Sony released the eighth addition to Sony’s G-Master lenses, the Sony FE 24mm f/1.4 GM, in October 2018. This is the eighth addition to Sony’s G-Master lenses. Designed for a full-frame 35mm digital sensor, it is also used on an APC-S sensor. It will produce a field of view of approximately 36mm. The 24mm is a favored wide-angle focal length and my personal favorite. And it is well-suited for landscape, nature, and street photography.
Sony FE 24mm Build Quality
The Sony FE 24mm f/1.4 GM is the smallest and lightest lens in its class, at 445 grams. The lens mount is metal and the 67mm filter threads are plastic. The lens has a fluorine-coated front element. It resists dust, moisture, and fingerprints and is easy to clean.
The lens has some features that other GM lenses don’t have. A lens switch allows the user to enable or disable autofocus (AF/MF). And a button above this switch allows the user to assign a custom function. The lens also features an aperture ring. It includes a “Click” switch so you can feel the aperture change or not. The ring features 1/3 aperture increments from f/1.4 to f/16 and an “A” for automatic aperture selection. “Click” switch allows the user to enable or disable click-stops when selecting aperture. In video shooting, this is particularly useful.
The Sony FE 24mm f/1.4 GM features a 3/4-inch wide focus ring that is rubber. With a series of ribs running parallel to the body of the lens. There is some resistance as you rotate the ring. The lens is focus-by-wire so the ring will continue to turn. The lens boasts a rounded 11-blade diaphragm. And contributes to a pleasing bokeh quality when employing selective focus techniques. The Sony FE 24mm f/1.4 GM includes a tulip lens hood. The lens hood is around 1 5/8 inches in depth. The hood is a bayonet mount. It reverses onto the lens for easy storage but denies access to the focus ring in this configuration.
Sony FE 24mm Sharpness
This lens is part of Sony’s esteemed G Master series. The lens design achieves a high resolution and sharpness. This is through the correction of spherical and chromatic aberrations. Sony claims resolution even at f/1.4 is super sharp. Optimal sharpness is at f/5.6. Also, the images on faster apertures were super sharp.
Chromatic Aberration
The Sony 24mm f/1.4 chromatic aberration is well-controlled. Sony incorporates two XA elements into the optical design. It features superior surface precision for effective control over astigmatism. It also features field curvature, coma, and other spherical aberrations. This is great in astrophotography, where stars are all point light sources. Some extra features are three extra-low dispersion elements in the lens design. They help to reduce chromatic aberrations and color fringing. This improves clarity and color neutrality.
Vignetting
The Sony 24mm f/1.4 has some corner shading, though it’s fixed with post-processing.
Distortion
Most wide angle lenses show barrel distortion. But this lens shows a mild pincushion distortion. It will be invisible in most images except architecture. Correction profiles are available. The distortion can correct with a value of -3 in Lightroom.
Sony FE 24mm Autofocus Operation
The lens uses a Direct Drive SSM (supersonic wave) focusing motor. This makes it compatible with all modern Sony camera bodies. Autofocus is fast, about one second to slew through infinity to closest focus, and is near silent. Autofocus results can be overridden at any time by turning the focus ring.
Conclusion
This lens is the ultimate jack of all trades when it comes to wide angle lenses. The lens is quite small, light, and has all the comfort of a high-end lens. It has great build quality, decent landscape, and Astro performance. It is also excelling in portrait, wedding and documentation photography. This is the best lens if you shoot many different subjects or want to own one wide angle lens.
