Sony 20mm lens discontinuing

[geoffbillett]

Hi All

I have recently joined this forum having bought a A900 last year. I have been trying to build up a collection of primes and heard that the Sony 20mm lens was on offer for £150 in Jessops over the new year. I was too late - there were only 2 lenses left unsold throughout their whole chain and these were reserved for customers in Glasgow. The staff member told me though that the lenses were being sold cheap as they were being discontinued but didnt know what was replacing them. Does anyone know more about this? It would be great if Zeiss extended their primes to include Sony fit. What are the chances? A better value 35mm would definitely interest me - the Minolta version I was hoping to acquire is sooo rare and overvalued.

Geoff

[David Kilpatrick]

I could have done with one of those but had no time to worry. Glad I did not buy one for £299 on ebay last week anyway! I think it's unlikely there will be a 20mm f/2.8 - they only made it because they could, the means to do so existed. I think you will see the 17-35mm f/2.8-4 D (Tamron) revised and issued as a SAM lens, a companion low cost wide angle zoom to the SAM 28-75mm f/2.8 - and I also think there will SAM versions of the 70-300mm f4-5.6 Tamron and maybe even the 70-200mm f/2.8.

David

[Dr. Harout]

Hi Geoff and welcome to the forum.
My guess is it might be replaced by the "large aperture wide angle lens" Sony promised a couple of years ago.

[geoffbillett]

Thanks for the welcome

When I switched from Nikon I certainly wasn't anticipating how frustrating it would be just collecting 4 or 5 sensibly priced and readily available primes. My overall favourite lens is a 35 mm which I still retain in Nikon together with a 20mm. Both of these lenses are readily available both on the second hand and new market at sensible prices. f2 or f2.8 will satisfy me. It would be cheaper for me to buy a Nikon body to complement those Nikon lenses for documentary work than buy either the 35mm f1.4 or second hand Minolta 35mm which is rarely available anyway!! What a bizarre situation. If the 20mm is now not being replaced it will further reduce choice.

I love the 28mm and 50mm Minolta lenses I have acquired but again how old are these lens designs? Why are not Sony investing in updated lenses for their camera bodies?. I am in my 50s and brought up on 35mm and medium format ( with 5x4 and 5x7 lf kits as well ) and I am surely not alone in finding benefit in simple lens based systems. The appeal of the A900 remains though sufficiently compelling to remain with Sony despite these frustrations. Am I alone in just not wanting to buy 'state of the art' Zeiss zoom technology in preference to owning a bag of small, jewel-like lenses that are sensible, available and affordable? The several exhibitions I have had have been shot on a Mamiya 6 with just a 50mm lens; less choice less confusion and hesitation.

Is there any planning for Zeiss to make the 35mm distagon available for Sony? What a combination that would be

Sorry for a kind of rant

Just out of interest an Olympus 35mm Zuiko 2.8 lens has just sold for £33 on the auction site. An Olympus OM 10 went for £15 minutes before. Where's the justice, wheres the sense?

[Dr. Harout]

... Where's the justice, wheres the sense?

Gone... with the wind

[geoffbillett]

I guess the pain's just on my side of the fence

I see from your images that you have some image sets with religious themes. A recent project I undertook was documenting a pilgrimage in southern spain, from Seville to el Rocio. Some of the images are here : http://www.flickr.com/photos/31070392@N ... 954098325/

Last year I visited some civil war sites in Spain and in particular went to Belchite ( a ruined town left as a national monument ) and used the A900 for the first time in earnest. The churches ( though ruined ) reminded me of some of your images, especially the beautiful interiors and inside of the domes. CHeck out this for some shots generally available on Google search

Cheers
Geoff

[geoffbillett]

oops http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en ... a=N&tab=wi

[Birma]

Hi Geoff - welcome to the forum. I would also like to see more primes in the alpha mount - it does seem strange to withdraw the 20mm without an obvious replacement.

I had a look at your pilgrimage thread - I like the B&W treatment very much, along with the square format. It looks hot, dusty and tiring. I hope we get to see some more of your pictures soon.

[Wes Gibbon]

Hi All

I have recently joined this forum having bought a A900 last year. I have been trying to build up a collection of primes ... A better value 35mm would definitely interest me - the Minolta version I was hoping to acquire is sooo rare and overvalued.

