Welcome back to the previous TV viewers It's Chris Nichols here today we've got An interesting lens to play with that Has a focal length you've probably never Heard of before I mean hell I've never Even heard of this focal length either And you know we've seen a lot of lenses Lately going Ultra wide to normal range But now I've got my hands the new Sony 20 to 70 F4 G Series now this is Basically giving me the flexibility of a 24 to 70 but with significantly more Wide angle now we've been testing a lot Of our lenses lately on the Sony a7r5 Because the 61 megapixel sensor really Pushes lenses to their limit we've got a Lovely day out here in canonasta's Country to enjoy testing this lens now You might think something with this kind Of focal range would be bulky and huge But it really isn't we've got an F4 Aperture all the way through it's quite Compact so let's talk about the handling Features next Indeed this lens is very compact 488 Grams just under a quarter of a knocked Perfect for just walking around as General purpose compact lens it is Weather sealed being you know the way Most G Series are built does actually Have custom buttons I was surprised to See that on such a compact little lens And an aperture ring with a lock so you Can lock it into Auto if you want or out
Of Auto 72 mil filter thread I mean Really this is a very compact but very Full featured design [Music] Thank you [Music] [Music] So far I'm really enjoying this lens It's just like a general purpose walk Around not only because it's Compact and Has that versatile focal range but also Because the close-up cable is quite nice It does its best work at 70 millimeters I'm getting basically 0.4 times Magnification just a little bit less Than half life size I mean that's Actually pretty decent for a zoom like This and we're not getting the most Working distance but it's not terrible I'm not jamming my hood up against stuff I get a little bit of clearance so this Is actually a really nice you know Casual macro lens now this lens actually Packs two XD linear autofocusing Motors Into it what we're finding is autofocus Is blazingly fast as you'd expect out of XD linear so as far as any autofocus it Needs go this lens will absolutely keep Up now of course the lens with an ultra Wide focal length Like This lends itself To landscape photography and you're Going to shoot towards the sun quite a Bit in those situations so first off Flare very well controlled not a real
Loss of contrast handled sun coming to The lens quite well not seeing any major Ghosting problems either so those are All positives when it comes to sunstars For landscape they're better than I Thought they would be but they're pretty Average I mean you can see here nothing To write home about but overall performs Well shooting towards the Sun so the Course for photography it's been a lot Of fun having the 20 millimeter Capabilities on this lens but for video As well there's a lot of interesting Benefits that this lens brings to the Table not just having that nice 20 mil But also when it comes to other video Features let's talk about that see Sony's utilizing a couple digital Features in their cameras to help you With video now one of those is active Steady shot where the camera crops in Tighter and then as your camera shakes It can digitally adjust the frame Against that shake the other is Breathing compensation where again the Camera crops in Tighter and basically as The lens naturally breathes as you focus In and out the camera will digitally Adjust the frame against that breathing Now both these features are very helpful But you're losing wide end focal length Now this lens actually first off has Some breathing in it although it wasn't As bad as we thought you can see here
But the real magic here is having that Extra focal length to sacrifice we Actually did the math here and if you Use breathing compensation you're Basically losing just a millimeter on The wide angle range and then if you add Active steady Shaw on that you're losing Another three millimeters on that wide Angle suffice to say having this 20 Millimeter here and turning on both Features the same time I'm still getting A really nice 24 millimeter equivalent Wide angle and so that's where a lens Like this really shines where a standard 24 millimeter Zoom unfortunately loses a Lot of wide angle now bokeh on this lens Is actually really quite nice so first Off you can see specular highlights nice And round even when you stop down that Doesn't really change a little bit of a Soap bubble effect but really when you Look at transitions from in focus to out Of focus it's nice and smooth so Actually really quite pleasing shallow Depth of field look to this lens now the Sun broke out we got some metal grating Here one of my favorite Loca tests so Took a few shots here loca's at lunch Little chromatic aberration where you Get color fringing and the out of focus Areas both foreground and background of Your shots and it's really hard to get Rid of in post luckily this lens as you Can see basically very minimal Loca not
An issue to worry about now to the test Charts for our sharpness test so first First off at 20 millimeters shooting Wide open at F4 actually the centers are Really quite nice I didn't notice much Improvement even when stopping down to F8 when we go to the corners you can see There again pretty similar a little bit Softer wide open but when you stop down They'll sharpen up quite nicely at 70 Millimeters I noticed that the center's Shooting wide open at F4 it is actually Quite sharp but there's some loss of Contrast that does go away the minute You stop down here you can see the Centers at f8 again the sharpness Doesn't really improve just contrast Overall and the frame gets a little bit Better shooting in the top left corner Wide open at F4 again pretty decent when We stop down that improves a bit so I Would say this lens over a little bit Sharper at 20 millimeters than it is at 70 but it was usable wide open all the Way through the focal range and didn't Really need to stop down that much all Right so it's time to wrap things up the Lights going down we're next to our Favorite little roadside wishing well Here so pardon the traffic noise you can Hear that right now but I've had a great Time today I mean what's not to love About this lens it's compact it's Optically good I like the F4 aperture I
Mean frankly if this is a 24 to 70 F4 That I was walking around with I would Have had a great day today but the Beauty is that I get that extra wide Angle we've talked about some of the Advantages this has for video cameras if They're shooting full width but even if You've got a camera where it's best Shooting is in a crop mode this would Make a lot of sense to help mitigate That issue I could see if you had an Aps-c Sony body and maybe you're looking Forward to moving to full frame Eventually this could be a great buy Just because it also gives you that you Know coverage of like a 28-ish to 105 Walkaround lens that'd be great until You're ready to move up to full frame This could also be excellent just if you Uh are a Sony shooter you're looking for A good affordable lens you could go 20 To 70 or if you say Chris to hell with Ultra wide well you've got that Excellent 24 to 105 to choose from as Well I've had such a great time with This I mean this is probably my favorite Standard Zoom I've used from Sony to Date just really really nice to have so If I had a coin on me if I even carry Change anymore I check in that wishing Well and wish for one of these but I Could also just save up some coins and Frankly not that many to afford this Lens it's really not that expensive
Especially considering how versatile it Is well I hope you guys enjoyed that Little jaunt with the 20 to 70 out here In Canada do check out deeperview.com The sample galleries that we shot today Are there of course leave your comments Below Instagram and Twitter subscribe And like we'd always appreciate that Thanks so much we'll see you soon with An episode of deep Riverview TV
