Looking at fully magnified images (from A7RIII) I feel that their lens is softer on sides more than I would have expected (stopped down apertures, far detail).
I have 24GM on order since end of October. I hope it will be better than this. The demo sample at Sony Day event was good (on A7III, here). I hope the one I receive will be as good.
Today I was processing some 24/1.4 GM images from a few weeks ago and was struck by the beautiful color balance on every shot. The 24 GM is my favorite lens by a significant margin. It's almost hard to take a bad image. The focus is instant and accurate, the lens is tack sharp, the bokeh is smooth and round, and the colors - just wow!
smpetty wrote:
Today I was processing some 24/1.4 GM images from a few weeks ago and was struck by the beautiful color balance on every shot. The 24 GM is my favorite lens by a significant margin. It's almost hard to take a bad image. The focus is instant and accurate, the lens is tack sharp, the bokeh is smooth and round, and the colors - just wow!
Right now it's my favorite lens by far. Rendering is reminiscent of my RX1RII but with rounder and cleaner specular highlights.
Fred Miranda wrote:
Right now it's my favorite lens by far. Rendering is reminiscent of my RX1RII but with rounder and cleaner specular highlights.
I would agree on the 24 GM. I've obviously only had it a few months (release day), and it's already been used for a wide range of purposes, and performed excellently at all of them. I don't have a lot of lenses I can say that about. I used to have a 24L v2 in my Canon days, and it didn't see nearly this much use.
The scary part is if Sony cranks out a number of lenses over the next few years that are similar when it comes to IQ/size/price compared to other offerings....that could get expensive...
So would I be a fool to sell my Loxia 21 and Batis 25 lenses and buy a 24 1.4 GM? There seem to be a lot of Batis 25s for sale on Ebay....It may be hard to get rid of mine.
Neurad1 wrote:
So would I be a fool to sell my Loxia 21 and Batis 25 lenses and buy a 24 1.4 GM? There seem to be a lot of Batis 25s for sale on Ebay....It may be hard to get rid of mine.
Batis 25 would still be better if you do videos with people in it due less distortion but for anything else Sony 24 1.4GM seems more fun. If you think about selling Loxia you probably don't use it enough so i'd say go ahead with it.
Neurad1 wrote:
So would I be a fool to sell my Loxia 21 and Batis 25 lenses and buy a 24 1.4 GM? There seem to be a lot of Batis 25s for sale on Ebay....It may be hard to get rid of mine.
That's a tough call. I looked at the Batis 25, Loxia 25 and 24 GM before ultimately deciding on the Loxia. The Loxia is the best for landscapes, full stop, at least from my testing. Sharper to the corners, better colour and contrast, better to focus...just better for how I work and what I'd use it for. The GM is a better all-rounder, clearly, and it's better as a landscape lens than most fast 24's have a right to be. It's pretty small and light, though I was used to my Nikon 24/1.8 so maybe I'm not quite as blown away by the size as others have been. The Batis is the middle child for me...great in most ways, really great actually, but not 'best' at any one thing. I liked the Loxia or GM better in every category I rate a lens. So, will you miss what you get from the Loxia 21? That would be the biggest question. The GM will easily replace the Batis but it won't replace the Loxia because it's not as wide and not as adept at landscapes. I guess it comes down to how you mostly use your 24/25mm focal length. I desperately wanted to buy the GM because I love the idea of a fast 24 and I really like the GM build and it's match to my 100 STF...but having owned the fast Nikon for a few years I know that I almost never use that focal length to take pictures of people. I could, I should, but I don't. So, yeah.
Neurad1 wrote:
So I'm correct in assuming that you didn't buy the 24 1.4?
Yes, sorry if I didn't make that clear. I bought the Loxia 25/2.4. While a pretty specialized (and special!) lens, I use the focal length for landscapes and the Loxia is better at this, full stop. But I really liked the GM and I wanted to buy it haha...I just had to be honest with myself about how I would, in the real world, use the lens. So that's what I mean...ask yourself how you're going to deploy the GM. Will you miss the FOV of the 21? Will you use it enough for landscapes that you'll notice that the 21 is likely a stronger performer for that specific use case? If not, if you're going to use it for family, events, wandering the streets, environmental portraiture and some landscapes...I think you'll happily replace both lenses with the GM. But for me, I couldn't justify an extra $400 CDN (I got a deal on the Loxia) for a lens that didn't quite perform as well in the specific scenario I'd use it in 80% of the time. But it's a very, very impressive optic and I love the GM build.
Also, I use an original A7R so, yeah, the fact that the Loxia is a manual focus lens is less important on a camera whose AF can, at best, be described as between 'leisurely' and 'painfully slow'.
I'm doing some reshuffling of my kit and the 24GM is kind of calling for me
My Loxia 21 is a dear lens to me and I know it is fantastic and feels hard to let it go. I do have a buyer for it already if I do decide to sell and I would like to replace it with the 24GM if I do so.
I'm shooting with the 12-24G more and more for landscapes for its flexibility and will be adding a 24-105G to it as well for a two lens kit does it all when going for long hikes.
