Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* FE 55 mm f/1.8 ZA review - Distortion

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Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* FE 55 mm f/1.8 ZA

27 August 2016

Arkadiusz Olech

6. Distortion

The chart below presents a comparison of results other full frame standard lenses as fast as about f/1.8 got in the distortion category.

	Sonnar 1.8/55 FE	Canon 1.8/50 STM	Nikkor AF-S 1.8/50G	Nikkor AF 1.8/50D	Minolta 1.7/50	Tamron SP 1.8/45
APS-C/DX	+0.72%	−0.41%	−0.49%	−0.20%	−0.30%	−0.31%
FF	+1.48%	−1.31%	−1.18%	−0.49%	−0.68%	−0.58%

There are no good news for the fans of the Sony FE system. In absolute terms the Sonnar 1.8/55 FE fares the weakest of all 45-55 mm f/1.7-1.8 lenses, tested by us so far. You can also add that, contrary to other constructions, it shows pincushion distortion. Still, in order not to go to extremes you have to remember that distortion lower than 2% is not bothersome and will be difficult to notice in typical real life photos.

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It’s also worth mentioning that for the JPEG files the distortion is reduced to an almost zero level – the results we got on the APS-C and full frame are, respectively: +0.06% and +0.18%.