We summarize our experience with all the native E-mount and a few (manual) legacy lenses in the 9-20mm bracket to give you a compact and independent resource for choosing the right super- to ultra-wide-angle lens for your Sony a7 cameras. In this summary we also included some adapted lenses we think are worth mentioning.

We also have a guide to 21-35mm lenses.

We have no association with any lens manufacturer apart from occasionally loaning a lens for a review. Before any short introduction we tell you how long we have used a lens and if we have borrowed it from a manufacturer. But in most cases we have bought the lenses new from retail stores or on on the used market. If you want to support our independent reviews please consider using one of the affiliate links. It doesn’t cost you anything and helps us a lot.

If we have left any question unanswered please leave a comment and we will do our best to answer it.

Last update: February 2019

If you purchase the lens through one of thee affiliate-links in this article we get a small compensation with no additional cost to you.

Laowa 5.6/9 FF-RL

Status: Sample loaned by the manufacturer reviewed by Bastian who replaced his Voigtlander 10mm 5.6 with this lens



super compact and the widest rectilinear lens available

contrast and resolution are surprisingly good from wide open

flare resistance slightly worse than the wide Voigtlander primes, very nice sunstars thanks to 5 straight aperture blades

complex distortion and high vignetting (profile for LR available)

Widest rectilinear lens available in a very compact package and with surprisingly good image quality

373g + adapter | $799 | full Review | aperture series | sample images

buy from manufacturer’s homepage | B&H | ebay.com | ebay.de (affiliate links)



Laowa 4.5-5.6/10-18 FE C-Dreamer

Status: Sample loaned by the manufacturer reviewed by Bastian



super compact (similar in size to Zeiss Loxia 21mm 2.8) and even slightly wider than the 10mm Voigtlander

contrast and resolution are never great, needs stopping down to f/8 to f/11 for okay corner sharpness

flare resistance worse than the wide Voigtlander primes, very nice sunstars thanks to 5 straight aperture blades

complex distortion and high vignetting, hard to correct because of missing electronic contacs

Widest rectilinear (zoom) lens available in a very compact package, but takes some work in post for good results

499g | $849 | full Review | aperture series | sample images

buy from manfucaturer’s homepage | B&H | amazon.com (affiliate links)

Voigtlander 5.6/10 E

Status: Sample loaned by the manufacturer reviewed by Bastian, who bought one for himself at retail after that, sold in anticipation of Laowa 10-18mm.



At f/5.6 most of the frame is pretty sharp, only the extreme corners are somewhat soft. Contrast is always high.

You have to use f/11 for best across frame sharpness, the corners never reach excellent values.

Almost no distortion, quite good flare resistance, beautiful 10-stroke sunstars.

Small and lightweight.

Second widest rectilinear lens there is in a small package. Downsides are huge vignetting throughout the aperture range and maximum aperture of only f/5.6.

375g | $1300 | full Review | aperture series | sample images

buy from ebay | buy from amazon.com | B&H (affiliate links)

Laowa 2.8/12

Status: Prototype loaned by manufacturer reviewed by Bastian

Caution: what is written below might only be true for the prototype and I experienced bad corner performance with some adapters.

At f/2.8 center as well as midframe region is very sharp, corners suffer a bit from field curvature. Coma performance wide open not bad, a little worse than Samyang 14mm.

From f/8 onwards across frame sharpness was very good on the A7rII.

Almost no distortion, ok flare resistance, ok vignetting.

Average size and weight, decently priced.

An UWA lens almost without real flaws if the manufacturer manages to keep sample to sample variation on a low level.

640g + adapter | $949 | full Review | aperture series | sample images

buy from manufacturer | amazon.com | amazon.de | B&H (affiliate links)



Sony FE 4/12-24 G

Status: Not reviewed by anyone in the team but reliable information is available.

Excellent sharpness in the center from wide open at any focal length.

Class leading across the frame sharpness by f/5.6. It is sharper than the Voigtlander primes and close to the Batis 18 and Loxia 21 in this regard.

