Sony’s A7 line of full-frame mirrorless cameras are friggin’ awesome, but there haven’t been many native lens options, especially in the realm of fast prime lenses. That’s slowly changing, and it’s starting with Zeiss.
The famed lens company has announced two full-frame FE lenses under the name Loxia. There is a 35mm and a 50mm, both with an f/2 aperture. Both are manual focus only, which is kind of a bummer, but it’s how Zeiss keeps these lenses small and light enough to make sense with the compact A7 camera bodies. And since they are compatible with all E-mount cameras, you can use them on your APS-C sensor bodies like old NEX models, or the newer a6000, a5000 or a 5100.
Even without autofocus, the Loxia lenses will fetch a pretty penny. The 50mm f/2 will be $US950 when it drop in October, and the 35mm f/2 will be $US1250 and launching before the end of 2014. Those prices are a but steeper than what you are going to pay for Sony’s own branded prime lenses (their 55mm f/1.8 is $US1000, and their 35mm f/2.8 is $US800).
One really cool thing about the Loxia lenses is their aperture ring, which can be “de-clicked” for smooth exposure transitions when shooting video. Zeiss is also boasting virtually distortion-free images. You can view some image samples in their Flickr gallery here for the 35mm, and here for the 50mm.
If Zeiss’ reputation is any indication, these lenses will be extremely high quality, and should give Sony A7 shooters some comfort while they wait for Sony to present us with some more premium autofocus primes. [Zeiss]