I’m not a big fan of super wide angle lens. Shooting at 12mm usually requires you to get really close to your subject and produce weird, distorted-looking images, but I was recently hired for a job that required a wide field of view. In the end, I bought three lenses to find the right tool for the job.
A few weeks ago, I was hired to shoot and shoot promotional videos for a new $12 million yacht. While the rooms on this boat are huge compared to other boats, they are quite small for your average home and to capture the panorama I needed a super wide-angle lens. But do I need an ultra-fast lens for this job? Usually, when you’re shooting small spaces, you want a deep depth of field, so I probably wouldn’t shoot at f/2.8.
When I started looking for lens options for my Sony camera, I was shocked that there were only two lenses at 12mm with autofocus: the Sony 12-24mm f/2.8 for $2,900 and Sony 12-24mm f/4 for $1,800. Is the f/2.8 version really worth the extra $1,100? I also discovered a Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 for only $529. Why are the prices of these lenses so different? I decided to take all three and put them to the test.
Review Sony 12-24mm f/2.8
At $2900, Sony 12-24mm f/2.8 It’s one of the most expensive lenses I’ve tested. The build quality is impressive, and the focus and zoom rings feel smooth. What you really pay for with this lens is sharpness at 12mm while shooting at f/2.8 across the entire frame, and this lens delivers. Despite the vignetting at f/2.8, the lens appears to be as sharp at f/2.8 as it is at every other aperture. As with all Sony lenses, autofocus is fast, accurate, and completely silent for both stills and video capture. For astrophotography, a lens like this will produce stunning photos at f/2.8, but for other genres of still photography or video where a deeper depth of field can be important, then this lens may be overkill.
Review of Sony 12-24mm f/4
Sony’s f/4 version 12-24mm look like a slightly smaller version of their f/2.8 counterparts, but the build quality and feel of the focus and zoom rings are almost identical to its larger sibling. At 12mm, this lens can produce great photos, but you’ll notice a noticeable blur around the edges of the frame. This lens also suffers from vignetting at f/4 and will require you to drop it down to f/5.6 to get a completely clear image. That being said, I’m not really sure these shortcomings would be noticeable in normal photos. In the real world, both the f/2.8 and f/4 versions of this lens produce nearly identical photos and videos. If you’re shooting something like real estate and you need a wide field of view but don’t necessarily need extra light, the f/4 version of this lens seems like an easy choice.
Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 for Sony Review
The Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 has surprisingly good build quality for the low $529 price tag. The metal housing and the focus ring rotate smoothly. The lens is surprisingly sharp at f/2.8, even at the corners, but it suffers from quite noticeable blur when extended. Images from this lens look surprisingly similar to Sony’s competitors, but this lens has one major flaw. The autofocus mechanism of this lens seems to “hunt” the subject rather jarringly. Unlike Sony lenses that can focus smoothly, Rokinon lenses make an audible clicking sound and jump into focus. The autofocus seems to be accurate enough for stills, but perhaps not smooth enough for video. That said, with super wide-angle lenses, the depth of field is often so deep that autofocus may not be needed when shooting movies.
Conclusion
Occasionally, I rate a product as the cheapest and also the best, but for Sony’s ultra-wide lenses, I’m afraid you’ll get what you pay for. The Sony 12-24 f/2.8 is definitely the best lens, but at $2,900, it definitely has to be. The f/4 lens version is probably a better choice for your average architecture photographer, and the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 is a bargain if zoom and autofocus are not required. Check out the video above for my full thoughts and sample images.
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