[Music] Hi I'm Dustin Abbott many would argue That the 50mm focal length is perhaps The most important Prime focal length of All it's what we call a normal lens it Is probably the most popular when it Comes to sales and as a byproduct Everybody makes a 50mm lens at this Stage in my career I've probably Reviewed at least say 40 50 mm lenses Over time and because so many of them Come through my hands and on Sony E-mount alone I've probably reviewed at This point nearly 20 50mm lenses a lot Of them over time so as a byproduct as More and more of these lenses are Released I always am doing two things When I'm evaluating lenses obviously I'm Reviewing them for your sake trying to Determine the pros and the cons of each Product but I'm also evaluating for my Own kit because above all I'm a Photographer myself and I want as good Of possible bang for the buck at each Focal length in my own personal kit and So I'm evaluating when I see a 50mm lens I'm evaluating is this the one that I Want Myself I'm a little bit greedy when it Comes to a 50mm lens essentially all I Want is the optical performance of a Zeiss Otis lens in a reasonably small Reasonably affordable autofocusing price Tag not much right so about a year ago
After I reviewed the 50mm f1.4g master I Made a decision that it would be my new 50mm lens and I made that determination Basically because I felt like it brought A lot of the strengths of the 50mm f1.2 G Master into a cheaper $700 us cheaper A smaller about 20% smaller and more Compact and a lighter package whopping 262 G less and that of course resulted In this lens that in many ways is a Beautiful match for another lens that I Really like which is Sony's 35mm f1.4g Master and so a year later do I feel Like I made the right choice other 50mm Lenses have come out since that point And I've been able to use it in a much Wider variety of circumstances so today I am here to report on how I have found A year of ownership a true long-term Review of the Sony 50mm f1.4g master More on this right after a word from our Sponsor today's episode is brought to You by the Phantom duffel a new unique Convertible duffel bag that starts as a Compact packable case that easily fits Into your luggage or carry-on bag but Then converts into a 35 L duffel the Exterior is made of 1680d ballistic Nylon which is tough and weatherproof The interior has a high visibility Reflective finish that allows you to Easily see what's inside even in a dim Hotel room a large foam pouch on the Side has a cable pass through through to
Allow for charging and the removable Straps use a fidlock system to easily And securely connect them I've been Using it for the gym and it has room for My water bottle a change of clothes a Basketball my massive shoes a towel and A charger for my cell phone visit store. Fantom wallet.com to check it out and Use code Dustin 15 for 15% off when You're ready to check out 50mm f1.4g Master mostly does that so I wanted it To be reasonably compact that is an area Where I think that son has really Thrived here the lens is 80.6 by 96 mm In length so that's 3.2 in in diameter By 3.8 in in length and it has a very Common 67 mm front filter thread I love That because it can share with the the 35mm f1.4 GM the 24mm f1.4 GM plus a ton Of other lenses so score one there just To give you some perspective it is 15 1/2 mm shorter and 150 g lighter than The uh Sigma 50mm f1.4 art lens it is 12 Mm shorter and 265 G lighter than the Sony's ice plar 50mm f1.4 and then it is 12 mm shorter And 262 G lighter than the 50mm f1.2 G Master Lens it has all of the kind of standard Features that come on a Sony lens at This point particularly their G Master Lenses it's got the ammf switch it's got Multiple Focus hold or function buttons It's got an iris lock it's got the
Ability to declick the aperture got an Apperture ring and as mentioned that can Be either clicked or D clicked got a Nice manual focus ring though I find it A little bit on the light side for my Taste I do prefer a little bit more Damping however you are still able to Manually focus fine it's just not Top Notch that's one area where I would say I did prefer the Sony's ice planar which By the way is the lens that I replaced With this one it has an 11 bladed Aperture Iris which does help to keep Things very nice and circular as you Stop The Lens down it is Thoroughly Weather sealed with 11 different seal Points plus a four flooring front Coating and also something that is a Priority to me it has decent close Focus Abilities and so you can autofocus as Close closely as 41 cm and that gets you A 0.16 times magnification which is 1 Point behind what you get with the filth 50mm f1.2 G Master however you have the Ability to get a little bit closer if You manually focus you can get down to 38 CM 3 cm shorter and that Magnification increases up to 0.18 times And fortunately it remains very Competent at close Focus distances and So I have found that to be useful you Knew all of that from my first review However so let me give you the update on After a year use how is the lens held up
Well mechanically it's held up perfectly And on the exterior it also still looks Like brand new which is impressive Because it has been in and out of a Variety of cases pouches and backpacks Hundreds of times at this point I've Carried it on straps I've carried it on A peak design capture click clip and so It's been with me on Hikes uh out Through the woods all of those things You know obviously I don't try to beat Up my gear but neither can I Shield it From every little bump and knock and Branch brushing by despite all of those Things and shooting in uh over a Canadian winter at this point in very Cold temperatures it is held up Flawlessly it still looks and functions Like new what more could I ask for at This point I've also been very happy With autofocus and really that was kind Of my biggest motivation I did like the Fact that this was smaller and lighter And you know a little bit better Optically than than the Sony's ice plan R 50mm f1.4 but frankly I really liked That lens optically I was a little Disappointed with the autofocus accuracy However considering it was such an Expensive lens I expected it to Autofocus better than what it did this Lens has been a huge Improvement on that It has dual XD linear Motors and so it Is near instant speed and you can see
