Not long after the announcement of the Sony FE 28-70mm f/2 GM lens, Sony has brought us another constant aperture f/2 lens—this time in the range of 50-150mm. The new Sony FE 50-150mm f/2 GM lens takes on the external appearance of their other telephoto lens offerings, with a mostly white exterior—presumably because this lens will remain cooler for people such as sports and wildlife photographers. Other things you will find on this lens are the normal switches and dials you have come to expect from a modern lens. It has an aperture ring with a locking switch and a declick switch. The lens also has three customizable buttons, an MF/AF switch, and a full-time DMF switch. But one thing you will see missing is the image stabilization switch—that's because this lens, unfortunately, does not have any stabilization within the lens.
On the plus side, though, the zooming functionality of this lens is fully internal, and the focusing will be extremely fast and accurate with the use of four XD linear focusing motors. In terms of size and weight, the lens is pretty much the same height as the Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS II Lens, though, because of the f/2 constant aperture, the 50-150mm will be both wider and heavier.
So, who is this lens for? I think sports photographers will love this range paired with the constant f/2 aperture. And as a portrait and documentary photographer myself, I know I would love this lens for what I do. The only real drawback with this lens at first glance is the price tag. Coming in at $3,898, the only people who will buy Sony FE 50-150mm f/2 GM lens are people who truly know how and why it should be part of their camera kit.
They should also do a 150-600mm f/2 lens.
So far all of the lenses in that range have been in the f/6.3 range which limits the ability of users to get cleaner images of faster moving subjects.
An f/2 version would allow for better performance at lower light levels, and with a little mind over matter, it should still be easily hand holdable (no need for bulky monopod or tripod ;-) )
I can only imagine how huge, heavy and expensive a 150-600 f2 lens would be and not remotely hand holdable. Not even sure if a lens like that is even possible, or practical.
I can’t remember the specific details but I remember watching a video one time about this huge aperture super tele that some rich guy had custom made for himself. It mounted on the back of a jeep like a turret and weighed over a hundred lbs. Optically it wasn’t great though as a lens that extreme compromises more than just size.
Man that sounds like it'd be an absolute terror to haul around haha.
f2?! And with constant all the way to 600. Well that would be some new-fangled technology for sure. Maybe someday, but I'll let you buy it for me. I know they are working on ways to substitute glass to try and find ways around the weight. Btw... a Higher f-stop isn't usually what limits you from getting a cleaner image at high motion speeds, in fact different bulky lenses actually sometimes shoot better stopping down, as all lenses sometimes do, depending on which model your talking about. However, when the light-gets-down-low... than we can talk about the issues that come from noisy images, and having to turn up the ISO to get shots.