In summary
Although it is usable on Sony’s cropped-sensor cameras, the physical size and weight of the FE 16-35mm f/2.8 GM lens make it better suited to the company’s α7 and α9 camera bodies, where its wide-angle capabilities can be fully utilised. Its high price will put it out of the reach of all but the most enthusiastic (and well-heeled) photo enthusiasts, although it’s likely to be popular among the increasing number of professional photographers who use Sony’s camera bodies.
The 16-35mm zoom range is ideal for shooting landscapes and group portraits and it could also find a role in architectural photography. The combination of lens and camera could be a bit too conspicuous for street photographers, although its ability to operate almost silently will be welcome to wedding photographers and videographers.
The constant f/2.8 maximum aperture provides some scope for low-light shooting. Combined with the 11-bladed iris diaphragm, it also offers potential for differential focusing with soft, defocused backgrounds.
Sony’s FE 16-35mm f/2.8 GM lens is a very good performer for a zoom lens and has plenty of features.
Full review
Announced in mid-May, the Sony FE 16-35mm f/2.8 GM is the first fully wide angle model in the company’s ‘G-Master’ series of professional lenses. This fast wide angle zoom joins the 24-70mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/2.8 GM lenses to enable photographers to cover a wide variety of subject types in all kinds of lighting. Like its siblings, it is dust- and moisture-resistant and boasts Nano AR Coating to suppress reflections plus a fluorine coating on the front element for extra protection against dust, moisture and grease.
Side view of the FE 16-35mm f/2.8 GM lens without end caps and lens hood. (Source: Sony.)
The new lens spans the same 16-35mm zoom range as the Vario-Tessar T* FE 16-35mm f/4 ZA OSS, which we reviewed in April 2015. But with a constant f/2.8 maximum aperture, it’s a full stop faster. Like that lens, it can also be used on APS-C E-mount cameras, where it covers a focal length range equivalent to 24-52.5mm in 35mm format.
The optical design of this lens comprises 16 elements in 13 groups, including five aspherical elements, including two XA (extreme aspherical) lenses plus three ED (extra-low dispersion) elements to minimise chromatic aberrations throughout the zoom range while constraining the overall size of the lens. The front XA element is the largest of its type ever produced. The diagram below shows the positions of the exotic elements.
Source: Sony.
Complementing the optical design is an 11-blade iris diaphragm, which closes to produce a circular aperture for smooth, soft-edged bokeh in wide-aperture shots. Autofocusing is driven by two Direct Drive SSM Super Sonic Wave motors that move two ‘floating’ groups of elements to ensure focusing is fast and near-silent for shooting both stills and video clips.
The lens is supplied with front and end caps plus a shallow, petal-shaped lens hood that reverses over the lens for storage and a padded nylon carrying case. We reviewed it on the Sony α7R Mark II camera.
Who’s it For?
Although it is usable on Sony’s cropped-sensor cameras, the physical size and weight of the FE 16-35mm f/2.8 GM lens make it better suited to the company’s α7 and α9 camera bodies, where its wide-angle capabilities can be fully utilised. Its high price will put it out of the reach of all but the most enthusiastic (and well-heeled) photo enthusiasts, although it’s likely to be popular among the increasing number of professional photographers who use Sony’s camera bodies.
The 16-35mm zoom range is ideal for shooting landscapes and group portraits and it could also find a role in architectural photography. The combination of lens and camera could be a bit too conspicuous for street photographers, although its ability to operate almost silently will be welcome to wedding photographers and videographers.
The constant f/2.8 maximum aperture provides some scope for low-light shooting. Combined with the 11-bladed iris diaphragm, it also offers potential for differential focusing with soft, defocused backgrounds.
Build and Ergonomics
The build quality of this lens is in line with its price tag ““ and both are high. Sony doesn’t specify what the lens is made from but it appears to be a combination of metal and high-quality polycarbonate plastic, with the plastic on the exterior and metal providing durability in the inner workings.
The lens feels very solid in the hands and looks well finished. It mounted securely onto the α7R Mark II camera we used for our tests. A thin rubber gasket surrounding the mounting plate helps to exclude moisture and dust and the focusing and zoom rings are well-damped and move smoothly.
The inner barrel extends by approximately 35 mm when the lens is zoomed in, rotating through a degree or so in the process. Fortunately, that’s not enough to upset angle-critical filters.
A 15 mm wide band around its leading edge carries a bayonet mounting for the supplied lens hood. The 20 mm wide focusing ring is located at the leading edge of the outer barrel. It is covered by fine rubber ribbing to provide a secure and comfortable grip.
