I have had the 35mm Sony 1.8, Sigma 35mm 1.4 (Nikon), Tamron 45m 1.8 (under rated) Nikon, and the 35mm 1.4. The best out of the ones I have used is the 35mm GM and its a GREAT size.
If you look locally or on FM you can find one more reasonable (Don't buy it new if on a budget).
The lens gets wave reviews for photographers, everyone seems to love it. (video people prefer the 1.8 sony). The 1.8 is not bad at all.
What do you shoot? 35mm is my go to FL and its a great one.
sonofjesse2010 wrote:
I have had the 35mm Sony 1.8, Sigma 35mm 1.4 (Nikon), Tamron 45m 1.8 (under rated) Nikon, and the 35mm 1.4. The best out of the ones I have used is the 35mm GM and its a GREAT size.
If you look locally or on FM you can find one more reasonable (Don't buy it new if on a budget).
The lens gets wave reviews for photographers, everyone seems to love it. (video people prefer the 1.8 sony). The 1.8 is not bad at all.
What do you shoot? 35mm is my go to FL and its a great one.
The Sony 35mm 1.4 GM is an incredible lens. For myself, if I had to choose just one lens in the FE mount, this would be it.
On a month trip to Europe, I took a number of lenses and a couple of Sony camera bodies.
But when it just got too much when traveling between countries taking Eurail, I just took the 35mm 1.4 GM on the A7RV and left everything behind at my hosts house in Switzerland.
The 35mm GM excelled in Venice, Italy in low light. The rendering and colors of the images were incredible, so was the videos taken with that combination.
I have heard that the Sigma 35mm 1.4 II has surpassed it slightly in sharpness, but I have not used one to test it against my GM. I must say, that I like the warmer colors of Sigma lenses, but I would not know how it compares, because I would never part with my 35mm 1.4 GM.
Lifeinpictures wrote:
The Sony 35mm 1.4 GM is an incredible lens. For myself, if I had to choose just one lens in the FE mount, this would be it.
On a month trip to Europe, I took a number of lenses and a couple of Sony camera bodies.
But when it just got too much when traveling between countries taking Eurail, I just took the 35mm 1.4 GM on the A7RV and left everything behind at my hosts house in Switzerland.
The 35mm GM excelled in Venice, Italy in low light. The rendering and colors of the images were incredible, so was the videos taken with that combination.
I have heard that the Sigma 35mm 1.4 II has surpassed it slightly in sharpness, but I have not used one to test it against my GM. I must say, that I like the warmer colors of Sigma lenses, but I would not know how it compares, because I would never part with my 35mm 1.4 GM....Show more →
Based on Gerald Undone’s review, the GM still has the sharpness advantage in the corners. I think what happened is that Sigma corrected distortion more aggressively, but that came with a bigger sharpness penalty than Sony's less aggressive optical correction plus digital correction.
The 35/1.4 GM is still the better overall lens, especially with Sony’s first-party support for focus-breathing compensation, 120 fps, better magnification and better Dynamic Active stabilization on supported bodies.
That said, the Sigma is a whole lot cheaper, has slightly less flare (use the hood on the GM!) and optically it’s extremely close.
snegron7 wrote:
I haven't seen much mention here of the Sony 35mm f1.4 GM. Anyone here have any experienses with it?
A 35/1.4 is THE lens for taking pics of family and kids. When it came out it was an immediate pre-prder, replacing the EF 35/1.4L
On the 35GM, the DOF can be much shallower than on the 85/1.4 GM or 50/1.4 GM because those lenses can’t focus as close and don’t offer the same level of magnification. At f/1.4 and minimum focus distance, I estimate The depth of field is only around 3 mm so even slight subject movement can throw focus off.
This means autofocus hit rate on moving subjects near the MFD at f/1.4 can be challenging with A1, I’d estimate maybe 10 out of 30 frames nail focus.
With the A9 III, however, this issue disappears, hit rate is almost 100%.
