Sony has announced the 59th addition to the E-Mount lens lineup, the 35mm f/1.4 GM. Built “in the same spirit” as the 24mm f/1.4 GM, Sony claims this lens is capable of being a do-it-all lens, from portraiture to landscapes.
With the 35mm f/1.4 GM, there are now 39 full-frame and 20 APS-C E-mount lenses in Sony’s lineup, 12 of them classified as G-Master.
Weighing 524 grams (~18.4 ounces) and relatively compact in design, the 35mm f/1.4 GM promises corner to corner sharpness, excellent defocused area rendition, fast and quiet autofocus, and dust and moisture resistance.
Sony says that the lens was designed to be tack sharp at any aperture, including wide open at f/1.4, and says that the plane of focus is perfectly rendered with natural highlights in the foreground and background. The 35mm f/1.4 uses two XA (extreme aspherical) elements to contribute to overall image quality and resolution along with one ED (extra-low dispersion) element along with other optical refinements to effectively suppress chromatic aberration and purple fringing for clean, natural-looking images that Sony says will contribute to a fast and easy post-shoot workflow.
Speaking of internal elements, the lens is made of 14 elements in 10 groups and features an 11-bladed diaphragm, a feature Sony says is extremely rare in 35mm lenses and the 35mm f/1.4 GM is believed to be the first or among the first to offer it.
While not a macro lens, Sony says it is useful for close up applications. It has about a 10.5-inch (27cm) close focusing distance and a 0.23x max magnification in autofocus. In manual focus, it can get a bit closer with an about 9.8-inch (25cm) close focusing distance and 0.26x max magnification. In manual focus, the lens features a linear response mechanism that, while it is still focused by wire, should provide a quality response thanks to its fine linear focus control.
The 35mm f/1.4 GM has a 67mm filter thread, a de-clickable aperture, focus mode switch, an assignable focus hold button, and Sony’s famed linear XD autofocus system that – combined with Sony’s control algorithms – allows for fast, silent, and accurate autofocus.
Below are some sample images taken with the lens:
The Sony 35mm f/1.4 GM will be available in late February to early March of this year for $1,400.
Author: Jaron Schneider
Source: Petapixel
