality optical instrument capable of producing detailed, rich images.

One thing Laowa has proven very good at, and that is controlling distortion. That remains true even in this tiny lens, so you can get great lines in a photo even without any kind of correction.

A pancake/cookie lens may not be for everyone, but there are real advantages of having such a wide angle of view in a tiny package, so Laowa clearly feels that there will be a productive market for this lens at its reasonable price point of $299 USD. Is it for you? You can get the full picture by either watching my video review or reading my comprehensive text review.

Thanks to Laowa for sending me a review loaner of this lens. As always, this is a completely independent review. *The tests and most of the photos that I share as a part of my review cycle have been done with the Sony a6400 along with the Sony Alpha 1 which will serve as my benchmark camera for the foreseeable future (my review here).

Images of the Laowa 10mm F4

Images taken with the Laowa 10mm F4

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Keywords: APS-C, Sony a6600, Sony Alpha, a6600 Review, Sony, a6600, Review, Dustin Abbott, a6500, a6400, Alpha 1, Hands On, Video Test, Sharpness, Autofocus, CA, Video AF, Autofocus, Eye AF, Lens, Comparison, Test, Dustinabbott.net, Sample Images, Sample Video, Let the Light In, Burst, Action, #letthelightin

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Sony E 11mm F1.8 Review

Dustin Abbott

June 16th, 2022

I’ve questioned Sony’s commitment to its APS-C platform in the past, as both camera and lens releases in that space have been few and far between over the past 3 years. Sony’s development on full frame has been rather frenzied during that same period, with a number of new camera and what I consider a golden age for lens development. I’ve reviewed one lens after another that I really, really liked in the full frame space, which tells me that Sony has really hit its stride as a camera lens maker. But APS-C has seemed to be on the back burner. And while I still see a lot of room for Sony to deliver a robust sports-oriented APS-C body (something to contend with the new Canon EOS R7 would be nice!), they are taking large strides to shore up the wide angle end of their APS-C catalog with three releases: the E 10-20mm F4 PZ OSS (Powerzoom), the E 15mm F1.4 G, and the Sony E 11mm F1.8 lens. This isn’t the first time that Sony has done some of its better APS-C lenses in bunches, as the last “G” lenses (mid-tier superior lenses) for APS-C came together in 2019: the Sony E 70-350mm F4.5-6.3 G OSS (my review here) and the Sony E 16-55mm F2.8 G. I’ve been fortunate enough to spend time with all three of these new releases, and I’ve already rolled out my review of the 15mm F1.8 G (my review here), the 10-20mm F4 PowerZoom (my review), and now the least expensive of the three small lenses – the Sony 11mm F1.8.

While the 11mm F1.8 is the cheapest of the 3 (and the only one to not receive the superior “G” branding), it remains one of the most interesting of the three to me because of its combination of focal length, maximum aperture, and compact size. The 11mm has less features relative to the other two lenses (no aperture ring, no PowerZoom, obviously), but at the same time it is more fully featured than most Sony APS-C lenses. Here’s a few of the features:

Excellent image quality
Three aspherical elements (like the 15mm F1.4 G)
Dual linear motors driving autofocus (just like the 15mm F1.4 G)
A focus on video performance, with minimal focus breathing
Linear manual focus for more precise manual focus and repeatable focus changes
More physical controls, including an AF/MF switch and a focus hold button
Dust and moisture resistant design
Close minimum focus of 12cm (Autofocus = 0.20x magnification) or 15cm (Manual Focus = 0.13x magnification)
Smaller and lighter than competing lenses

Though the lens looks a little more spartan than the other two lenses without an aperture ring or the G brand on the side, it is still a very nicely featured little lens, and I’ve been impressed with the optical performance, too. This wide angle glass can definitely deliver some dynamic images in many situations.

The retail price here is $548 USD, and that puts lenses like the Samyang AF 12mm F2 (my review here) on notice, as that third party lens has an MSRP of $399. The wider focal length, wider focal range, and deeper feature set makes that $150 feel worth it, though there is some give and take that I break down in this video. The Sony 11mm F1.8 is capable of giving you lovely images even at F1.8:

So is this a lens you should want in your bag? Join me for my thoughts in this review to help you decide. If you prefer to watch reviews, you can check out my detailed video review below.

I want to thank Sony Canada (and Gentec) for the loaner of this lens. As always, this is a completely independent review. The opinions here are completely my own. *The tests and most of the photos that I share as a part of my review cycle have been done with the Sony a6400 along with the Sony Alpha 1 which will serve as my benchmark camera for the foreseeable future (my review here).

Sony 11mm F1.8 Build, Design and Handling

One of the key areas of emphasis with each of these three new lenses is for them to be compact, which they’ve managed to do here despite the wide focal length and reasonably large maximum aperture. Sony’s APS-C crop factor is 1.5x, meaning that the effective focal length is the equivalent of 16.5mm on full frame. As mentioned previously, the closest competitor for this lens will be the still fairly new Samyang AF 12mm F2 (released almost exactly a year prior). That lens is obviously not quite as wide (an 18mm full frame equivalent) and has a slightly smaller maximum aperture (F2 is 1/3rd stop smaller than F1.8), yet the Sony still manages to be slightly smaller and lighter. The Sony weighs in at 179g (6.3oz), while the Samyang is 213g.

That’s true of the overall length, too, where the Sony is 57mm (2.26″) compared to 59.2mm (2.3″) for the Samyang. The diameter is a bit narrower too, with the Sony measuring at 65mm/2.55″ (by me) compared to 70mm (2.8″) for the Samyang. That is reflected in the filter sizes, too, with the Sony at 55mm and the Samyang having a 62mm front filter thread.

All of this boils down to the fact that Sony has managed to deliver a high performing lens that is truly compact, again proving that premium doesn’t have to mean “big”.

As noted in the intro, Sony has given the 11mm F1.8 a weather sealed build (dust and moisture resistant). The diagram shows a total of 8 seal points through the lens along with the gasket at the lens mount.

As noted, we have no aperture ring here, so aperture will have to be controlled from within the camera (I’ll miss that!). What we have is a focus hold button (which can be programmed to a variety of functions in the camera menu) along with an AF/MF switch, which I always welcome as the most logical and efficient means of switching between the two.

