When mirrorless cameras arrived to challenge DSLRs for their place in every photographer’s bag, the way lenses attached to them had to change. This is because a mirrorless camera, which has no reflex mirror or optical viewfinder, positions the back of the lens much closer to the digital sensor than its film-derived predecessor.
This, in turn, means that the lenses had to change so that they could provide a properly focused image of something closer to the back of them than before. Camera manufacturers took the opportunity to update their lens mounts, which in many cases were decades old, so that they could add new features.
In Sony’s case, it created an entirely new mount. A relative newcomer to the world of cameras, Sony had made a few cameras of its own but had also bought out Minolta’s camera-making business, and its A-mount was based on something that the company had introduced in 1985. With the launch of the Sony NEX cameras in 2010, it introduced the E-mount, initially for APS-C sensor sizes and later for full frame with the Sony Alpha range. Today, it’s found on the APS-C A6000 range, the full-frame A7, A9 and A1, plus the FX compact cinema line cameras and more.
Today, the E-mount is home to an enormous range of lenses, thanks to Sony’s enlightened decision to release the E-mount specs (to approved partners) in 2011. Third-party lenses were a huge part of owning an SLR or DSLR camera and could provide better value than those made by the camera manufacturers themselves, or even provide unique features or focal lengths. Today, Sony E-mount (which is now referred to as FE for full-frame compatible lenses, and just E for APSC-only models) is home to lenses from the likes of Tamron, Sigma, Viltrox and more, as well as those from Sony itself, whose GM glass is the rival of professional lenses from any other maker.
These are some of the best lenses you’ll find for the E-mount. And while it would be easy to recommend all the GM pro gear, we’ve chosen some less high-end lenses instead.
Best Sony e-mount mirrorless camera lenses at a glance:
- Best for a full-frame standard zoom: Sony 20-70mm f/4 G - £1,399, Amazon
- Best for a wildlife zoom: Sony 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS - £1,527, Amazon
- Best for full-frame compact prime: Sony 40mm f/2.5 G - £619, Amazon
- Best for a full-frame superzoom: Tamron 28-200mm f2.8-5.6 Di III RXD - £599, Amazon
- Best for a short telephoto: Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 DG DN OS Sports - £1,499, Amazon
- Best for an APS-C standard zoom: Tamron 17-70mm f2.8 Di III-A VC RXD - £669, Amazon
- Best for blurred backgrounds: Sigma 50mm f1.2 DG DN Art - £1,299, Amazon
- Best for pancake day: Viltrox 28mm f/4.5 - £90, Amazon
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Sony 20-70mm f/4 G
Best for: a full-frame standard zoom
Standard zooms for full-frame cameras usually start at 24 or 28mm (reasonably wide) and go all the way to 70 or 105mm, which gives a nicely balanced range. This model from Sony does something slightly different, as it starts at 20mm, on the cusp of the ultra-wide range. Being able to get such a wide angle of view from a lens that also zooms to 70mm is incredibly useful, and will lead to much less lens-changing if you find yourself swapping between ultrawide and standard lenses often.
It helps that it’s also light, compact and provides excellent image quality, though it relies on digital image corrections to prevent distortion at the wide end. You lose a stop of light by choosing this over a 24- or 28-70 f/2.8 lens, but the gain in convenience is significant.
Buy now £1399.00, Amazon
Sony 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS
Best for: a wildlife zoom
Being able to zoom to 600mm is a superpower in a lens. The ability to shoot at this focal length means small birds and larger, more distant things can be made to fill the frame, banishing the idea of photos in which the main subject is just a dot on the horizon. This is a full-frame lens, but it can be mounted on any of Sony’s E-mount APS-C cameras, which thanks to their smaller sensor produce the angle of view of a 900mm lens for huge magnification.
There are a few other supertele zooms in this category, including some excellent work from Tamron and Sigma, but Sony’s effort rises above them thanks to its excellent image quality, rock-solid stabilisation, and the fact that it’s white, and therefore looks more up-market.
Buy now £1527.00, Amazon
Sony 40mm f/2.5 G
Best for: full-frame compact prime
If you can’t decide between a 35mm or a 50mm prime, try this one. A 40mm focal length is a slightly unusual one, but it sits in a sweet spot for images that approximate the view of the human eye. The benefits of this lens are that it’s small - not quite a pancake lens but getting there - has a medium-fast maximum aperture of f/2.5, and produces very sharp images.
