Sony 50mm f/1.4 GM review by Lenstip: “virtually without any flaws”

Preorder links: Sony 50mm F/1.4 GM at BHphoto. Amazon. Adorama. FotoKoch. FotoErhardt. Calumet DE. WexUK.

Lenstip tested the new Sony lens and concluded:

The Sony FE 50 mm f/1.4 GM was a surprise for me personally and for more than one reason. First, I didn’t expect such a launch, especially as less than two years ago the system got two other 50 mm devices. Second, I didn’t expect that a new 50 mm lens might be optically more complex than its faster brother, the FE 50 mm f/1.2 GM. Thirdly, I didn’t expect such a high price tag, amounting to 1700 Euro.

If you forget about these surprises for a while and focus on the most important thing, you can only praise the new Sony FE 50 mm f/1.4 GM as it is virtually without any flaws. Its physical dimensions are smaller than these of many direct rivals and yet its optical system is able to correct properly chromatic aberration, distortion, coma, and astigmatism. At the same time it is so exceedingly sharp in the frame centre that it is able to beat all resolution records with a healthy margin and, additionally, it offers excellent image quality on the edge of both types of detectors.

Significant vignetting is something we expected up to a point; as a kind of consolation we should add that the Sony still can outperform some of its rivals in this category.