Amateur Photographer verdict
Sony’s newest G Master upgrade is a phenomenal lens for portrait shooters. It comes with a very high price tag, but if you want the best of the best, it’s a must-have.- Super sharp
- Customisable lens function buttons
- Switchale clicked/clickless aperture ring
- Expensive
One of Sony’s original G Master lenses from 2016, the Sony FE 85mm F1.4 GM has proven popular with portrait photographers since its release. So it’s no surprise to see it receive the GM II treatment. It’s successor, the new Sony FE 85mm F1.4 GM II, adds to the second-generation line-up of Sony GM primes, following on from 35mm and 50mm f/1.4 optics. These are two of the best Sony lenses, so we have high hopes for the new 85mm.
Sony FE 85mm F1.4 GM II: At a glance
- $1799 / £1850
- Large-aperture, short-telephoto prime lens
- 85cm minimum focus
- 77mm filter thread
- 107.3mm long x 84.7mm diameter, 642g
- Sony E-mount (full-frame)
Retailing at $1799 / £1850, this is far from a cheap lens. However, as the G Master name signifies, it is designed for superior image quality. It also promises a range of improvements over its predecessor in terms of usability and performance. Sony says the lens should deliver exceptional sharpness across the frame, to focus quickly, and to do it all in a package which is smaller and lighter than the original FE 85mm F1.4 GM.
Some complaints about the original lens included its slightly sluggish AF performance, and some instances of chromatic aberration. Its relatively large size and heavy weight could also make it feel unbalanced on most Sony full-frame cameras.
As well as being a classic focal length for portraits, an 85mm lens has other applications too. That includes street photography, weddings and events, still life, and even some aspects of landscape and architectural work.
The original FE 85mm F1.4 GM lens will set you back about £1500 right now, but it’s likely to drop a little in price once the new version becomes readily available from early September 2024. There are also other 85mm f/1.4 options elsewhere on the market for the Sony E Mount, including the Sigma 85mm F1.4 DG DN Art, which we rate very highly, and costs rather less at £979.
Sony FE 85mm F1.4 GM II: Features
Optically, the lens is constructed of 14 elements in 11 groups, including two extra low dispersion (ED) and two extreme aspherical (XA) elements, which are designed to minimise aberrations. It also has Nano AR Coating II to suppress flare and ghosting.
There are 11 diaphragm blades for creating that super-pleasing bokeh that most will be looking for from a portrait lens, with the two XA elements designed to produce super smooth blur without any appearance of ‘onion rings’.
Typically for its class, this lens has a fairly long minimum focusing distance of 85cm, which means you can’t get very close to small subjects. While it can be useful for some still life subjects, such as large flowers or large food arrangements, it’s not one you’d expect to use for macro work.
Although primarily designed for full-frame cameras, you can use it with Sony’s APS-C models as well. If you do that, the equivalent focal length will be around 127mm, which is also quite a nice length for portrait work – similar to a classic 135mm prime. It might therefore appeal to those with higher-end crop-sensor cameras such as the Alpha A6700.
Sony FE 85mm F1.4 GM II: Build and Handling
One of the improvements that Sony has delivered with this lens is to make it 13% smaller and 20% lighter than the predecessor. It’s still reasonably chunky, at 107mm long, 85mm in diameter, and 642g. But for there to be this big a reduction in heft, while also improving image quality, is a pretty impressive feat.
I’ve been using it with the 60MP full-frame Sony Alpha A7R V, and it feels fairly well balanced, albeit with the support of your left hand required for the best comfort.
Towards the back of the lens, there’s an aperture ring which is marked in full stops, as well as lines for one-third stops. This ring can be set to either clicked operation, for the feel and sound of a traditional aperture ring, or you can flick a switch to make it completely silent. This can be useful for shooting in discreet situations, as well as for video work.
The ring can also be set in the “A” position, which gives over aperture control to a dial on the camera body. A useful Iris Lock switch prevents you from accidentally switching to “A” when you’re not looking directly at the aperture ring – such as when you’re shooting through the viewfinder. Alternatively, if you have the ring set to “A” and engage the Iris Lock, you won’t be able to accidentally come out of that mode, either.
Two customisable function buttons can be set to control a huge number of different features from the main menu. One is positioned on the side of the lens for shooting in landscape format, while the other is placed on the top of the lens, meaning it falls in the same place when you rotate the camera for vertical shooting.
It should be noted that both lens buttons will control the exact same thing; I’d like to have the ability to set the two buttons to control different functions.
A manual focus ring sits towards the front of the lens. This is smooth and has a satisfying amount of give to help making precise adjustments to manual focusing. But there are no hard stops at either end of the ring.