The included lens hood is petal shaped, flares out a bit, and is relatively shallow. It can be reversed for storage without adding too much bulk to the footprint of the lens in a bag.

There is a single ring on the lens, and that is the manual focus ring, which is the most generously sized of the three lenses because of slightly simpler controls. The focus ring moves smoothly, and, as noted, behaves in a linear fashion to allow for focus repeatability, which is very important in video work so that you can set up precise and repeatable focus pulls. The focus action is very light, however, and lacks the precision of the best focus rings.

There is no image stabilization (OSS) in the lens, so you’ll have to depend on in camera stabilization if your camera is so equipped.

Inside we have a seven bladed aperture with rounded blades. The aperture shape will initially stay rounded when stopping the lens down but will eventually become polygonal as the blades start to show their shape. You are not overly likely to see this on a wide angle lens like this, though, as there is little out of focus at smaller aperture.

You can focus as closely as 15cm (while autofocusing), though these new lenses allow you to focus slightly closer (about 12cm) when manually focusing. Magnification will range from 0.13x (AF) to closer to 0.20x when manually focused. Here’s what MFD looks like on my chart test:

And yes, you can clearly see a precursor to the an optical flaw that all of these new lenses share: considerable barrel distortion. The focal plan isn’t as flat as on the other two lenses here, and so you have a sweet spot of focus (and thus sharpness) before the edges warp. You can focus ridiculously close, however, and with a shot like this one I was pretty much bumping the subject with the lens:

There’s really very little to criticize as far as the build and handling go. The lens doesn’t have as many features as the other two lenses, but it is also considerably cheaper than them and is also more feature rich than most Sony APS-C lenses already. The Sony 11mm F1.8 is proof positive of the size and weight savings you can achieve when you do dedicated engineering for a smaller sensor size. This is a very compact package for a lens with this wide a focal length and this large a maximum aperture, and I enjoyed using it.

Sony E 11mm F1.8 Autofocus Performance

The Sony 11mm F1.8 joins the 15mm F1.8 as the first Sony APS-C lenses to come with multiple Linear Focus motors. The 11mm F1.8 has two linear motors, meaning that autofocus is very fast, very quiet, and very accurate.

I had no problem stopping fast action with the lens.

Focus action for video was likewise very smooth, with nice, confident transitions that tended towards smoothness rather than “snappiness”. It’s as if focus speed is calibrated to give nice transitions rather than abrupt ones. The smoothness is heightened by the extremely low focus breathing. There’s nothing that draws your attention to the fact that focus is changing other than a new subject coming into focus. I also had good results when tracking my face for video work, or when following action on the basketball court.

This would be a nice vlogging lens due to the great focal length and excellent focus tracking.

Focus speed for stills was also excellent, with quick acquisitions of subjects and good “stickiness” in staying on the subject. I was able to get accurate focus on the a6400 even with a strongly backlit subject like this:

I got nice focus on Craig as he focused on the landscape with the new 10-20mm F4 PZ lens.

I saw good focus results while taking the lens out with me on the golf course as well.

Throughout my test period I don’t think that I ever heard any noise associated with focus at all. The dual motor focus system delivered fast, quiet, and accurate results. This is a premium focus system…and it shows. I was pleasantly surprised to see the sophisticated focus system in the less expensive lens, and it definitely increases my personal interest in the lens.

Sony 11mm F1.8 Image Quality

The MTF chart for the 1mm F1.8 indicate an extremely strong center and mid-frame performance (even wide open) with corners remaining good but not as exceptional. When stopped down the image quality borders on perfect:

The lens is perfectly capable of producing credible landscape images even at F1.8:

The 11mm F1.8 performs well in a lot of the technical merits, in fact, including a good control of LoCA (Longitudinal Chromatic Aberrations) even in very challenging situations. There is next to no visible fringing in the bokeh circles beyond the subject, and nothing to see in the closer transitions to defocus around the lily-of-the-valley that is the subject.

I also see next to no lateral CA (LaCA) in the corners of the frame in this high contrast area:

That’s a good start in a wide angle, wide aperture prime.

I noted a trend in each of these three new lenses from Sony, however, and that is that the engineers chose the same thing to “let slide” in the optical design. Optical engineers are faced with a series of choices. If size is no object, engineers can work to solve most all optical issues (even better if money is no object!) But if you also want to make a lens compact, you essentially have to choose what to leave up to software to correct and focus on doing what you can. Sony’s engineers have done a good job correcting for most optical flaws in these lenses, but distortion is the weak link in the design. It’s clear that they designed with the idea that software would have to correct the distortion. Each of the three lenses suffered in this regard, with the 11mm coming out as worst offender in this regard. Here’s a look my vignette and distortion chart at 11mm, F1.8:

Ouch! That’s a lot of barrel distortion!

A few general observations. First of all, I framed the chart tight in the viewfinder as I was looking at the corrected result in camera. The uncorrected image is obviously much wider than the viewfinder image to allow for the correction profile to fix things. I suspect this lens is wider than 11mm to allow the corrected image to frame more like 11mm. I compared it with the Samyang AF 12mm, which has very little native distortion. The Sony was much wider prior to correction, but after both lenses were corrected (which meant little with the Samyang), the Sony is still considerably wider:

To achieve my manually corrected result I needed to dial in a lot of distortion correction (+40) along with a significant amount of vignette correction (+69, or slightly under three stops). Even after correction, however, you can see a slight “mustache” pattern as the distortion is non-linear. You’ll want to use the correction profile from Sony to get the cleanest correction, but the good news is that as a first party lens, the Sony 11mm F1.8 will receive premium correction support both in camera and in software, so this shouldn’t be a serious issue for you in real world use.

You will want to correct that distortion, however, as it does show up in real images. You can see a curve to the horizon even with the composition only slightly off center.

This is definitely the optical fly in the ointment of this lens.

So how about resolution and contrast? We’ll get answers from my test chart, which you can see here:

I’ve used the 24 MP Sony a6400 for this test, which is currently as high as Sony’s APS-C cameras venture.

