Sony 20mm f/2.8
APS-C E-Mount (2013-)
Sony E 20mm f/2.8 (APS-C, 49mm filters, 2.4 oz./68g, 0.66'/0.2m close focus, $298 new or about $200 used if you know How to Win at eBay). bigger. I'd get mine at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield, or used at eBay.
This all-content, junk-free website's biggest source of support is when you use those or any of these links when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. Thanks for helping me help you! Ken.
April 2019 Sony Sony Lenses Zeiss Nikon Canon Fuji LEICA All Reviews
Introduction
Top Intro Format Compatibility
Specs Performance Recommendations
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This Sony 20mm f/2.8 is a tiny, low priced wide-to-normal pancake lens with better performance than the same-sized 16mm f/2.8. While this 20mm and the 16mm look the same on the outside, this tiny lens has a better and more complex optical design. This 20mm lens comes only in black while the 16mm f/2.8 comes only in silver so you can tell them apart in your bag.
This 20mm lens sees the same angle of view on APS-C cameras as a 30mm lens sees on full frame.
This lens isn't much bigger than a body cap, and weighs about the same because it's both tiny and made mostly out of plastic, with aluminum exterior vanity trim.
It's compatible with the discontinued VCL-ECU1 0.75× ultra-wide converter and the VCL-ECF2 fisheye converter. The VCL-ECU1 0.75× ultra-wide converter converts this to a 12mm lens, which is equivalent to an 18mm lens on full-frame. The VCL-ECU1 0.75× ultra-wide converter is easy to get at eBay for about $80 if you know How To Win at eBay. The VCL-ECF2 fisheye converter is sold new.
I'd get my Sony 20mm f/2.8 at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield, or used at eBay.
Good
Fast and silent autofocusing.
Simple optical design make it very resistant to flare and ghosts.
Electronic manual focus ring.
Aluminum external trim.
Tiny.
Light.
Inexpensive.
Bad
Electronic focus ring, like most mirrorless lenses, has no direct mechanical connection to the optics. It only works when you have the camera set just right.
Offshored toThailand; not made domestically in Japan.
Missing
No focus or depth-of-field scales.
No aperture ring.
No Optical Steady Shot Image Stabilization.
Sony 20mm f/2.8. bigger.
Format
Top Intro Format Compatibility
Specs Performance Recommendations
I'd get my Sony 20mm f/2.8 at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield, or used at eBay.
This is an APS-C (cropped-sensor) lens and I'm testing it as such.
It also works on full-frame cameras, which automatically crop their sensors to APS-C.
Compatibility
Top Intro Format Compatibility
Specs Performance Recommendations
I'd get my Sony 20mm f/2.8 at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield, or used at eBay.
This is an APS-C (cropped-sensor) lens that works on all Sony E-mount cameras. This includes all the variations of NEX, A9-, A7-, A6xxx and A5xxx series cameras.
Full-frame cameras will automatically crop to APS-C.
It will not mount on any Sony A-mount DSLR or any Minolta MAXXUM 35mm SLR of any kind. Those use the old A mount which was actually the Minolta MAXXUM mount from 1987.
Specifications
Top Intro Format Compatibility
Specs Performance Recommendations
I'd get my Sony 20mm f/2.8 at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield, or used at eBay.
Name
Sony 20mm f/2.8. bigger.
Sony calls this the E 20mm f/2.8:
E: E-mount.
Sony's model number is SEL20F28.
Optics
Sony E 20mm f/2.8 internal optical construction. Aspherical elements. smaller.
6 elements in 6 groups.
Three Aspherical elements.
Internal focus.
Diaphragm
Sony 20mm f/2.8. bigger.
7 rounded blades.
Stops down to f/16.
Focal Length
20mm.
When used on APS-C, it sees the same angle of view as a 30mm lens sees when used on a full-frame camera.
See also Crop Factor.
Angle of View
70° diagonal on APS-C.
Autofocus
Internal focus.
No external movement as focused, so no air or dust is sucked in.
Close Focus
0.66 feet (0.2 meters).