Strong distortion at the wide end which is still significant at the longer end.

Vignetting at 12 mm is strong and doesn’t go away. At longer focal lengths vignetting is still significant.

Flare can be an issue in demanding scenarios, the only real weakness of this lens.

You can’t use filters with it.

Average size with good build quality.

An exceptional lens. This is one of the rare cases where a zoom outperforms many primes. If you can live with the lack of a filter thread and accept a little worse flare resistance then it is a very attractive lens.

565g | $1698 | MTF | photozone review | comapred to other lenses

buy from amazon.de | buy from amazon.com | B&H (affiliate links)

Voigtlander 5.6/12 III E

Status: Bought by and sold by Jannik.



At f/5.6 most of the frame is pretty sharp, only the extreme corners are never as sharp as the center. Contrast is always quite high.

You have to use f/8 for best sharpness across most of the frame, the extreme corners still gain a little contrast at f/11

Almost no distortion, quite good flare resistance, beautiful 10-stroke sunstars, heavy vignetting

Small and lightweight, decently priced.

No significant sample variation reported (In contrast to the 4.5/15)

Much better performance on Sony E-Mount cameras than the M-Mount version II

Not as fast as the 15mm, not as wide as the 10mm but the lightest and maybe the most rounded lens of the Voigtländer UWA triplets

283g | $899 | review | aperture series | sample images

buy from amazon.com | buy from ebay.com | buy from ebay.de (affiliate links)

Voigtlander 5.6/12 M39

Status: reviewed and bought by Bastian

At f/5.6 the center is sharp but corners and also midframe region suffer from huge field curvature because of the thick filter stack in front of the A7-series’ sensors.

When focusing at the center of the frame you need f/11 to f/16 for best across frame sharpness and the corners are still merely okay.

Almost no distortion, fair flare resistance, not so well defined but okay sunstars, very high vignetting even stopped down.

Very very small and very lightweight, decently priced on the used market.

If you only shoot this wide from time to time and stopped down anyways it might be a good choice, as this lens will always fit in your bag.

175g + adapter | ~$450 | full Review | aperture series | sample images

buy from ebay | Sony E-mount adapters (affiliate links)

Samyang 2.8/14

Status: Bought and sold by Bastian, replaced with Laowa 15mm 2.0. Bought and sold by Jannik

Jannik: Despite of it’s ridiculous distortion, this lens performs very good (especially for astrophotography) when you find a good copy. Something in this lens dissolves over time, therefore the performance has to be checked continously.

Already at f/2.8 the sharpness across frame near infinity can be very good but mind a little field curvature. The contrast improves when stopping down to f/4.0. Coma correction wide open is also very good which makes this a great lens for astrophotography.

Tremendous wavy distortion, I have yet to come across a profile which corrects this perfectly (PTLens won’t, all Lightroom profiles I tested – or created myself – won’t either). Huge vignetting wide open, rather bad flare resistance, 6 bladed aperture.

Ok size and weight, decently priced.

My biggest concern with this lens is the questionable build quality and the quality assurance problems. Out of 6 lenses I mounted on my camera 4 were badly decentered (of which 3 were new from different dealers). Focus scale is often totally misaligned. Front group is often a bit wobbly.

Good lens for landscape and especially astrophotography in case you find a good sample.

570g (E-mount version) | $300 | Review | sample images

buy from ebay | buy from amazon | B&H (affiliate links)

Nikon AF-S 2.8/14-24G

Status: bought by Bastian to replace Samyang 14mm 2.8, sold because not fun to use on A7 cameras because of size and weight.

Already at f/2.8 the sharpness across frame is very good at the wide end. At 24mm not nearly as good compared to 14mm, needs to be stopped down to f/8.0 for best performance here.

One of the best performing ultra wide angle lenses for astrophotography, low coma and very low vignetting in comparison to the competition (less than 2 EV at 14mm and 2.8).

Quite a bit wavy distortion you want to correct for architectural shots, mediocre to bad flare resistance (watch out for the sun outside the frame), 9 bladed aperture.

