Introduction
Sony has been producing and manufacturing cameras and lenses for quite some time now and has brought out the best lenses for Sony cameras, among others.
The Sony FE 16-35mm f2.8 G Master lens has been highly praised for its build quality, image quality, and having one of the highest-ratings for a wide-angle zoom. The FE 16-35mm f2.8 is part of Sony’s flagship G Master line with other performance lenses that offer different apertures.
Feature List
The Sony FE 16-35mm f2.8 lens is highly praised in several different categories, including its wide-angle zoom quality. Today, we’re going to take a look at some of the features that the Sony lens includes and why it should be a consideration for your day to day photography.
Size
Compared to other lenses, the Sony 16-35mm f2.8 lens is relatively small and compact for the quality you get. The lens comes in at 88.5mm x 121.6mm (diameter x length) from the mount to the lens. If you were to include the lens hood, you would get a total length of 107mm. This is relatively compact compared to other lenses, which can be great news if you don’t want a bulky lens for great quality shots.
Weight
Moving over to the weight of the Sony 16-35mm lens, we are looking at a high-quality build set, made with mostly metal. The Sony weighs in at just over 680g (24 oz.), which is quite heavy but lighter than most other lenses at this quality point. This weight includes the lens cap.
Build Quality
As we’ve mentioned above, the Sony 16-35mm lens has a very sturdy and robust design. For starters, the 16-35mm has a full set of weather-seals, which includes a rubber seal around the mounting plate, topped off with a fluorine coating on the front element to protect against any moisture or dust.
The lens itself feels very strong as it’s got a core-metal design, which can’t be damaged with any small knocks or bumps. The Sony 16-35mm also has a detachable hood and an 82mm filter attachment threat, which might be a huge selling point for yourself.
Optics
Sony has an abnormal but unique lens configuration when compared to other lenses on the market. The Sony G-Master line wants to take imaging and expression to another level, and by doing this, Sony has opted for a 16 element in 13 groups set up. These include two special dispersion and five aspherical elements contained within the lens.
Focus
As with any lens, you will want to take a long look into the focus and level of detail that the lens can provide, and the Sony does come in with great focus. When manually adjusting the focus, you can achieve a closets focus distance of 0.26m (10.2in) with a magnification of just 1:4.8 using the 35mm focal length.
As with most lenses, there is an auto-focus feature when using this lens; however, you can manually override it by turning the focus ring. The focus ring itself has a linear gearing, which results in a 140-degree rotation for quality precision.
The focus ring is also not too stiff and can be used with a single finger, but is firm enough to stop you from knocking it accidentally. We think this is a brilliant move from Sony, as several camera lenses don’t offer this balance of being loose enough to move it with a single finger but firm enough to be knock-proof.
Sharpness and Level of Detail
As we mentioned at the start, Sony has been making camera lenses for quite some time, and it now shows in this lens. When you take a picture with this lens, you’ll be surprised about the detail level and the razor-sharp edges that are rendered.
Sharpness within the center remains remarkable high through f2.8 to f16, with f22 being a little too much for the Sony, giving off a small amount of diffraction. Throughout this, f4-f16 seems to produce the sharpest results all around.
The Sony 16-35mm lens gives you an unreal level of detail even at close range. When combined with the bokeh’s fantastic smoothing, images seem to come to life when you use this lens.
As with most lenses, the Sony does give you a little bit of vignetting and distortions, but to a point where it’s very slight. A lens profile over on Lightroom or Photoshop may allow you to filter these out very efficiently, but it’s good to note that this doesn’t happen all too often.
Rendering and Bokeh
As mentioned above, the Sony 16-35mm lens is very good at rendering images both day and night and can provide you with an extraordinary level of bokeh. Specifically, the lens can render the main elements of an image perfectly while keeping the edges of the main image razor-sharp. Even when zooming in both post and pre-snap, you will get an outstanding level of detail, with no lack of sharpness and post-render, you will be amazed at what the lens can offer.
If you’re trying to take a portrait or give yourself a somewhat blurred background, the Sony will offer one of the better bokeh effects on the market, all while keeping your main focus in pristine quality.
When you compare the above attributes to any other lens, the quality does represent the price of the lens itself.
Specification
Full-frame compatible: 35mm full-frame
Focal-Length (mm): 16-35
35mm equivalent focal-length (APS-C): 24-52.5
Lens Groups / Elements: 13-16
Maximum aperture (F): 2.8
Minimum Aperture (F): 22
Aperture Blades: 11
Circular Aperture: Yes
Minimum Focus Distance: 0.28m (0.92 ft)
Maximum Magnification ratio (x): 0.19
Filter Diameter (mm): 82
Zoom system: Manual
Hood Type: Petal shape, bayonet type
Summary When all things are considered, the Sony FE 16-35mm f2.8 G Master lens is a great all-around, top quality lens. It offers excellent optical quality and a bright f2.8 focal ratio that is not too big nor heavy and will fit into your camera bag perfectly. Despite the high price tag, the Sony FE 16-35mm f2.8 G Master is an excellent lens for day to day photography with its exceptional level of detail and bokeh adaptability