In the field | Sony 12-24mm f2.8 GM lens
Sony was so kind to send me the new 12-24mm f2.8 G-Master lens before it will be officially announced.
So for a few days only I had the opportunity to use this lens in the field.
This is not intended to be a complete test of the new lens, but a report of experience and an initial assessment. I prefer to go out and use the lens rather than using test charts etc.
If you like to view the video with me hiking in full sunlight and trying to find nice compositions first, then you will find the link here:
What immediately stands out with this lens is the absolutely solid workmanship. With a weight of 850 grams it is certainly not a lightweight, but it fits the Alpha A7R4 very well in the hand. Surprisingly, the lens seems to be very well balanced, the large and curved front lens doesn't let you expect this.
The lens has a constant initial aperture of f2.8 and doesn't extend when zooming, which makes it much less susceptible to dust. Sony has omitted an image stabilizer - probably in favour of a more compact size.
The large domed front lens makes it difficult to use filters, but flare, ghosting and surface reflections seem to be well reduced (probably a good coating on the frontlens itself).
This image shows a very contrasty scene, shot directly into the sun. A small sun star can be seen in the water and no flares are visible. Of course you may have flares depending on the scene and composition.
The lens hood is permanently installed in this lens and you can not remove it. As a result I could not use my normal filter holders - but there might be good solutions out on the market.
In use this lens has convinced me completely. The image quality and sharpness performance is, as expected, already excellent wide open at f2.8 and even increases slightly with the aperture down a few stops.
Beginning at f16 the image quality softens quite a bit - but I think that’s quite normal if you step down that far.
Due to f2.8 as a staring point this lens should be a great companion for astro photography too. It was a shame that the nights where I was out all have been totally cloudy. I would have loved to test the lens on a beautiful nightsky!
In these examples I wanted to make a long time exposure to soften the water. The emergency solution in this case was to stop down to f22 (which i normally avoid), as my ND filters do not fit the front lens of the 12-24 G Master.
When shooting landscapes you sometimes want to have everything in focus in your frame.
One solution is of course focus stacking. Here the lens shows some focus breathing, but I
had no problem in stacking the images together in Photoshop.
The focal range of 12-24mm is of course very useful in landscape photography. So far I have been shooting with the 16-35mm f4, but the extra range from 12-16mm offers a lot of new perspectives which you, as photographer, will surely enjoy.
Btw. the rubberized zoom ring runs wonderfully smooth and is very pleasant to touch.
The AF works fast, silent and very exact. Even in low light it packs in reliably.
Chromatic aberrations are also very well controlled!
To sum it up this is a another wonderful high quality lens from Sony with a focal range that is somehow special but will inspire your photography!
The only question for me that remains…how much will it cost? ;-)
