Andy Westlake of Trusted Reviews recently offered up his thoughts on the Sony FE 12-24mm f/4 G lens. In the review, he notes the major pros of the lens – its compactness, excellent image quality and fast, silent and accurate autofocus – landing on a rating of 4.5/5 stars. Westlake also provides his detailed thoughts on some of the specific features and performance of the lens:
Build and Handling
"If you’ve used a full-frame ultra-wide zoom before, then the first thing you’ll notice about the FE 12-24mm f/4 G is its size. Or rather, lack of it: at 87mm in diameter and 117.4mm in length, it’s considerably smaller than similar lenses made for DSLRs."
"At 565g, it’s also less than half the weight of the aforementioned Canon and Sigma – an advantage that stems directly from the system’s mirrorless architecture. In fact, it isn’t even radically larger than the Sony FE 24-70mm f/44 OSS ZA."
AutoFocus
"For autofocus, Sony has chosen a Direct Drive Super Sonic Motor (DDSSM) to drive the lens’ focus group. This is fast and almost silent, meaning that it’s just as well suited to video work as it is to stills. On the α7R II used for testing, the focusing was also unerringly accurate – although, as always, you have to make sure you pay due care and attention to exactly where you place the AF point within the frame."
Performance
"Wide-angle zooms tend to be compromised in one way or another: it’s just the nature of trying to render a huge angle of view with minimal curvilinear distortion and a flat field of focus. Typically, I’d expect to see a combination of barrel distortion, chromatic aberration and smeared corner detail at larger apertures. However, Sony has a huge advantage compared to DSLR lens makers here, since mirrorless systems offer a greater degree of freedom in terms of lens design. As a result, the 12-24mm F4 isn’t only small – it’s pretty impressive optically, too."
The Verdict
"If you need an ultra wide-angle zoom for Sony full-frame mirrorless, then the FE 12-24mm F4 G is easy to recommend. Not only is it the sole native FE-mount option, but it’s optically excellent, and handles well too."
"If you’re a Sony full-frame mirrorless user and know you can make good use of its immense field of view, the Sony FE 12-24mm F4 G will do you proud."
Read the full review and see sample images at TrustedReviews.com
