If you're an APS shooter, the Sony 15mm f1.4 or the Sigma 16mm t1.4 lens should be on your primary list. I waited for this lens to drop down in price and decided to grab the opportunity when BH advertised it for $100 less than its original list price. I chose this lens over the Sigma because it's more compact with a filter size of only 55mm and the Sigma 67mm. The Sony lens is more expensive even on sale! And if you're on a budget, the Sigma is a good lens to have. Both of these lenses are very sharp, have good contrast and fast focus. Here are a few photo samples of my artist friends that I took with the Sony 15mm f1.4 at the Cornerstone Winter Open Studios. I have their written consent to share these photos for this review.

I've only had this lens a couple of weeks and haven't done any serious performance testing, but early results look great and are consistent with published tests (very sharp wide open, though with major vignetting; even sharper, and vignetting much better, stopped down just a bit; great for panoramas; no visible distortion). The focus mount is exactly what I wanted -- highly machined, very precise, a nice complement to the Canon 24mm T/S and the 50mm and 100mm Zeiss Makros it's teamed with on a Sony A7RII.You must, of course, understand what you're getting into when you're thinking of working with a setup that is mechanically somewhat behind that of a 1936 Exakta, which at least had a "semi-automatic" lens (one that you could look through and focus with wide open ... MoreI've only had this lens a couple of weeks and haven't done any serious performance testing, but early results look great and are consistent with published tests (very sharp wide open, though with major vignetting; even sharper, and vignetting much better, stopped down just a bit; great for panoramas; no visible distortion). The focus mount is exactly what I wanted -- highly machined, very precise, a nice complement to the Canon 24mm T/S and the 50mm and 100mm Zeiss Makros it's teamed with on a Sony A7RII.You must, of course, understand what you're getting into when you're thinking of working with a setup that is mechanically somewhat behind that of a 1936 Exakta, which at least had a "semi-automatic" lens (one that you could look through and focus with wide open and would then be stopped down "automatically" at the moment of exposure). Unlike the Canon-mount lenses in my set, which do communicate with the camera through a Metabones adapter and can at least stop down and open up automatically, this baby is all manual and totally invisible to the camera.You do get to use the in-camera focusing aids, which help a great deal, but there's some annoying fiddling needed to focus wide open and then stop down for the shot, and there doesn't seem to be any way around that. The disconnect between lens and camera also means that if you want to capture any exposure data, it's going to be with pen and paper. The tradeoff here is that you pay half the price you would pay for an autofocus lens of the same focal length, speed, and optical quality.In my applications for this kit (mostly panoramas and focus stacking), autofocus lenses are almost useless anyway because I can't vary the focus in small, even increments and the camera is always on a sturdy tripod, so for me this tradeoff is a no-brainer. And for non-action-oriented video (as I'm coming to understand it), autofocus likewise seems to be mostly useless. I have used this lens for some video test clips that were really impressive (and demonstrated how easy it is to hand hold this rig using the in-camera image stabilization). Video performance at f/2 is amazing.But it really does help in working with this lens to have learned photography back when everything was all manual. Someone who's using a lens like this for the first time may have a bit of learning to do (all of it well worth the effort, but something to be prepared for). It's a little like working with a view camera.For a lens pouch I can recommend the LensCoat in size "small wide."https://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=email&A=details&Q=&sku=547483&is=REG

Ive been shooting with a Tokina 11-16 for the past 4 years which was a perfect lens (only for mft so became ~18-27, now I need to buy new lenses for my a7riii).I was expecting the zero-d to mean no distortion, while it doesnt show pincushioning etc, any room is crazily distorted due to the perspective of the width of the lens. I bought it for interior real estate videos, and its completely useless as it almost has the distortion of a fisheye.Need to pan? Tilt? Track? All of those things are out of the window unless youre comfortable with huge perspective distortion everywhere outside the centre of the image.Want an OSS of someone? Then youd better be comfortable with their head being warped into the shape of an alien.I wish I could have returned this lens, ... MoreIve been shooting with a Tokina 11-16 for the past 4 years which was a perfect lens (only for mft so became ~18-27, now I need to buy new lenses for my a7riii).I was expecting the zero-d to mean no distortion, while it doesnt show pincushioning etc, any room is crazily distorted due to the perspective of the width of the lens. I bought it for interior real estate videos, and its completely useless as it almost has the distortion of a fisheye.Need to pan? Tilt? Track? All of those things are out of the window unless youre comfortable with huge perspective distortion everywhere outside the centre of the image.Want an OSS of someone? Then youd better be comfortable with their head being warped into the shape of an alien.I wish I could have returned this lens, unfortunately I bought it for a month long trip, didnt have time to try it before departure and now am stuck with a $1000 paperweight.Note the change in the shape of the rubbish photo on the wall as I pan: