Here are more comparison crops for you to check out, this time it’s between the Sony 24-70mm F/2.8 GM, and the Sony Zeiss 35mm F/2.8; which is a good little lens (reviewed here), but is it as sharp as a zoom lens? If you aren’t interested in reading the whole post, I’ll save you some time; the zoom is sharper for the most part all the way around!
Sony A7R used for test images.
Sony Zeiss 35/2.8 sets are along the top, and Sony 24-70/2.8 GM sets are on the bottom of image.
Here is the whole test scene and where the crops are taken from.
F/2.8
left side, center, and right side
Sony Zeiss 35mm F/2.8 on the top, Sony 24-70mm F/2.8 GM on the bottom. Click pictures to enlarge.
The prime is slightly ahead of the zoom, mostly noticeable in the left side crop.
F/4
The left side of the zoom is a little soft, but other areas are just as sharp or sharper than the prime.
F/5.6
The zoom sharpens up all around at F/5.6, but the prime is maxed out at F/4, and gets no better until F/11 along the sides.
F/8
About the same results here as the F/5.6 crops. Click pictures to enlarge.
F/11
The zoom looks sharper all the way around at F/11; a little surprising.
The Sony 24-70mm F/2.8 GM seems to have slightly better contrast at all apertures, and is noticeably sharper at small apertures.
That’s it for this mind blowing comp!