The challenge for highly corrected lenses with high contrast is to not lose the character of the lens due to overcorrection. Often the lenses with the most “magical” rendering are not perfectly corrected and retain a few flaws. There are, however, rare exceptions to this rule. Some lenses manage to find the sweet spot between high contrast and beautiful rendering. The 85GM II does fairly well in this regard, but I would say that the overall rendering is more technically excellent than artistic.
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But it was rare that I found the bokeh just purely creamy. I felt like there was often a little more outlining than what I would like.
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In general, the most egregious thing I can come up with optically is that I don’t always find the rendering as “magical” as some 85mm lenses I’ve tested, but that’s probably still stretching things.
p.2 #4 · Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM II Announced—Pre-Orders Now Open!
KarmaKramer wrote:
Can’t imagine a good reason to replace the Sigma 85/1.4 DG DN. A lot will, but I can’t. If one fell off a truck I’d check it out tho’
I regretfully replaced my Sony GM 85 v1 with the Sigma. No real mojo to the Sigma, just a clinically perfect image. I never really had the alleged focus issues others have reported, maybe I had a unicorn — unfortunately I became the victim of GAS from influencers. I will definitely be dropping the sigma eventually and either picking up a v1 85 if the price plummets used or new, or the new gm II after it’s been out a while and the price drops a bit.
p.2 #5 · Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM II Announced—Pre-Orders Now Open!
Jazzgear296 wrote:
I regretfully replaced my Sony GM 85 v1 with the Sigma. No real mojo to the Sigma, just a clinically perfect image. I never really had the alleged focus issues others have reported, maybe I had a unicorn — unfortunately I became the victim of GAS from influencers. I will definitely be dropping the sigma eventually and either picking up a v1 85 if the price plummets used or new, or the new gm II after it’s been out a while and the price drops a bit.
I just picked up the V1 at a great price. I haven't found any issues with mine, even the AF. It's not my go to for action, but I bought it specifically for ocassional portraits and it works for me. I think it's great the Sony is consistently upgrading their GM glass and that they kept the price the same.
p.2 #6 · Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM II Announced—Pre-Orders Now Open!
Fred Miranda wrote:
I hope Sony hasn’t overcorrected for spherical aberration in the new model, as a bit of aberration can sometimes enhance portrait aesthetics. I’m also curious about how much the rendering has improved, as it was a key strength of this lens, and hope there haven’t been any dramatic changes in that regard.
I appreciate the savings in weight, size, and the faster linear motors, but the 85mm f/1.4 GM remains a classic for its portrait quality. In my opinion,, higher resolution and contrast aren’t always ideal for a lens specifically designed and marketed for portraits...
Yup.
And if people on internet forms have been consistently talking about this for the last 10 years, it’s not like Sony doesn’t understand. They’re making a deliberate choice to engineer the aesthetic in a particular way. I remember Fuji GFX 80 1.7 release underscored SA as did Sigma 45/2.8 official documentation.
I am not liking the look of these much from Abbott’s review. I am waiting to see some half body shots at mid and longer distances WO. Seems like the lenses is a super high contrast razor all over the frame from 1.4, so yeah…
p.2 #8 · Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM II Announced—Pre-Orders Now Open!
Steve Spencer wrote:
The bokeh shouldn't be swirly. Swirly needs both vignetting and spherical aberrations. Since they lower spherical aberrations I don't think we will see much swirl. We will likely see very abrupt focus transitions that are a little busy, however, and we will see cat's eye shaped bokeh balls extend further from the periphery.
Exactly, if the transition bokeh is harsh what adv does it offer over the sigma which is sharp, light, cheap, fast af?
p.2 #10 · Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM II Announced—Pre-Orders Now Open!
Long overdue. Excited to try it out!
Aug 28, 2024 at 04:37 PM
Steve Spencer Offline • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: On
p.2 #11 · Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM II Announced—Pre-Orders Now Open!
wind30 wrote:
Image 9 at dpreview samples shows transition bokeh. I thought it looks pretty good.
You need a lot more than one shot to evaluate transition bokeh as both background and focus distance can matter a lot.
Aug 28, 2024 at 04:41 PM
Steve Spencer Offline • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: On
p.2 #12 · Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM II Announced—Pre-Orders Now Open!
wind30 wrote:
Exactly, if the transition bokeh is harsh what adv does it offer over the sigma which is sharp, light, cheap, fast af?