Here are high magnification (about 200%) crops from across the frame at F1.8 (Center, Mid-frame, and lower right corner):

These show a very high level of contrast and resolution in the center and mid-frame, with slightly reduced performance in the corners (though frankly they still look very good).

Stopping down to F2 produces minimal improvements, but there is a little more improvement to be found at F2.8, both in the center of the frame:

…and in the corners, which are very good:

Stopping on down produced a minimal increase in contrast in resolution, with F5.6 being pretty much the sweet spot for maximum performance. Real world landscapes at smaller apertures look amazing, with great contrast and detail across the frame:

Colors and detail are generally excellent, and it produces very pleasing images:

Here’s another:

Minimum aperture is F16, and I would stick to F11 as a limit where possible. Diffraction reduces the appearance of contrast and resolution to the lowest level of any aperture.

Another important design aspect for a wide angle lens is flare resistance. I did see a bit of a ring at wide apertures in certain images (like the one below), but fortunately the effect is actually pretty cool:

Overall flare resistance was very good. I was able to tease out one green blob at smaller apertures (F11), but by and large I could shoot into the sun or bright lights without fear. Sunbursts from the 7 bladed aperture look pretty nice:

I definitely noted a real world difference between the Sony and the Samyang in flare resistance. You can see that the Samyang has loss contrast due to the sun coming through the window on the right while the Sony has retained deep saturation levels in the same situation:

Bokeh is not necessarily the highest priority on a lens like this, but I found the quality of the background blur fairly good when I got really close to a subject and blurred out the background.

A wide angle of view means that you will rarely have the background completely out of focus, and I did notice that things were a little more “jittery” when I was less close the subject:

But overall the performance is most regards was excellent here. The 11mm F1.8 gave me a lot of images I was really happy with:

When you consider how small of a package all of this performance comes in, the Sony E 11mm F1.8 will become a very tempting lens for those looking for a premium APS-C wide angle prime. I’d personally debate between it and the 15mm F1.4 G since I prefer the wider focal length of the 11mm. If you’d like to see more photos, check out my image gallery here.

Conclusion

The Sony 11mm F1.8 is a great addition to the Sony APS-C mirrorless catalog. It comes in at a relatively affordable price point, and though Sony decided to not give this lens the “G” branding of the other two lenses, it is kind of hard to determine why. It is short an aperture ring relative to the 15mm F1.4 G, but it seems just as high performing optically, has the same dual linear focus motors, and has roughly the same level of build quality. It also has the more dramatic and thus desirable focal length, in my opinion.

The list of strengths is long, from the quality of the build (including weather sealing), video focused features, excellent autofocus, and a truly excellent image quality performance. The list of negatives is very short and mostly limited to the strong barrel distortion, though the correction profile will help rectify that. There are many applications for a lens with a focal length like this, and wider maximum aperture means that they aren’t limited to the typical landscapes, though it does those very well.

If I were looking for a wide angle prime for my Sony APS-C camera, the 11mm F1.8 would be at the top of my list. The price point of $549 seems reasonable relative to the performance, and I enjoyed the quality of the images I got from the lens along with the ease of use in the field. This may not a “G” lens, but it still feels pretty (g)reat.

Pros:

Nicely built, extremely compact lens
Quality degree of weather sealing (8 seal points)
Dual linear motors produce fast, quiet focus
Low focus breathing
Consistently excellent sharpness and contrast
Good flare resistance
Good bokeh rendering
Good control of chromatic aberrations
Affordable price tag

Cons:

Strong barrel distortion
Fairly heavy vignette

Gear Used:

Purchase the Sony E 11mm F1.8 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Sony E 15mm F1.4 G @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Sony 10-20mm F4 PZ G @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Samyang AF 12mm F2 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Sony a6600 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay

Purchase the Sony a6400 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay

Peak Design Leash Strap: Peak Design Store | B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK

Adobe Photoshop Creative Cloud 1-Year Subscription
Exposure Software X6 (Use Code “dustinabbott” to get 10% anything and everything)
Visit Dustin’s Amazon Storefront and see his favorite gear

Purchasing your gear through B&H and these links helps fund this website and keeps the articles coming. You can also make a donation here if you would like. Visit my Amazon page for some of my gear of choice! Thank you for your support.

Great News! I can now offer a 5% discount on all purchases at Amplis Foto, Canada’s Leading Photographic Supplier. Please enter discount code: AMPLIS52018DA in your cart. It is good for everything in your cart, and is stackable with other coupons, too! It will take 5% off your entire order! Proceeds go towards keeping this site going and providing you with new reviews!

Keywords: Sony E 11mm Review, Sony 11mm F1.8 Review, Sony 11mm, F1.8, f/1.8, Samyang AF 12mm F2, Samyang, 12mm, F2, APS-C, Sony a6600, Sony Alpha, a6600 Review, Sony, a6600, Review, Dustin Abbott, a6500, a6400, Alpha 1, Hands On, Video Test, Sharpness, Autofocus, CA, Video AF, Autofocus, Eye AF, Lens, Comparison, Test, Dustinabbott.net, Sample Images, Sample Video, Let the Light In, Burst, Action

DISCLAIMER: This article and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Sony E 11mm F1.8 Image Gallery

Dustin Abbott

June 16th, 2022

I’ve questioned Sony’s commitment to its APS-C platform in the past, as both camera and lens releases in that space have been few and far between over the past 3 years. Sony’s development on full frame has been rather frenzied during that same period, with a number of new camera and what I consider a golden age for lens development. I’ve reviewed one lens after another that I really, really liked in the full frame space, which tells me that Sony has really hit its stride as a camera lens maker. But APS-C has seemed to be on the back burner. And while I still see a lot of room for Sony to deliver a robust sports-oriented APS-C body (something to contend with the new Canon EOS R7 would be nice!), they are taking large strides to shore up the wide angle end of their APS-C catalog with three releases: the E 10-20mm F4 PZ OSS (Powerzoom), the E 15mm F1.4 G, and the Sony E 11mm F1.8 lens. This isn’t the first time that Sony has done some of its better APS-C lenses in bunches, as the last “G” lenses (mid-tier superior lenses) for APS-C came together in 2019: the Sony E 70-350mm F4.5-6.3 G OSS (my review here) and the Sony E 16-55mm F2.8 G. I’ve been fortunate enough to spend time with all three of these new releases, and I’ve already rolled out my review of the 15mm F1.8 G (my review here), the 10-20mm F4 PowerZoom (my review), and now the least expensive of the three small lenses – the Sony 11mm F1.8.

