Contents
Today I’m looking at a quick test of two wide-angle lenses for the Sony full-frame E-Mount: the Zeiss Batis 25mm f/2 Distagon and the Sony FE 28mm f/2. There’s a $900 price gap between the two lenses, which share a somewhat similar field of view and the same maximum aperture. How do they compare? Let’s find out.

The Lenses
The two lenses share a max aperture and are both wide-angle lenses, though beyond there are quite a few differences. First of all, the Batis 25mm has a wider field of view. If you prefer one focal length over the other, it’s probably going to help sway your opinion one way or the other when considering between these two lenses. Second, the Batis is a notably larger lens, and finally there’s the rather large price difference.
The Batis 25mm f/2 is Zeiss’ wide-angle offering in their autofocus FE line. I reviewed the Batis 25mm here and found it to be an excellent lens. It’s got fast autofocus, excellent optical quality and that lovely Zeiss look.
The Sony FE 28mm f/2 is a notably smaller lens, and is Sony’s most affordable FE prime lens. I reviewed it here and found it to be good optically and a very nice value given the fast aperture and relatively strong optical performance.
Let’s look at the overall specs of the lenses:
Zeiss 25mm: 81mm x 79mm, 335g, 67mm filter size, $1,299
Sony 28mm: 64mm x 60mm, 200g, 49mm filter size, $449
The Sony is physically much smaller and notably lighter, but the biggest difference is in price. The Batis 25mm is nearly triple the cost of the FE 28mm. I knew from using both lenses that the Batis has the edge in optical quality…but by how much? Is it worth the major price difference?
The Test
This is a quick test..I had meant to pit these two lenses in a variety of scenes at near and far focus distances, but unfortunately, I came down with a nasty stomach bug towards the end of my time with the Batis 25mm, and so I lost two days of shooting. The last day I had the lens, I had just enough time to set up this one test to pit the two lenses against each other.
The subject, this ivy colored wall, was approximately 5 feet away (for the Batis 25mm) shots. The camera was tripod mounted and the shutter was tripped with a 2 second delay to avoid vibration from the shutter press. After recording the Batis shots, I moved the camera back slightly to frame the same area in the foreground with the 28mm lens.
To compare sharpness, I took crops from the center and the lower right corner of the frame. The crops presented are without the digital distortion correction applied. Both the Batis 25mm and the Sony 28mm have visible barrel distortion, though the 28mm has quite a bit more. I’ll show a quick comparison of the f/8 crops with distortion correction applied for both lenses to show how edge sharpness is affected.
Here’s the full scene (Batis 25mm @ f/2):

Sharpness
Below are 100% crops for the images. Click on the image to open it full size in a new tab, and then you can magnify to 100% in that tab.
Overall, I’d give the edge to the Batis here, as it has very good performance across the frame at all apertures. The Sony is quite good centrally at wide apertures, but lags at the corners, and though not presented here, it also lags at the edges compared to the Batis below f/4. Stopped down, both perform quite well, with the Sony catching up nicely.
But, remember: this is without distortion correction. The Sony FE 28mm’s biggest weakness is the rather massive native barrel distortion. For landscape use, distortions tend to be essentially invisible, so most of the time you won’t use the distortion correction when shooting landscapes (this also gains a bit of extra width with the 28mm as well). However, for architectural use, the FE 28mm requires distortion correction to maintain straight lines. This correction affects corner performance and leads to some smearing. Below is a 100% crop of both lenses at f/8 with the Lightroom distortion profile applied. With corrections applied, the slight lead the FE 28mm held uncorrected has mostly disappeared, with both lenses showing similar performance here.

