Are you planning to do astro, landscape, street, real-estate, and architectural photography with your A7III camera? If the answer is yes, you will need the best wide angle lens for Sony A7III.
It is because our reviewed lenses can capture less distorted, sharp, and very clear photos even in low light conditions. There are lots of well-known lenses in the market but only a few has the right combination of features and specs.
Focal length, aperture, weather-resistance, weight, and real-world test images were our consideration while reviewing the lenses. Reading our reviews, you can choose the right lens that matches your specific requirements.
- Best Prime Lens: Zeiss Batis 2.8/18 Wide-Angle Lens for E-Mount
- Runner-Up Prime Lens: Sigma 16mm f/1.4 DC DN Contemporary Lens for Sony
- Best Budget Prime Lens: Rokinon 12mm F2.0 NCS CS Ultra Wide Angle Lens Sony E-Mount
- Best Zoom Lens: Sigma 14-24mm f/2.8 DG DN Art Lens
- Best Budget Zoom Lens: Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 Di III RXD for Sony Mirrorless Full Frame
Best Wide Angle Lens for Sony A7III: The Review
Best Prime Lens: Zeiss Batis 2.8/18 Wide-Angle Lens for E-Mount
Key Features:
- Premium build quality
- Weatherproof metal construction
- An OLED display on the lens
- Fast shutter speed lens
Zeiss has introduced the best wide angle prime lens for Sony A7III, which has been made specifically for Sony A7 and A9 series of mirrorless cameras. As this is a full-frame lens, you can use it in other crop APS-C sensors too.
In terms of quality, we think Zeiss needs no endorsement. The company have ensured a clean and sleek design maintaining a minimalistic look. Besides, it weighs only 330 grams.
This lens’s best and unique feature is the OLED display that shows the focusing distance scale in meters or feet. It is helpful in low-light conditions. It also shows the depth-of-field preview to help you manually focus on the fly.
How about its optical design?
Zeiss follows the distagon formula for this lens, which has 11 elements in 10 groups. It reduces chromatic aberration and spherical aberration. For this reason, we love its image clarity, sharpness, and resolution over its competitors.
You must have noticed that this is a T* lens, which means a special coating. The manufacturer ensures that it has an anti-reflective coating to limit glare and extra vivid color.
Bigger filter diameter also plays an important role for good ultra-wide shots, and this one comes with a 77mm one. With 9.84 inches of the minimum focusing distance, you can take great photos at a very close range.
A Tip: With the right sharpness in the settings, it is not necessary to photoshop the images, which is helpful while you are traveling.
Who should buy it?
If you want great portraits, medium-range landscape photos with excellent qualities without the weight, you should buy this prime lens instead of a zoom.
👍 Pros:
- Very fast and sharp
- Silent and fast focusing
- Lightweight compared to a zoom lens
- Outdoor uses
👎 Cons:
- The build quality is not satisfactory considering the price point.
Runner-Up Prime Lens: Sigma 16mm f/1.4 DC DN Contemporary Lens for Sony
Key Features:
- Large f/1.4 aperture
- Compact size
- Reduced lens flare and ghosting
- Rubber sealing for dust and splash-resistance
Before even the release of this lens, Sigma could create a hype in the community. Interestingly, people are still talking about this simplistic wide-angle lens that comes at a very reasonable price.
More reasons to choose this lens is the better specifications and performance in some situations than the top pick. We couldn’t recommend it as the best prime lens because Sigma 16mm f/1.4 is not a full-frame lens.
So, why should I get it for my A7III?
Let’s start with the build quality. The metal construction and a rubber grip on the focus ring are unexpected in this price range. Besides, you will love the most is the sharpness of its images.
It is rare to find a wide-angle prime lens with good sharpness and clarity around the corners of the image. Sigma falls in that small pool that offers great quality at F/2 or F/2.8 aperture. No distortion above f/1.4 makes it suitable for even portrait photos.