Very big and very heavy, decently priced on the used market.

Handling isn’t the greatest on the A7 cameras: you have to get an adapter to change the aperture and there is a slight slack in the focusing ring when changing the direction of rotation but size and weight are definetly the/my main concerns here.

1000g + adapter | ~$1300 (used) | photozone.de review | sample images

buy from ebay.com | amazon.com | B&H | Nikon-G adapters (affiliate links)

Laowa 2.0/15

Status: Sample loaned by the manufacturer reviewed by Bastian, who bought one for himself after that. Still often in use for astrophotography.

Already sharp across frame at f/2.0 without relevant field curvature.

From f/4 onwards really great across frame sharpness on the A7rII.

Almost no distortion, ok to good flare resistance, ok vignetting, great minimum focus distance. Coma performance not as good as Samyang 14mm 2.8 but a stop faster ans usable at f/2.0.

Rather small for what it is, the all metal construction adds some weight, decently priced.

Great allround UWA lens for astrophotography, architecture and dramatic close up shots.

520g | $849 | full Review | aperture series | sample images

buy from manufacturer | amazon.com | B&H | amazon.de (affiliate links)

Voigtlander 4.5/15 E

Status: sample loaned by manufacturer reviewed by Bastian.

Already at f/4.5 the center as well as midframe region is looking very good. Corners are ok, coma correction is pretty decent.

You have to use f/11 for the corners to look best.

Almost no distortion, decent flare resistance, very nice 10-stroke sunstars, but very high vignetting even stopped down.

Very small and lightweight, decently priced.

In case f/4.5 is fast enough and you can get by with the high vignetting very nicely balanced lens for the A7 cameras.

298g | $800 | full Review | aperture series | sample images

buy from ebay | amazon.com | B&H | amazon.de (affiliate links)

Sony FE 2.8/16-35 GM

Status: Not reviewed by anyone in the team but reliable information is available.

Excellent sharpness in the center from wide open at any focal length.

Very good across the frame sharpness across most of the zoom range, slightly less so at 35 mm.

Pronounced distortion at the ends, average vignetting.

Flare is well controlled.

Weakly defined 22-pointed sunstars

It takes expensive 82 mm filters.

Above average size with very good build quality.

Pretty strong copy to copy variation at 35 mm.

An exceptional lens. It outperforms the already very good 4/16-35 while only weighting 165 g more. The only downside is the very significant price tag.

680g | $2198 | MTF | TDP review | vs FE 4/16-35

buy from amazon.de | amazon.com | B&H | amazon.de (affiliate links)

Sony FE 4/16-35 ZA OSS

Status: Phillip reviewed a loaner from Sony and bought his own copy more than a year ago. He uses it regularly. Bought and sold by Jannik.



Jannik: You can’t go wrong with this lens , especially at the wide end. Performs is best at 20mm, but is also very good at 16mm. Keep the field curvature in mind and focus carefully.

At f/4 the center is excellent across the zoom range, for best corners I would stop down at least to f/5.6, better f/8 where they are quite good.

Pronounced distortion at the ends, average vignetting and annoying ghosting for some scenes but fine most of the time.

This is neither a light nor a small lens but it isn’t huge either. Build quality is good.

A very versatile lens: It covers a very wide focal range with good optical quality and thanks to the stabilizer even on the a7 one can shoot before sunrise without a tripod. The price is significant but justified.

518g | $1348 | full review | sample images

buy from Amazon.com | Amazon.de | B&H photo (affiliate links)

Tokina 3.5/17 SL

Status: used by Bastian in the past on Nikon DSLRs.

At f/3.5 the center is quite good, midframe and corners are ok, also quite contrasty.

You need to stop down to f/11 to f/16 for ok to good corners

Wavy distortion (you can find a LR profile created by myself for correction here), as typical for Tokina disastrous flare resistance and 6-bladed aperture

Very small, lightweight and quite cheap.

This is one of the few legacy UWA that does not cost a fortune and at the same time doesn’t totally suck. Across frame sharpness stopped down is definetly usable and a standard 67mm filter thread is very nice to have on a lens this wide, but watch out for flares.