Bokeh
While neither lens will provide huge subject separation at this focus distance, there is still plenty to see, and this distance tends to pose the biggest challenge in blur rendering. Closer up, both lenses are quite smooth. At this distance, they gain some nervousness, so let’s take a look. Again, click to open full size.
Conclusion
Overall, I feel the Batis 25mm is the better performer. It’s sharper over a much larger aperture range across the frame, and while the bokeh is a bit rougher at f/2, the better sharpness and distortion control make it a winner. I also prefer the slightly wider field of view that a 25mm lens brings. However, when it comes to the big question, it’s much harder to answer: Is the Batis worth almost $900 more? For my needs: No. I bought the FE 28mm for myself, while I will not be purchasing the Batis. However, if you’re a prime shooter and prefer the wider 25mm field of view, it may very well be worth the cost for the wider view and better overall performance. As with most things photographic: the choice is yours.
I’ve noticed hella vignetting on my 28mm. I’ve learned to be careful what I put in the corners, because correcting that vignette can lead to a lot of noise around the edges of photos shot indoors at f/2.
I’m not rich enough to buy the Batis, but I’d still be interested to know how it compares in this regard.
Neither of them perform well in this regard. The Batis actually still has notable vignetting even at f/8.
thx Jordan. v useful.
Very very useful for me! I am waiting for a while for a comparison between these two lenses. Thank you!
The 28/2 isn’t perfect, but it holds up very well here given its size, weight, and price. I think it’s exactly the kind of lens the FE system desperately needs more of.
The 28/2 is very tempting, even if not the sharpest at large aperture.
Perhaps we need better sharpness and much lower distortion at the expense of smaller aperture like 2.5
Jordan – thanks very much for this. I have been trying to decide between these 2 lenses for some time. Was leaning towards the 28mm, this confirms it!
What camera did you use for this test?
A7 II
Thanks Jordan! Very useful. Keep up the great work and great pictures you post on Fred Miranda.
Hello Jordan, thanks for this nice comparision, I am struggling with myself about adding these wonderfull Batis-line to A7rII, but the price is really above the pain barrier.
Two questions: did you notice any noteworthy difference in AF-performance of these lenses? And second: do You think it’s necessary to get Batis for A7rII to exploit the sensor’s high resolution fully?
Thanks!
Thanks for this. I’ve actually already purchased the Sony at a very good price of £262 inc. shipping so it’s nice to know it is not left in the dust by the Zeiss. I prefer longer lengths so when funds permit I am much more likely to invest in Zeiss glass at 85mm.
The one obvious omission is 20 mm adapter for the Sony. Although it doesn’t improve the IQ the way the 12 mm adapter does for the APS-C 16mm pancake, it certainly doesn’t make it noticeably worse. So for an extra $300, you’ve got an UWA. Now it Sony would follow up with a pancake wide angle, the A7r11 would make a great street camera. ( I know, I shouldn’t complain with the 35 mm 2.8)
Thank you Jordan for your useful comparison. How did you find about the color rendition of these two lenses?
Hi Jordan,
Long time reader, first time commenter!
just a quick question, I have just purchased ( Following your article) the Sony 28mm for my A7Rii and found that the option to shut off distortion is greyed out. Any ideas how to get around that? I know it affect jpegs only but doe it impact what is viewed by the evf or lcd.
Thanks!
Adrian
Great – thanks for this .. just ordered the 28mm. I love the 8mm batis which is great for portraits but for the price difference the Sony seems like it will be fine. I don’t use that lens size constatntly and the bokeh is not going to be a a deal breaker.
And with SEL075UWC (250 euros) added at Sony FE 28, you have a 21mm lens ; two lenses (28mm and 21mm) with good quality and the global price is only 650 euros (FE 28 : 400 ; SEL075UWC : 250)
So, Batis lens is not very interesting because price too high
Excuse my English, i am French
I own both
The Sony always seems so flat and lifeless and somehow lacking in ´bité
The Batis does suffer CA. And is really much too big ( I have 3 Batis on A7RIII – all much too big and fat, but light).
However….
In any kind of good light, the Zeiss lenses come alive. Eye popping colour rendering, amazing saturation and an almost creamy feel to the images, yet with amazing colour contrast.
The Sony is tiny and cute. But it pretty much always remains on a shelf. The equally tiny 35mm f2.8 ZÄHLT however, is stunning in much the same way as the Batis
But both are absolutely hammered by the Loxia 21mm – but for my ageing eyeballs, MF has become too much of a chore in a quick-shot-focussing bind.
Just my random thoughts….