Today Sony has unveiled a new lens designed in partnership with Zeiss for the FE system: the 50mm f/1.4 that features a Zeiss Planar optical design.
The lens looks like the FE 35mm f/1.4 Distagon: it features an aperture ring and a large “Focus-by-wire” type focus ring. The aperture ring can also be de-clicked for video work. The lens is dust and moisture resistant.
Internally, the design includes high-precision AA (Advanced Aspherical) and ED (Extra-low Dispersion) glass elements with Zeiss T* coating to minimise flares. The aperture is made of 11 circular blades for a better bokeh rendering. Concerning the autofocus, the lens has a SSM (Super Sonic Wave Motor) system for quick and reliable AF for both stills and video.
This is the third 50mm lens designed specifically for the Sony FE system after the Zeiss Loxia 50mm f/2 (manual focus) and the new Samyang 50mm f/1.4. Make it four if we want to include the FE 55mm f/1.8 that offers a similar angle of view.
The new Zeiss FE 50mm f/1.4 will be available in July at the suggested retail price of $1500 / €1800 / £1500. It goes without saying that it is very expensive for a 50mm 1.4 (the Canon/Nikon equivalent can be found for less than $500) but the Sony/Zeiss 50mm 1.4 ZA designed for the A-mount system is equally expensive.
Sony also announced the price and availability of other products: the 70-200mm f/2.8 GM lens will be available in July as well for $2600. The two new teleconverters (1.4x and 2x) will cost $550 each.
The FA-WRC1M wireless radio commander and FA-WRR1 wireless radio receiver will cost $350 and $200 respectively and will start to ship in August.