Maximum Reproduction Ratio
1:8.3 (0.12×).
Optical Stabilizer
None.
Filters
49mm filter thread.
Hood
Included Sony ALC-SH113 Hood. bigger.
Weird little bayonet Sony ALC-SH113 Hood included.
It's like a bayonet lens cap with a pseudo-rectangular hole cut in it.
It also has a 49mm filter thread, so you can leave it on all the time and put your filters or cap right on it.
Size
2.46" maximum diameter × 0.80" extension from flange.
62.6 mm maximum diameter × 20.4 mm extension from flange.
Weight
2.405 oz. (68.2g) actual measured weight.
Rated 2.4 oz (69g).
Included
Lens (SEL20F28).
ALC-SH113 hood.
ALC-F49S front and ALC-R1EM rear cap.
Announced
April 2013.
Sony Model Number
SEL20F28.
Price, USA
April 2019
$298 new or about $200 used if you know How to Win at eBay.
Performance
Top Intro Format Compatibility
Specs Performance Recommendations
Overall Autofocus Bokeh Distortion
Ergonomics Falloff Flare & Ghosts
I'd get my Sony 20mm f/2.8 at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield, or used at eBay.
Overall
This Sony 20mm f/2.8 is the size of a body cap and takes great pictures.
Autofocus
Autofocus is fast and silent.
Bokeh
Bokeh, the feel or quality of out-of-focus areas as opposed to how far out of focus they are, is fair to good, but it doesn't matter because with a wide, slow lens like this almost nothing is ever that far out of focus.
Here's a photo from headshot distance wide-open:
Davis 6250 weather station, 28 April 2019. bigger or camera-original © file.
As with all lenses, if you want to throw the background as far out of focus as possible shoot wide open (f/2.8) and get as close as possible.
Distortion
With no correction, there is moderate barrel distortion. It is complex and best corrects with a correction factor of -4.00 in Photoshop's lens correction filter. There will still be some residual wavy "mustache" distortion after a simple Photoshop correction.
Set your camera's Distortion Correction to ON (usually at MENU > Camera 1 > Lens Comp. > Distortion Comp. > Auto), then the distortion goes away. For instance, my Sony A6400 corrects all of the complex distortion automatically and completely.
Ergonomics
Sony 20mm f/2.8. bigger.
There is a tiny electronic focus ring, and that's it.
It's all hard aluminum on the outside.
Falloff
Falloff is invisible with the camera's default correction ON (usually at MENU > Camera 1 > Lens Comp. > Shading Comp. > Auto).
I've greatly exaggerated it here by shooting pure gray and displaying it against more gray. It won't look this bad in actual photos::
Sony 20mm f/2.8 falloff, correction ON.
© 2019 KenRockwell.com. All rights reserved. |
If you go out of your way to turn correction OFF then you can see some at f/2.8 and maybe f/4, and for actual photos (not tests of flat fields) it's gone by f/5.6:
Sony 20mm f/2.8 falloff, correction turned OFF.
© 2019 KenRockwell.com. All rights reserved. |
Flare & Ghosts
It has a very simple optical design, so there are few air-to-glass surfaces to lead to reflections that cause flare and ghosts, thus this is a very flare-resistant lens.
See samples at Sunstars.
Lateral Color Fringes
Even with correction ON (usually at MENU > Camera 1 > Lens Comp. > Chromatic Aberatio… > Auto), there is just a tiny bit of red/blue fringing in the corners. It won't be visible outside of the laboratory.
Macro Performance
It gets very close, and it's very sharp at f/8:
Casio G-Shock Solar Atomic Watch at close-focus distance at f/8, 27 April 2019. bigger or camera-original © file.
1,200 × 900 pixel crop from above. bigger or camera-original © file.
If this 1,200 × 900 pixel crop is about 3" (7.5cm) wide on your screen, then the complete image printed at this same large magnification would be about 10 × 15" (25 × 38cm).
If this 1,200 × 900 pixel crop is about 6" (15cm) wide on your screen, then the complete image printed at this same extreme magnification would be about 20 × 30" (50 × 75cm).