Behind the focusing ring lies a fixed section of the outer barrel, the left hand side of which carries the focus hold button, a key feature on all G Master lenses. On the α7R II, Page 7 of the Custom settings sub-menu includes a two-page Custom Key Settings section which lets you customise this button to access functions like Focus Hold (the default), AF/MF control toggle, centre lock-on AF-On, AF On, Eye-AF, aperture preview, focus magnification, start/stop movies, drive mode, metering, white balance, ISO, image size and quality and numerous other functions.
The 25mm wide zoom ring sits aft of this band. It has a 20 mm wide grip band of fine rubber ridging and its rear 5 mm slopes down to the fixed section of the barrel. Focal length settings for 16mm, 20mm, 24mm, 28mm and 35mm engraved on this section of the lens are aligned with a white mark on the fixed section of the barrel behind.
This section is approximately 20 mm wide and carries an AF/MF slider switch around the left hand side of the barrel. The lens barrel steps inwards for roughly 10 mm before ending in a 15 mm long straight section of the barrel that ends in the lens mount.
Like all Sony lenses we’ve reviewed recently, there are no additional items, such as focus or depth-of-field scales and no infra-red focus indices.
Performance
From a subjective viewpoint, the review lens was a good performer delivering images with sharp central regions and less edge softening than we expected from a constant f/2.8 zoom lens. Images produced by the lens appeared sharp, detailed and rich in natural colours, but with slightly elevated contrast.
Reaching the desired level of resolution for the 42-megapixel sensor on the α7R II camera was always going to be a challenge for a zoom lens. Even though the fast 35mm f/1.4 prime lens we just reviewed came close with its best performance, not unexpectedly the FE 16-35mm f/2.8 GM lens came a little short.
That’s not to say it’s a poor performer, which it isn’t. At its highest resolution almost reaching the halfway point on the 42-megapixel sensor amounts to an excellent achievement and justifies the 8.8-point rating we’ve given it. On a camera with lower resolution we believe it could have accomplished a 9-point rating.
A significant contributor to the high rating is the evenness with which the central sharpness was maintained across the wide range of aperture settings from f/2.8 through to f/8 at all focal lengths. This is remarkable for a lens of this type.
Diffraction took effect between f/8 and f/11, although resolution remained relatively high right up to f/22. The graph below shows the results of our tests, taken with the Sony α7R Mark II camera.
Lateral chromatic aberration was close to negligible at all aperture settings with the in-camera corrections switched off, another good achievement. The results of our test are shown in the graph below, with the red line marking the border between ‘negligible’ and ‘low’ values. No coloured fringing was evident in test shots.
Backlit subjects were handled extremely well and we found little evidence of flare artefacts, although there were traces of veiling flare in some shots taken with the 35mm focal length, even when the light source was outside of the frame. Any problems it caused should be easy to correct with good editing software.
The f/2.8 maximum aperture provided some scope for shooting close-ups with a shallow depth of focus, particularly with the 35mm focal length. It also allowed for some control over the zone of maximum sharpness in closer subjects.One of the most engaging features of this lens is the 16mm focal length, which encompasses an angle of view of 107 degrees.
When the in-camera corrections were enabled, the lens produced very little distortion in JPEG files ““ provided the camera was held parallel to the subject. Tilt the camera just a little and the distortion became immediately evident. Examples are shown in the Samples section below.
Bokeh (out-of-focus softening) was relatively smooth and attractive at wide aperture settings, particularly with the 28mm and 35mm focal lengths. The shorter focal lengths were better used with the aperture stopped down to take advantage of the wide angles of view the lens could cover.
Vignetting was evident at the widest apertures with all focal lengths but stopping down by about 1.5 stops eliminated most of the darkening. In-camera corrections are available in all Sony cameras to eliminate edge and corner darkening in JPEGs produced by the camera and all raw file converters include similar adjustments so we don’t see this as a major problem.
Similarly, rectilinear distortion is addressable both via in-camera adjustments and corrections in raw file converters. With the in-camera corrections disabled we found noticeable barrel distortion at 16mm, which remained to a much lesser degree at 20mm and switched to slight pincushion distortion at 28mm with more visible pincushioning at 35mm. The 24mm focal length was virtually distortion-free.
Autofocusing was fast and accurate on the α7R II camera, which supports the proprietary Direct Drive SSM focusing system in the lens. It took less than half a second to readjust focus between the minimum focus and infinity at all focal lengths and the quiet operation of the linear AF motor, makes this lens well suited to video recording.
One of the issues we always have is that our reviews are (of necessity) always conducted on a single sample of the product. Fortunately, Roger Cicala of Lens Rentals in the USA has recently conducted high-level technical tests on multiple samples of the lens. He’s also published comparisons between the FE 16-35mm f/2.8 GM lens and the Canon 16-35mm f/2.8L Mk III, Sony 16-35mm f/4 ZA OSS and Sony FE 12-24mm f/4. You can read his findings at https://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2017/08/sony-fe-16-35mm-f2-8-gm-sharpness-tests/.
