I’ve seen a lot of people questioning why Sony produced their latest set of G lenses. I think the question has always been “why would you bother with it when Sony has a great set of f/1.8 lenses available”.

It’s an interesting question but my suspicion is that if you don’t already know the answer to this, you’re probably not the target audience for these lenses.

Sony has been able to create small bodies that match their APSC counterparts for a long time. The A7C is as small as most of the Fujifilm bodies, so you’re benefitting from having full frame in the same size body as an APSC camera AND you’re getting IBIS which many of the Fujifilm bodies don’t have.

That’s a pretty impressive outcome for users trying to decide between full frame and APSC and it almost makes it a no brainer except for two minor issues:

• Lens sizes
• Price

Many people will argue that Sony’s lenses are a similar size to their Fujifilm equivalents, but that’s not entirely true. Yes, the 85mm f/1.8 is comparable to the Fujifilm 56mm f/1.2, but what about the Fujifilm 35mm f2? The problem with Sony’s lens selection is that they didn’t have anything to match the smaller Fujifilm lenses like the “Fujicron” range, and let’s be honest, those lenses are pretty damn popular.

The new Sony lenses allow you to carry a small set of primes in an APSC like form without any technological compromises. The second issue is the harder problem to solve but that may come in time. Price…

The problem here is you can pick up a Fujifilm X-E4 for $850 and the Sony A7C is going to come in at a more substantial $1800. Yes, there are cheaper options from Sony but they aren’t as compact as the smaller Fujifilm cameras.

Where they will come in time is when the successors for the A7C start appearing. When the A7Cii comes out, the A7C will drop substantially in price meaning we could see a differential of around $500 which buys you both full frame and IBIS.

In time, these will reduce further but it’s worth noting that Fujifilm will be releasing new gear at the same time which will make it a competitive offering. It’s still a little while till we each this point, but I personally think the amateur APSC market will start to be eaten up by mobile phones which will impact the viability.