Last updated: 23 September 2023
I took the data from my Big List of Lenses and used it to generate shortlists of lenses for a number of different scenarios. The goal of this page is to be a starting point for your lens exploration.
For more complex operations visit the Big List of Lenses itself. There you can view more parameters, as well as sort and filter the results.
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| Lens name | Year | Weight | Price |
| Samyang AF 35mm F2.8 FE | 2017 | 108g | $220 |
| Samyang AF 24mm F2.8 FE | 2018 | 119g | $200 |
| Sony Sonnar T* FE 35mm F2.8 ZA | 2013 | 120g | $600 |
| Samyang AF 18mm F2.8 FE | 2019 | 145g | $330 |
| Sony FE 24mm F2.8 G | 2021 | 162g | $600 |
Sometimes your goal is just portability and it's hard to beat a lightweight prime lens on that ground. These are the five lightest Sony E mount lenses. Samyang has three entries in this ranking with their cheap and simple lenses, but there is also one older and one newer Sony model present.
| Lens name | Year | Weight | Price |
| Sony FE 28-60mm F4-5.6 | 2020 | 167g | $500 |
| Sony FE 28-70mm F3.5-5.6 OSS | 2013 | 294g | $400 |
| Sony FE PZ 16-35mm F4 G | 2022 | 352g | $1200 |
| Tamron 20-40mm F2.8 Di III VXD | 2022 | 365g | $700 |
| Tamron 17-28mm F2.8 Di III RXD | 2019 | 420g | $800 |
Lenses on this list are lightweight and flexible, packing a lot of functionality but still staying portable. The list consists of Sony and Tamron models; the top entry wins by a large margin, although not without sacrificing focal range and aperture size.
| Lens name | Year | Weight | Price |
| Sony FE 24mm F2.8 G | 2021 | 162g | $600 |
| Sony FE 40mm F2.5 G | 2021 | 173g | $600 |
| Sony FE 50mm F2.5 G | 2021 | 174g | $600 |
| Samyang AF 35mm F1.8 FE | 2020 | 209g | $310 |
| Sigma 45mm F2.8 DG DN | 2019 | 215g | $550 |
Pick a lens from this list if you want maximum portability and comfort. Lenses with dedicated aperture ring match especially well with smaller cameras, i.e. those with a limited set of controls or with controls that are harder to reach. Sony wins here, top three models come from the same G line. Please note that Samyang's entry doesn't have a dedicated aperture ring, but its focus ring can be switched to aperture control mode.
| Lens name | Year | Weight | Price |
| Sony FE PZ 16-35mm F4 G | 2022 | 352g | $1200 |
| Sony FE 20-70mm F4 G | 2023 | 487g | $1100 |
| Laowa 12-24mm F5.6 Zoom (⚠️ MF) | 2022 | 496g | $650 |
| Sony FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM II | 2023 | 548g | $2299 |
| Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II | 2022 | 694g | $2300 |
Maximum portability, flexibility and comfort. It comes at a cost, both literally, and also in the form of higher weight overall. Sony dominates the list with recent zoom models that feature an aperture ring. Also present is a single Laowa model, please note that this is a lens with manual focus only.
| Lens name | Year | Length | Price |
| Sony FE 50mm F2.8 Macro | 2016 | 71mm | $550 |
| Sigma 70mm F2.8 DG Macro | 2018 | 133mm | $570 |
| Sony FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS | 2015 | 131mm | $1100 |
| Sigma 105mm F2.8 DG DN Macro | 2020 | 136mm | $800 |
These are lenses with maximum magnification ratio of 1:1 that also come with autofocus. The former makes them more than appropriate for macro usage, the latter means that they will be easy to use in other contexts too.
| Lens name | Year | Weight | Price |
| Sony FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS | 2015 | 601g | $1100 |
| Sony FE 100mm F2.8 STF GM OSS | 2017 | 700g | $1500 |
| Sony FE 400mm F2.8 GM OSS | 2018 | 2895g | $12000 |
| Sony FE 600mm F4 GM OSS | 2019 | 3039g | $13000 |
This list consists of prime lenses with optical stabilization. Stabilized lenses are less popular in the E Mount ecosystem because of the popularity of internal stabilization. Prime lenses are even more rare here, usually zoom lenses are the ones that benefit from stabilization the most. So a prime lens with OSS means something unusual, in this case it's an older macro lens, a unique STF lens and two expensive telephoto primes. And now we know they have something in common.
| Lens name | Zoom | Weight | Price |
| Sigma 60-600mm F4.5-6.3 DG DN OS | 10x | 2484g | $2000 |
| Sony FE 24-240mm F3.5-6.3 OSS | 10x | 780g | $1050 |
| Tamron 50-400mm F4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD | 8x | 1154g | $1300 |
| Tamron 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 Di III RXD | 7.14x | 575g | $730 |
| Sony FE PZ 28-135mm F4 G OSS | 4.82x | 1214g | $2500 |
These lenses offer the most flexibility when it comes to the amount of focal lengths covered. Top entries achieve 10x zoom.
Hope you enjoyed this summary. I plan to update this page to add newly released models and to account for newly added lenses in the database (now working on adding Voigtländer lenses); come back often for the most up to date results.
For feedback, data correction or problems with viewing this page, please contact me via Mastodon at: @merelyrandom.