The lens is rather rare and comes in different mounts (Nikon-F, Canon FD, a few more), don’t fall for the newer AT-X AF version which is optically worse.

305g + adapter | ~$170 | sample images

buy from ebay (affiliate link)

Canon FD 4/17

Status: Used by Jannik for a short time in the past

At f/4 the center is quite good but…

… I’d recommend to stop down to f/11 for usable sharpness across the frame albeit it never gets tack sharp

Very low distortion (the biggest quality of this lens, especially in the film era), bad flare resistance and 6-bladed aperture

Medium size, not too heavy but a tad more expensive than the Tokina 3.5/17 due to the collector’s value

UWA lenses developed very fast during the last decades. The age of these 17mm legacy lenses shows clearly when they are compared to modern options. Nevertheless, they are pretty usable if you give the files some love in postprocessing (removal of CA’s and sharpening).

360g + adapter | $200 | buy from ebay | Sony E-mount adapters (affiliate links)

Canon TS-E 4/17 L

Status: bought by Bastian, still in use.

center and midframe are always good, corners and especially shifted corners need f/8 to f/11

very little distortion, okay flare resistance, nice sunstars stopped down thanks to 8 aperture blades.

Quite big but very lightweight and also very expensive.

Widest tilt/shift lens available and a dream for architecture photography. Rather bulky though and comes at a price.

830g + adapter | $1500 (used) | full Review | aperture series | sample images

buy from amazon.com | amazon.de | B&H | ebay.com | ebay.de (affiliate links)

Zeiss Batis 2.8/18

Status: sample loaned by manufacturer reviewed by Bastian.

At f/2.8 good to very good across frame performance even in the extreme corners. Coma correction pretty good as well (a tiny bit worse in comparison to the 21mm Loxia but visibly less vignetting).

f/4.0: corners are now very good too, so stopping down further will only increase depth of field.

Wavy distortion you want to correct for architecture shots, ok to good flare resistance, 9 rounded aperture blades.

Quite big but very lightweight and also very expensive.

High performance modern wideangle lens which is also very good for astrophotography but comes at a price.

330g | $1500 | full Review | aperture series | sample images

buy from ebay | amazon.com | B&H | amazon.de (affiliate links)

Nikon AF-S 3.5-5.6/18-35G

Status: bought by Bastian and used for some time on Nikon DSLRs until 20mm 1.8G hit the shelves.

Pretty good resolution already wide open, best at it’s short end.

Peak performance is around f/8.0 for all focal lenghts, vignetting is quite good from f/5.6 onwards (less than 1 EV).

Quite a bit non wavy barrel distortion at the wide end, much less barrel distortion at the 35mm end.

Very lightweight and therefore well balanced on A7 cameras.

Due to being an AF-S G lens the handling isn’t the greatest on the A7 cameras: you have to get an adapter to change the aperture and there is a slight slack in the focusing ring when changing the direction of rotation.

The main reason I included this lens here: the flare resistance at the wide end is just stellar. At 18mm it is almost impossible to catch flares or ghosts and it even takes 77mm screw-in or 100mm square filters and is also comparably cheap.

Don’t lay your hands on the older AF-D version, it is not even nearly as good!

385g | $650 | photozone.de review | lenstip.com review

buy from ebay | buy from amazon | B&H | Nikon-G adapters (affiliate links)

Nikon AF-S 1.8/20G

Status: bought (on release day 🙂 ) and reviewed by Bastian, ended up selling it to fund smaller Loxia 21mm 2.8 with even better sunstars.

As this lens incorporates a floating elements design the adapter can have a huge influence on the corner performance.

At f/1.8 the whole frame can be pretty sharp with the right adapter. A little coma in the corners. Bokeh isn’t too bad either. No visible field curvature. Pretty strong vignetting.

Peak performance is around f/4.0, vignetting is much less pronounced. You can stop down for more depth of field or nicer sunstars.

A little wavy distortion, quite good flare resistance, great minimum focus distance.

