List of Sony E lenses for APS-C

I mention here all the lenses dedicated to the “E” mount for the Sony APS-C bodies. You will find all Sony lenses but also about a dozen of third-party brands more or less known that offer lenses for Sony APS-C cameras.

Generally speaking, the Sony E-mount designates all lenses suitable for Sony mirrorless cameras, both on full frame and APS-C bodies. Released in 2011, this mount was first implemented on the Sony α NEX-3 and NEX-5. In 2013, this mount becomes available for the first time on a mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera (MILC), the Sony α3000. In October 2013, Sony releases its first full-frame (24x36mm) mirrorless camera, the α7 and α7R, with the beginning of Sony FE mount for Full frame cameras.

Today, the range of Sony mirrorless cameras for APS-C goes from the Sony α5100: the oldest Sony APS-C mirrorless camera still in production, α6000, α6400, to α6600 (the newest).

For those who are wondering, even if you’re using a Sony APS-C camera, you may want to consider using lenses designed for full-frame cameras. You only loose the advantage of dedicated APS-C lenses which are often cheaper, lighter and smaller. If you are interested in Sony FE lenses for full frame, feel free to have a look at this page!

The tables below are sortable. You can classify the lenses according to the characteristics you are interested in, such as stabilization, maximum aperture or focal length.

The range of Sony lenses for APS-C body appears to be more limited than that for full-frame cameras. Below, I present all the Sony E lenses for APS-C body, sorted in four distinct tables, gathering:

1. Wide angle (WA) and ultra-wide angle (UWA): focal lengths less than 14mm (UWA) and 14mm to 24mm (WA),
2. Standard focal lengths: focal lengths from 24mm to 50mm,
3. Telephoto lenses: focal lengths beyond 50mm,
4. Macro lenses: intended for macro photography (there is only one at Sony)

Only four lenses can be found in the category of ultra-wide angle and wide-angle lenses for a Sony APS-C camera body: 1 zoom and 3 prime lenses. The Sony 10-18mm f/4 OSS is by the way the Sony lens which offers the shortest focal length (10mm). Of course, other third-party brands offer shorter focal lengths if needed. Interestingly, for all landscape photography enthusiasts and for those who like to use ND/GND filters, all the lenses mentioned below allow you to place screw-in filters on the front of the lens. This will not be the case at all with all the full-frame wide-angle lenses that you can also use on your Sony APS-C camera body.

In the table, I have included above all the standard and trans-standard lenses, both fixed and zoom lenses. I have included the Sony 30mm f/3.5 Macro which remains a standard focal length, even if it is also a macro lens.

Only two telephoto lenses designed for Sony APS-C cameras are available at the time of writing this page. If you want better quality lenses with larger apertures, you will have to turn to telephoto lenses built for full-frame Sony cameras.

For Sony APS-C cameras, there is to my knowledge only one macro lens dedicated to these cameras, the Sony 30mm f/3.5 Macro. If you want more choice of macro lenses at Sony, you will have to consider the Sony FE lenses for full frame cameras such as the Sony 50mm f/2.8 Macro or the very famous Sony 90mm f/2.8 Macro G OSS.

For macro enthusiasts and those on a tighter budget, you will find several third-party brands (mentioned below) offering macro lenses such as the Zeiss Touit 50mm f/2.8 Macro, the Samyang 100mm f/2.8 ED UMC Macro or the 7Artisans 60mm f/2.8 Macro.

Many third-party brands offer lenses for Sony E APS-C cameras. To my knowledge, only Zeiss, Sigma, Tamron and Viltrox offer lenses with autofocus (AF). All the lenses mentioned in the other brands offer manual focus (MF).

The three lenses available from Zeiss for the Sony APS-C cameras have autofocus.

All Sigma lenses for Sony APS-C mirrorless cameras have autofocus. As a reminder, this is indeed the reference “DC” which reminds the compatibility of Sigma lenses for the APS-C format (not to be confused with the acronym “DG” which refers to Sigma lenses for full frame bodies).

Viltrox lenses offer autofocus for the Sony E APS-C mount. Some references are really to be considered for those who have a tighter budget and want to get more than correct results.

In particular, Laowa offers a very well-known macro lens that allows to obtain a reproduction ratio of 2:1, thus twice as “zoomed” as classical macro lenses. For wide shots lovers, the brand offers a 9mm, the shortest focal length available for Sony APS-C cameras, equivalent to about a 13mm on a full frame camera.

Neewer offers a range of entry-level lenses for Sony APS-C cameras. Clearly, we’re not on high quality lenses (especially the sharpness and construction), but all the lenses are manual focusing and at less than 100€. To start and get your hand on a focal length, it can be worth considering!

Samyang offers a wide range of lenses for Sony APS-C mirrorless cameras. Almost all the lenses are manual focus, but Samyang has just released their first autofocus lens for this type of APS-C camera, the Samyang AF 12mm f/2 E.

The table below shows the only lens with autofocus from Samyang for this mount (to be released in May 2021). This lens is an update of the manual focus version (Samyang 12mm f/2 NCS CS Ultra Wide Angle) which has a very good reputation.

Here are all the manual focus lenses of the brand for this APS-C mount.