“I don’t know who’s gonna buy this,” I’ve said often about the new Sony 50-150mm f2 G Master lens. I applaud Sony for making it – in fact, my eyes lit up during the presentation to the press. I even stated that I thought that people would probably get rid of the 135mm f1.8 G Master lenses for it. But after working with this lens for studio portraits and alongside the Tamron 35-150mm f2-2.8 lens, I can firmly state that the Tamron is the more reasonable lens in every single way. Though at the same time, we should give Sony the credit for making Canon and Nikon have to do something to catch up a bit more.
The Big Picture: Sony 50-150mm f2 G Master Review Conclusions
The Sony 50-150mm is a fantastic lens in ways that don’t necessarily count. It’s designed for portrait photographers and event photographers. I did several shoots with this lens and often found myself instead wanting the Tamron 35-150mm f2-2.8. And no, I don’t care that the aperture changes because the truth is that if you’re a real photographer, you’re probably working with a strobe. And indeed, the Profoto B10 paired with either of these lenses and a TTL transmitter does a fantastic job.
Why would someone buy this? A friend told me that they’d use it for concerts. After thinking about that a lot, I thought that instead, I’d just reach for my prime lenses. In fact, I’ve really only ever shot concerts with prime lenses because it’s way too dark.
The truth is that 50-150mm is such a limiting range. It’s not wide enough to shoot many events, and it’s not long enough to shoot in a way that makes you inconspicuous.
But on top of that, I can’t see anyone except for the most hype Sony cultists purchasing this lens. There’s so much more that I’d rather do with $4,000 – like buy the Fujifilm GFX 100RF.
We’re giving this lens a 4 out of 5 stars. Want one? Check it out on Amazon. At the time of review, we were told that the price would be around $4,000, but that does not consider tariffs.
Pros
- This is something very unique
- It can replace so many lenses in your camera bag. The 135mm f1.8 G Master immediately comes to mine
- Fast focusing
- Pretty lightweight for what this lens is, even though the competing Tamron 35-150mm f2-2.8 carries its weight better
- Fully working aperture ring
Cons
- Good lord, it’s pretty expensive
- I wish you could lock the focal lengths
Gear Used
Here’s what we used:
Who is the Sony 50-150mm f2 G Master For?
Get this lens if you need only one lens for studio photography or if you’re shooting events in low light without a flash. For both of these situations, I’d still say that you should get prime lenses instead.
Innovations
So what’s innovative about this lens? Well, there’s nothing like it on the market at all for full-frame cameras. More than that, Sony kept the size and weight down pretty well. That’s really about it.
Hardware
This is a G Master lens, so Sony has packed all the weather resistance that the can into something like this. It’s a big lens for what it’s worth – especially when it’s attached to Sony’s SLR-style a7 series cameras. But when it’s attached to the Sony a7C R, the package is surprisingly much more manageable. Just make sure that you’re using a really solid and comfortable strap to make the most of this lens and the camera when shooting with them.
You know, every single time that I used this lens, I remembered that the point of mirrorless cameras was to get a smaller package than the DSLRs out there and all that they offered. But when I pick this lens up, I feel like we all bought into a bait and switch played on you by a NYC Real Estate agent or someone who used to work for Willoughby’s cameras.
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Ease of Use
Because of the massive front filter thread, you can’t really attach many filters designed for portraits onto it. So those mist filters? Good luck. What I ended up doing was using the mist filters that go over the sensor made by Kolari Vision. Otherwise, you’ll need to use the square filters, hold them in front while you’re holding the camera and lens with one hand, and then shoot. But why?
Well, Sony doesn’t really have a lot of ways to do things in-camera; and that’s been one of my biggest gripes since the start. And in this case, I feel like Sony is really holding back on in-camera creativity. This would’ve been one of the most perfect lenses to do in-camera multiple exposures with, but Sony hasn’t ever allowed a photographer to do that.
Some of you are probably stuck on, “Why buy this lens to use a filter?”
Well, the bigger question is, “Why buy this lens?” And a week into testing this lens, I’m still not sure as to why you’d do that.
With more than two weeks behind me now, I don’t feel like this lens has helped me creativity any bit. It isn’t making me a better photographer, and it isn’t really inspiring me to shoot. Regardless, I did great work with this lens.
Something to keep in mind is that the aperture ring locks – and lots of folks might really like that.
Focusing
In nearly every situation that I shot with this lens, it nailed the subject. Where that suffered is when using older cameras like the Sony a7 original and the Sony a7r III. That could be as a result of the fact that I’ve beaten the absolute hell out of those cameras, however.
I also didn’t get the opportunity to test the camera on people of color in low light. However, considering that I was sent the Sony a7r V – Sony’s worst autofocusing camera in my eyes – I’m not sure it would’ve done very well. If you’re getting this lens, be sure that you’ve got at least the Sony a1 II.
But with the Sony a7c R set to human autofocus detection, it couldn’t even focus on a person of color (with a darker shade) in pretty good lighting who was further away.
Image Quality
Something that should be said for sure: this lens has image quality that really makes your subject matter pop — that’s in part thanks to nice bokeh it offers. And that’s really wonderful because it’s a result of the f2 aperture. To ensure that I wasn’t lying to myself, I went through the images I shot in Capture One all over again and even put my contacts in to see in 20/18. It’s a nice lens for sure. Sony spent most of their presentation pixel peeping a bunch of images, but honestly, I don’t care to pixel peep. And nor do my clients.
Still, for my liking, Sony cameras and lenses offer too much of a blank slate. We’ve got all these advancements but in no other time in history do I feel we’ve been lacking such creativity.
Extra Image Samples
The Phoblographer has been huge on transparency with our audience since day one. Nothing from this review is sponsored. Further, many folks will post reviews and show lots of editing in the photos. The problem then becomes that anyone and everyone can do the same thing. They’re not showing what the lens can do. So, we have a section in our Extra Image Samples area to show edited and unedited photos. From this, you can decide for yourself.
Edited
Unedited
Tech Specs
- A world’s first with a 50-150mm f2
- 3 Extra-low dispersion elements
- 2 Extreme Aspherical elements
- 2 Aspherical elements
- 2 Super ED elements
- Nano AR Coating II
- 4 XD Linear motors
- Weather resistance
- 95mm filter thread
- 11 Aperture blades
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