Choosing the best lenses for the Sony A7C means taking into account its compact, rangefinder-style design, its orientation towards content creators and videographers, and its low price point as the cheapest current full-frame Sony Alpha mirrorless camera.
The A7C is one of the best cameras for vlogging, not to mention one of the best filmmaking cameras. We've been a bit lukewarm about it since its launch, given that it's a fairly modest reheat of existing Sony camera technologies, but at the price, we have to admit it is one of the best Sony cameras, at least for beginners or new Sony users.
But this isn't simply going to be a repeat of our main guide to the best Sony lenses. We like to match the lenses with the camera. There are lots of high-end constant aperture Sony G Master lenses that would be fine on a Sony A7R IV or Sony A1, but would be overkill on this cheaper model – both financially and physically.
The Sony A7C is the company’s smallest full-frame camera and isn’t blessed with the best grip, so it makes sense to choose lenses that are going to balance with it as nicely as possible. Sometimes the ‘best’ lens to put with a particular camera isn’t necessarily the ‘best’ lens you can buy!
We’re also keeping an eye on the price because one of the reasons for buying the A7C is for its relatively low cost – so owners of this camera are likely to be looking for cost-effective lenses too.
So with all that in mind, these are what we think are the best lenses for the Sony A7C right now.
Rod Lawton
Rod is an independent photography journalist and editor, and a long-standing Digital Camera World contributor, having previously worked as DCW's Group Reviews Editor. He has used practically every interchangeable-lens camera launched in the past 20 years, from entry-level DSLRs to medium-format cameras, so he has the expertise to select the best Sony lenses for you.
Nearly the same focal range as a classic tele and an f/2.8 aperture, in a much smaller and lighter package. Read more below…
Best lenses for the Sony A7C in 2024
Why you can trust Digital Camera World
Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out how we test.
Sony fans are spoilt for choice when choosing a standard zoom. But while the Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 G Master is the professionals' choice, it costs a fortune and weighs a ton. The Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 DG DN Art is half the price but still huge, and while there are also worthy rivals from Samyang and Tamron, it's the modest Sony FE 28-60mm f/4-5.6 kit lens that we'd recommend as the perfect everyday companion for the Sony A7C.
It uses a retracting mechanism, so it’s very compact when not in use – and it’s still pretty small in use, so it’s a good physical match for the A7C, despite the reduction in focal range compared with the other lenses I’ve mentioned. It performs better than you’d expect from a retracting kit lens, with pleasing edge sharpness.
Every photographer needs an ultra-wide zoom, whether they realize it straight away or not. And given the Sony A7C's special suitability for travel, this Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 Di III RXD fits the bill perfectly. No full-frame ultra-wide zoom will be small, but the Tamron is neater and certainly easier to carry than Sony's own wide-angle monsters – and a lot easier to afford, too.
Despite the Tamron's price, it features high-end, weather-sealed build quality, a fast and constant f/2.8 aperture rating, quick and virtually silent RXD (Rapid eXtra silent stepping drive) autofocus system, and, best of all, terrific image quality. Corner-to-corner sharpness is particularly impressive for an ultra-wide-angle lens, even when shooting at the widest aperture. It doesn’t quite match Sony’s 16-35mm lenses for maximum viewing angle but it comes very close, and it’s great value.
One of Sony’s more recent lenses could completely change the standard zoom lens of the future. In a world first, the lens covers an extremely versatile focal range, making it perfect for traveling (admittedly luxury traveling, given the price). It's light and portable which is another big tick and the fact it's ‘only’ f/4 isn't much of a compromise - had it been f/2.8, it would be considerably heavier and a lot more expensive.
It's got fast autofocus and delivers impressive levels of sharpness. It doesn’t have optical image stabilization – but the A7C has in-body stabilization, so that doesn’t matter too hugely. If you're after just a little bit more on the wide end than you'd get from the Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM II, the 20-70mm is a very good contender.
The Sony FE 50mm f/1.4 deserves a place in the collection of most Sony shooters. Impressively light and compact, but not compromising one bit on optical quality, this lens is almost perfect when it comes to sharpness in the center. With only a small falloff towards the edges of the frame and some vignetting wide open, this lens gets almost full marks.
The lens is certainly expensive compared with others in its class – but few of its rivals share the super-fast autofocus and moisture-resistant build that you get here.
Sony does make a premium FE 85mm f/1.4 G Master lens, but it's expensive and too big for the modest A7C, which is why we recommend the Sony FE 85mm f/1.8 for this camera instead. It's much lighter than the f/1.4 G Master, and it’s lighter on your wallet too.
Handling is smooth, build quality is solid and image quality is strong in all respects: in our review, we found center-sharpness to be superb, even when we were shooting at f/1.8, and corner sharpness is impressive too. You won’t quite get the creaminess of bokeh that the f/1.4 G Master delivers, but it’s still delightful.
The A7C is not a sports camera and it's unlikely you would use it for wildlife either, so we wouldn't suggest any long-range super-telephotos for this camera. But a short-medium constant-aperture telephoto is useful for all sorts of other subjects, from portraits to weddings and event photography – and this Tamron, again, undercuts Sony's own offerings in both weight and cost.
You’d expect this sort of telephoto to be too big by far for the A7C, but Tamron has taken a clever approach here. By losing 20mm off the top end of the focal range, this lens is much smaller and lighter than the typical 70-200mm – but it still has a constant f/2.8 maximum aperture, so you don’t lose out on image quality.
The A7C, like all Alpha 7 cameras, uses the Sony E lens mount. Sony’s own E-mount lenses have either FE or E in their model names: all work on the A7C. FE lenses are designed for use with full-frame Sony cameras, including the A7C, so these should be your first choice. If you are buying a third-party E-mount lens, check that the lens is designed for use with full-frame Sonys.
Sony lenses with an E (rather than FE) prefix are designed for APS-C format cameras such as the A6000 series. On the A7C, they produce a cropped image, so they’re not an ideal choice.
The lens experts in our testing lab run a range of tests under controlled conditions, using the Imatest Master testing suite. Photos of test charts are taken across the range of apertures and zooms (where available), then analyzed for sharpness, distortion and chromatic aberrations.
We use Imatest SFR (spatial frequency response) charts and analysis software to plot lens resolution at the centre of the image frame, corners and mid-point distances, across the range of aperture settings and, with zoom lenses, at four different focal lengths.
There's more to it than just the technical side, though! Beyond the lab, our reviewers test lenses in real-world environments – and sometimes on professional shoots! We work with lenses both indoors and outdoors, in studio conditions and in natural light, with as many different subjects as is possible (or appropriate – there's no point testing a landscape lens' ability to shoot a portrait!).
We take into account everything from handling and ease of use to speed of autofocus and the overall quality of the images produced.
Rod is an independent photography journalist and editor, and a long-standing Digital Camera World contributor, having previously worked as DCW's Group Reviews editor. Before that he has been technique editor on N-Photo, Head of Testing for the photography division and Camera Channel editor on TechRadar, as well as contributing to many other publications. He has been writing about photography technique, photo editing and digital cameras since they first appeared, and before that began his career writing about film photography. He has used and reviewed practically every interchangeable lens camera launched in the past 20 years, from entry-level DSLRs to medium format cameras, together with lenses, tripods, gimbals, light meters, camera bags and more. Rod has his own camera gear blog at fotovolo.com but also writes about photo-editing applications and techniques at lifeafterphotoshop.com