While the 11mm F1.8 is the cheapest of the 3 (and the only one to not receive the superior “G” branding), it remains one of the most interesting of the three to me because of its combination of focal length, maximum aperture, and compact size. The 11mm has less features relative to the other two lenses (no aperture ring, no PowerZoom, obviously), but at the same time it is more fully featured than most Sony APS-C lenses. Here’s a few of the features:

Excellent image quality
Three aspherical elements (like the 15mm F1.4 G)
Dual linear motors driving autofocus (just like the 15mm F1.4 G)
A focus on video performance, with minimal focus breathing
Linear manual focus for more precise manual focus and repeatable focus changes
More physical controls, including an AF/MF switch and a focus hold button
Dust and moisture resistant design
Close minimum focus of 12cm (Autofocus = 0.20x magnification) or 15cm (Manual Focus = 0.13x magnification)
Smaller and lighter than competing lenses

Though the lens looks a little more spartan than the other two lenses without an aperture ring or the G brand on the side, it is still a very nicely featured little lens, and I’ve been impressed with the optical performance, too. This wide angle glass can definitely deliver some dynamic images in many situations.

The retail price here is $548 USD, and that puts lenses like the Samyang AF 12mm F2 (my review here) on notice, as that third party lens has an MSRP of $399. The wider focal length, wider focal range, and deeper feature set makes that $150 feel worth it, though there is some give and take that I break down in this video. The Sony 11mm F1.8 is capable of giving you lovely images even at F1.8:

So is this a lens you should want in your bag? You can find out my thoughts in my video review or by reading my text review…or just enjoy the photos in the galleries blow.

I want to thank Sony Canada (and Gentec) for the loaner of this lens. As always, this is a completely independent review. The opinions here are completely my own. *The tests and most of the photos that I share as a part of my review cycle have been done with the Sony a6400 along with the Sony Alpha 1 which will serve as my benchmark camera for the foreseeable future (my review here).

Photos of the Sony 11mm F1.8

Photos Taken with the Sony 11mm F1.8

Gear Used:

Purchase the Sony E 11mm F1.8 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Sony E 15mm F1.4 G @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Sony 10-20mm F4 PZ G @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Samyang AF 12mm F2 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Sony a6600 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay

Purchase the Sony a6400 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay

Peak Design Leash Strap: Peak Design Store | B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK

Adobe Photoshop Creative Cloud 1-Year Subscription
Exposure Software X6 (Use Code “dustinabbott” to get 10% anything and everything)
Visit Dustin’s Amazon Storefront and see his favorite gear

Purchasing your gear through B&H and these links helps fund this website and keeps the articles coming. You can also make a donation here if you would like. Visit my Amazon page for some of my gear of choice! Thank you for your support.

Great News! I can now offer a 5% discount on all purchases at Amplis Foto, Canada’s Leading Photographic Supplier. Please enter discount code: AMPLIS52018DA in your cart. It is good for everything in your cart, and is stackable with other coupons, too! It will take 5% off your entire order! Proceeds go towards keeping this site going and providing you with new reviews!

Keywords: Sony E 11mm Review, Sony 11mm F1.8 Review, Sony 11mm, F1.8, f/1.8, Samyang AF 12mm F2, Samyang, 12mm, F2, APS-C, Sony a6600, Sony Alpha, a6600 Review, Sony, a6600, Review, Dustin Abbott, a6500, a6400, Alpha 1, Hands On, Video Test, Sharpness, Autofocus, CA, Video AF, Autofocus, Eye AF, Lens, Comparison, Test, Dustinabbott.net, Sample Images, Sample Video, Let the Light In, Burst, Action

DISCLAIMER: This article and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Sony E 10-20mm F4 PZ G Review

Dustin Abbott

June 7th, 2022

I’ve been openly questioning of Sony’s commitment to its APS-C platform, as both camera and lens releases in that space have been few and far between over the past 3 years. Sony’s development on full frame has been rather frenzied during that same period, with a number of new camera and what I consider a golden age for lens development. I’ve reviewed one lens after another that I really, really liked in the full frame space, which tells me that Sony has really hit its stride as a camera lens maker. But APS-C has seemed to be on the back burner. And while I still see a lot of room for Sony to deliver a robust sports-oriented APS-C body (something to contend with the new Canon EOS R7 would be nice!), they are taking large strides to shore up the wide angle end of their APS-C catalog with three releases: the E 10-20mm F4 PZ OSS (Powerzoom), the E 15mm F1.4 G, and the Sony E 11mm F1.8 lens. This isn’t the first time that Sony has done some of its better APS-C lenses in bunches, as the last “G” lenses (mid-tier superior lenses) for APS-C came together in 2019: the Sony E 70-350mm F4.5-6.3 G OSS (my review here) and the Sony E 16-55mm F2.8 G. I’ve been fortunate enough to have gotten to spend some time with all three of these new releases, and so I’ll follow up my coverage of the 15mm F1.4 G (my review here) with the zoom in this lineup – the Sony E PZ 10-20mm F4 G (which we’ll simply refer to as the 10-20PZ in this review).

The key here is the PZ, which refers to PowerZoom. Sony has had an existing wide angle zoom for APS-C in the form of the E 10-18mm F4 OSS lens, but there is a recognition that more and more photographers actually do a mix of photos and video. We call these “hybrid” photographers, and it is clear that Sony has been designing its cameras with this in mind. Their a6300 was a breakthrough in this regard, allowing photographers to capture really good 4K video in an APS-C body at a time when most of the competition was stuck at 1080P. But there also needs to be some concessions to the unique needs of video in lenses as well, and that’s where the PowerZoom (PZ) comes into play. The 10-20PZ is essentially an APS-C counterpart to the recent full frame FE PZ 16-35mm F4 G lens with a full frame equivalent of 15-30mm (1.5x APS-C crop factor). The PowerZoom capability means that not only can you smoothly zoom in and out with the switch on the side of the lens (with much smoother zooms than you can achieve with a ring), but if you have the right accessory (a Bluetooth remote or wireless shooting grip like the GP-VPT2BT or even just using the Sony app), you have the option of off-camera control. This gives the smoothest results of all, of course, as you can have the camera on a tripod and have no vibration introduced into the process. This is a next level option for video shooters, and Sony has set the price point actually below that of the 10-18mm F4 despite the larger zoom range and new features (though the new lens loses the Optical Stabilizer that the older lens had).

