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Sony 24-70 F2.8 GM Tests

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Just recieved the 24-70 mm GM lens this morning about 10 am and normally i do my Big Bronco wall test but today given the time too many cars so I went down the street and shot all these handheld. I went looking for Bokeh, Bokeh Balls, Onion rings and I got everything I was after. I did some interesting tests that Im not sure anyone has done before but hopefully you will see things very clearly especially bokeh on what this Zoom can do. Looking at these you may forget its a zoom because this laddie never seen a mid zone zoom be this nice at bokeh. On to images and i am going to be skipping around so pay attention:grin:

Interesting test I shot every focal length and every aperture to see what effect each focal length looks like at a given aperture. Now I kept moving away from subject doing this and i did it handheld. Not working about sharpness so much that will come later but I did use AF right smack on the nose at each focal length. Watch the Bokeh that is what this test is.




































Now staying with the Bokeh look i tried another test all images at 2.8 but all different focal lengths. Yea we went from the Horse to the Cow and by the time we are all done I will have the whole McDonalds Farm animals. LOL













I do NOT see at all focal lengths wide open any bad focal lengths at this point. They all look very crisp in this daylight
 
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Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Moving on to Bokeh Balls and Onion Rings. Im pretty sure this is a 9 blade aperture ring and the new GM 85 1.4 is 11. So obviously the 85 will produce a nicer look but this does a nice job in my mind, its not perfect but the Bokeh balls are round but I did get some onion rings. Now there is a special element in this lens to reduce that and honestly I think it does for the most part. The onion rings came in on very bright reflections. Lets take a look at this and maybe folks can offer some opinions. I keep reminding myself this is a zoom and not known for great Bokeh Balls and absent onion rings













I am going to add a comment here . I shot every 35mm lens i have bought and tested right here this is the best I have seen. Tamron 35mm 1.8, Sigma 35mm 1.4, Sigma 24-35 F2, Sony 35 mm 1.4, VC 35mm 1.7 and the Loxia 35mm. Wow that is a lot of glass I bought. Anyway










So good and some bad but I kind of expected this given as you see how many stinking 35mm lens I have gone through
 
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Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
This was tough but I think I got what i was after. Its a 100 percent crop of my grandson eating pasta. Yea he has some Italian in him. LOL

f 2.8 than F4



 

Pradeep

Member
Waiting for mine.

Thanks Guy, it sure looks very good. Not too worried about onion rings in a zoom like this.
 
V

Vivek

Guest
Guy, The Onion rings do show the Sony hype (good that they seem to have made a decent zoom). It does take some shine off of the GM lens for me.

Thanks for showing them! :)
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
I think with that special element it does reduce it mostly but obviously here on the zoom at least they do pop up. Seems mostly the very brightest reflections with this 9 blade lens. I think the GM 85 will be better at it since it has 11 blades. We will soon find out, hope to have that lens by end of week. I will certainly test for it. But yes it does have one issue. But I have had many issues with every 35 lens too. It's aspherical glass that causes it. If it's a big issue to some than maybe some older designs could be better at it.

One thing for sure it is the best native mount zoom to date, I have no doubts about that.
 
But yes it does have one issue. But I have had many issues with every 35 lens too. It's aspherical glass that causes it. If it's a big issue to some than maybe some older designs could be better at it.
I know it's a personal preference thing, but I certainly wouldn't call those onion rings an 'issue'. To me, they are not objectionable in the least, especially since they are nice and round (no cat-eye thing).

Some of us remember shooting with mirror lenses. ;-)

Sony 500mm Reflex

_DSC1558.jpg

_DSC1558-2.jpg
 

gurtch

Well-known member
I think with that special element it does reduce it mostly but obviously here on the zoom at least they do pop up. Seems mostly the very brightest reflections with this 9 blade lens. I think the GM 85 will be better at it since it has 11 blades. We will soon find out, hope to have that lens by end of week. I will certainly test for it. But yes it does have one issue. But I have had many issues with every 35 lens too. It's aspherical glass that causes it. If it's a big issue to some than maybe some older designs could be better at it.

One thing for sure it is the best native mount zoom to date, I have no doubts about that.
Thanks for all your hard work testing, Guy. I don't understand why the number of diaphragm blades would affect out of focus background (broken), when the lens is used wide open, and all edges of the blades are out of sight. Stopped down a half stop or more, I could understand it, as the light travels through an opening that is not perfectly circular.
Best regards, and thanks again.
Dave in NJ
 

gurtch

Well-known member
Thanks for all your hard work testing, Guy. I don't understand why the number of diaphragm blades would affect out of focus background (broken), when the lens is used wide open, and all edges of the blades are out of sight. Stopped down a half stop or more, I could understand it, as the light travels through an opening that is not perfectly circular.
Best regards, and thanks again.
Dave in NJ
Damn auto correct on my iPad.....I wrote "bokeh", and it came out "broken"
 

ohnri

New member
From what I am seeing here and at FM and elsewhere this looks to top the heap of 24-70 zooms for any system.

Sony is on their game with the GM glass. All three lenses are very desirable.

Zeiss needs to step it up in the zoomy lens arena. Sony is showing them their tail lights.

-Bill
 

dmward

Member
I did some quick shooting to collect images I could use to evaluate some lens characteristics that are important to me.



HERE is a page on my site where I've placed some collections that I've used to evaluate various characteristics. Each gallery includes a brief description of what I was looking for from the shots.

Generally, I like the lens. Its big but balances well with the A7RII, even without the battery grip. The focus is fast and silent as others have reported. Even in relatively dark environment it quickly locked focus with the smallest area selected.

Its getting a bit warmer this afternoon so I think I'll take it for a walk. So, more to come. :cool:
 
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