why buy expensive sony lens, when you can buy similar nikon lens + adaptor?

[malcom90]

Sorry for the noob question .


I was thinking of buying SEL35F18. It costs ~400USD

Similar Nikon Lens on the other hand costs 199 US$
http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-35mm-1-8G-Digital-Cameras/dp/B001S2PPT0

And adapter costs 15 US$
http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-E-Mount...UTF8&qid=1403011900&sr=1-1&keywords=nikon+nex


The 2nd option seems much more economical. Why then people opt for option 1? becoz more compact?

 

[obfuscate]

The Sony lens will have AF and OSS.

 

[malcom90]

Nikon lens says it has AF. Or when we use with an adaptor, AF of Nikon doesnt work??

 

[thoongeng]

Looks like the cheap adapter does not have any electrical contacts, so it can't communicate with the lens, thus the lens will function as a fully manual lens. The combination will not have autofocus, and as the Nikon is a G lens you can't control the aperture (from what I know you will be stuck at f22)

 

[richiemccaw1]

Aside from the other bros' replies, I just wanted to say there is a price premium to pay in general for Sony lenses, and perhaps mirrorless lenses as a whole. There may be some real value-for-money lenses but my take is if you want good and light lenses, you gotta pay more for them.

 

[kandinsky]

Or when we use with an adaptor, AF of Nikon doesnt work??

Congrats, you just figured out one of the main reasons why people opt for lenses with a native mount for the system it was designed for, other than price. Other reasons include aperture control (for lenses without aperture ring), lens image stabilisation (if applicable), lens-related EXIF data, in-body lens correction (distortion, vignetting, etc)...

There's the Metabones Canon EF Lens to Sony NEX Smart Adapter, Mark III (US$399), an adapter that supports electronic aperture control, EXIF, Auto-Focus and Image Stabilization (IS) with certain Canon EF lenses.

 

[kei1309]

it's trickier to design optics for cameras with shorter flange back distances, especially to make them smaller with a huge max aperture. that means it'll definitely be more expensive.

plus, in the SEL35F18 there's Image Stabilization, aperture control and Autofocus. and it works perfect with on-sensor AF.

whereas the Nikkor 35mm once coupled with the cheap adaptor loses electronic aperture control and AF. plus you're forgetting that the Nikkor doesn't have image stabilization.

 

[Octarine]

The 2nd option seems much more economical. Why then people opt for option 1? becoz more compact?

Economy is more than just the price tag. If you factor in all the points that have been raised here then it's obvious that comparing both options is not comparing the same fruits and the supposedly cheaper banana brings in quite some disadvantages. With you being new to the topic I strongly suggest you stick to the system lenses for your camera. Focus on what is relevant for good pictures instead of messing around with technology that is not recognized in the images later.