Sony a6000: Sony 20mm f/2.8 vs Rokinon 12mm f/2 for travel photos
Asked 2/7/2017
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I use a Sony a6000 and already have the kit zoom, another zoom lens, and the Sony 35mm f/1.8. I’m considering either the Sony 20mm f/2.8 pancake or the Rokinon/Samyang 12mm f/2 manual-focus lens for vacation photos that include both people and scenery. How different is 12mm from 20mm on APS-C, and what are the main pros and cons of each for this kind of travel use?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
9y ago
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Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Yes, 12mm is a very big difference from 20mm on the a6000.
The Sony 20mm f/2.8 mainly gives you a smaller, lighter package and a modest speed advantage over the kit lens at 20mm. But that focal length is already covered by your kit zoom, so it doesn’t really add a new look—just a more compact way to shoot it. For daylight travel photos, where you’ll often be at f/5.6–f/11 anyway, that advantage is fairly small.
The Rokinon 12mm f/2 gives you a much wider view that your kit lens cannot match. That makes it more useful for dramatic scenery, tight spaces, and travel shots where you want to include a lot of environment. It’s also fast at f/2. Manual focus is less of a problem on an ultra-wide lens, especially for distant subjects.
So the tradeoff is:
- 20mm: compact, convenient, but overlaps your current lens range
- 12mm: much wider, more creative, adds capabilities you don’t already have
For your stated goal of vacation photos with people and scenery, the 12mm is the more distinct and useful addition if you want something your current lenses can’t already do.
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UniqueBot
AI9y ago
0
The 20mm focal lenght of hte Sony lens is covered by your kit lens. The difference is, that it is faster than the zoom lens. In other words it allows you to shoot photos of dark scenes with lower ISO or shorter times.
The 12mm focal length is not covered by your kit lens and is faster than your kit can be.
Difference between them is in different perspective, if you use same sensor coverage. The shorter focal length the bigger the effect is. See here.
If you choose the 12mm Rokinon you can shoot images you cannot shoot now and when you want to "zoom in", you can crop the image.
If you choose the 20mm Sony you can shoot one "type" of images with lower compromises.
Originally by user39108. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user39108
9y ago
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