Sony reserves the G designation for its mid-tier lenses and G Master for its superior lenses, and I’ve found that there is a lot of value to be found in the G lineup. These lenses have more advanced features like weather sealing and a focus hold button, and Sony has packed a lot features into a very small package here.

Superior G Lens image quality with two ED elements and one ED Aspherical element
Linear motor autofocus
A focus on video performance, with minimal focus breathing
Linear manual focus for more precise manual focus and repeatable focus changes
More physical controls, including an AF/MF switch, PowerZoom control, and a focus hold button
Dust and moisture resistant design
Internally focusing and zooming design
Close minimum focus of 20cm (Autofocus = 0.14x magnification) or 17cm (Manual Focus = 0.18x magnification)
World’s smallest ultra-wide APS-C zoom

This is a beautiful, well crafted lens that is in many ways similar to Sony’s full frame series of recent G primes (24mm F2.8, 40mm F2.5, and 50mm F2.5 G primes – click the hyperlinks for reviews of each lens). Though small and light, it feels premium, and its optical performance certainly backs that up, delivering beautifully detailed images all across the frame even at F4:

The final retail price hasn’t been announced as of the time of this review, though Sony gives a range of $700-800 USD. That’s not cheap, but it is certainly much cheaper and smaller than the full frame 16-35mm PZ lens, which will retail at $1200 USD. This will almost certainly become an indispensable tool for those who do vlogging or want a wide angle lens with zoom capabilities. The constant maximum aperture of F4 means that exposure doesn’t change as you zoom, giving you even more flexibility for both stills and video.

Ultimately you will have to decide if the premium price point matches the premium performance, but hopefully this review will help you make an informed decision. If you prefer to watch reviews, you can check out my detailed video review below.

I want to thank Sony Canada (and Gentec) for the loaner of this lens. As always, this is a completely independent review. The opinions here are completely my own. *The tests and most of the photos that I share as a part of my review cycle have been done with the Sony a6400 along with the Sony Alpha 1 which will serve as my benchmark camera for the foreseeable future (my review here).

Sony 10-20PZ Build, Design and Handling

One of the key areas of emphasis with each of these three new lenses is for them to be compact. The 10-20PZ definitely lives up to that, with a squat profile that is wider (68mm/2.67″) than it is long (55mm/2.16″). The 62mm front filter thread is not as common as the 58mm or 67mm filter sizes that flank it, but there are a number of lenses that share this filter size.

That makes this lens even smaller than the 10-18mm F4 OSS, which measured 70.1 x 63.5 mm. It’s also lighter at 179g (6.3oz) vs 225g (7.94oz). The closest competing lens is Tamron’s 11-20mm F2.8 RXD (my review here), which weighs in at 335g and is 30mm longer, though, to be fair, that lens also has a maximum aperture of F2.8.

All of this boils down to the fact that Sony has managed to deliver a high performing lens that is truly compact, again proving that premium doesn’t have to mean “big”.

As noted in the intro, Sony has given the 10-20mm F4 PZ G some premium features, including a weather sealed build (dust and moisture resistant). I don’t have access to the diagram to count the seal points, but I have seen one, and it showed seals at the vital internal points (rings and switches) along with the rubber gasket at the lens mount shown here.

Unlike the 15mm F1.4 G lens, the 10-20PZ has no aperture ring. I suspect there simply wasn’t room in the design, as they already have a lot packed in here. My least favorite part of the design is how close the two existing rings are, as they are so close together (and so similarly sized) that it is very easy to grab the wrong one. I’ve definitely ended up zooming when I wanted to manually focus (to take advantage of the closer minimum focus distance). I much prefer using the PowerZoom toggle to zoom either in video or stills as I find the zoom ring less intuitive to use. It needs to be there in case someone is doing some kind of gearing instead, but I suspect that most people will use the toggle like myself.

Speaking of that toggle: it is definitely the smoothest way to zoom in or out while shooting video. That’s true if you’re handholding for video, and of course even more true if you are working off a tripod or gimbal and zooming remotely via Bluetooth or the app. The amount of zoom range will depend on whether or not you have Sony’s Smart Zoom feature enabled on your camera. Smart Zoom allows you to take full advantage of the sensor and means that you can zoom in a bit without relying on loss of quality due to a digital zoom (where pixels are lost). When shooting stills, I could see an on screen (or in viewfinder) display that shows the range between 10-20mm, but when shooting video (With Smart Zoom enabled) I could zoom in an additional 1.5x beyond 20mm (or to roughly 30mm). That’s going to come in handy, obviously, and the toggle on the lens enables me to take advantage of that feature in an easy way that I don’t typically have access to with other lenses.

The manual focus ring moves smoothly, and, as noted, behaves in a linear fashion to allow for focus repeatability, which is very important in video work so that you can set up precise and repeatable focus pulls. The focus action is very light, however, and lacks the precision of the best focus rings.

We’ve also got a focus hold button (which can be programmed to a variety of functions in the camera menu) along with an AF/MF switch, which I always welcome as the most logical and efficient means of switching between the two. The addition of the zoom toggle means that the AF/MF switch is located quite low, so you’ll have to retrain your muscle memory on where to reach for it.

The included lens hood is petal shaped, flares out a bit, and is relatively shallow. It can be reversed for storage without adding too much bulk to the footprint of the lens in a bag.

There is no image stabilization (OSS) in the lens, so you’ll have to depend on in camera stabilization if your camera is so equipped. This is the biggest omission from the previous 10-18mm lens, and as I was primarily testing on an a6400 (which has no IBIS), I sorely missed that stabilization when grabbing “run and gun” video. The lightweight combination of camera and lens makes handholding video without stabilization difficult.

