Sony FE 24mm 1.4 GM

The Sony FE 24mm f/1.4 GM is a new wide-angle prime lens for the Sony Alpha full-frame mirrorless camera system. It features 13 elements in 10 groups including including two XA elements (0.01 micron) to help suppress sagittal flare (useful for astro-photography) and three ED glass elements, offers a minimum focusing distance of 24cm with a maximum magnification of 0.17x, and has a circular 11 blade diaphragm which creates an attractive blur to the out-of-focus areas of the image. There's also a manual aperture ring that can be de-clicked for silent video shooting, an internal focusing mechanism which means the lens barrel doesn’t move, and the lens is also dust and moisture resistant.

The Sony FE 24mm f/1.4 GM is the best lens in its class - at the time of this review at least. The resolution characteristic is highly impressive. The image center is already tack-sharp at f/1.4. The outer image field isn't quite on this level - it never is - but improves rapidly when stopping down a little. The results are very sharp across the image field from f/2.8 onward. Lateral CAs are fairly low and image distortions are nothing to worry about. The RAW vignetting is somewhat higher than it should be but then image auto-correction handles this issue nicely. Wide- to ultra-wide lenses tend to produce a rough bokeh due to their complex optical designs. However, Sony managed to produce a very smooth bokeh - at least with respect to the important image background. Thumps up for that! Typical for Sony GM lenses, the build quality is superb and, of course, up to professional standards. The incorporated materials are of top-notch quality and it's a weather-sealed construction as well. If you like old school photography or are into movies, you will also appreciate the dedicated aperture ring - including an optional clickless mode. The AF is both very fast and near-silent. Manual focusing is exceptionally smooth and precise. The sheer optical quality is already formidable but even more noteworthy is the fact that Sony managed to deliver all this in a comparatively small package. Especially Sigma improved their optical designs by lifting their constraints around the size/weight of their ART lenses. The Sony lens shows that this isn't really a necessity and we hope that the FE 24mm f/1.4 GM will not be the last in the line of compact, yet high performance lenses. Highly recommended!

Superb performance and handling make the Sony FE 24mm f/1.4 GM an ideal ultra-wide lens.

The Sony FE 24mm f1.4 G Master is a wide-angle prime lens designed for its Alpha series of full-frame mirrorless cameras. The lens delivers a popular field-of-view that’s wider than 28mm without the distortion related to wider options, while the bright f1.4 focal ratio is ideal in low-light and also for delivering shallow depth-of-field effects, especially when the subject is positioned close to the minimum focusing distance of 24cm. In my tests, the Sony FE 24mm f1.4 GM was a winner: sharp into the corners of a full-frame sensor, light and small, with good resistance against flare, glare and ghosting, and a nice background Bokeh too. The de-clickable aperture ring, lockable lens hood, and focus lock button are a nice bonus. This together with its thorough weather-sealing supports Sony's high-end claim of the G Master series. All in all the Sony FE 24mm f1.4 GM justifies its price and although I'd wish for less longitudinal CAs the lens clearly earns a Highly Recommended!