Here that you just jump from one sub to Another with basically no pause in Between this lens is definitely capable Enough keep up with things like Sports Action and so zero problems there Because of the timing and the brevity of My initial review period I had a Pre-release copy and often when I do That you know I'm only getting them a Few weeks out before the release date so I don't have as much time as what I Would like to shoot in a variety of Scenarios and so as a byproduct I didn't Have really a chance to do much in terms Of portraits the first time that I had The lens which was early early March uh Late February early March of 2023 and so That was one thing that I really wanted To see with this copy and so I've had Now the opportunity to shoot it in maybe Three or four different portrait Sessions and it has performed flawlessly For me whether I was you know shooting Young children or I was you know Shooting out in the woods uh I shot a Spring session with my wife and I last Year and I got really really well Focused results even when I had stuff in The foreground locked onto the eye gave Me accurately focused results so very Very pleased with that regard and on the Video front I have now filmed dozens of Episodes it has been my go-to lens ever Since I've owned it for filming my video
Episodes because it's a great focal Length has very very good image quality Obviously but it's also Rock Solid in Terms of the autofocus and so I have had I I can't remember a time where I've had An issue where it started to pulse on me Or shifted Focus off onto the wrong Thing and that's really important for Someone like myself who needs to set up A a lens and a camera start filming get In front of it and then trust that the Camera and the lens are going to do the Work and it has done that Flawless for Me just dozens and dozens and dozens of Times and so I have nothing but praise For the autofocus it's everything that I've wanted it to be finally let's talk About the image quality now the image Quality uh the MTF and the Sony briefing That I was a part of it showed me that This was going to be an exceptionally Good exceptionally sharp lens and uh the MTF looks fantastic and the r World Results if anything have been even more Impressive now since I did my initial Review I did the initial review on the Uh the alpha 1 which is 50 megapixels And I have added an a7r Mark 5 as my Kind of test chart body um as a variety Of other things obviously and so I've Done a fresh update of examining how it Holds up with the higher resolution Point 61 megapixels of the a7r mark 5 Now I'll dive into that in detail for
Those of you that want the detailed Image quality breakdown at the end of The episode but I can tell you this no One is ever going to need more sharpness Out of a 50mm lens than what this Provides it is incredibly incredibly Sharp that I already knew that what I Didn't have enough opportunity to do uh With the my initial review and the first Review copy that I had was I didn't get A chance to examine the bouquet quality The overall rendering as much as what I Would like part of that was the time of Year just not a a very good bouquet Season and uh you know frankly a little Bit of an ugly season as we're at the Very late stages of winter starting to Transition towards Spring but you know The world is not all that attractive at That point and so I have been very Intentional at trying to take Boke type Shots since that point you know through Spring blossoms and things like that Into fall and I can say that now having Looked at it and examined it and really Kind of been critical about this for my Own sake I can tell you that my Conclusion is is that the bokeh is not Quite as magical as the 50mm f1.2 G Master if you want the best bokeh that You can get at 50 mm on the Sony emount Platform spend the money for the G Master it is really really gorgeous and Its overall rending the 50mm f1.4 G
Master is not quite as good it is very Good um it slightly less creamy I think I think there's a little bit more Outlining and some of the bouquet Highlights but at the same time it Produces is really really gorgeous Images that have very beautiful Rendering and very beautiful bouquet and We'll break that down more in the final Examination so in conclusion at this Stage if I were to do a VIN diagram of The three primary things I'm looking at A 50 millim lens I'm looking for that Reasonable size great image quality and Then a somewhat reasonable price so far There is no lens that I have examined That does a better job of Meeting those Three crit criteria somewhat equally Like I said if you're just absolutely About the image quality I would say that The 50mm F 1.2g Master is slightly Better it's this lens is a little bit Sharper but that lens is plenty sharp Enough and the overall rendering is just A little bit better but if size matters To you and price matters to you those Considerations I think tip the scales Towards the 50mm f1.4 G master and so my Conclusion is is I think that this is The best 50mm lens that you can get Under $1,500 we'll use that criteria Above that there are a few options that I might like a hair better but none of Them that kind of equal out to all of