Included in the box is an ALC-SH180 lens hood, which you can use to shield the front element from the sun when shooting in bright light. It’s quite a large hood and dramatically increases the length of the lens, but it can be reversed when not in use.
Sony FE 85mm F1.4 GM II: Autofocus
The FE 85mm F1.4 GM II uses internal focusing facilitated by two XD linear motors. This promises to be 3x faster than its predecessor, which employed an older supersonic motor (SSM). I didn’t have the original GM with me for a direct comparison, but what I can see is that the GM II locks on to the subject very quickly, even in low light situations. It’s also extremely quiet – as close to silent as possible – which is great for video recording.
‘Eyelash-precision’ AF is promised by the lens, and that’s something we can see when focusing on people – something that is obviously a priority with a lens like this. For portraits, I tended to use Eye Detection AF – with the A7R V it does such a good job of tracking eyes around the frame it made the most sense. This is a lens that promises 7x better subject tracking for stills and that’s something you can really see in action when shooting portraits.
Additionally, the lens also supports continuous focus adjustment when shooting at super-fast speeds, such as 120fps when using cameras like the Sony A9 III, or when video recording in 4K 120p. Speaking of which, transitions between focus points when recording video are also nicely smooth for a natural look.
Sony FE 85mm F1.4 GM II: Image Quality
As I’d expect from a G Master lens – particularly one that has been updated – image quality from the FE 85mm F1.4 GM II is exceptional. Using it with a high-resolution camera like the A7R V shows exactly how much detail it is capable of resolving. Whether looking at images at normal printing/viewing sizes or examining in close quarters, the pictures look incredible.
I tested the lens with the A7R V’s lens correction settings enabled, which includes in-camera compensation for distortion, vignetting, and chromatic aberration. This is how most users will experience the lens, and there’s no obvious reason to turn them off.
Sharpness is excellent across the frame and throughout the aperture range, as promised by Sony. The previous FE 85mm F1.4 GM was hardly a bad performer, but this update shows there was room for improvement and you really do get the best possible image quality.
Background blur (bokeh) is beautiful. This can be a subjective opinion, but I think most would agree that the rounded shapes are smooth and attractive, and again as promised, there’s no sign of onion ring bokeh.
With such a narrow depth of field, you can really play around with bokeh effects, while portraits have that fantastic “pop” from the frame that many will be looking for. Those who shoot other subjects such as weddings and events will likely find a huge amount to like here.
Chromatic aberration appears to be pretty much non-existent, even when shooting in very high contrast situations. There’s no sign of any barrel or pincushion distortion, including when looking at uncorrected raw files. This implies that the lens is perfectly corrected optically.
I tried hard to get some flare into my shots, but even when pointing the lens directly at the sun, it’s very well suppressed. Likewise, when shooting at the widest f/1.4 aperture I can see no noticeable problems with vignetting.
All in all, this is a lens which demonstrates the highest optical excellence. It’s a significant improvement from an already fantastic lens, so if you’re looking for something superb you shouldn’t be disappointed.
Sony FE 85mm F1.4 GM II : Our Verdict
If you’re a photographer whose primary interest is portraits, or similar related genres, such as weddings or events, then an 85mm lens is a must. Sony’s new FE 85mm F1.4 GM II is an exceptional example. Of course, for the price it absolutely should be.
It’s a clear step up in image quality from its predecessor, but, whether you need that is down to personal preference. It’s probably not so much of a step up as to make the original FE 85mm F1.4 GM redundant, so if you already have one, you needn’t think you must immediately rush out and get one. That said, its reduction in size and weight might make swapping to the new version appealing for those who’d like to see a reduction in how much kit they’re carrying.
Of course, if you don’t already have an 85mm f/1.4 lens and are thinking of buying one for the first time, you now have two options from Sony. The older version is likely to be available at a cheaper price, so it’s an option if you want to save money – while the newer lens will be expensive but offer the best possible image quality. The Sigma 85mm F1.4 DG DN Art provides an excellent and affordable third-party alternative, too.
Overall, this is a lens which offers the best possible image quality in a well-sized and well-designed housing. It’s expensive, but sometimes in life you really do get what you pay for.
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Sony FE 85mm F1.4 GM II full specifications:
| Filter Diameter | 77mm |
| Lens Elements | 14 (2x ED glass, 2x XA) |
| Groups | 11 |
| Diaphragm blades | 11 |
| Aperture | f/1.4 – f/16 |
| Minimum focus | 85cm |
| Length | 107.3mm |
| Diameter | 84.7mm |
| Weight | 642g |
| Lens Mount | Sony FE (full-frame) |
| Included accessories | Hood, front and rear caps |