Conclusion
Sony’s FE 16-35mm f/2.8 GM lens is a very good performer for a zoom lens and has plenty of features that will make it attractive to photographers. But it has some important limitations: such a wide-angle lens is not usually suitable for close-up work, although the 35mm focal length is usable with larger subjects.
Unfortunately, its relatively high price tag will put it out of the reach of all but very well-heeled enthusiasts and serious professionals. Although it can be used on both Sony’s α7 and α9 ‘full frame’ and its APS-C E-mount cameras, most potential purchasers will be from the former group.
An alternative is the Sony Vario-Tessar T* FE 16-35mm f/4 ZA OSS (SEL1635Z) lens, which we reviewed in April, 2015. It’s a full stop slower than the GM lens but smaller and lighter. It also comes with built-in stabilisation, which the GM lens lacks.
The Vario-Tessar lens isn’t as tough as the GM lens and it’s not weather-sealed. But its performance is similar to the GM lens and it’s less than half its price.
The FE 16-35mm f/2.8 GM lens has been on sale long enough for discounting to have begun and most local online re-sellers have already cut at least AU$300 off Sony’s RRP. Serious purchasers will probably be able to save even more by searching selectively.
B&H has this lens listed at US$2198, which converted to AU$2746.40 when this review was published. Add to that $56.24 for shipping, plus $326.93 for ‘duties and tax’ and you’ll be paying almost AU$3130, which is about mid-way between the cheapest local price we found and the average local online stores are charging. For a lens at this level, shopping locally makes a lot more sense.
SPECS
Picture angle: 107 to 63 degrees
Minimum aperture: f/22
Lens construction: 16 elements in 13 groups (including 2 extreme aspherical, 3 aspherical and 2 ED lens elements), Nano AR Coating
Lens mounts: Sony E-mount
Diaphragm Blades: 11 (circular aperture)
Focus drive: Two DDSSM (Direct Drive SSM) piezoelectric motors
Stabilisation: No (Sony cameras have body-integrated SteadyShot stabilisation)
Minimum focus: 28 cm
Maximum magnification: 0.19x
Filter size: 82 mm
Dimensions (Diameter x L): 88.5 x 121.6 mm
Weight: 680 grams
Standard Accessories: Lens front and end caps, petal-shaped hood (ALC-SH149), case
Distributor: Sony Australia; 1300 720 071; www.sony.com.au
TESTS
Based upon JPEG files captured with the Sony α7R Mark II camera.
SAMPLES
Vignetting at f/2.8, 16mm focal length.
Vignetting at f/2.8, 20mm focal length.
Vignetting at f/2.8, 24mm focal length.
Vignetting at f/2.8, 28mm focal length.
Vignetting at f/2.8, 35mm focal length.
Rectilinear distortion, 16mm focal length.
Rectilinear distortion, 20mm focal length.
Rectilinear distortion, 24mm focal length.
Rectilinear distortion, 28mm focal length.
Rectilinear distortion, 35mm focal length.
16mm focal length,1/200 second at f/7.1.
20mm focal length,1/200 second at f/6.3.
24mm focal length,1/200 second at f/6.3.
28mm focal length,1/200 second at f/7.1.
35mm focal length,1/200 second at f/6.3.
Close-up at 16mm focal length; ISO 100, 1/60 second at f/4.
Close-up at 24mm focal length; ISO 100, 1/60 second at f/4.
Close-up at 35mm focal length; ISO 100, 1/60 second at f/4.
Strong backlighting at 16mm focal length; ISO 100, 1/200 second at f/6.3.
Strong backlighting at 24mm focal length; ISO 100, 1/250 second at f/6.3.
Strong backlighting at 35mm focal length; ISO 100, 1/250 second at f/6.3.
16mm focal length; ISO 100, 1/250 second at f/7.1.
16mm focal length; ISO 100, 1/400 second at f/6.3.
16mm focal length; ISO 100, 1/250 second at f/5.6.
35mm focal length; ISO 100, 1/250 second at f/6.3.
16mm focal length; ISO 1600, 1/30 second at f/9.
Crops from the centre (top) and edge of the above image at 100% magnification, the latter showing the edge softening.
16mm focal length; ISO 100, 1/250 second at f/8.
35mm focal length; ISO 100, 1/60 second at f/3.5.
16mm focal length; ISO 100, 1/60 second at f/3.5.
35mm focal length; ISO 100, 1/250 second at f/8.
32mm focal length; ISO 100, 1/60 second at f/2.8.
35mm focal length; ISO 100, 1/160 second at f/5.6.
16mm focal length; ISO 320, 1/60 second at f/4.5.
16mm focal length; ISO 640, 1/30 second at f/9.
Rating
RRP: AU$3,699; US$2,198
- Build: 9.1
- Handling: 8.9
- Image quality: 8.8
- Versatility: 8.8