GEAR MIRRORLESS LENSES
MIRRORLESS MOUNTS
TOP TEN
Take a look at some of the best left-field lenses for mirrorless cameras
WORDS ADAM DUCKWORTH
W hen it comes to choosing lenses for mirrorless wondercams, filmmakers often stick to what they know with tried-and-tested favourites. If they’re from the cinema camera world, it’s usually a set of manual focus cine primes. If moving up fromDSLRs or mirrorless systems, it’s often the ‘holy trinity’ of fast AF zooms (wide, standard
along with live view and monitoring tools that make it easier to get everything right in-camera, mean there is a wide world of alternatives you should take a look at. Some are incredibly effective do-it- all lenses, others more specialist. Here are our top-ten alternative lenses to suit mirrorless cameras. See if there’s something here that could transform the quality of your work.
and telephoto), plus the odd fast AF prime – often made by a camera manufacturer to fit the camera natively or via an adapter. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Whether you already have lenses to fit mirrorless, or can buy an adapter to make themwork, there is a whole range of good glass you might want to consider. The large lens mounts and short flange distances of the latest mirrorless cameras,
1. THE E-LENS THAT DOES EVERYTHING
It looks like a fullymanual cine lens, but only the focusing ring is trulymanual. The rest of the controls are fly-by-wire, but designed to feel like a cine lens. There areminimum focus and infinity hard stops, an internal zoommotor, and de-clicked iris that’s parfocal. That’s something very rare for AF lenses. And you can select servo zoom, so it’s like a real, broadcast-style zoom. It’s very sharp, there are virtually no aberrations and very little vignetting. Image stabilisation is a given, while the zoom ring direction can be changed by a switch, too. sony.com
If you use full-frame Sony mirrorless cameras, then the PZ 28-135mm f/4 G OSS lens might cost £1999/$2498, but is the one lens that can pretty much do everything. It’s a hybrid version of a manual focus cinema lens, but packed with advanced AF and electronics. Launched to huge fanfare six years ago, it wasn’t a smash hit, as it was paired with the Sony FS7, which has a Super 35-size sensor. The PZ 28- 135mm f/4 G OSS just wasn’t wide enough. But on a full- frame camera, like an A7S III, it’s incredibly useful and is designed for filmmaking.
FULLY PIMPED The Sony PZ 28-135mm f/4 G OSS lens, plus an XLR mic kit and monitor, makes for a serious video rig
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