Introduction
The Sony FE 50mm F1.4 GM (SEL50F14GM) is a really quick commonplace prime lens for Sony Alpha full-frame mirrorless cameras.
It will also be used on APS-C sensor Sony E-mount mirrorless cameras, the place it offers a 75mm equal focal size.
That is the second 50mm F1.4 Alpha-system lens that Sony have launched, the primary being the 7-year-old Sony Planar T* FE 50mm F1.4 ZA.
The Sony FE 50mm F1.4 GM options 14 components in 11 teams, together with two xtreme aspherical (XA) components which assist to make sure that the picture is sharp throughout the body and to suppress chromatic aberrations and purple fringing.
There is a Nano AR II coating to reduce inside reflections in order that flare and ghosting don’t happen and a flourine coating on the entrance ingredient to stop fingerprints, mud, oil and different contaminants.
There are two excessive dynamic (XD) linear motors for quick, quiet and exact auto-focusing, and it boasts a dust- and moisture-resistant design.
This lens has a minimal focusing distance of 38cm with a most magnification of 0.18x.
It has a round 11-blade diaphragm which creates a really engaging blur to out-of-focus areas of the picture, two customizable focus maintain buttons, and an inside focusing mechanism which suggests the lens barrel would not transfer.
A conventional aperture ring runs from f/1.4 to f/16 in third-stop increments with an Auto setting additionally obtainable. The Click on On/Off change modifications the aperture ring between 1/3 clicked steps and a clean clickless motion. There’s additionally an Iris Lock change included for the very first time on a Sony prime lens.
The Sony FE 50mm F1.4 GM lens might be obtainable in April 2023 priced at £1500 within the UK, €1700 in Europe, and $1600 within the USA.
Ease of Use
Weighing in at 516g and measuring 80.6mm in diameter and 96mm in size, the hybrid steel and engineering plastic bodied Sony 50mm F1.4 GM may be very gentle and compact for such a quick, 35mm full-frame lens.
Its general dimensions and weight make it very well-suited to a digital camera just like the Sony Alpha 7R IV that we examined it with, as proven within the pictures beneath, even with the equipped hood hooked up.
This new lens is 33% lighter than the Sony Planar T* FE 50mm F1.4 ZA and a whopping 262g lighter than the marginally sooner FE 50mm F1.2 GM.
Additionally it is loads cheaper than its F1.2 sibling, to the tune of round £500 / $400, so except you are actually positive that you will profit from the sooner most aperture of the F1.2 optic, this new lens is probably a wiser funding.
In comparison with the Sigma 50mm f1.4 DG HSM Artwork, which is likely one of the greatest and heaviest 50mm prime lenses that we have ever examined with a weight of 910 grams and size of 12.6cm, the brand new Sony FE 50mm F1.4 GM is 3cm shorter and 394g lighter while nonetheless providing the identical most aperture.
The Sony 50mm F1.4 GM’s construct high quality is superb, definitely as much as the excessive commonplace established by the opposite flagship G Grasp lenses within the vary.
It has a sealed mud and moisture resistant design, though Sony stops wanting saying that it is 100% weather-proof.
The Sony 50mm F1.4 GM lens has a steel lens mount and it accepts 67mm filters by way of steel threads on the entrance of the lens.
This is identical filter measurement as utilized by the 24mm and 35mm F1.4 GM lenses, which collectively type a holy trinity of compact, quick primes (there’s additionally the 85mm F1.4 GM, however that has a bigger filter measurement).
The lens has two customisable focus maintain buttons which hold the lens locked to the present focusing distance, helpful in the event you’re auto-focusing and don’t need the lens to try to discover focus once more. It might probably additionally, amongst different choices, be usefully set to Eye AF.
The lens would not function built-in optical picture stabilisation, relying as an alternative on the digital camera physique’s stabilisation system, which is ok except you are an proprietor of an early Sony Alpha digital camera.
The Sony 50mm F1.4 GM lens has a reasonably vast, ridged focus ring. Guide focusing is feasible by utilizing the main focus mode change to toggle between AF and MF.
There aren’t any laborious stops at both finish of the vary, making it a bit tougher to set focus at infinity. Polariser customers must be happy that the 67mm filter thread would not rotate on focus.
The Sony FE 50mm F1.4 GM lens has two XD linear motors which produce very quiet and clean focusing, making it well-suited to capturing video, with the general lens size remaining fixed throughout focusing.
In terms of auto-focusing, it proved to be an virtually silent, very fast performer on the Sony Alpha 7R IV digital camera that we examined it with. We did not expertise very a lot “searching” in any respect, both in good or unhealthy gentle, with the lens precisely focusing virtually the entire time.
Sony declare that this lens offers 1.9x sooner auto-focusing than the older Sony Planar T* FE 50mm F1.4 ZA Zeiss lens.
Sony’s close to flawless Eye AF works completely with this lens, rapidly locking onto and monitoring the topic’s eye regardless of the non-telephoto view.
The Sony FE 50mm F1.4 GM lens options an aperture ring that has 1/3EV stops starting from f/1.4 to f/16 and an Auto setting.
The Click on change on the bottom-right of the lens barrel lets you choose whether or not the aperture ring clicks into place at every aperture cease or rotates easily for silent operation throughout film recording.
Utilizing the Iris Lock change on the lens barrel, it will also be locked to both the Auto or F1.4-F16 settings to stop unintentional motion of the aperture ring.
The Sony 50mm F1.4 GM lens is commendably equipped with each a mushy case and an excellent high quality, plastic, round lens hood (ALC-SH173) with a locking button and a rubberized edge to assist defend it.
Focal Vary
The 50mm focal size offers an angle of view of 47 levels on a 35mm full-frame digital camera.
Chromatic Aberrations
Chromatic aberrations, sometimes seen as blue or purple fringes alongside contrasty edges, weren’t very obvious in our check pictures, solely showing in very excessive distinction areas. The instance beneath exhibits the worst-case state of affairs.
Vignetting
With the lens set to its most aperture of f/1.4, there’s some gentle fall-off within the corners as you’d anticipate, requiring you to cease down by at the least 3 f-stops to stop it fully.
Distortion
There’s just a few slight barrel distortion evident in each the JPEG and RAW recordsdata.
Sunstars and Flare
The Sony FE 50mm F1.4 GM is able to producing fairly good sunstars when stopped-down to f/16, as proven beneath.
The lens is vulnerable to flare when capturing straight into the solar, although, even with the equipped lens hood fitted, however it’s principally well-controlled.
Macro
The Sony FE 50mm F1.4 GM is not claimed to be a macro lens, however it does usefully provide a minimal focusing distance of 41cm (AF) / 38cm (MF) with a most magnification of 0.16x when auto-focusing and 0.18x when manually focusing. The next examples show how shut you will get to your topic.
Bokeh
Bokeh is a phrase used for the out-of-focus areas of {a photograph}, and is normally described in qualitative phrases, corresponding to clean / creamy / harsh and many others.
Within the FE 50mm F1.4 GM lens, Sony have employed an iris diaphragm with 11 round blades, which has resulted in very interesting bokeh for the standard prime lens.
We do realise, nevertheless, that bokeh analysis is subjective, so we have included a number of examples beneath on your perusal.
Sharpness
With the intention to present you the way sharp the Sony FE 50mm F1.4 GM lens is, we’re offering 100% crops on the next web page.
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