The G Master family recently got a serious telephoto addition – meet the Sony 100-400mm f/4.5 G Master. In this video, professional photographer and Sony Artisan Miguel Quiles steps well outside his comfort zone to share his first impressions after putting the lens to the test. "If you follow my work, you know that sharpness and rendering mean everything to me, and I'm happy to report that the new 100-400mm f/4.5 GM delivers both in a way that fully earns that G Master badge." Watch more below and learn more about the Sony 100-400mm f/4.5 G Master HERE.
A Constant Reach, Constant Balance
The headline spec of this lens is one that photographers shooting in this focal range have been waiting for: a constant f/4.5 aperture from 100mm all the way to 400mm – a first for any Sony zoom in this range. That means the same maximum aperture at 400mm as at 100mm and everywhere in between, a meaningful advantage when the light changes and every stop counts.
The lens also features an inner zoom design, holding a consistent 328mm front to back throughout the entire zoom range. That keeps the center of gravity stable whether you're at 100mm or fully extended to 400mm – a real-world benefit when shooting handheld all day.
Photo by Miguel Quiles. Alpha 7R VI. 100-400mm f/4.5 G Master.
On the barrel, you'll find four customizable focus hold buttons, offering flexibility to program your most-used settings no matter how you're gripping the lens. There's also a customizable function ring – a standout feature Quiles highlights for toggling between full-frame and APS-C crop mode on the fly. "With a single twist of the ring, the camera switches to a 1.5x crop, which effectively extends your focal length range from 150mm all the way out to 600mm. It's a quick, seamless way to get extra reach without ever taking your eye out of the viewfinder."
Additional controls include a focus range limiter switch and dedicated SteadyShot on/off and mode switches. The lens accepts 40.5mm drop-in filters near the mount – a practical touch for a lens this size – along with a 95mm front filter thread. It's also fully dust and moisture resistant with a fluorine coating on the front element.
Exceptional Optics
Inside the lens is where things get truly impressive. The optical formula features 28 elements in 20 groups, including a newly designed Extra-low Dispersion Extreme Aspherical element (EDXA) – working alongside one XA element, two Super ED elements, and three ED glass elements to suppress chromatic and spherical aberration across the entire zoom range. Sony's Nano AR II coating takes care of ghosting and flare in backlit conditions.
Photo by Miguel Quiles. Alpha 7R VI. 100-400mm f/4.5 G Master.
The 11-blade circular aperture – upgraded from nine blades on its predecessor – delivers the smooth, beautiful bokeh that G Master lenses are known for. And at a constant f/4.5 all the way out to 400mm, the subject separation, as Quiles puts it, is "genuinely stunning."
Autofocus is driven by four XD linear motors working alongside a floating focus mechanism, delivering speeds approximately three times faster than the previous 100-400mm G Master. Subject tracking performance is also improved by around 50%. The lens is fully compatible with the Alpha 9 III's 120 frames-per-second continuous shooting – with autofocus and auto exposure tracking – exactly the performance expected from a lens of this caliber.
Out Of The Studio
Quiles is, by his own admission, a studio portrait photographer through and through – "controlled lighting, backdrop stands, maybe a reflector or two." But when the 100-400mm f/F4.5 GM arrived, he knew it called for something different. He took the lens into the field for a wildlife shoot, and the results made a clear impression.
Photo by Miguel Quiles. Alpha 7R VI. 100-400mm f/4.5 G Master.
"The image quality I was getting handheld at every focal length was remarkable," he says. "Those four XD linear motors locked onto fast-moving subjects with a consistency that made any shot I was trying to take pretty much impossible to miss." The constant aperture and inner zoom design kept handling predictable and balanced throughout, even during extended handheld sessions. And for those wanting even more reach, the lens is compatible with Sony's 1.4x teleconverter and 2x teleconverter, extending to 560mm and 800mm respectively – or up to 1,200mm in APS-C crop mode.
Photo by Miguel Quiles. Alpha 7R VI. 100-400mm f/4.5 G Master.
"The optical reach of this lens is essentially a life insurance policy," Quiles says. More seriously: this is a lens that earns its place in any serious shooter's kit.
Learn more about the Sony 100-400mm f/4.5 G Master HERE.
