Alan Parker wrote:
Reading Marc's conclusion from Sonyalpha.blog makes sense to me:
"It absolute term it is an excellent lens but at this price tag : +50% vs V1 and +50% vs the Tamron and only 33% less than the F2.8 GM II it is a difficult sell unless you absolutely need a super efficient AF and a very compact form factor"
It's by all means a good lens, but at 2000 euros I don't see the value being that good for the costumer; picking up a Tamron 70-180 on sale might be a better deal at 1000 euros. Typical case of European pricing hurting customers.
Interesting point that Marc makes is that the lens seems to be a bit better suited for 42MP vs 61MP, which is a bit of a 'yikes' for a 2000 euro lens.
While I have a great deal of respect for Marc and his testing, as his results generally parallel my own experience with various lenses - such is not always absolute. When the Tamron 35-150mm f2-f2.8 was released, I initially passed on this lens due to his mediocre rating. Based upon other testers' results, I finally acquired this lens and was really pleased with the IQ, which closely rivals my GM II lenses in that range in highly critical testing on 61mp. Perplexed, I chalked the perceptual differences up copy variation. Single copy tests will never be fully valid, statistically speaking.
With Sony's recent string of lens releases, all with outstanding performance characteristics, I find it really difficult to believe that the new Sony f4 lens does not perform better than what Marc showed in his charts, but I guess I will just wait and see.
I also respect Christopher Frost's testing and his tests show the lens to be generally, outstanding.
I do not need this lens, but do find the macro capabilities a bit compelling. We'll see.
Jul 13, 2023 at 07:08 AM
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