Sony 24mm F/1.4 GM Real world images (click for larger)
Sony Fe 24mm F/1.4 GM lens (AMAZON / ADORAMA) review:
In September 2018, Sony announced their first FE 24mm lens, their Sony FE 24mm F/1.4 GM. (See the Sony 24mm F/1.4 on Amazon / Adorama.)
Another addition to their “G Master” lineup, connoting their top premium lenses. I’d previously written on this blog that I wanted Sony to release a 24mm lens, and had started to shoot with the Zeiss Batis 25mm F/2. (Review here). As someone who really fell in love with the Batis, I wondered whether the Sony 24mm F/1.4 GM is even better.
Backing up a bit, let’s discuss the purpose of a 24mm prime. It is likely that nearly every Sony full frame shooter has a lens that covers the 24mm focal length: Sony has at least 7 zoom lenses that include 24mm.
On reason to favor a prime lens is often that the faster aperture allows for superior background separation and bokeh. Sony usually promises superior quality bokeh with their GM lenses, but at least for me, this isn’t a priority with a 24mm lens. Unless you are very close to your subject, you’re not going to be generating much bokeh at 24mm, even with a 1.4 aperture.
So the main reasons to consider a 24mm prime lens are primarily superior overall image quality and better light gathering ability. I previously compared the sharpness of the Zeiss Batis to a couple of Sony primes, and the superiority of the prime was obvious. (Batis vs Zoom here.)
Even at the price of nearly $1400, the Sony 24mm F/1.4 is actually both cheaper and smaller than similar dSLR lenses. Sony hasn’t been able to keep the lens in stock since its release. So is this a prime lens that Sony shooters should want to have in their bag? Let’s take a look.
Body and Handling:
After varying body designs a little with early prime lenses, Sony has settled on to a standard GM prime lens body design. If you have owned or used the Sony 85mm F/1.4 GM (review here), then you will be familiar with the body design.
Build quality is excellent, a very solid design without any feeling of loose movement within the lens. It appears well weather sealed. What really stands out immediately is the weight and size, the lens being remarkably small at 445g. In comparison, the Canon 24mm F/1.4 L is 650g and the Nikon 24mm F/1.4 is 620g. As demonstrated above, the Sony 24mm F/1.4 GM is just slightly bulkier than the Zeiss Batis 25mm f/2, and only weighs 110g more, with the Batis weighing in at 335g.
The focus ring is grooved rubber and handles well. The lens is equipped with a clickless aperture ring. It needs to be locked at “A” in order to use the camera for aperture control. With the Sony 85mm F/1.4 GM, I found that the aperture ring would easily shift, knocking you out of camera controlled aperture. With the Sony 24mm F/1.4 GM, the aperture ring does lock in to place a bit better.
Switches included AF/MF and a focus hold button. As with all similar Sony lenses, the focus hold button can be re-programmed for eye-AF. The lens does not have stabilization but it compatible with the in-body stabilization found in most Sony bodies. Some lenses seem to work better with the Sony IBIS system than others, and the ability to use slower shutter speeds will also vary depending on your hand-holding technique. As shown in the below crops, I am able to keep a good number of keepers with the Sony 24mm F/1.4 GM at 1/4-1/3 of a second but got very few keepers going any slower than that.
Autofocus performance is extremely fast and completely silent, though I did find the autofocus struggled just a bit at smaller aperture (smaller than F8),when using AF-C on the Sony A7riii. For smaller aperture shots, I found myself switching to AF-S, which utilizes the camera’s contrast detect AF system to a greater degree, and handled autofocus well.
Image Quality
I previously wrote about real world use of the Sony 24mm F/1.4 on a trip to Universal Studios. Now let’s do some additional analysis, pixel peeping and test shooting.
Vignetting
Vignetting is a mixed bag. The good news is that you don’t get extremely darkened vignette, instead you have gradual shading in to the corners. The bad news is that even stopped down to F4, some mild vignetting remains. Of course, the vignette is easily corrected in post-processing but such correction will result in noisier corners. In real world shooting, it shouldn’t often be a concern as in the below 1.4 aperture landscape with the vignette corrected.
Distortion
While most zooms will have significant distortion at 24mm, the advantage of a prime should be low distortion and the Sony 24mm F/1.4 GM delivers in this regard. There is only very minimal pin cushion distortion that is easily corrected. As shown below, it makes the Sony 24mm F/1.4 GM an excellent lens for the straight lines of architecture.
Real world:
Flare – Chromatic Aberration/Purple Fringing
The Sony 24mm F/1.4 GM is not a flare-free lens but is pretty darn close. The above images are about the worst flare I was able to create with the Sony 24mm F/1.4 GM. You get some green and purple ghost strands, but they are relatively minor.
Color fringing is often a problem with lenses at wide aperture and high contrast. Fortunately, the color fringing on the Sony 24mm F/1.4 GM is very minor. If you look at the edges of the signs in the below crops, you will see faint fringing at 1.4 and 1.8, which is completely gone by F2.8.
Looking at a real world example at 1.4, you really have to look closely to find some purple fringing as demonstrated in the crop.
Sunstars
As a wide angle lens, I won’t even bother looking at bokeh balls. Landscape photographers are more likely to be interested in starbursts/sunbursts made by points of light.
At small aperture, the Sony 24mm f/1.4 creates wonderfully pointed starbursts.