Those things put together I am still Perfectly happy that I made the choice To buy this lens it has been utterly Reliable held up perfectly and has Produced one gorgeous image after Another if you want more information you Can either stay tuned now for the image Quality breakdown you can check out my Original coverage that dives into more Elements if you want to do that and as Always there are buying links there in The description as well and without Further Ado let's dive into the optical [Music] Breakdown so in this quick Optical Breakdown what we're going to do is look At a few important things we're going to See how the lens handles the higher Resolution of the 61 megapix a7r Mark 5 We're going to take a look at bokeh and Rendering and how all those things Combined particularly for portrait and General purpose work so starting with Taking a look at 61 megapixels uh this Is at 200% magnification in the center Of the frame you probably aren't going To find basically any 50mm lens that is Sharper than that that is just fantastic At f1.4 Great contrast mid-frame just Fantastically sharp and if we scroll Down even right down to the edge see the Edge isn't as Crystal sharp as in the Center but it is still exceptionally Good and if I look over on this side we
Can see just an amazing amount of detail And resolution there and on this side I Would say that it looks even better uh And so I mean obviously this is Fantastically fantastically sharp even Right up into the corners stopping down To F2 you can see that there's even more Contrast and detail there it's just off The charts good and looking here looks Amazingly good popping over to the other Side I mean really what more could you Ask for I mean that is just fabulously Sharp and if we look up into the corners Corners at by F2 are just really about As sharp as what Min lenses get to in The center of the frame so incredibly Good then at f2.8 and F4 you can see That even in the corners it is just pin Sharp zero issues there it's going to Remain that way through f5.6 and then at F8 remember we're looking at the extreme Corner right now you'll see some Softening at f11 due to du defraction And by the minimum aperture of F16 it's Still very good don't get me wrong but It is definitely the softest that we Have seen due to the effects of Defraction so that means that real world Results you for example this landscape Shot at F5.6 anywhere you want to look right off To the edge of the frame there's just Beautiful detail all of those fine Details are just amazingly rendered over
On this side obviously you know great Detail on this side where there is depth Of field so that just gives you a TR This ability with high resolution bodies To crop deeply like I could crop into This portion of the frame and you can See it holds up perfectly well as a at a 1:1 pixel level here on a 4k monitor it Also means that for things like event Sessions like I've used the lens 4 that You know you can punch into a pixel Level you can deeply crop images because Even at f1.4 allow me to keep ISO down And the image is really really clean you Can see the detail is just fantastic Now the bouquet quality a couple of Things first of all you can see the Geometry here that really is quite good Even at f1.4 by F2 we've got near Perfect not quite but near perfect round GE boka everywhere and then by f2.8 Specular highlights are all perfectly Round and it does a great job of keeping That round shape due to the very high 11 Blade aperture count so those things Combine into a just a wonderful Conflation of sharpness as you can see Here sharpness and contrast in the tea Leaves that are there but then as you Look at the out of focus area the bokeh Is very nice and soft likewise here at F1.4 you can see the detail is fabulous The colors are rich and then the bouquet Is really nice again I I would like a
Little tiny bit less outlining in this And I think the GM is a little better There but in a little less harsh Situation like this one you've got all Of those great things things working Together you've got great sharpness and Detail you've got beautifully creamy Background there this shot here it again It shows off how that it controls Aberration well and so there is just the Tiniest bit of fringing but you know the We've got all the things working here You can see that Focus nailed that you Know in that crucial moment I love this Spark flying off here and you know and So the cheesecake looks great and then The out of focus looks very nice this is Shot in a restaurant uh once in here and This allows this is me getting very Close to the minimum Focus distance with The lily of the valley here you can see You can see the details there and this Now the background is really strongly Blurred out with these uh spring cherry Blossoms here you can see that detail is Fantastic and then look how just Beautiful the bouquet quality is here And all of that adds up for just great Results when shooting portraiture and so Obviously at a much further distance the Back background is not completely blown Out but you can see the detail on my Wife is really great but then if you Look at the image as a whole you know
You can see a nice cutout of the subject Nice depth of field there uh another Shot here of my wife and I you can see Once again that you know the background Is blurred out nicely and again a lot of This is in kind of a transition medium Zone it still looks great if you step Back and look at it and then of course The detail on our faces is really Fantastic it just does a great job with That this is from a portrait session That I did for a family and I just love The beautiful detail and look at the Skin tones on his sweet little face just Really really fantastic and then also This shot here of my daughter that we Were just out on a hike together but be I was already thinking this is six Months ago I was thinking about this Review and so just shooting Intentionally putting things out of Focus in the foreground seeing how the Focus did on her face and and then the Transition towards out of focus Beyond Her and you can see that that's just a It's a great looking image really nicely Executed so in Su total I am perfectly Happy with the image quality I get here Sure I would love the slightly creamier Bouquet of the 50mm f1.2 but at the Value and the size of this lens I just Don't know that it can be beat at this Point well thank you for those of you That have stuck around to the very end
As always thanks for watching have a Great day and let the light [Music] In
