Sony A7iii Museum Event

Last night I went to my first ever photography event. It was a promotional event for the Sony A7III and was hosted by Mark Galer. The presentation was mostly about the features the A7III has to offer and how to get the most out of it.

There was a macro exhibit with different insects like butterflies as well as a model to demonstrate Eye-AF. The best part of the night was when we got to try out different Sony lenses.

Two lenses I really wanted to try was the Sony 24mm f/1.4 GM and the Sony FE 12-24mm f/4. I did manage to try the 24mm lens but not the latter. I also tried two Zeiss made lenses, the 50mm f/1.4 and 35mm f/1.4. My impressions are as follows

Sony Distagon FE 35mm f/1.4 ZA – I love the 35mm focal length so I was very happy to try this. I find the AF to be accurate and fast and from what I could see the IQ was very good too. The lens was a little large but so is the Sigma and Canon equivalents. I have read about this lens having a lot of quality control issues so I don’t think it would be one I would buy.

Sony Planar FE 50mm f/1.4 ZA – Honestly I thought this lens was the 85mm GM when I put it on and only realized after… I decided to test the lens anyway and I was more than happy with its performance. I’m not sure if it was me or the lens but I did notice an Error any time I tried to use Eye-AF.

Sony FE 24mm f/1.4 GM – Now this lens was easily my favorite. I have never used a 24mm prime but I was very comfortable with the focal length. Wide open it still provides that slight but soft background separation to isolate the subject. The AF and sharpness are very impressive. I could easily see myself purchasing this lens if I had the money.

One lens I didn’t get to try was the 85mm GM. It was very popular so every time I tried to use it I was too late to grab it. I’m more than happy with my 85mm f/1.8 so it wasn’t essential to try it. Below are images that I took from the night. Some are with my Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 and others are with the display lenses.