Before the Sigma 35/1.4 Art II came out, the Sony 35mm f/1.4 GM was a no-brainer. It’s a fantastic lens, and there really wasn’t much more to say about it. That’s probably why there wasn’t much discussion around it. The Sigma offers a cheaper alternative for people who don't shoot moving subjects.
Some people complain about focus breathing, but high magnification and focus breathing are two sides of the same coin. At higher magnification, the floating elements need to move more to maintain sharpness at close focus. Sony made the right call, paying the cost of more focus breathing for higher magnification is the right design trade-off.
Especially since focus breathing compensation is very effective.
Magnification Comparison:
Canon 35/1.4 VCM - 0.18x
Sigma 35/1.4 ART II - 0.19x
Canon 35/1.4 GM - 0.23x (0.26x with MF)
It's a great lens, one of my favorite Sony lenses I've owned. Small, lightweight, great build quality, sharp, nice rendering - what else is there to say.
vaptre wrote:
Sony 50mm f/1.2GM is THE king! The 50mm f/1.4GM is barely better than the 55/1.8 ZA at 1.5x-2x the price. If you want the 50/1.4GM, just get the 55/1.8 and save your money. No real-world difference whatsoever! CA... blah-blah-blah! Nobody cares! The results look identical! Meanwhile, the 50/1.2GM creates actual magic and really delivers. Nothing else even comes close.
I have not even considered 1.2GM. I value smaller size, hence the 1.4GM. In fact I consider the also 1.4 little large. 50mm should be more compact than 35mm, not it is marginally larger.
35GM is all time favourite!
I strongly disagree with your comment about 1.4GM vs 55ZA. 55 is what I consider a character lens with plenty of ca and mediocre sharpness. If there is a problem with 1.4GM, it is the lens being too "modern".
Sony have done a good job of boosting videos that downplay the very significant breathing. But it's there and it's extreme. What you need to know is that the video sector of the market is growing fast and many operators wish to emulate cine moves like focus racking. If they wanted a zoom they would have bought one. Most YT breathing videos have some guy walking a few metres or even worse, two tabletop objects as their 'demonstration'.
Sony solution is to turn it into a perpetual 40mm lens with their in-camera cropping mod.
'Sony's in-camera Focus Breathing Compensation *enforces a permanent real-time digital crop* that matches the tightest (narrowest) field of view (FOV) within that specific lens’s focus range.' That may seem like a sledgehammer solution.
'The Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 GM does exhibit noticeable focus breathing (where the angle of view narrows and the frame punches in as you focus closer), and at its minimum focusing distance, the effective field of view tightens significantly—behaving closer to a 40mm or tighter perspective.'
It's a good well-received mainstream commercial lens if you enjoy the 40mm field of view. There are other lenses with minimal breathing at the 35mm focal length.
It's a great lens but faces very tough competition. If you're okay with the size the Viltrox 35mm f1.2 is faster, cheaper, and optically comparable if not superior. The Sony is from 2021 so a version 2 is probably warranted.
I've owned the 35mm f1.4 GM since it came out. My thoughts in for summary for stills are;
- It has no problem at all resolving 61mp
- It has excellent sharpness across the frame
- Rendering is very good but bettered by the f1.2 options from Sigma and Viltrox
- Has excellent contrast
- Close focusing ability is very very good
- It doesn't need a MKII in my opinion
- Sony do need however to make a 35mm f1.2 GM for us who want something even more special and are willing to pay extra and carry it around.
- Highly recommend it but buy used
snegron7 wrote:
I couldn't find anything in the search bar, so I created this post. Thank for the link though!
Up at the top of these pages is a 'What's New' tab. There are a limited number of lens reviews under it and that is where I found the thread. The search function on FM really isn't one of the best (IMO).
adriandole wrote:
It's a great lens but faces very tough competition. If you're okay with the size the Viltrox 35mm f1.2 is faster, cheaper, and optically comparable if not superior. The Sony is from 2021 so a version 2 is probably warranted.
I've tried a few of the big Viltrox lenses and as you say, they are optically excellent. But wow, they are big and heavy. They almost never ended up in my bag because of that.
