It seems that the major manufacturers are hell-bent on making prime lenses obsolete, or at least it seems that way with Sony's release of the new FE 50-150mm f/2 GM lens. Should wedding photographers bite?
When Canon first announced its RF 28-70mm f/2 L USM lens, it was a drool-worthy lens for many photographers shooting prime lenses in that range, potentially replacing several lenses with one (very large) lens instead. This provides several benefits in terms of weight, space, and cost savings, but more importantly, it means that photographers don't have to change lenses when shooting, which saves time and missed shots. Still, as someone who doesn't often shoot wide primes, it didn't do much for me, and I went with my traditional RF 24-70mm f/2.8 L IS USM lens that I was very comfortable with from the EF days. Wide primes are not my go-to lenses.
But Sony has launched a lens that, for the first time ever, has me wondering if I should make the leap. In one fell swoop, the FE 50-150mm f/2 GM lens could potentially replace three key lenses that I use all the time: The Canon RF 50mm f/1.8 STM (that I stop down a little anyway for sharpness), the RF 85mm f/2 Macro IS STM, and the very old EF 135 f/2 L USM, which has been given a new lease on life with advances in mirrorless autofocus technology. That's a whole lot of lenses to replace in one shot but the Sony looks like it could conceivably do it, with the added bonus of going all the way out to 150mm at f/2. Where wide primes aren't ones I use every day, these ranges certainly are.
Youtuber and wedding photographer Maciej Suwałowski, of Magic Wedding Photographer, got to put this lens through its paces during a wedding photography workshop he runs, and while not a full field test of the lens, he's able to get a good feel for what it could do during that all-important portrait session portion of a wedding. He talks about the pros and cons of such a unique lens. And while "unique" is a word that's often thrown around, that is truly the case here; there's no other lens with that much range, with that wide an aperture, with this high quality—if Suwałowski's amazing photos with the lens are any indication.
Ultimately, whether or not the lens is right for wedding photographers depends on how attached they are to the "bag of primes" philosophy of shooting. Suwałowski explains his take on that vs. the "one lens to rule them all" approach in the video above, so check it out for his thoughts and more sample photos.
Does anyone else have thoughts about jumping ship for this one lens? Leave your comments below.
It does sound like it could replace 2-3 of your lenses so that is a no brainer. With 45megapixels, you can also easily get the extra reach by cropping especially if you use Ai cropping tools to edit.
I do not see how a 24-70mm lens wouldn’t still be needed though. Having only 50mm indoors is just not wide enough for much of the getting ready and reception photos.