It’s been nearly a month since the Sony A7 III was released on retail. And likely because of overwhelming demand for it, there are still stores, especially in the United States, where the camera is still backordered and out of stock. The critical acclaim for it has continued too, with even technology gadgets/gear sites that don’t normally review cameras coming out to heap praise for it. The general consensus notes that Sony has a real winner on its hand. It’s not by any means a perfect camera without flaws. But all the sites I’ve observed note that there’s arguably no better camera at this price-point that offers the outlay of features and exemplary performance in the bits that count – AF, image quality, noise control, overall responsiveness and handling.
The best cameras need to be complemented, ideally, with equally good lenses though. And that’s where especially hard decisions between price and performance need to be made. The range of native FE-mount lenses have come a long way since the first Sony Alpha mirrorless camera was released less than five years ago in Oct 2013. And if you count the number of non-native lenses that can be used together with the myriad of adapters for it, the range of lens options at every common focal length becomes staggering. I have the Sigma MC-11 that adapts Canon EF-mount lenses for the Sony A7 cameras, and am seriously considering two long-focal length zoom lenses: a Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 SP Di VC USD, and a Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary – both of which can be had for a fraction of the price – around a third – one pays for the closest or approximate native Sony equivalents.
At this point, I’ve got five lenses for the Sony A73, with a sixth on the way. And these six cover most of my normal shooting scenarios:
I’ll do separate posts covering each in the next couple of weeks before our Bali trip, though of the five lenses above, I’m intending to bring just the last two in addition to a 70-200mm f2.8 non-native option. Interestingly, the Sony FE lenses are priced very competitively in Singapore. For instance, in comparisons to the Amazon pricing:
| Lens | Amazon (USD/SGD) | Sony RRP (SGD) | Street Price (SGD) |
| Sony FE 28mm f2.0 | USD448 (SGD597) | SGD619 (4% higher) | SGD453 (24% cheaper) |
| Sony FE 24-105mm f4.0 | USD1,298 (SGD1,730) | SGD1,949 (13% higher) | SGD1,696 (2% cheaper) |
| Sony FE 85mm f1.8 | USD548 (SGD730) | SGD859 (18% higher) | SGD661 (9% cheaper) |
| Sony FE 16-35mm f4.0 | USD1,199 (SGD1,598) | SGD1,799 (13% higher) | SGD1,348 (16% cheaper) |
Shocker, right? Especially since electronic items, by and large, are usually more expensive. The local recommended retail prices from Sony are higher than Amazon’s prices, true – but street prices from the usual range of well-regarded stores – e..g Cathay Photo, M S Color, Alan Photo, TK Foto Technic, SLR Revolution – are priced significantly lower.
And the posts in this series:
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