Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II Assessment

Introduction

Ease of Use

Weighing in at simply 695g / 24.6oz. and measuring 12cm in size, the aluminium alloy bodied Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II is comparatively gentle and compact for such a premium F2.8 commonplace zoom lens.

It proved to be a well-balanced accomplice to the the Alpha A9 digicam that we examined it with, even with no battery grip being fitted, as proven within the pictures under.

Impressively it weighs 22% lower than the earlier mannequin and is 16mm shorter, with the general quantity diminished by roughly 18%, a not insignificant weight and measurement saving which makes it higher suited to all-day use.

It is also really considerably lighter than all of its major rivals, which embrace amongst others the unique Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM (886g), the Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 DG DN Artwork (830g), and the Samyang AF 24-70mm F2.8 FE (1,027g).

Identical to the unique model, this new Mark II lens does lengthen when zoomed from the minimal 24mm focal size to the 70mm focal size, by virtually 3cms when zoomed to the 70mm focal size.

The general construct high quality is superb, which is one thing of a aid given the sky-high price-tag, with this very fashionable lens using a hybrid steel and plastic development.

This lens has a sealed mud and moisture resistant design utlising silicon seals round all of the buttons and switches and a rubber gasket across the lens mount, which makes it well-suited to life in each the sphere and the studio.

There’s additionally a a fluorine coating on the entrance lens component to assist repel water, oil, and another contaminants, in addition to making it simpler to wash.

It has a steel lens mount and accepts 82mm filters by way of steel threads.

The Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM has two spherical Focus Maintain Buttons for simpler entry when capturing in both a horizontal or vertical orientation.

By default they maintain the lens locked to the present focusing distance, helpful in case you’re auto-focusing and don’t need the lens to try to discover focus once more. An alternate perform can be assigned to both of those buttons by the digicam’s customized settings.

There’s a pretty huge and ridged focus ring on the finish of the lens. Handbook focusing is feasible through the use of the devoted AF/MF change to toggle between AF and MF.

There aren’t any arduous stops on the ends of the vary, making it tougher to set focus at infinity. Polariser customers ought to be happy that the 82mm filter thread does not rotate on focus.

The lens makes use of 4 XD Linear Motors for very quick, easy and exact auto-focusing, and it’s extremely quiet in operation making it well-suited to capturing video.

An inner focusing design ensures that the general lens size stays fixed throughout focusing.

In the case of auto-focusing, this lens is a extremely fast performer, taking lower than 0.10 seconds to lock onto the topic when mounted on the Sony Alpha A9 that we examined it with.

We did not expertise any “searching” in any respect, both in good or dangerous gentle, with the lens precisely focusing all the time.

It is also a really quiet performer, which makes this lens equally well-suited to each video recording and extra candid stills capturing.

The Mark II model now has a devoted aperture ring. The aperture ring has 1/3EV stops starting from F2.8 to F22 and will be switched between easy and notched rotation utilizing the devoted Click on change on the lens barrel.

Utilizing the Iris Lock change on the lens barrel, it can be locked to both the Auto or F2.8-F22 settings to forestall unintentional motion of the aperture ring.

The generously sized zoom ring sits in the midst of the aperture and focusing rings and rotates by roughly 80 levels. It has 4 completely different focal size markings – 24, 35, 50 and 70 mm.

This lens has a model new change for setting the torque of the zoom ring, with two choices out there, Tight and Clean.

The previous is helpful for stopping zoom creep throughout transportation or to be used on a tripod, while the latter is a extra general-purpose setting that most individuals will use for more often than not, both for stills or for sluggish zooming throughout film recording.

This lens doesn’t characteristic optical picture stabilisation, so it depends on the digicam physique’s personal built-in stabilisation, which is okay until you are an proprietor of an early Sony Alpha digicam.

The Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II lens is commendably provided with each a superb high quality mushy case and strap, and a very good plastic petal-shaped lens hood (ALC-SH168) which has a button to lock/unlock it.

The hood additionally has a filter window which permits for extra handy operation of round polarizing and variable ND filters.

Focal Vary

The 24mm focal size supplies an angle of view of 84 levels.

24mm

The 70mm focal size supplies an angle of view of 34 levels.

70mm

Chromatic Aberrations

Chromatic aberrations, usually seen as purple or blue fringes alongside contrasty edges, should not an issue for the Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II lens, even in areas of very excessive distinction.

24mm

70mm

Vignetting

With the lens set to its most aperture of f/2.8, there’s some gentle fall-off within the corners, requiring you to cease down by not less than 3 f-stops to utterly forestall it.

24mm

70mm

Distortion

The Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II displays various each barrel and pincushion distortion, as you possibly can see within the pictures under, which is able to it’s worthwhile to appropriate in post-processing.

24mm

70mm

Sunstars and Flare

The Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II is able to producing very good sunstars when stopped-down to f/16 or f/22, as proven under, and the lens does not exhibit very a lot flare even when capturing immediately into the solar, offered that you’ve got the provided lens hood fitted.

24mm

70mm

24mm

70mm

Macro

The Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II presents superb close-up efficiency for the standard zoom lens, with a detailed focus level of 21cm from the sensor airplane at 24mm and 30cm at 70mm and a most magnification of 0.32x.

Bokeh

Bokeh is a phrase used for the out-of-focus areas of {a photograph}, and is often described in qualitative phrases, comparable to easy / creamy / harsh and so on.

Sony have paid shut consideration to this side of lens use, using an 11-segment diaphragm with rounded blades for extra pleasing bokeh.

In our view, their efforts have been very profitable for the standard zoom lens – see the examples under to guage for your self.

Sharpness

So as to present you the way sharp the Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II lens is, we’re offering 100% crops on the next pages.