The Sony 100mm f2.8 G Master lens is the company’s latest offering for those of us who want a macro lens. And here’s where I still probably start to sound like the villain to so many Sony users. With this lens being the successor to the 90mm f2.8 lens, I am truly perplexed. Sony had a decade and I still feel like they did the bare minimum instead of striving for true excellence. Why do I think that? Well, there was a point where I was discussing with our staff that all I would’ve said in this review is that, “it’s a lens.” And indeed, it’s a lens. The image quality is beautiful and it’s what you’d expect from a G Master. That statement comes with the fetishization of reality that Sony has along with milk when you ask for cream — even though Sony is capable of providing cream.
The Big Picture: Sony 100mm f2.8 G Master Review Conclusions
The Sony 100mm f2.8 G Master lens is a solid lens. But that’s the problem. I truly feel like today, brands need to push themselves even harder and farther. They’re not, though. What more would I want in this lens? Well, what about more aperture blades to make the bokeh even creamier? You can argue that it won’t have a difference, but nor does trying to make the lens all that much sharper. But the biggest gripe that I’ve got with this lens is that I think that Sony could’ve added in something like a tilt-shift feature. One of my favorite macro lenses is the Canon 135mm f4 Macro L with tilt-shift. It’s way past time for Sony to launch a tilt-shift lens.
Conversely, Canon does this lens with chromatic aberration control to give you unique image quality. So why can’t Sony?
- Weather resistant, which makes sense for a G Master lens
- Pretty lightweight
- Fast to autofocus
- I love that there’s the pull-back focusing feature on the manual focus ring
- Very accurate when focusing
- I’m torn over whether or not this is worth nearly $1,500
- Sony could’ve gone so much further with this lens
Truly, I’m bored of Sony G Master lenses. Sony has become a victim of their own success and they don’t feel like there’s a need to truly do something majorly different with lenses like this. I’m giving Sony three out of five stars. I’m so bored with the same thing being pushed in the faces of photographers over and over again.
Experience
I tested the Sony 100mm f2.8 G Master lens on the Sony a7r III and the original Sony a7. Why not the newer bodies? Well, I’ve truly realized that at this point, it doesn’t matter anymore. The imaging tech hasn’t improved all that much. And the only major enhancements to autofocus are through scene detection and AI. But those come from using the camera.
Where this lens is really sweet is when you’re shooting macro images handheld with a flash going off to add the effects of flash duration and adding more faux stabilization. If you’re not sure why that’s the case, I encourage you to look up what flash duration does and how it acts as a second shutter speed.
When shooting with the lens and wanting to get closer, it’s easier to switch into manual focus mode and just focus on the subject yourself. This can be really fun.
Image Quality
This section is going to be short. The Sony 100mm f2.8 G Master lens is what it is. It’s Sony’s top of the line and they’ve got a specific fetishization of what reality should be and their own idea of image quality. It’s going to be what you think it will be. There will be no traces of soul.
But for this lens test, I got bored of shooting the plants around my apartment and the watches I have. So I decided to look at ice formations and water tablets as they dissolve. If you’ve got the curiousity to photograph things like this at that level, then you might enjoy this lens. However, I still think I could’ve done even more if it had either chromatic aberration control or tilt-shift mechanics.
Tech Specs
Specs are taken from the Lensrentals listing
Sony FE 100mm F2.8 GM OSS Macro Lens is a unique medium telephoto macro lens with 1.4x magnification, up to 2.8x with an optional teleconverter, incredible G Master resolution, bokeh, autofocus, and handling.
Key features include:
- Capture stunning close-ups with this 100mm macro lens, perfect for intricate detail.
- Experience exceptional image quality and beautiful bokeh with the f/2.8 maximum aperture.
- Enjoy crisp, steady shots even handheld, thanks to built-in Optical SteadyShot stabilization.
- Achieve professional-grade results in portrait and product photography with precise focus.
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