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 p.6 #19 · Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM II Announced—Pre-Orders Now Open! | |
robert614 wrote:
Not sure I completely agree with your groupings
I would put both Zeiss 35 and 50mm, along with the original 85mm in the first generation
The 24, 35, both 50’s, 135, and now 85 II all belong in the same group IMO. As they all share the same construction materials and styling
I also don’t think that Sony made a shift in design philosophy towards optical perfection, at the cost of rendering.
I think those 1st gen lenses are a product of the time they were designed and manufactured.
With Sony learning how to improve with every subsequent generation. Especially how to manufacture lens elements to very high tolerances and still be reasonably cost effective.
Take the 50mm f1.2 It is very sharp wide open. But also has beautiful rendering.
If there’s an overriding philosophy Sony adheres to, it’s make the lenses as small and as light as possible. Not technical perfection above all. Sacrificing rendering.
Just my $.02
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Yeah, depends on what criteria we evaluate with. Some differentiators in my thinking are WO contrast, CA correction and flare and specifically OOF rendering. The groupings we are making are just opinions/observational.
The GM 35/50/85ii/135 all use their updated "Nano AR Coating II" where as the older models use the use the "Nano AR Coating I". You'll feel the difference in flare--the 24 and 85 have more of it.
And, importantly, the new lenses, including the 50/1.2 have essentially zero SA so soften thing, on or off axis, unlike the other 3 (GM 24, ZA 35, GM 85) lenses.
GM 24 reviews from Phillip Reeve:
"What really surprised me about the FE 85mm 1.4 GM is the lack of spherical aberration in the focal plane but the significant amount behind the focal plane which is what makes the bokeh looks so smooth...To me this is seriously good news, as the bokeh of the FE 85mm 1.4 GM was unlike (better than) anything I have seen before."
GM 50/1.2 review:
"The Voigtländer 50mm 1.2 Nokton E and the Sony FE 85mm 1.4 GM have a bit undercorrected spherical aberration at their maximum aperture, leading to very smooth out of focus rendering. This is not the case with this 50mm 1.2 GM, therefore some of the close distances samples already show a slight tendency towards double edged structures in the out of focus areas."
ZA 35/1.4 review:
"Wide open you can see lots of longitudinal CA at infinity and also a bit of glow."
The ZA 50/1.4 should be in it's own category...it's super high contrast like the new lenses, but it also has T* coatings, AF is good but not blazing, and most importantly, the OOF rendering and color are not GM like. I guess it serves as a nice bridge between the 2 eras, though I'd still put it in gen 1.
Of all the lenses, I would place the GM 24 and 85 on one end, the two Zeisses in the middle and the latest GM (35, 50s, 85ii a 135) in their own zone. I prefer the renderings of the first 4 lenses versus the latest GM's personally.
But maybe it's really a better system with 3 tiers rather than two. I do think you give up rendering for technical IQ. I think that's pretty easy to understand the tradeoff (contrast/resolution vs smoothness via SA). Having said that, might not be much of a trade off if you think very high contrast/no SA renderings are preferable 
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