Background Blur
I’ll leave a couple examples of background blur at wide aperture below and let readers just the quality themselves. To me, it’s a nice smooth and soft level of blur. For portraits, you’re never going to completely blur away the background at 24mm, but you can create a nice 3D pop.
Sharpness
Please excuse people walking through my sharpness tests below! For prime lenses, I am quite demanding of sharpness. When I describe a lens as “tack sharp,” I admittedly probably use a difference standard for prime lenses compared to zoom lenses. Other than some nitpicking about vignetting, I had no objections to the image quality of the Sony 24mm F/1.4 GM so far, let’s see how sharp it is.
Starting with center crops (click for large):
Before commenting, Center crops from closer focus distance:
Sharpness is already excellent in the center at 1.4. It only become sharper as you stop down, reaching peak sharpness around 2.8. I’d call it tack sharp starting at 1.8, but completely usable wide open.
Sharp centers are nothing new for Sony lenses, let’s move towards the aps-c border of the image:
And borders from closer focus:
The borders are just very very slightly soft at 1.4. In real world shooting, these are certainly usable results even at 1.4. Stopping down just slightly to 1.8, and the borders are really tack sharp.
The corners are always the most challenging:
And close focus:
There are some minor caveats at the corners. Vignetting keeps the corners noticeably darker. In terms of pure sharpness, the corners are quite usable wide open but I wouldn’t quite call them sharp. The good news is that the corners are acceptable throughout the aperture range, but you need to stop down to F4 to really get the corner to a truly excellent level. And even then, the corner is noticeably less sharp than the rest of the image.
In real world shooting, especially once you sharpen up the image in post processing, you really won’t be bothered by the corners. But under extreme nitpicking and pixel peeping, they just fall behind slightly. Below, see the difference once you process the corner a bit.
Corner sharpened:
Bonus: Sony 24mm F/1.4 sharpeness vs Batis 25mm F/2
Comparing the Sony and the Batis, at F2 and F2.8, first we will do the center:
In the center, the superiority of the Sony 24mm F/1.4 GM is obvious. At F2, you see a bit of color fringing in the Batis. Clearly at these wide apertures, the Sony 24mm F/1.4 GM is sharper, really already being painfully tack sharp at F2. The Batis is usable, but there is a tad of sharpness when pixel peeping.
The borders:
At the tested apertures at the borders, the Sony 24mm F/1.4 GM continues to resolve an image slightly sharper than the Zeiss Batis 25mm.
Corners:
The situation is a bit different in the far corners, where the Batis is just a tiny bit sharper than the Sony 24mm F/1.4 GM.
Essentially, the performance of the Batis is actually a bit more even across the entire frame. As noted in my review of the Batis, it gives you a tack sharp image from corner to corner at F4. The Sony 24mm F/1.4 GM is extremely sharp over most of the frame, even at very wide apertures, but the far corners lag just very slightly.
Overall:
The Sony 24mm F/1.4 GM delivers on the promise of a truly premium lens at a relatively reasonable price and in a surprisingly light weight body. My only complaints are that vignetting is a little worse than I’d like and the extreme corners just don’t reach the optimal sharpness that we see over most of the frame. In real world shooting, the corners are plenty sharp even for demanding landscapes and the vignetting is likely easily corrected.
I previously gave the Zeiss Batis 25mm F/2 a very high score (9/10) for delivering a near perfect wide landscape lens. Overall, the Sony 24mm F/1.4 GM is an even better lens. While being just slightly heavier than the Batis and just slightly more expensive, it is a full stop faster and delivers generally superior image quality. The Batis does offer superior corner performance — slightly sharper and less vignette as you stop down. But over most of the frame, the Sony 24mm F/1.4 GM is sharper, it suffers from less color fringing and even less distortion. If you are doing any astro-photography or handheld low light shooting, you’ll appreciate the extra stop of aperture on the Sony GM.
Though I haven’t tested it, I wouldn’t even consider the Sigma Art 24mm F/1.4. While is is significantly cheaper at about $850, it also weighs 665 grams. For me at least, a few hundred dollars savings isn’t worth 50% more weight.
In my previous review of the Zeiss Batis 25mm, I stated “Paired with Sony mirrorless, I much prefer a lightweight F2 lens over a bulky heavy 1.4 lens. So the Zeiss Batis 25mm f/2 really hits the sweet spot of low weight and a price that is essentially fair.” Since the Sony 24mm F/1.4 GM is just barely heavier and more expensive than the Zeiss Batis, while being a full stop faster and generally superior, it should easily be the top choice of a 24mm prime. If buying new now in 2019, I’d only seriously consider the Zeiss Batis 25mm f/2 if the price is significantly discounted. On the other hand, as I already own the Zeiss Batis 25mm F/2, which is already a fantastic lens, I don’t feel compelled to upgrade to the Sony 24mm F/1.4 GM.
See the Sony 24mm F/1.4 on Amazon / Adorama
The Sony 24mm F/1.4 is sightly better than the Zeiss Batis 25mm F/2, while only adding a bit more weight and cost. It’s also a full stop faster. So it easily justifies a high rating. Not everyone needs a 24mm prime, but if you do, this lens is the easy choice.
Rating (1-10): Score: 9
(About my scoring: 9-10 is a superb lens which could have a place in the bag of almost every photographer. 6-8: recommended with caveats. 3-5: A compromised lens that may still be suitable for some shooters and situations. 1-2: Just stick to your phone camera)
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