Sony 35mm f1.4 GM Review: Is THIS the 35mm to get?
Sony has really knocked it out of the park with the 35mm f1.4 GM camera lens. You may have to break the bank a bit to get it, but we can assure you right now: it’s worth it and you’ll be glad that you did.
The 35mm f1.4 GM has a lot of specifications going on under its hood. It has two XA elements, one ED element, Nano AR Coating II, dual XD Linear AF Motors, dust and moisture resistance for harsh environments, 14 elements and 10 groups. It also has a D-click switch for the aperture and 67mm for its front filter thread. The lens is also lightweight as it only weighs 524 grams.
The dual XD Linear AF Motor makes the 35mm f1.4 GM’s autofocusing lightning fast. The lens also has a very sharp image quality, not to mention it has a great bouquet. The 35mm f1.4 GM complements the 24mm f1.4 – a lens we really love – in every way. If you can have both the 24mm f1.4 GM and the 35mm f1.4 GM in your bag, do it. Both of them are fantastic to have.
Sony really outdid themselves with this camera lens. We found that its weight feels really good and balanced when we tested the lens out on an A7R III and A7R IV. You can definitely take this lens with you every day without any issue at all. The aperture rings have a nice click to them as with all G Master lenses. There’s no hard stop on the 35mm f1.4 GM’s focusing ring, but you can de-click the lens for a smoother change in aperture change in your video.
The 35mm f1.4 GM lens quality and performance is on par with the 135mm f1.8 GM. We’re glad to see that Sony’s bringing out some more f1.4 lenses because they need some faster aperture lenses out there right now. If you need just one 35mm camera lens and that’s it, just get the 35mm f1.4 GM. There are probably other variants from different companies out there that do 35mm camera lenses, but what we’re seeing with the 35mm f1.4 GM when compared with the Samyang 35mm lens makes for a pretty hard argument to counter. Yes, you’ll have to fork out a bit more money to get the 35mm f1.4 GM lens, but you’ll be very happy that you did. It’s worth it.
We’ve noticed that the colour the lens has when taking pictures is very nice; they’re a little bit more saturated. People talk about the sensor causing a lot of the colour cast but the lens itself has something to do with that as well. Certain manufacturers have different colour casts; sometimes you get a more vibrant photo, while some have more of a greenish or reddish cast. The 35mm f1.4 GM, meanwhile, offers a very nice, neutral, but not too saturated colour cast. It has enough saturation to give images a little bite to them. You’ll also find that flaring is really controlled, and the lens’ close focusing also gets top marks from us.
We found that pictures taken with the 35mm f1.4 GM camera lens are sharp and has a 3D pop to them. The lens will also give you an artistic feel to your pictures; the background of bokeh shots is well controlled and has a bit of character to it.
We tried shooting some sun stars, and sure, there was a bit of flaring, but as mentioned earlier, these are well-controlled even if you’re shooting directly at the sun. Although, you might need to edit your photos to really accentuate the sun stars if you prefer.
The 35mm f1.4 GM camera lens also captures an image’s detail really well. The new GM lenses we’ll be getting from Sony will resolve perfectly fine on Sony A7R IV and the Sony A1, so don’t worry about that.
There’s been no fringing or chromatic aberration when taking pictures with the 35mm f1.4 GM, and if you de-click the aperture ring, changing the aperture while filming videos is super smooth.
Overall, the Sony 35mm f1.4 GM is a fantastic lens and we highly recommend you get it if you have the budget for it. It’s the only 35mm lens you’ll need for your Sony camera. The 35mm f1.8 lens may be the economical option compared to the 35mm f1.4 GM, but if you’re into photography and you want to bring just one lens around, then you should get this lens.
Content by Bobby Tonelli