Geoff

I sympathise. I have an original (I think) Minolta 20mm and I find it OK on the A900. I may be wrong, but my understanding is that the Sony is (now apparently was!) basically the same design as the Minolta. Fortunately, there does not seem to be a severe shortage of used Minolta 20mm lenses.

I believe that lenses with limited appeal (the 20mm will surely be of interest mainly to FF users) are all made in one go - they appear to be in production but in fact that just means that the steadily dwindling stock in the warehouses has not been exhausted. Perhaps the 20mm has been 'discontinued' so soon because Sony underestimated the demand when the lenses were commissioned and made, and now they've run out!

I also have Minolta 28mm f2, 35mm f2 and 50mm f1.4, which are sharp, and I am very pleased with them. You are right - they are expensive (demand exceeds supply for the best Minolta glass), but so is the ZA 24-70.

I see the need for a telephoto zoom, as replacing a zoom like the 70-400 with prime lenses would mean several heavy lenses instead of just one. However, I think zooms offer less advantage at the wide end - my 28, 35 and 50mm lenses combined are slightly lighter than the ZA 24-70 (with a much smaller filter thread!), and as has been pointed out in a recent post, you can often 'zoom with your feet' with wider lenses (or crop in the computer). The main downside to using prime lenses is that more frequent changing of lenses will in time lead to more grot on the sensor.

Perhaps we being a little over-critical of Sony on occasion. Some of their announcements have been disappointing, but however much money they may be able to throw at R&D, an effective team that can challenge Canon & Nikon in all areas cannot be built overnight, I would have thought. Nevertheless, although their FF range is adequate (the 24-70 and 70-400 lenses are highly regarded), there is little choice, and the range of primes available is eccentric.

[David Kilpatrick]

Just out of interest an Olympus 35mm Zuiko 2.8 lens has just sold for £33 on the auction site. An Olympus OM 10 went for £15 minutes before. Where's the justice, wheres the sense?

Well, you can find a Minolta MD Rokkor 35mm f/2.8 and an XG-2 body for similar prices I'm sure, because those are the equivalents. No-one made a 35mm f/2.8 for M-AF because after 1985, 35mm f/2.8 was considered an ancient specification neither wide enough nor fast enough to be worth making. Nikon were very conservative.

Try finding an Olympus 35mm format AF body and 35mm lens - not exactly thick on the ground!

David

[YorkieBen]

it may have been that jessops were discontinuing the 20mm rather than Sony?

I picked one up for £149 just because it was ridiculously cheap. Didn't find the FL useful on the A700 so promptly ebayed it to a buyer in Germany (it might have been mine you were looking at David!)

If the 20mm is being discontinued maybe it will be replaced with a Sony version of the CZ 21mm distagon?

[David Kilpatrick]

I was looking at one for a fixed £299 buy it now with a 35-70mm thrown in. Decided not to for various reasons - one being some equipment for sale here, which included two lenses our daughter would really find more than useful when travelling and shooting pix (which we use in our stock library).

Welcome to the forums - I am getting a good flow of new registrations just now!

David

[Old Hydro]

Hi All

I have recently joined this forum having bought a A900 last year. I have been trying to build up a collection of primes and heard that the Sony 20mm lens was on offer for £150 in Jessops over the new year. I was too late - there were only 2 lenses left unsold throughout their whole chain and these were reserved for customers in Glasgow. The staff member told me though that the lenses were being sold cheap as they were being discontinued but didnt know what was replacing them. Does anyone know more about this? It would be great if Zeiss extended their primes to include Sony fit. What are the chances? A better value 35mm would definitely interest me - the Minolta version I was hoping to acquire is sooo rare and overvalued.

Geoff

The 20mm is still available on the Sony website, and there are several of them on ebay tonight.

[Birma]

If the 20mm is being discontinued maybe it will be replaced with a Sony version of the CZ 21mm distagon?

Hi YorkieBen - a big welcome to the forum from me as well. If I had seen one of the discounted 20mm for this price I think I would have been tempted to buy it for a try out as well. There certainly seems to be a lot of people on the net who want CZ primes in the alpha mount - I wonder if Sony are listening?

[YorkieBen]

Thanks for the welcome Been registered for while just not posted. Whilst I can't afford/justify a CZ prime (I'm happy enough with the 16-80mm) I think for those shooting full frame the availability of carl zeiss lenses are a big plus point for the alpha system, and the 21mm has a great reputation