A Tip: We know that A7III has image stabilization. If you want to use this lens on other Sony cameras with no stabilization, you should use a gimbal or control the shutter compensates to deal with the shaking.
Who should buy it?
Sigma 16mm Sony E-mount compatible lens can give you a better performance at low light conditions than the top pick. If you are into event photography and love nature, you should not wait anymore and buy this fantastic prime lens.
👍 Pros:
- Travel-friendly
- Fast autofocus
- Great low light performance
- Lightweight
👎 Cons:
- You can’t use its full-frame feature without an adapter.
Best Budget Prime Lens: Rokinon 12mm F2.0 NCS CS Ultra Wide Angle Lens Sony E-Mount
Key Features:
- Built-in petal-type hood
- Super multi-layer coating
- 110° wide angle of view
- 3 ED and 2 aspherical elements
Getting a decent f/2 aperture along with ELD and NCS features within an economical price are the reasons we have chosen Rokinon 12mm F2.0 for our budget pick.
ELD (extra-low dispersion) reduces chromatic aberrations and distortions, and NCS (Nano coating system) improves light transmission, contrast, and color of the image.
The mechanism of the lens is faster than majority of the prime lenses with such focal length and aperture range.
Besides the excellent price point, what we love about this lens is the combination of focal length and a fast aperture. Rokinon tries to stand out from the competition by introducing such unique features.
It can’t be all good; so, what are the trade-offs?
The main catch of this budget lens is that it is a crop lens. So, it won’t be possible to use the full potential of the A7III’s sensor. However, using the full-frame crop mode of the camera can make it up a bit.
Being only a manual-focus lens is the secret of its low-price tag. Rokinon 12mm F2.0 is a good wide angle lens for Sony A7III as it has a 67mm filter, nice and smooth aperture ring, and close-range focal length.
Suggestion: The lack of auto focus won’t matter if you are shooting videos with this lens. For the f/2.0 aperture, it can perform well even in low-light conditions. Users have found out that Rokinon 12mm F/2.0 is great for vlogs.
Who should buy it?
Rokinon 12mm F2.0 is specially made for astrophotography. But the lens also performs well in real-estate and landscape photography. Those with a tight budget can go for this best budget wide angle lens for Sony A7III.
👍 Pros:
- Great performance in astrophotography
- Low flare and ghost
- Stops chromatic aberration
- Feels solid
👎 Cons:
- The only downside of the lens is the lack of an autofocus feature.
Best Zoom Lens: Sigma 14-24mm f/2.8 DG DN Art Lens
Key Features:
- Multi-layer Nanoporous coating
- Stepper motor for AF
- Brass bayonet
- Weather-resistance
Solid build, weather-resistance, compact size, and better low-light performance were the driving force to pick it as the best wide angle zoom lens for Sony A7iii. In this category, Sony lenses are a big name but there are strong competitors like Sigma.
Sony manufactures a 12-24mm wide angle zoom lens with some amazing features. Yet, you shouldn’t buy a that model manufactured by Sony.
The first reason lies in the aperture difference. Sigma is offering large f/2.8 aperture where Sony is offering only f/4 weighing less than 1.75 lbs. That is slightly more than the Sony lens but it is not a big deal.
The second reason is that Sigma can capture higher quality images than Sony 12-24mm f/4 without forcing you to increase the ISO.
How is the focusing and zooming experience?
As the lens has an autofocus feature, you don’t need to touch the focus ring. Its super-fast autofocus works well as long as you maintain an 11-inches gap between the lens and the subject.
Another great thing about this lens is that the images don’t bend at the center like many other popular lenses. Those are the main concerns about Sigma 14-24mm f/2.8, and now the decision is up to you.
Who should buy it?
If you like to travel a lot, you must consider Sigma 14-24mm f/2.8 for your Sony A7III. Besides, the full package includes a premium tripod and a cleaning kit. Considering the price, it is one hell of a deal.
