Introduction
The Sony FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM II is a brand new premium wide-angle zoom lens for the Sony’s in depth vary of full-frame FE-mount cameras.It will also be used on APS-C sensor Sony E-mount mirrorless cameras, the place it supplies a 24-52.5mm equal focal size.It successfully replaces the unique Sony FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM lens that was launched again in 2016.It has 5 aspherical parts, three of that are Sony’s XA (excessive aspherical) parts that cut back aberration and ship final decision, two ED (extra-low dispersion) parts and one ED Aspherical component to suppress chromatic aberrations. There’s the most recent Nano AR II coating to reduce inner reflections in order that flare and ghosting don’t happen and a flourine coating on the entrance component to forestall fingerprints, mud, oil and different contaminants.There are 4 excessive dynamic (XD) linear motors for quick, quiet and exact auto-focusing, and it boasts a dust- and moisture-resistant design.For macro taking pictures the lens has a minimal focusing distance of 22cm with a most magnification of 0.32x and a near-circular 11 blade diaphragm which creates a really engaging blur to the out-of-focus areas of the picture.A standard aperture ring runs from f/2.8 to f/22 in third-stop increments with an Auto setting additionally accessible. The Click On/Off swap adjustments the aperture ring between 1/3 clicked steps and a clean clickless motion. There’s additionally an Iris Lock swap included.The Sony FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM II lens is out there from September 2023 priced at £2400 / €2700 within the UK and Europe respectively. It is made in Thailand.
Ease of Use
Weighing in at simply 547g / 19.3oz and measuring 111.5mm in size, the hybrid steel and engineered plastic-bodied Sony FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM II feels very well-constructed.
Sony have managed to considerably cut back the burden in comparison with the unique by a whopping 133g and the size by 10mm, making it approx. 20% lighter. Indeed, Sony claims that that is the smallest and lightest 16-35mm F2.8 lens in its class.
It’s smaller total measurement and weight makes it really feel well-balanced even on the smaller rangefinder-esque Sony A7C R physique that we examined it with.
Note that the size of the lens does improve barely by about 2cm once you set the focal size to 16mm, steadily turning into shorter as you zoom out to 35mm.
The Sony FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM II has a sealed mud and moisture resistant design that ought to face up to rain showers, however you will want to guard it in additional inclement climate.
This lens doesn’t characteristic built-in Optical SteadyShot picture stabilisation, as a substitute counting on the in-body stabilisation system that almost all of Sony digicam our bodies have.
The vast and ridged zoom ring, barely narrower guide focus ring and the model new aperture ring are the three fundamental exterior controls of notice.
Manual focusing is feasible through the textured focus ring on the finish of the lens when it is activated utilizing the AF/MF swap on aspect of the lens barrel.
There aren’t any onerous stops at both finish of the focusing vary, making it a bit harder to set focus at infinity. Polariser customers needs to be happy that the 82mm filter thread does not rotate on focus.
The lens makes use of 4 XD linear motors for very quick, quiet quiet and clean focusing, making it very well-suited to taking pictures each stills and video, particularly as focus respiration is suppressed each optically and in-camera.
When it involves auto-focusing, it proved to be an virtually silent, very fast performer on the Sony A7C R digicam that we examined it with. We did not expertise very a lot “searching” in any respect, both in good or unhealthy gentle, with the lens precisely focusing virtually all the time.
Sony’s close to flawless Eye AF works completely with this lens, rapidly locking onto and monitoring the topic’s eye regardless of the non-telephoto view.
This lens options an aperture ring that has 1/3EV stops starting from f/2.8 to f/22 and an Auto setting.
The Click swap on the bottom-right of the lens barrel lets you choose whether or not the aperture ring clicks into place at every aperture cease or rotates easily for silent operation throughout film recording.
Using the Iris Lock swap on the lens barrel, it will also be locked to both the Auto or F2.8-F22 settings to forestall unintended motion of the aperture ring.
The lens has two customisable focus maintain buttons which maintain the lens locked to the present focusing distance, helpful if you happen to’re auto-focusing and don’t need the lens to try to discover focus once more. It may, amongst different choices, be usefully set to Eye AF.
The Sony FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM lens has a steel lens mount. It accepts 82mm filters through plastic threads and is commendably provided with each a smooth case and an improved, good high quality plastic petal-shaped lens hood (ALC-SH177) that now locks into place and has an built-in launch button.
Focal Range
At the 16mm focal size the angle of view is 83° levels.
16mm
At the 35mm focal size the angle of view is 44° levels.
35mm
Chromatic Aberrations
Chromatic aberrations, sometimes seen as blue or purple fringes alongside contrasty edges, have been virtually utterly absent from our check pictures, solely showing in very excessive distinction areas.
16mm
35mm
Vignetting
With the lens set to its most aperture of f/2.8 there’s some apparent gentle fall-off within the corners, requiring you to cease down by at the least 2 f-stops to utterly stop it.
16mm
35mm
Distortion
There’s some barrel distortion evident at 16mm and pin-cushion distortion at 35mm within the RAW recordsdata – the Sony A7C R digicam robotically and efficiently applies corrections to the JPEG recordsdata that removes most of it if you happen to flip Distortion Compensation to Auto.
16mm
35mm
Sunbursts
The Sony FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM II is able to creating some fairly spectacular sunburst results if you happen to cease it right down to f/16 or f/22.
16mm
35mm
Macro
The Sony FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM is not claimed to be a macro lens, but it surely does provide a powerful minimal focusing distance of 22cm / 0.72ft all through the whole zoom vary and a most magnification of 0.32x, a marked enchancment on the unique model.
Bokeh
Bokeh is a phrase used for the out-of-focus areas of {a photograph}, and is normally described in qualitative phrases, similar to clean / creamy / harsh and so on.
In the FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM II lens, Sony employed an iris diaphragm with 11 rounded aperture blades, which has resulted in very interesting bokeh in our view for such a wide-angle lens.
We do realise, nonetheless, that bokeh analysis is subjective, so we have included a number of 100% crops on your perusal.
Sharpness
In order to point out you the way sharp the Sony FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM II lens is, we’re offering 100% crops on the next pages.
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