Inside we have a seven bladed aperture with rounded blades. The aperture shape will initially stay rounded when stopping the lens down but will eventually become polygonal at smaller apertures. When you start with a maximum aperture of F4 and a maximum focal length of 20mm, however, the chances of having significant bokeh at aperture values of F8 or F11 are unlikely.

Minimum focus distance here is 20cm when autofocusing, but you can focus a bit closer (17cm) when manually focusing, which gives you a significantly higher magnification level (0.14x vs 0.18x). The latter figure is obviously much more useful, so bear that in mind when you want to get really close. And that is very close, by the way. It feels like you are about to bump into your subject that distance, as that is 17cm from the sensor…and you have to subtract the length of the lens (and possibly lens hood). With the hood attached I measure 9.5cm, which means that you are only 7.5cm from your subject. Here’s what the manual focus magnification figure looks like:

That’s quite useful, obviously, and we’ve still got a strong optical performance at that close distance, with a fairly flat plan of focus, good contrast, and good detail. I was very impressed with the detail on this handheld minimum focus distance shot:

The F4 aperture along with the wide angle of view means that the background isn’t particularly blurred, but the detail is great. The big upside for video work is that you can get very close to subjects and still continue to get autofocus results. Lenses with a long minimum focus distance can be very limiting when shooting video.

This is a nicely executed little package, with a nice mix of features and compactness. The Sony 10-20PZ is proof positive of the size and weight savings you can achieve when you do dedicated engineering for a smaller sensor size.

Sony PZ 10-20mm F4 G Autofocus Performance

The Sony 70-350mm F4.5-6.3 G and 16-55mm F2.8 G lenses had previously been Sony’s only APS-C lenses to be given Sony’s linear motor focus system, but Sony has changed all of that with these most recent releases. Each of the 11mm F1.8, 10-20 PZ, and 15mm F1.4 G have received linear focus motors (and the 15mm received two to help drive its larger elements!). The linear focus system works great on the 10-20PZ, with fast, accurate, and silent autofocus. I spent more time on the video side with this lens, as that is really the primary purpose of it. I tracked people playing basketball and the lens had no problem keeping up with action throughout.

It helps that so much remains in focus at this aperture/focal length combination, but you could also see that subjects were being tracked and that focus was in the right place. I would recommend watching the video review if you want more illustrative content on the video focus performance, which is hard to demonstrate in a text review.

I tested for focus transitions and confidence in tracking my face (like when holding up my hand in front of the camera and then allowing it to refocus on my face). Everything was smooth and confident. Sony has also prioritized minimizing focus breathing in the optical design of these new “hybrid” lenses, and while focus breathing isn’t non-existent, it is minimal.

Focus speed for stills was excellent, with quick acquisitions of subjects at close or further distances.

Here’s another shot that shows accurate focus (closer subjects illustrate this better than distant subjects with a wide angle lens).

I had no problem with slightly further subjects, either, with focus quickly and accurately locking on.

Throughout my test period I don’t think that I ever heard any noise associated with focus at all whether shooting videos or stills. The linear motor focus system delivered fast, quiet, and accurate results. This is a premium focus system…and it shows. I have some hope that a future Sony APS-C camera with a more robust focus system will be able to take even more advantage of lenses like this.

Sony 10-20PZ Image Quality

First of all, let’s take a look at that focal range. I think this interior shot shows the flexibility of the zoom range, first at 10mm:

…and then at 20mm:

It’s a little less dramatic outside, but you can see a significant difference in the framing options presented here.

The equivalent of 15mm (full frame) on the wide end is very wide, and definitely allows for some dramatic results.

The MTF charts that I’ve seen from this lens suggested a very high level of performance, and that’s reflected in the real world results. It’s very important for a lens that starts at F4 to already be sharp at F4, and that’s what we’ve got here. You can see from this real world (handheld) F4 result that detail and contrast are excellent at a pixel level.

The lens performs well in a lot of the technical merits, including a good control of LoCA (Longitudinal Chromatic Aberrations). I don’t see fringing in the transition at the window sill or beyond in the bokeh highlights.

Even more important in a wide angle lens is to control lateral CA (LaCA) that show up near the edges of the frame (and can ruin landscape and architectural shots). Note that there is minimal fringing on the branches against the bright sky here.

That’s a good start in a wide angle zoom, but how about distortion and vignette? I’ve spent time with all three of these new wide angle lenses from Sony, and it is clear that when they were making engineering choices, it was distortion that was the area they let slip in order to keep the lenses compact. We’ve got a significant amount of barrel distortion at 10mm:

To achieve my manually corrected result I needed to dial in a lot of distortion correction (+39) and a moderate amount of vignette correction (+53, or right over two stops). The latter is not really a big deal (I’ve seen MUCH worse), but the former will definitely need correction. My manual correction showed only a bit of a mustache pattern, meaning that it is harder to get a perfect manual correction, but the good news is that as a first party lens, the Sony 10-20PZ will receive premium correction support both in camera and in software, so this shouldn’t be a serious issue for you in real world use.

Case in point: I shot the ceiling in the huge fieldhouse where I testing for the basketball tracking. The uncorrected RAW image shows the barrel distortion bulges, but the JPEG (corrected in camera) shows nice, clean lines. The only downside is that you can see that a fair portion of the image has been lost in that correction process. I suspect that the lens is probably slightly wider than 10mm uncorrected to allow for the correct focal length after correction.

You will want to correct that distortion, however, as it does show up in real images. Look at the curved ductwork at the top of this image (uncorrected):

Both the vignette and distortion become much more mild by the middle of the zoom range, with only a +7 required at 15mm for the distortion (no mustache pattern) and a +30 for the vignette. At 20mm the distortion flips to a mild pincushion pattern that is easily corrected with a -6 and a very mild +22 for the vignette. So, the barrel distortion at 10mm is the only real issue here, and the correction profile seems to do a good job there.

So how about resolution and contrast? We’ll get answers from my test chart, which you can see here:

I’ve used the 24 MP Sony a6400 for this test, which is currently as high as Sony’s APS-C cameras venture. Here are high magnification (about 200%) crops from across the 10mm frame at F4 (Center, Mid-frame, and lower right corner):

These show a very high level of contrast and resolution all across the frame, just like our real world result suggested.