With adapter about the same length as Batis 18mm but a little thinner and a bit heavier.

Due to being an AF-S G lens the handling isn’t the greatest on the A7 cameras: you have to get an adapter to change the aperture and there is a slight slack in the focusing ring when changing the direction of rotation. If you can get by with this great value for the money.

355g | $800 | full Review | aperture series | sample images

buy from ebay.com | amazon.com | B&H | Nikon-G adapters (affiliate links)

Tokina Firin 20mm F2

Status: Bought and reviewed by Phillip but returned after 30 days.

Excellent center and good across the frame sharpness from f/2

Generally excellent sharpness stopped down but I noticed a midframe drop and some field curvature on my copy.

A moderate degree of mustache distortion.

18-pointed sunstars with pretty average definition from f/11.

Below average flare resistance. For me this is the achilles heel of this lens.

Medium size and weight. Very good price/performance ratio.

A very sharp lens for a very attractive price. A great choice for astro but for landscape photography I found the weak flare resistance a serious issue and quality control seems to have some issues too.

There is now also an AF version of this lens available which is a little lighter but shares the same optics.

490g | $699 | full review | aperture series | sample images

buy from amazon.com | amazon.de (affiliate links)

Canon (n)FD 2.8/20

Status: Used a lot by Phillip then sold to fund the FE 4/16-35. Owned and sold by Jannik.

Jannik: A cheap and capable wide angle option. Contrast, flare resistance and wide open performance are not up to modern standards but at typical landscape settings, this lens delivers.



At f/2.8 the center of the image is sharp but quite strong vignetting, busy bokeh, strong coma and soft corners limit the usefulness of this aperture.

From f/5.6 it is good across the frame, very good at f/8 and for the very good corner performance you should stop down to f/11

Some mustache distortion and average to bad flare resistance.

Medium size and weight. Good price/performance ratio.

All in all a capable landscape lens with some limitations for a decent price.

305g + adapter | $160 | full review | aperture series | sample images

buy from ebay.com | ebay.de | Sony E-mount adapters (affiliate links)

Editor’s Choices

All of us have used many lenses and we all have bought and sold some of them for whatever reason. Nevertheless there are a few lenses that simply stick, so we decided to let each of us pick one of the aforementioned lenses and tell you why we like it and/or keep using it.

Bastian’s Choice: Laowa 5.6 9mm

I have been using the Voigtlander 10mm 5.6 and reviewed the Laowa 10-18mm 4.5-5.6, but both lenses had one flaw too much and I wasn’t really happy with them.

Luckily the Laowa 9mm 5.6 now offers the combination of image quality and size that I was looking for.

Phillip’s Choice: Sony FE 4/16-35 ZA OSS

I always say that I am not much of a super-wideangle user and the only lens below 21mm I currently own is the FE 4/16-35 but when I have it attached to the camera it actually happens quite often that I end up using it at it’s wide end.

Jannik’s Choice: Sony FE 4/16-35 ZA OSS

Although I currently don’t own the 4/16-35 anymore, it was my favorite UWA lens for my FE cameras so far. It was surprisingly good at the short end and very versatile. Currently, I just use the 8mm fisheye when I need am extremely wide angle. Nevertheless, I’m looking forward to all the new UWA lenses that are coming out this year. This will be an exciting time for all of us and I am happy that we have so many great choices now.

Closing Remarks

Yes, we didn’t include a bunch of interesting lenses. There are a few reasons for that:

We have reviewed many lenses but there are far more lenses we haven’t reviewed yet and we prefer to know what we are talking about. So with time the list will grow, but have some patience with us 🙂 We did not want to mix up rectilinear and fisheye lenses (we might do another article covering only fisheye lenses).

Articles like this require many hours of work. If you found it helpful, you can support us by:

Using one of our affiliate links if you buy a lens (or anything else).

If you own an interesting and/or exotic lens and you would borrow it to us for a review just leave a note.

It also helps a lot if you share this article on social media and with your friends.

Thanks! Jannik, Bastian and Phillip