If this 1,200 × 900 pixel crop is about 12" (30cm) wide on your screen, then the complete image printed at this same insanely high magnification would be about 40 × 60" (1 × 1.5 meters).
It's not that sharp at f/2.8, which you shouldn't be using for macro anyway:
Casio G-Shock Solar Atomic Watch at close-focus distance at f/2.8, 27 April 2019. bigger or camera-original © file.
As you'll see there is a lot of spherical aberration and spherochromatism at very close distances wide-open:
1,200 × 900 pixel crop from above. bigger or camera-original © file.
If this 1,200 × 900 pixel crop is about 3" (7.5cm) wide on your screen, then the complete image printed at this same large magnification would be about 10 × 15" (25 × 38cm).
If this 1,200 × 900 pixel crop is about 6" (15cm) wide on your screen, then the complete image printed at this same extreme magnification would be about 20 × 30" (50 × 75cm).
If this 1,200 × 900 pixel crop is about 12" (30cm) wide on your screen, then the complete image printed at this same insanely high magnification would be about 40 × 60" (1 × 1.5 meters).
Mechanical Quality
Sony 20mm f/2.8. bigger.
This Sony 20mm f/2.8 is all plastic on the inside, with a metal mount and aluminum outer skin and manual focus ring.
Sharpness
Lens sharpness has nothing to do with picture sharpness; every lens made in the past 100 years is more than sharp enough to make super-sharp pictures if you know what you're doing. The only limitation to picture sharpness is your skill as a photographer. It's the least talented who spend the most time worrying about lens sharpness. Skilled photographers make great images with whatever camera is in their hands; I've made some of my best images of all time with an irreparably broken camera! Most pixels are thrown away before you see them, but camera makers don't want you to know that.
This said, this lens works about as well as you'd expect for the size and price. It's super-sharp for actual picture taking, while under the microscope in the laboratory it's softer on the sides and in the corners wide-open, improving sharply as stopped down a stop or two. It's much better than the 16mm f/2.8.
MTF.
Sunstars
With a rounded 7-blade diaphragm this 20mm only makes sunstars on brilliant points of light at the smallest apertures, but they actually do look pretty good at f/16.
Click any to enlarge:
Click any to enlarge.
Recommendations
Top Intro Format Compatibility
Specs Performance Recommendations
This Sony 20mm f/2.8 is a tiny little lens for when you want to carry as little as possible. For this, it's absolutely brilliant!
This isn't much bigger than a body cap, and can take stunning pictures.
Normally I pass on lens converters, but seeing the novelty of this lens, there's no reason not to try out the discontinued VCL-ECU1 0.75× ultra-wide converter which is easy to get at eBay for about $80 if you know How To Win at eBay, or the VCL-ECF2 fisheye converter which is sold new.
I'd get my Sony 20mm f/2.8 at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield, or used at eBay.
I use a clear (UV) protective filter instead of a cap. I only use a cap when I throw this in a bag with other gear, otherwise I leave a clear protective filter on my lens at all times instead of a cap so I'm ready to shoot instantly.
The very best protective filter is the Multicoated Hoya HD 49mm which uses hardened glass and repels dirt and fingerprints.
For less money, the B＋W 49mm 010 is an excellent filter, as are the multicoated B＋W and the basic multicoated Hoya filters, but the Hoya HD is the toughest and the best.
Filters last a lifetime, so you may as well get the best. The Hoya HD stays cleaner than the others since it repels oil and dirt.
This junk-free website's biggest source of support is when you use those or any of these links to approved sources when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. Sony does not seal its boxes in any way, so never buy at retail or any other source not on my personally approved list since you'll have no way of knowing if you're missing accessories, getting a defective, damaged, returned, store demo or used lens. I use the stores I do because they ship from secure remote warehouses where no one gets to touch your new lens before you do. Buy only from the approved sources I use myself for the best prices, service, return policies and selection.
Thanks for helping me help you!
Ken, Mrs. Rockwell, Ryan and Katie.
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