Introduction
The FE 28-70mm F2 GM is a groundbreaking large-aperture standard zoom lens, specially designed for Sony Alpha full-frame E-mount mirrorless cameras.
Its 21st G Master optical system consists of 20 elements in 14 groups, including 3 Super ED lenses, 3 aspherical lenses, 1 ED lens, and 3 XA lenses.
This weather-resistant lens features Nano AR Coating II technology, internal focusing, a new 11-blade circular aperture unit, an 86mm filter thread, and a floating focus design.
Even at f/2 aperture, this lens can deliver extremely sharp images, with the clarity performance of the new model being very close to that of prime lenses.
Throughout the entire zoom range, it offers a minimum focusing distance of 0.38 meters and a maximum magnification of 0.23x.
Equipped with 4 XD linear motors, the lens supports 120fps still image focusing and 4K 120p video shooting. It also minimizes focus breathing and supports breathing compensation.
The FE 28-70mm F2 GM weighs only 918 grams, with dimensions of 119.9mm × 87.8mm, while the 24-70mm F2.8 GM II weighs 695 grams.
It comes with an aperture ring marked with aperture values, an aperture lock switch, an aperture click switch, 2 focus hold buttons, and a switch for adjusting zoom smoothness, with two settings available: smooth and tight.
The Sony FE 28-70mm F2 GM lens is priced at £3,200 in the UK, €3,600 in Europe, and $2,899 in the US, and it is manufactured in Thailand.
Usability
The Sony FE 28-70mm f/2 GM lens features a mixed metal and plastic body, weighing 918 grams (32.4 ounces) with a moderate length. For a standard zoom lens offering such a fast maximum aperture, it is relatively lightweight and compact.
In actual tests, when paired with our flagship Alpha A1 II camera, it showed good balance, as shown in the image below.
However, it is significantly heavier than all major competitors on the market, including the Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II (695g), Sony FE 24-105 f/4 G OSS (663g), and Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 DG DN Art (830g).
When zooming from the minimum focal length of 28mm to 70mm, this new lens extends by approximately 3 centimeters.
In terms of overall build quality, it performs exceptionally well. Considering its high price, such quality is reassuring. This highly modern lens adopts a mixed structure of metal and plastic.
It features a sealed, dust-resistant, and moisture-resistant design, with silicon seals around all buttons and switches, and a rubber gasket around the lens mount, making it ideal for use in outdoor and studio environments.
The front lens element is also coated with a fluorine coating, which helps repel water, oil, and other contaminants, making cleaning easier.
It is equipped with a metal lens mount, and 86mm filters can be attached via metal threads.
The Sony FE 28-70mm f/2 GM lens is provided with two circular focus hold buttons, convenient for use in both horizontal and vertical shooting orientations.
By default, these two buttons lock the lens at the current focusing distance, which is very useful when you are using autofocus and do not want the lens to attempt focusing again. Additionally, you can assign other functions to either of the two buttons through the camera's custom settings.
The end of the lens is equipped with a wide ridged focus ring. Manual focusing can be achieved by switching between autofocus and manual focus using the dedicated AF/MF switch.
There is no hard stop at the end of the zoom range, so setting the focus to infinity is slightly challenging. Good news for polarizer users: the 86mm filter thread does not rotate during focusing.
The lens uses four XD linear motors, enabling satisfactorily fast, smooth, and precise autofocus, with very quiet operation, making it perfect for video recording.
The internal focusing design ensures that the total length of the lens remains unchanged during focusing.
In terms of autofocus performance, this lens excels. When mounted on our tested Sony Alpha A10 II, it can lock onto the subject in less than 1 second.
Whether in well-lit or low-light environments, we did not encounter any "focus hesitation"; the lens almost always focuses accurately.
It is also a very quiet lens, making it suitable for both video recording and capturing more natural still photos.
The lens is equipped with a dedicated aperture ring, with an aperture range from F2 to F22, adjustable in 1/3EV increments. Through the dedicated Click On/Off switch at the bottom of the lens barrel, you can switch between smooth rotation and click-stop rotation.
The aperture ring can also be locked at auto or F2-F22 settings using the aperture lock switch on the lens barrel to prevent accidental movement.
The large-sized zoom ring is located between the aperture ring and the focus ring, rotatable by approximately 80 degrees. There are four different focal length markers on the zoom ring: 28, 35, 50, and 70mm.
The lens is also equipped with a switch for setting the zoom ring torque, with two options: "Tight" and "Smooth".
Selecting the "Tight" option can prevent zoom creep during transportation or when used on a tripod, while the "Smooth" option is a universal setting for most people's daily use, suitable for both shooting still images and slow zooming during movie recording.
This lens does not have optical image stabilization, so it relies on the camera body's built-in stabilization. This is not a problem for most users unless they are using an earlier model of Sony Alpha camera.
It is worth praising that the Sony FE 28-70mm f/2 GM lens comes with a high-quality soft case and a plastic petal-shaped lens hood (ALC-SH182). The hood can rotate 90 degrees and is equipped with a button for locking and unlocking.
The hood also has a filter window, convenient for using circular polarizers and variable ND filters.
Bokeh is a term used to describe the out-of-focus areas in a photo, and it is usually described using qualitative terms such as smooth, creamy, rough, etc.
Sony has put a lot of effort into this feature of the lens, using an 11-segment aperture with circular blades to create a more pleasing bokeh effect.
In our opinion, their efforts have achieved great success on this standard zoom lens.
Related Tags： Sony