There is little advantage to stopping down at 10mm. F5.6 looks much like F4, and F8 actually looks like it has a hair less contrast in different places across the frame. F5.6 is often a good landscape aperture, though you can shoot without penalty at F4, too. You can see that this real world shot at 10mm is nicely detailed at F5.6 across the frame:

Our minimum aperture throughout the zoom range is F22, though you take a pretty horrendous hit to resolution and contrast due to diffraction at F22:

You don’t really want to go there.

Moving on to the middle of the range shows continued excellence. We’ve got crisp results across the frame again at F4:

As before, there isn’t much advantage to stopping down. You’re getting very close to peak performance at F4, with very minimal gains to be had when stopping down.

At 20mm the excellence continues with only the slightest drop in detail. I continue to find very consistent resolution across the frame, with only minimal drop-off towards the edges.

I find that there is slightly more potential for improvement when stopping down at 20mm. That’s particularly true in the corners, which show greater brightness and clarity at 5.6:

Bottom line is that resolution and contrast are excellent both throughout the zoom range and across the image circle. This is a high performing lens optically.

Another important design aspect for a wide angle lens is flare resistance. I didn’t really see any issue with this in my tests. You can see the slightest bit of ghosting in the middle image (at F11), but even in very bright sun I didn’t see loss of contrast or much in terms of ghosting.

A wide angle of view means that you will rarely have the background completely out of focus, so don’t expect this lens to be a big “bokeh maker”. Depth of field is quite large unless you are close to minimum focus distance. Even the short distance to the exercise bike in the last photo shows most of the other bikes in the long line also in some degree of focus.

In some ways, though, this isn’t really a criticism but more a comment on the nature of the focal length and aperture. This isn’t a lens designed for this purpose; it is a lens designed to have a lot in focus at once, and it thrives on that level.

Colors are rich, images look great, and the resolution is consistently good across the zoom range. If you’d like to see more photos, check out my image gallery here.

Conclusion

The Sony PZ 10-20mm F4 G joins Sony E 15mm F1.4 G as one of those rare Sony APS-C lenses that feels on par with the companies full frame options. This is a lens designed primarily for video work, though I liked it just fine as a photography lens as well. What I really enjoy, however, is Power Zoom toggle and the ability to easily take advantage of zooming while shooting video. Add to this that I can take advantage of Sony’s Smart Zoom in a way that I typically can’t, and I feel like you’ve got a killer combination for vlogging and wide angle filming in general. At the moment Sony’s APS-C cameras have a bit of a crop when shooting 4K, so the ability to go as wide as this lens does is very valuable. You can get a LOT in the frame, even when someone crouches right in front of the camera!

The list of strengths is long, from the quality of the build (including weather sealing), video focused features, excellent autofocus, and a truly excellent image quality performance. The list of negatives is very short and mostly limited to the strong barrel distortion, though the correction profile will help rectify that. There are many applications for a lens with a focal length like this, and landscapes certainly fall into that category:

If you are an APS-C shooter and have been wishing for a truly video-oriented lens for your camera, the Sony 10-20PZ should be high on your list. I completed my review prior to the public announcement for the lens, and Sony had not yet settled on the price, though they said it would fall between $699 and $799 USD. Considering that the predecessor for this lens was more expensive, this feels like a pretty good value for a lens with this kind of versatility. Owners of cameras like the Sony ZV-E10 should love this lens. It’s great to see Sony giving some fresh attention to the APS-C space!

Pros:

Nicely built lens with a feature set more like Sony’s full frame offerings
Quality degree of weather sealing
PowerZoom function works very well
PowerZoom toggle allows you to easily take advantage of Sony’s Smart Zoom
Linear focus motor produces fast, quiet focus
Low focus breathing
Consistently excellent sharpness and contrast
Good flare resistance
Good bokeh rendering
Good control of chromatic aberrations
Extremely compact size

Cons:

No image stabilization
Focus and zoom rings too close and too similar
Strong barrel distortion at 10mm

Gear Used:

Purchase the Sony 10-20mm F4 PZ G @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Sony E 11mm F1.8 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Sony E 15mm F1.4 G @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Sony a6600 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay

Purchase the Sony a6400 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay

Peak Design Leash Strap: Peak Design Store | B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK

Adobe Photoshop Creative Cloud 1-Year Subscription
Exposure Software X6 (Use Code “dustinabbott” to get 10% anything and everything)
Visit Dustin’s Amazon Storefront and see his favorite gear

Purchasing your gear through B&H and these links helps fund this website and keeps the articles coming. You can also make a donation here if you would like. Visit my Amazon page for some of my gear of choice! Thank you for your support.

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Keywords: Sony E 10-20mm Review, Sony 10-20mm F4 PZ G Review, Sony 10-20mm, F4, f/4, G, PZ, Power Zoom, APS-C, Sony a6600, Sony Alpha, a6600 Review, Sony, a6600, Review, Dustin Abbott, a6500, a6400, Alpha 1, Hands On, Video Test, Sharpness, Autofocus, CA, Video AF, Autofocus, Eye AF, Lens, Comparison, Test, Dustinabbott.net, Sample Images, Sample Video, Vlogging, Let the Light In, Burst, Action

DISCLAIMER: This article and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Sony PZ 10-20mm F4 G Image Gallery

Dustin Abbott

June 7th, 2022

I’ve been openly questioning of Sony’s commitment to its APS-C platform, as both camera and lens releases in that space have been few and far between over the past 3 years. Sony’s development on full frame has been rather frenzied during that same period, with a number of new camera and what I consider a golden age for lens development. I’ve reviewed one lens after another that I really, really liked in the full frame space, which tells me that Sony has really hit its stride as a camera lens maker. But APS-C has seemed to be on the back burner. And while I still see a lot of room for Sony to deliver a robust sports-oriented APS-C body (something to contend with the new Canon EOS R7 would be nice!), they are taking large strides to shore up the wide angle end of their APS-C catalog with three releases: the E 10-20mm F4 PZ OSS (Powerzoom), the E 15mm F1.4 G, and the Sony E 11mm F1.8 lens. This isn’t the first time that Sony has done some of its better APS-C lenses in bunches, as the last “G” lenses (mid-tier superior lenses) for APS-C came together in 2019: the Sony E 70-350mm F4.5-6.3 G OSS (my review here) and the Sony E 16-55mm F2.8 G. I’ve been fortunate enough to have gotten to spend some time with all three of these new releases, and so I’ll follow up my coverage of the 15mm F1.4 G (my review here) with the zoom in this lineup – the Sony E PZ 10-20mm F4 G.

