Real-World Thoughts on the Sony 85mm GM II

It's been more than six years since the release of the original Sony 85mm G Master lens. Does the update live up to the hype?

In the world of prime lenses, the 85mm focal length is a cornerstone for most photographers, particularly portrait and wedding photographers. I think of this focal length as a must-have for almost every job I take on. And, while the original 85mm G Master lens was quite good, Sony's very early venture into the mirrorless world was starting to show in its older technology for this version one lens. Over the last few years, Sony has been systematically updating their older lenses to keep up with their innovations in both lens and body capabilities. While the 85mm lens is one of the last (if not the last) of these older lenses to receive an update, it's shaping up to be the best one yet.

Thankfully, the update has been worth the wait. Not to spoil the entirety of this review, but the Sony 85mm GM II lens is fantastic. While the original lens was starting to feel slow and sluggish, this version two feels fast and capable. With updates to the latest XD linear motors, I have no doubt this lens, even at f/1.4, can keep tack-sharp focus on most any of the subjects. In my testing, I had my three kids run directly toward me and the lens was able to easily keep focus without missing a single frame. And this was on the Sony a7C R, which is not a sports-centric camera. When paired with my Sony a9 III, the focus speed and capability are even more apparent. Through all the various sessions and personal projects that I used this lens on, I never once felt the lens hunt for focus or feel sluggish, even in lower light conditions. Regarding actual specs, Sony claims this new lens has 3x faster AF speed and that tracking ability has improved by as much as 7x. The Sony 85mm GM II is also capable of keeping up with the latest Sony a9 III, meaning it can take images with autofocus tracking as fast as 120 frames per second. This spec applies to both stills and video since the Sony a9 III can take RAW files at speeds as high as 120 FPS.

Optically, this lens is among the best I have ever seen and can easily battle for the title of the sharpest Sony lens available. For a quick test of this, I took a simple image of the brick wall on the side of my house. Even zooming in to a far corner at f/1.4, things are perfectly sharp. Stopping down to f/4 makes things even sharper. But while the lens is even sharper at f/4, the quality at f/1.4 is more than pleasing for me and easily outperforms most any lens in its class. Through all my use of this lens, I have not seen any sort of chromatic aberration. This is even with using a pre-production version of the lens and editing raw files without any sort of Lightroom lens profiles or computer-based lens corrections.

As lens optic technology improves, the one complaint people like to have is that this race to optical perfection has stripped away some of the visual character a lens can have. Sometimes slight optical imperfections are what give a lens a certain charm and visual interest. So I'm happy to see that this lens does have a bit of character in the way it renders flare at certain angles, giving an interesting and, for me, desirable rainbow-style flare. For those who don't want this, using the supplied lens hood would easily remove this effect, though I tend to simply shade the flare with my hand in situations where I may not want any type of flare since I prefer not to have a lens hood attached at all.

 In terms of build, you will find everything you've come to expect and love from other GM lenses. There is a dedicated aperture ring with all the locking and declicking abilities. There is an AF-MF switch, as well as two customizable buttons. The lens is also dust- and moisture-resistant by having all seams sealed as well as having rubber gaskets for all the buttons and switches. In terms of size and weight, the version two is lighter and smaller than the original, though after the massive reductions seen in lenses like the Sony 24-70mm GM II and Sony 70-200mm GM II, I was expecting something smaller and lighter. But at the end of the day, any weight loss and size reduction is a welcome change to see.

In use, I found this lens to be everything I could want from an 85mm prime. The close focus distance was good. The balance on my Sony a9 III was pleasing. The way it renders foreground and background elements is smooth and pleasing to the eye. While I had no need to use the manual focus ring on the lens, it does have a linear-response manual focus, so video users should enjoy this in addition to the lens being compatible with Sony's focus breathing compensation functions.

 

What I Liked 

• Extremely fast and accurate autofocus.
• Optically amazing but still has some character.
• Smaller and lighter than the version one.

What I Didn't Like 

• I do wish it was a bit smaller and lighter, but again, any weight loss and size reductions are always welcome. 

 Updates are bound to happen. though not all updates warrant an upgrade. But in this situation, I feel like any owner of the original Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM should seriously consider the Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM II. It's lighter, it's smaller, it's faster, and it's optically better. All around, I think this is one of Sony's best lenses on the market today, and I have an empty slot in my bag ready for when it starts to ship.