p.22 #1 · Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM II Announced—Pre-Orders Now Open!
Quite tempting. I must say since I own a 50 and a 135 (and a 70-200 GMII), I’m wondering if I will really use this lens. I think I just have GAS. But so far, nothing here has made me want this lens any less.
p.22 #2 · Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM II Announced—Pre-Orders Now Open!
Mystic are you shooting SOOC jpegs here . Look a little contrasty to me. They look like camera jpegs which really we should not test with as Things get added to them we have no control over
p.22 #3 · Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM II Announced—Pre-Orders Now Open!
I dont shoot jpeg.
First set of comparison shots were SOOC.
Second set, to your point on SOOC not highlighting the character of the lens, had the same settings in LR applied
All of the comparisons consistently highlight the same set of strengths and weaknesses. GMI smoother bokeh and softer portrait rendering. GMII still good but slightly worse bokeh, but sharper and more micro contrast.
I'm pretty settled on this being the case based in what I've seen.
p.22 #4 · Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM II Announced—Pre-Orders Now Open!
Mystik wrote:
I dont shoot jpeg.
First set of comparison shots were SOOC.
Second set, to your point on SOOC not highlighting the character of the lens, had the same settings in LR applied
All of the comparisons consistently highlight the same set of strengths and weaknesses. GMI smoother bokeh and softer portrait rendering. GMII still good but slightly worse bokeh, but sharper and more micro contrast.
I'm pretty settled on this being the case based in what I've seen.
p.22 #7 · Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM II Announced—Pre-Orders Now Open!
I have to say that I had the GMI for a short time (really short time), because it was a bargain at that time and I had to buy it
I see why people like its rendering. But still, sometimes (for me) it lacks punch (but then again, I already have the Batis 85 ). The GMII seems to showcase the strengths I would like to see (it seems). But I understand that most (all?) people still prefer the GMI for portraits.
p.22 #9 · Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM II Announced—Pre-Orders Now Open!
It's hard to keep the contrast out of the bokeh with the new super sharp lenses, and the bokeh tends to draw attention away from the person. The greens in set 2 become more isolated and brighter blobs, leading to a loss of smoothness. Shadow detail suffers and whites blow out more readily.
They often tell you what they are doing, but for this new 85/1.4 their major heading 'Improved Optics with Smoother Bokeh' might better read: 'Sharper Optics with Strident Bokeh'. Sharpness gains will win the day for them, that is their bet. thanks for these.
p.22 #10 · Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM II Announced—Pre-Orders Now Open!
I prefer the GM II images because the subject is sharper. No one (except us lunatics) care about bokeh quality, especially at this minute level. Without a side-by-side comparison, I wouldn't be able to distinguish the bokeh between the two, but I can definitely tell the sharpness.
p.22 #11 · Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM II Announced—Pre-Orders Now Open!
Thank you for the comparison images! I prefer the GM images over the GM II images, but if I saw the GM II image without the side by side comparison I would be perfectly happy with it. And I can understand why some will prefer the "punch" of the GM II.
p.22 #12 · Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM II Announced—Pre-Orders Now Open!
I don't see any strident bokeh drawing attention away from the subject. Both GM and GM II look excellent. The comparisons are informative for me because they confirm that I don't have a preference between the results. The differences are so subtle that they don't matter.
The SonyAlphaBlog review reports "excellent sharpness and bokeh", and shows that pretty much everything about this new 85mm lens is excellent and competitive with other 85mm options.
p.22 #13 · Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM II Announced—Pre-Orders Now Open!
I prefer the GM I images because the bokeh is nicer. No one (except us lunatics) care about sharpness at 100%, especially at this minute level. Without a side-by-side comparison, I wouldn't be able to distinguish the sharpness between the two, but I can definitely tell the bokeh.
p.22 #15 · Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM II Announced—Pre-Orders Now Open!
JD07 wrote:
Thank you for the comparison images! I prefer the GM images over the GM II images, but if I saw the GM II image without the side by side comparison I would be perfectly happy with it. And I can understand why some will prefer the "punch" of the GM II.
Every 85mm 1.4 would looks nice. And I bet the Sigma 85 1.4 DN would also look super nice in that situation and without a direct comparison you wouldn't know the difference and it's great too.
Sharpness is important, but you can easily change it in RAW processing and portraits shouldn't be too sharp anyway. Whereas the bokeh quality (rounder, softer etc.) is not so easy to correct in RAW editing.