The key here is the PZ, which refers to PowerZoom. Sony has had an existing wide angle zoom for APS-C in the form of the E 10-18mm F4 OSS lens, but there is a recognition that more and more photographers actually do a mix of photos and video. We call these “hybrid” photographers, and it is clear that Sony has been designing its cameras with this in mind. Their a6300 was a breakthrough in this regard, allowing photographers to capture really good 4K video in an APS-C body at a time when most of the competition was stuck at 1080P. But there also needs to be some concessions to the unique needs of video in lenses as well, and that’s where the PowerZoom (PZ) comes into play. The 10-20PZ is essentially an APS-C counterpart to the recent full frame FE PZ 16-35mm F4 G lens with a full frame equivalent of 15-30mm (1.5x APS-C crop factor). The PowerZoom capability means that not only can you smoothly zoom in and out with the switch on the side of the lens (with much smoother zooms than you can achieve with a ring), but if you have the right accessory (a Bluetooth remote or wireless shooting grip like the GP-VPT2BT or even just using the Sony app), you have the option of off-camera control. This gives the smoothest results of all, of course, as you can have the camera on a tripod and have no vibration introduced into the process. This is a next level option for video shooters, and Sony has set the price point actually below that of the 10-18mm F4 despite the larger zoom range and new features (though the new lens loses the Optical Stabilizer that the older lens had).

Sony reserves the G designation for its mid-tier lenses and G Master for its superior lenses, and I’ve found that there is a lot of value to be found in the G lineup. These lenses have more advanced features like weather sealing and a focus hold button, and Sony has packed a lot features into a very small package here.

Superior G Lens image quality with two ED elements and one ED Aspherical element
Linear motor autofocus
A focus on video performance, with minimal focus breathing
Linear manual focus for more precise manual focus and repeatable focus changes
More physical controls, including an AF/MF switch, PowerZoom control, and a focus hold button
Dust and moisture resistant design
Internally focusing and zooming design
Close minimum focus of 20cm (Autofocus = 0.14x magnification) or 17cm (Manual Focus = 0.18x magnification)
World’s smallest ultra-wide APS-C zoom

This is a beautiful, well crafted lens that is in many ways similar to Sony’s full frame series of recent G primes (24mm F2.8, 40mm F2.5, and 50mm F2.5 G primes – click the hyperlinks for reviews of each lens). Though small and light, it feels premium, and its optical performance certainly backs that up, delivering beautifully detailed images all across the frame even at F4:

The final retail price hasn’t been announced as of the time of this review, though Sony gives a range of $700-800 USD. That’s not cheap, but it is certainly much cheaper and smaller than the full frame 16-35mm PZ lens, which will retail at $1200 USD. This will almost certainly become an indispensable tool for those who do vlogging or want a wide angle lens with zoom capabilities. The constant maximum aperture of F4 means that exposure doesn’t change as you zoom, giving you even more flexibility for both stills and video.

Ultimately you will have to decide if the premium price point matches the premium performance, but you can learn more by watching my definitive video review or reading my text review of the PZ 10-20mm…or just enjoy the photos below.

I want to thank Sony Canada (and Gentec) for the loaner of this lens. As always, this is a completely independent review. The opinions here are completely my own. *The tests and most of the photos that I share as a part of my review cycle have been done with the Sony a6400 along with the Sony Alpha 1 which will serve as my benchmark camera for the foreseeable future (my review here).

Photos of the Sony PZ 10-20mm F4 G

Photos Taken with the Sony PZ 10-20mm F4 G

Gear Used:

Purchase the Sony 10-20mm F4 PZ G @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Sony E 11mm F1.8 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Sony E 15mm F1.4 G @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Sony a6600 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay

Purchase the Sony a6400 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay

Peak Design Leash Strap: Peak Design Store | B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK

Adobe Photoshop Creative Cloud 1-Year Subscription
Exposure Software X6 (Use Code “dustinabbott” to get 10% anything and everything)
Visit Dustin’s Amazon Storefront and see his favorite gear

Purchasing your gear through B&H and these links helps fund this website and keeps the articles coming. You can also make a donation here if you would like. Visit my Amazon page for some of my gear of choice! Thank you for your support.

Great News! I can now offer a 5% discount on all purchases at Amplis Foto, Canada’s Leading Photographic Supplier. Please enter discount code: AMPLIS52018DA in your cart. It is good for everything in your cart, and is stackable with other coupons, too! It will take 5% off your entire order! Proceeds go towards keeping this site going and providing you with new reviews!

Keywords: Sony E 10-20mm Review, Sony 10-20mm F4 PZ G Review, Sony 10-20mm, F4, f/4, G, PZ, Power Zoom, APS-C, Sony a6600, Sony Alpha, a6600 Review, Sony, a6600, Review, Dustin Abbott, a6500, a6400, Alpha 1, Hands On, Video Test, Sharpness, Autofocus, CA, Video AF, Autofocus, Eye AF, Lens, Comparison, Test, Dustinabbott.net, Sample Images, Sample Video, Vlogging, Let the Light In, Burst, Action

DISCLAIMER: This article and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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Viltrox AF 13mm F1.4 Build and Handling

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Pros:

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Conclusion

Pros:

Cons:

Purchase the Sony E 11mm F1.8 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

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Purchase the Sony a6600 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay

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Purchase the Sony E 11mm F1.8 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

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Purchase the Sony 10-20mm F4 PZ G @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Samyang AF 12mm F2 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Sony a6600 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay

Purchase the Sony a6400 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay

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Pros:

Cons:

Purchase the Sony 10-20mm F4 PZ G @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Sony E 11mm F1.8 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Sony E 15mm F1.4 G @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

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