SEL24F18Z
4.6
5
8
8
zoom
Can i zoom in this lens?
October 3, 2012
Excellent lens especially for low light conditions
Great lens, makes low light pics possible w/o flash which would spoil the whole atmosphere. Fits in underwater housings designed for the more familiar 18-55mm zoom.
August 31, 2012
Excellent lens, perfect on NEX 7
This is a wonderful lens, perfectly sized for Sony NEX 7. It lives up to it's Zeiss heritage showing great color, sharpness, bokeh and great handling. I know some complain of the size or cost, but show me another high speed 24 mm lens for APS cameras that is smaller or considerably cheaper. I think the lens cost is competitive with the competition, though camera prices in general have gotten quite high these past few years. Using proper technique and a good editing program like lightroom 3 or 4, this lens delivers outstanding results, probably best in class (yes, except for the $6,000 german lens). If you have high standards you won't be disappointed.
April 27, 2012
Good Lens, But Too Expensive
I received a NEX-7 for Christmas in 2011, and use three lenses with it: This lens, a Canon FD 50mm f1.2, and a Canon FD 85mm f1.2. After shooting thousands of pictures with all three, I can definitively say that the Canon lenses (which I bought in perfect condition on eBay at a fraction of the cost of the Zeiss lens) produce significantly prettier pictures. Unfortunately, being so old, they have no manual focus (which, even if they did, the NEX-7 would be unable to utilize because they are Canon lenses and require an adaptor--rendering autofocus unusable). This is the best of the E-mount lenses thus far; I had a 16mm and an 18-55mm E-mount to compare it to. It's great for shooting video, and is useful for capturing stills when I don't have the time to manually focus with the Canons. HOWEVER, it definitely isn't worth $1000. If you just need a video lens, I recommend a cheaper one (unless money is no object/you film enough to justify it). If you collect E-Mounts and want a good all around lens, also go for a cheaper one. If you want a lens for shooting video AND for taking stills (giving up some quality for autofocus speed)--in addition to non-Sony manual focus lenses that you're using--you might want to consider this one. Even if you're in that last group, make sure you take into account that this is a fixed lens. I usually don't like zooming in and out during video, but the versatility of a variable focal length lens could be handy at times (even if you would be sacrificing some quality with a non-Zeiss E-mount).
Still Image Quality on a Scale of 1 (worst) to 10 (best):
Canon 85mm and 50mm f1.2 = 10
Sony Zeiss 24mm F1.8 = 8-8.5
Most Sony E-Mounts = 6
Convenience for Video Capture (Same Scale):
Canon 85mm and 50mm f1.2 = 3-4
Sony Zeiss 24mm F1.8 = 9-10
Most Sony E-Mounts = 7-8-ish
Ratings are relative. A Leica lens would be above a 10.
April 25, 2012