👍 Pros:
- Carbon fiber tripod included
- Reduced chromatic and spherical aberrations
- Fast, smooth, and precise autofocus
- Accurate and rigid mount
👎 Cons:
- The zoom ring feels stiff and requires more force to turn.
Best Budget Zoom Lens: Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 Di III RXD for Sony Mirrorless
Key Features:
- Very lightweight
- Large aperture
- Moisture-resistant fluorine coating
- RXD stepping motor
There are 3 main reasons for choosing Tamron as a budget zoom lens for Sony A7III. Being a lightweight, compact, and budget-friendly price are those causes.
After holding the lens in your hands, you wouldn’t believe how Tamron could fit such components without weighing more than 420 grams. Not only its compact size will impress you, but also the internal zooming will leave you speechless.
The internal zooming feature means that it doesn’t change the shape of the lens while zooming. Moreover, the lens has both manual and automatic focusing options.
Inside the camera, there are a total of 13 different elements arranged in 11 different groups. Among those elements, two are low dispersion, and one is extra-low dispersion.
The lens comes with dust and moisture resistant coating to support outdoor photography. A short focusing distance of only 7.5 inches helps a lot for close-range shots.
Suggestion: If you are a serious photographer, we will recommend that you not go for this budget model. Choose the best zoom lens from Sigma reviewed above. It doesn’t have image-quality issues like Tamron.
Who should buy it?
If you are looking for a super wide angle, lightweight, and compact lens for Sony A7III, no other model can come close to this one. The cheap-feel regarding its build is there, but you can consider it for its performance and pricing.
👍 Pros:
- Silent autofocusing
- Travel-friendly shape and weight
- Usability in any weather
- Large aperture yet small filter size
- Quick autofocus
👎 Cons:
- Shooting at 17mm, you will see the image-quality at its edges getting soft.
What to Consider Before Buying the Best Wide Angle Lens for Sony A7III?
Please don’t expect this buyer’s guide to choosing wide-angle lenses or Sony lenses. We are more focused on only the best wide angle lenses for Sony A7III Mirrorless Camera.
Zoom or prime
Firstly, decide whether you want to go with a zoom lens or prime lens or both. There are tons of online content clarifying the difference between these two types.
The basic difference is in the focal length’s adjustability, where the zoom lens is adjustable, and the prime lens is not. We recommend you to check out this informative piece from B&H for an overview of the matter.
Full frame or crop
After that, it comes to full-frame or crop lens options. Some budget options don’t offer full-frame lenses in our review even though the A7III has a full-frame sensor.
You may ask, what is the difference?
As the name suggests, you can understand that full-frame lenses can provide a wider photo frame than crop ones. So, if you are okay with this trade-off, you can choose the budget options.
Purpose
Another one of the most important factors to consider is the purpose of using the lens. Some are great for astrophotography, landscaping, video recording, and so on. Fix on its use-case and select accordingly.
Budget
Finally, take the budget limitation to your consideration. It won’t be wise to go broke or in a financial crisis buying a lens. Though you have to compromise in the budget options, getting one from our selected models can be the closest to the premium ones.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What lens mount is the Sony A7III?
Sony A7III and other models in the A7 series use the E mount system.
Do all Sony Alpha lenses fit on all Sony cameras?
As you know that all Sony cameras have two mounting systems, not all Sony Alpha lenses fit on all models.
Can Sony A7III take a steadyshot?
Yes, Sony A7III has an in-body image stabilization feature that can take a steadyshot.
Conclusion
After reading our best wide angle lens for Sony a7iii reviews, which one have you picked? Both zoom and prime lenses have their advantages and disadvantages. Have one from both types and make your travel pack for lenses ready to rock in different environments.
Don’t forget to update the firmware because the latest ones always have some fixes that improve the shooting experience. If you are still a learner, we recommend you to go for the runner-up or budget picks. Later, gaining enough knowledge on the basics lets you move on to the more expensive top picks.
Get creative, and keep experimenting!
