Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM Lens Review

Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM Performance

Resistance to flare is exceptional, it is just not a problem. The bokeh is highlighted by Sony themselves and I agree with them, it is beautiful. Combining the smoothness of the bokeh with the high resolution is a nice trick and they have carried it off with assured confidence.

At 24mm we have -3.01% barrel distortion, obvious in architectural images, but correctable in software. This becomes a negligible +0.827% pincushion at 35mm. 50mm sees +2.33% pincushion and 70mm +2.21% pincushion distortion. This is a good level of control for a 24-70mm zoom lens.

24mm central sharpness is simply outstanding at f/2.8 and f/4. Diffraction slowly reduces this, but image sharpness remains excellent through to f/16. It is still very good at f/22. At the edges, sharpness is excellent from open aperture through to f/11, remains very good at f/16 and still good at f/22.

24mm CA is an insignificant amount at the centre, slightly less than one quarter of a pixel. The edges are not so well controlled, but this is correctable in software.

MTF@24mm
 

MTF@50mm
 

MTF@70mm
 

How to read our charts

The blue column represents readings from the centre of the picture frame at the various apertures and the green is from the edges. 

The scale on the left side is an indication of actual image resolution as LW/PH and is described in detail above. The taller the column, the better the lens performance. 

For this review, the lens was tested on a Sony Alpha A7R II using Imatest.

35mm sharpness is excellent centrally from f/2.8 to f/11, remaining very good at f/16 and f/22. The edges start off very good at f/2.8, have an excellent standard from f/4 to f/11. Diffraction takes its toll thereafter, sharpness being very good at f/16 but the edges becoming soft at f/22. Nonetheless, there can be value in having that f/22 setting where circumstances dictate that depth of field is the priority.

35mm CA is again very low centrally and control also improves at the edges.

50mm sharpness shows exactly the same pattern as at 35mm. Centrally excellent down to f/11, very good at f/16 and f/22. Edges start off very good at f/2.8, become excellent from f/4 to f/11, very good at f/16 and fair at f/22.

50mm CA shows that the control peaks at this focal length, and values both centre and edge are commendably low.

CA@24mm
 

CA@50mm
 

CA@70mm

How to read our charts

Chromatic aberration is the lens' inability to focus on the sensor or film all colours of visible light at the same point. Severe chromatic aberration gives a noticeable fringing or a halo effect around sharp edges within the picture. It can be cured in software.

Apochromatic lenses have special lens elements (aspheric, extra-low dispersion etc) to minimize the problem, hence they usually cost more.

For this review, the lens was tested on a Sony Alpha A7R II using Imatest.

70mm does see a slight fall in performance, but central sharpness is maintained very well. It starts off at a very good level at f/2.8, becomes excellent from f/4 to f/11, remaining very good at f/16 and f/22. The edges fare less well, but are good from f/2.8 to f/5.6, very good from f/8 to f/16 and still good at f/22.

In some respects, the outstanding performance at some settings does mean that it sets the stage for a very demanding expectation of performance overall. It's fair to say that compared to other 24-70mm full frame lenses the Sony does indeed deliver a stellar performance. “Supreme blend of high resolution and beautiful bokeh” does seem to be a description that can be totally justified.

Value For Money

Value For Money can be looked at in various ways. Firstly, taken in isolation, the Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 G Master lens is priced at a hefty £1799. It is only available in E mount, so the pinnacle of performance will be one of the A7R camera bodies, as used in this review. To get something similar we would look to the admittedly bulkier DSLRs. In this case, Canon produce the EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L II USM (£1459), Nikon the 24-70mm f/2.8 G AF-S ED VR (£1849) and Pentax the HD Pentax-D FA 24-70mm f/2.8 (£1149). All of these are great lenses for their respective marques, but the Sony does seem to out-perform them all.

The Sony lens can also be used on E mount APS-C cameras, although to do so may seem to waste some of its potential and it could be argued that it deserves full frame use and would not represent the best VFM on a smaller format.

The Sony lens represents a level of performance that can only be found in the most expensive lenses. It is itself quite expensive, but given that prices may yet ease over time it is within the realms of being a realistic price.

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