While taking in a Yankees game with my Sony A7riii, I thought it was a good opportunity for a bit of an experiment. Sony has six zoom lenses that cover 24mm but no primes. (There is a rumored 24mm F/1.4 coming soon). I own the excellent Zeiss Batis 25mm F/2. The Sony 24-105 f/4 G and the Sony 12-24 F/4 G. were previously reviewed on this blog. On a Friday night in the Bronx, I decided to test how the three lenses compared at 24mm (25mm for the Batis).
Other than lightroom lens profiles, these images were RAW files from the camera and exported to jpeg from Lightroom. Click for larger.
Full image comparison at 24mm F/8
At F8 in normal viewing sizes, the Sony 24-105mm, Sony 12-24mm and Zeiss Batis 25mm all provide nearly identical high quality images. The differences are more obvious if we look at some close crops:
Close Crop F/8 Comparison at 24mm
Look at the Stanley sign and the retired player numbers to the right. The Zeiss Batis 25mm F/2 is painfully sharp. The Sony 24-105 F/4 G is nearly as sharp. Clearly in last place, the Sony 12-24 F/4 G doesn’t quite keep up. While not bad, it isn’t as sharp.
As above, the Sony 12-24mm F/4 G is a bit softer in the corner, while the Sony 24-105 F/4 G can nearly match the quality of the Batis 25mm F/8.
What happens when we open up the aperture?
Full Image Comparison at 24mm F/4
I accidentally shot the Zeiss Batis 25mm f/2 at an aperture of 3.5 but the good news here is obvious. The two zoom lenses, the Sony 12-24mm F/4 and Sony 24-105mm F/4 are both able to produce high quality images even with aperture wide open. At a normal viewing size, all three images look equally sharp. But things are different under close examination:
Close Crop F/4 Comparison at 24mm
Sharpness is completely different at F/4! The Zeiss Batis 25mm F/2 is still basically tack sharp even into the corners. Really spectacular performance and I’ll eventually do a full review. But the Sony 12-24mm F/4 and Sony 24-105mm F/4 have now flipped spots. The Sony 12-24mm F/4 is still very sharp, certainly acceptable. Meanwhile, the Sony 24-105mm F/4 is quite soft, especially in the corners. What’s going on?
Conclusion:
The Sony 12-24mm f/4 G is a spectacular performer but begins to show diffraction fairly early in the aperture range. As a result, it gets softer as you stop down. Optimal sharpness might be F8, but it’s not much sharper than larger apertures and begins to soften if you stop down more. Note that 24mm is the weakest point for this lens but it is still quite good.
Meanwhile, the Sony 24-105mm F/4 shows a more predictable performance. The corners are poor at F4 but sharpen up very nicely by F8.
Finally, the Zeiss Batis 25mm F/2 is simply spectacular if you are looking for a prime lens devoted to the focal length.
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