Oct 01, 2024 at 02:08 AM
Steve Spencer Offline • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: On
p.22 #16 · Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM II Announced—Pre-Orders Now Open!
j4nu wrote:
I prefer the GM I images because the bokeh is nicer. No one (except us lunatics) care about sharpness at 100%, especially at this minute level. Without a side-by-side comparison, I wouldn't be able to distinguish the sharpness between the two, but I can definitely tell the bokeh.
I totally agree. Interesting after our early difficult discussion with some nice examples we come to the same place. Of course others have different views and that is ok. I agree with Phillip there seems to be a sharpness/bokeh tradeoff. I don't care about the sharpness as the GM I is plenty sharp for my intended purposes and I see and appreciate the bokeh from this lens. I can see why others might prefer the sharpness, however, of the GM II and the much better AF it provides. I am glad we have both choices from Sony and the small and competent Sigma 85 DG DN as well.
p.22 #17 · Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM II Announced—Pre-Orders Now Open!
For me since scheduling outdoor shoots at golden hour is very typical for me I wanted to see how the two lenses differ. What stood out to me wasn't necessarily bokeh vs sharpness, it was the way the two lenses render ambient light in the frame. The MKI tends to diffuse the light across the subject so you get that nice glow that the lens is known for. The MKII shots in sets 1,3, and 4 highlight the difference where you have a colder exposure on the subject and a really hard halo in the hair vs the smooth transition to the out of focus area in the MKI shots. I don't personally find really strong pop to be desirable in outdoor portraits as it almost looks like a studio backdrop or that the subject was superimposed into the background in post. When you specifically go to an outdoor location to shoot, you do want to throw the background out of focus so it isn't distracting, but you want a more natural interaction and transition between the background and subject too. This is where the GMI gets tagged as being painterly and lenses like the GMII get tagged as being clinical.
On the subject of sharpness and contrast, I've never found the GMI to be soft. Shooting kids is very forgiving because they don't have skin imperfections and wrinkles creating unflattering shadows in post. This is where the glow of the MKI can be handy whereas the detail and contrast of the MKII can be a liability if you don't have a reflector or strobe handy.
On the topic of bokeh, if you do shoot outdoors a lot and have foliage in the background to deal with, the differences in set 2 probably matter. Aside from having more structure, there is a bit of swirl in the MKII bokeh. That said, bokeh in MKI has CA in highlights.
All of that said, I think the MKII strikes a pretty good balance as a portrait lens. The 35GM and 135GM were a pretty immediate turn off for me when I shot them outdoors like this. Plus the AF of the MKII makes it a more practical lens. But if your main concern is portraits like this, the AF is more than adequate, and the GMI performs better and can be had for less $$ these days
p.22 #18 · Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM II Announced—Pre-Orders Now Open!
j4nu wrote:
I prefer the GM I images because the bokeh is nicer. No one (except us lunatics) care about sharpness at 100%, especially at this minute level. Without a side-by-side comparison, I wouldn't be able to distinguish the sharpness between the two, but I can definitely tell the bokeh.
Not sure I agree with this as I have clients that would fire me for not being sharp and I mean tack sharp. For me Bokeh don't really mean that much. We need more images to see
p.22 #19 · Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM II Announced—Pre-Orders Now Open!
Steve Spencer wrote:
I totally agree. Interesting after our early difficult discussion with some nice examples we come to the same place. Of course others have different views and that is ok. I agree with Phillip there seems to be a sharpness/bokeh tradeoff. I don't care about the sharpness as the GM I is plenty sharp for my intended purposes and I see and appreciate the bokeh from this lens. I can see why others might prefer the sharpness, however, of the GM II and the much better AF it provides. I am glad we have both choices from Sony and the small and competent Sigma 85 DG DN as well....Show more →
It seems when people speak of sharpness they're really talking about the difference in contrast due to the undercorrected SA in the GM when there's a lot of ambient light in the frame. The glow. The undercorrected SA also contributes to the quality of the bokeh
When the light is flat (set 3 above), it's hard to call the GMI soft as the eyes are sharp enough to pop from the frame, and at normal viewing magnification I don't find that GMII is materially sharper. Of course if you pixel peep, the GMII is sharper.
p.22 #20 · Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM II Announced—Pre-Orders Now Open!
We pixel peek no question about it and I have clients that do as well. Look im not spending 1800 dollars on a lens and not care about sharpness that's just stupid from our end.
