Sony FE 20 mm f/1.8 G review - Vignetting

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Sony FE 20 mm f/1.8 G

16 May 2022

Maciej Latałło

8. Vignetting

First let's check the situation with vignetting on the smaller APS-C sensor – appropriate thumbnails you can find below.

A7R III, APS-C, f/1.8	A7R III, APS-C, f/2.0

There are no reasons to worry – at the maximum relative aperture vignetting is noticeable, amounting to 31% (−1.09 EV), but it can hardly be called high. By f/2.0 it decreases to 25% (−0.84 EV), and by f/2.8 it drops further to a value of 19% (−0.60 EV). After that point stopping down doesn't have any measureable influence on the aberration we observe here.

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Taking into account relatively small dimensions of the Sony FE 20 mm f/1.8G, and its parameters, we were very curious how it would fare on full frame. One look at thumbnails below and the answer is clear.

A7R III, FF, f/1.8	A7R III, FF, f/2.0

A7R III, FF, f/2.8	A7R III, FF, f/4.0

The lens didn't have it easy – at the maximum relative aperture brightness loss in frame corners is really significant, amounting to 64% (−2.95 EV). Still, to be honest, I expected results even higher than 3 EV so you can say it's not tragic either. I'm also not surprised by the fact that the Sony fares weaker in this category than much bigger instruments produced by Nikon and Viltrox, as their vignetting levels were of 56-57%.

Stopping down the aperture to f/2.0 decreases vignetting to 60% (−2.64 EV), and applying f/2.8 can reduce it to 49% (−1.94 EV). Further stopping down had a rather insignificant effect on the aberration described here, because by f/4.0 it is still 46% (−1.81 EV) and then remains on the same level no matter how strong you close the aperture down. It's not a piece of good news, especially as the rivals of the tested lens performed in this category better.

Sony A7R III, JPEG, f/1.8