It seems there will be at least two advantages over the Sigma: 1) distortion seems to be well corrected optically; 2) the AF and particularly at high frames per second is probably better. This lens will do 120 fps with good AF, or at least that is the claim. I am pretty sure the Sigma won’t and I think as a third party lens will be limited to 15 fps.
p.2 #13 · Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM II Announced—Pre-Orders Now Open!
It is interesting that while some reviewers are bringing up the price difference to the Sigma 85/1.4 DG DN Art and how having a f/1.2 would have been nice none mention that the Canon RF 85/1.2L is $500-600 more and that the Nikkor Z 85/1.2 S is $1000 more. They also don’t mention that the Canon and Nikon lens are 500-600 grams heavier than the GM II just announced.
I still own the original GM and the Canon RF L version and I can tell you that I think I support Sony’s decision to give us a fast focusing f/1.4. Who know it might even fit on an A7CR when push comes to shove. I know some will say that Sony’s mount size won’t support an f/1.2 but it looks like the top tier YouTube reviewers have learned to not bring up any of Canon’s, Nikon’s or Sony’s negative points or weaknesses if they expect to get the next new product offerings coming down the pipe.
p.2 #14 · Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM II Announced—Pre-Orders Now Open!
nehemiahphoto wrote:
Yup.
And if people on internet forms have been consistently talking about this for the last 10 years, it’s not like Sony doesn’t understand. They’re making a deliberate choice to engineer the aesthetic in a particular way. I remember Fuji GFX 80 1.7 release underscored SA as did Sigma 45/2.8 official documentation.
I am not liking the look of these much from Abbott’s review. I am waiting to see some half body shots at mid and longer distances WO. Seems like the lenses is a super high contrast razor all over the frame from 1.4, so yeah…
I assume Sony will continue to sell and support Ver. 1 of the lens, as they have with their 50mm lenses. I wonder if over time the old version will outsell the new version.
p.2 #16 · Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM II Announced—Pre-Orders Now Open!
swldstn wrote:
It is interesting that while some reviewers are bringing up the price difference to the Sigma 85/1.4 DG DN Art none and how having a f/1.2 would have been nice none mention that the Canon RF 85/1.2L is $500-600 more and that the Nikkor Z 85/1.2 S is $1000 more. They also don’t mention that the Canon and Nikon lens are 500-600 grams heavier than the GM II just announced.
I still own the original GM and the Canon RF L version and I can tell you that I think I support Sony’s decision to give us a fast focusing f/1.4. Who know it might even fit on an A7CR when push comes to shove. I know some will say that Sony’s mount size won’t support an f/1.2 but it looks like the top tier YouTube reviewers have learned to not bring up any of Canon’s, Nikon’s or Sony’s negative points or weaknesses if they expect to get the next new product offerings coming down the pipe.
I think this lens will certainly have a place and find photographers for whom it is just right and that it will be much-used. But I don't see it replacing the rendering of the Ver. 1.
p.2 #17 · Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM II Announced—Pre-Orders Now Open!
chiron wrote:
Excellent images by Galer, but the rendering is missing the luminousness and pastel-like contrast of the Spherical aberrations in the Ver. 1.
I agree, those samples really highlight the capabilities of the new 85/1.4 GM. Many will likely prefer its higher resolution, contrast, and improved optical correction, making it more comparable to the FE 135/1.8 GM and Sigma 85/1.4.
However, the original version might still appeal to those who favor a more classic aesthetic. Don’t get me wrong, the 85/1.4 GM v1 is still an incredibly sharp lens, but it isn't as well-corrected at wider apertures.
p.2 #18 · Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM II Announced—Pre-Orders Now Open!
I actually like Galers shots in his review. I see a lot of nice looking 3D and lovely bokeh throughout the series. Enough for me to buy it knowing now it's better AF abilities. To me the rendering looks similar to version 1 lens. Admittedly it's a sharp sharp lens and that may actually bug some folks. I need a sharp 85
p.2 #20 · Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM II Announced—Pre-Orders Now Open!
I had and loved the mk1 of this lens, but sold it a while ago to try other lenses. I feel like 85mm is my most needed focal length, so I will definitely be getting this.
It will be useful combined with the A9iii for sporting events, specifically my kid's fencing competitions, which this focal length is the sweet spot for the type of venues I'm in typically.