Put it on one of Sony’s A7C compact cameras, and there's really only one smaller option, which we’ll come to later. And if you like the size, 24mm and 50mm lenses are available with the same form factor.
Buy now £619.00, Amazon
Tamron 28-200mm f2.8-5.6 Di III RXD
Best for: a full-frame superzoom
There are a few options for a lens with a long zoom range on E-mount. Sony makes one itself, a 24-240mm f/3.5-6.3. But this lens from Tamron has become a favourite among Sony shooters thanks to the way it overcomes a frequent problem of such lenses.
If you want to make a lens that zooms from a wide angle to a narrow angle of view, as this one does, the optical compromises that are required, and the amount of glass that needs to shift around inside the lens, mean image quality can suffer and aperture values tend to be slow.
Not only has Tamron enabled this lens to open up to f/2.8 at its widest end (though it closes down quite quickly as you zoom longer) but the images it produces are plenty sharp. Is it perfect? No. But it’s ahead of the other lenses in its class, and that’s what matters.
Buy now £599.00, Amazon
Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 DG DN OS Sports
Best for: a short telephoto
There are plenty of options for a short telephoto lens. Sony makes a 70-200mm in f/2.8 and f/4 flavours, which are top-level lenses if a bit expensive. Tamron makes a 70-180mm f/2.8 that’s compact and excellent. This Sigma attempts to hit a sweet spot - a pro-grade f/2.8 telephoto zoom lens that’s not too pricey - and largely manages it.
It’s a bit large, as it doesn’t extend while zooming and is therefore always at its maximum length, but in every other respect, it matches the best on the market while costing significantly less. As part of Sigma’s Sports range, you get top-notch build quality too.
Buy now £1499.00, Amazon
Tamron 17-70mm f2.8 Di III-A VC RXD
Best for: an APS-C standard zoom
Perhaps a little large for Sony’s APS-C camera bodies, but with a wide zoom range (25-105mm equivalent) that has a maximum aperture value of f/2.8 the whole time, this lens is unbeaten. It’s also optically stabilised, meaning you can safely use it in lower light conditions and counteract camera shake.
Offering the potential for high shutter speeds and plenty of background blur, this is a lens that, in a majority of photographic situations, you might never take off your camera.
Buy now £669.00, Amazon
Sigma 50mm f1.2 DG DN Art
Best for: blurred backgrounds
The aperture value of f/1.2 is what sets this lens apart from everything else (except perhaps Sony’s own 50mm f/1.2, which costs a lot more). The 50mm lens is a photographic classic, and they’re available in the E-mount from almost every manufacturer from f/2.8 all the way up to this background-blurring monster.
It’s ideal for low-light situations and pro-looking portraits with very shallow depth of field, and while f/1.2 lenses are big and heavy and expensive, there's nothing else that can provide the same sort of look.
Buy now £1299.00, Amazon
Viltrox 28mm f/4.5
Best for: pancake day
This lens is tiny but still manages to cover the full-frame sensor. The price you pay for this compactness - which fits very well with the A7C cameras but certainly doesn’t hurt on anything bigger - is the fixed f/4.5 aperture. This is good enough for most daylight situations, and even indoor shooting if you don’t mind cranking your ISO sensitivity up to compensate, but you can’t stop down for extra depth of field either.
Thankfully, the image quality is pretty good, and the low price means it can be picked up as a curiosity before becoming part of your everyday kit. It makes a great companion for a long telephoto, as it won’t increase the weight of your kit by much.
Buy now £90.00, Amazon
Verdict
Thanks to Sony’s enlightened approach to opening its E-mount up to the world of third-party lens manufacturers, the range of lenses available for it is huge. Sony’s own lenses are world-class, but you can save significant cash and not lose quality by buying lenses from other makers.
That said, the Sony 20-70mm at the top of this list is a unique proposition at the time of writing, and well worth the price. It’s only a matter of time, however, before Sigma, Tamron or someone else produces a lens that matches or even surpasses it (Tamron already has a 17-50mm f/4) but for now, it’s a lens that may never come off your full-frame camera.
