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So Sony recently announced the birth of their new baby; the a7 IV, a mirrorless full frame camera that carrying a whooping 61 Mega Pixel sensor as her soul. With that more resolution at the disposal of Photographers, the guys at ‘Phoblograher’ put together a list of 8 portrait lenses that sure would harness the might of the a7 IV’s 61 MP and produce detailed portraits alongside their pros and cons.
Foregoing long speech and backstories, let’s get straight to it;
Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM Art
Pros
- Very affordable
- Extremely sharp
- Fast-focusing
- Stellar build quality
Cons
- May need some micro-adjustment out of the box
- No weather sealing
Sony Zeiss 35mm F1.4
Pros
- Sharp, saturated images
- Beautiful bokeh
- Aperture ring feels very nice if you choose to use it
- Splash and dust resistance
- Pretty fast focusing abilities
- Very silent motors
- Colors work well skin tones
Cons
- Lack of depth of field scale, which really hurts videographers
- Not as sharp as Sigma’s 35mm f1.4 wide open and not as contrasty
- Big in relation to the Sony A7 camera bodies
Rokinon 50mm F1.4 AF FE
Pros
- Contrasty images
- Sharp photos
- Beautiful bokeh
- Metal feeling build on the exterior
- Autofocus that works pretty darned well
Cons
- Autofocus isn’t as fast as Sony’s
- Really wish it had weather sealing, but the price point isn’t really for that
- Pretty big
Zeiss Batis 85mm F1.8
Pros
- Great colors, though the 25mm f2 edges it out. At the same time, these colors are a bit muted–as is what Zeiss will do with portrait lenses so as not to create too many issues with post-production
- Compact size for a lens like this
- Weather resistance
- Extremely fast and accurate focusing
- Very sharp, though many of Sony’s native offerings are sharper
Cons
- Only f1.8
- Skin tones rendered very blue for us and generally need to be warmed up
- Top LCD display is pretty useless on a focal length like this
Sony 85mm F1.4 G Master
Pros
- 11 Aperture blades are the most of any autofocus portrait lens made so far
- Big, but very balanced with the Sony a7
- Aperture control around the lens is nice
- Fast autofocus performance
- Nice color rendition for portraiture
- The best bokeh of any 85mm lens we’ve tested
- Weather sealing
- Wonderful for skin tones
Cons
- Expensive
Sony 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS
Pros
- Great image quality in most situations
- Sharp performance, again in most situations
- Optical stabilization
- Fast-focusing performance
- Very silent stabilization
- Internal focusing design, and one that is pretty small for what it is. In fact, it’s about on par with a DSLR lens designed for the same purpose.
- Push/pull focusing ring
- Lightweight
- At last, a focusing scale that actually works!
Cons
- The colors just aren’t there compared to many of Sony’s other lenses. Perhaps this was done specifically for portraits, but you’re mostly going to rely on the capabilities of the Sony sensors–which are very good
Sony 135mm F1.8 G Master
Pros
- Excellent image quality
- Preferred focal length for portraiture
- Dust and moisture resistant
- Sturdy magnesium alloy construction
- Lighter than most 135mm lenses on the market
Cons
- Lacks stabilization
- Priced higher than Sigma’s 135mm f1.8 Art lens
Sony 70-200mm F2.8 OSS G Master
Pros
- Great image quality
- Nice bokeh
- Fairly compact for a 70-200mm f2.8 lens.
- Good build quality
- Can focus pretty fast with the latest cameras
Cons
- Pretty pricey
All of these lenses suit the E-mount that the a7 IV carries and have the best quality glass optics that’d utilize every single megapixel that the camera has to offer.
