Just last week, Sony unveiled its latest high-powered creation:
A 35mm f/1.4 GM lens, designed for full-frame, E-mount cameras, and offering an impressive set of capabilities (for an eye-watering price).
As you’d expect from a G Master lens, the 35mm f/1.4 features a no-holds-barred, pro-level design. You get a beautifully-constructed barrel, a handy aperture ring (for changing the aperture on the fly without having to fiddle with camera dials), plus dust and moisture resistance. The lens is relatively light and compact (Sony highlights its 524 g/18.5 oz weight, as well as its ability to sit “comfortably in the palm of your hand”), which makes it ideal for travel and on-location photoshoots. In fact, Sony has managed to create a lens that you’ll want in your bag for pretty much any photography scenario, be it studio work, natural light portraiture, landscape photography, street photography, or event photography.
Aside from its build, what makes the Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 GM so special?
First, there’s the optics. Sony claims that the 35mm f/1.4 offers “extraordinary resolution” and “stunning contrast,” and early reviews bear this out, commenting on the lens’s impressive sharpness, even at f/1.4. This makes the 35mm f/1.4 a worthy choice for landscape photographers after a mid-wide prime, as well as for architectural photographers.
Then there’s the f/1.4 maximum aperture. Wide open, you can capture buckets of light; this is perfect for event photographers who frequently shoot indoors and need to keep their shutter speeds high, even at night. Plus, the f/1.4 setting combined with an 11-blade aperture is practically guaranteed to produce class-leading bokeh – for the kind of portrait backgrounds that will leave the viewer stunned.
Sony also promises speedy autofocus (specifically, “fast, smooth, and silent AF performance”), as well as effortless (“immediate and precise”) manual focus for those portrait photographers, landscape photographers, and videographers who require intense control when adjusting focus.
Of course, a big part of a lens’s appeal is its focal length, and here the Sony 35mm f/1.4 excels. On a full-frame camera, you get a medium-wide field of view for landscapes, environmental portraits, and wider street shots. Mount the Sony 35mm f/1.4 on a crop-sensor body, and you’ll have a handy 50mm lens, one that’ll work for standard portraits, tighter street photos, walkaround shooting, and more.
Unfortunately, the Sony 35mm f/1.4’s price tag sits just under $1400 USD. However, if you can afford the cost and require the absolute best image quality and bokeh around, the Sony 35mm f/1.4 won’t disappoint.
You can check out the Sony 35mm f/1.4 right here; shipping starts on February 15th.
Now over to you:
What do you think of the Sony 35mm f/1.4 GM? Are you interested? Is the lens too pricey? Or is it worth the cost? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
