Sony FE 135mm F 1 8 GM Review | 54 Data compared

The Sony FE 135mm f/1.8 GM lens is recognized as a top-tier prime, delivering exceptional sharpness, high contrast, and minimal aberration, even when shooting wide open at f/1.8. It is highly regarded for its fast and quiet XD Linear autofocus system, professional-grade construction, and smooth background bokeh. However, the lens is a significant investment and is relatively heavy, which may affect its suitability for all-day shooting. Other, more minor drawbacks mentioned include pronounced focus breathing and the absence of a lock for the aperture ring.

The Sony FE 135mm f1.8 G Master is a premium telephoto prime lens designed for full-frame mirrorless Alpha cameras, highly regarded for tighter portraits, street photography, detailed landscapes, and macro-style work. Its advanced optical design features Extreme Aspherical (XA) and Super ED elements, which successfully balance edge-to-edge high resolution with smooth background bokeh. Equipped with two floating focus groups driven by four XD linear motors, the lens delivers swift, accurate autofocusing and maintains a versatile minimum focusing distance of 70cm with a 0.25x magnification ratio. Furthermore, videographers benefit from specialized features like linear manual focus response, minimal focus breathing, and a dedicated aperture ring that can be de-clicked. The primary advantages of this lens lie in its superior build and exceptional performance, offering pin-sharp details, beautiful rendering of blurred areas, minimal physical distortion, and comprehensive weather-sealing. It also provides tactical handling benefits through two customizable focus-hold buttons. However, the lens is not without drawbacks; it is heavily priced, ranking as one of the most expensive options in its focal length class. Additionally, at a weight of 950g, it is physically...

The Sony FE 135mm F1.8 G Master is a highly functional portrait lens featuring record-setting sharpness, contrast, and acuity that outperforms rivals like the Zeiss Milvus 135mm F2 across almost the entire frame. Built with a robust magnesium alloy body and extensive weather sealing, it offers excellent handling through user-friendly physical controls, including a focus limiter, two customisable focus-hold buttons, and an aperture ring that can be declicked for video use. Driving its heavy glass elements is a dual XD linear motor system that delivers silent, exceptionally fast, and precise autofocusing, producing perfectly focused results even at a paper-thin depth of field. Furthermore, it boasts an impressive 1:4 magnification ratio at a close minimum focus distance of 70cm, maintaining stellar image quality with creamy, circular bokeh and natural skin tones. The review highlights a definitive list of strengths and minor drawbacks for this premium lens. On the positive side, its pros include beautiful, feature-rich build quality, a declickable aperture ring, comprehensive weather sealing, and remarkably fast and accurate autofocus that makes Eye AF a joy to use. Photographers will also...

Here is a specific summary of the Sony FE 135mm f/1.8 GM lens review based on the provided text: The Sony FE 135mm f/1.8 GM is a highly recommended Grand Master prime lens that delivers outstanding optical and mechanical performance, though it comes with a premium price tag of approximately €1,600 or $2,200. On the positive side, the lens boasts superb build quality featuring high-quality plastics over a magnesium alloy frame, complete with full weather-sealing, a de-clickable aperture ring, and a dual XD linear motor that provides fast, silent autofocus operations. Optically, it offers razor-sharp, outstanding resolution across the broader center straight from f/1.8, negligible field curvature, and virtually irrelevant lateral chromatic aberrations and distortions. Videographers will also benefit from its compatibility with modern in-camera focus breathing compensation. Furthermore, it produces stunning, smooth bokeh rendering with 11 rounded aperture blades that maintain circular out-of-focus highlights even when stopped down to f/4. Conversely, the review highlights a few notable drawbacks, primarily its expensive price point and the absence of a built-in optical image stabilizer. From an optical perspective, the most prominent...

The Sony FE 135mm f/1.8 GM is a portrait prime lens designed for full-frame E-mount cameras that offers a blend of sharp resolution and extreme performance. In terms of design and features, it relies on 13 elements in 10 groups—including XA (extreme aspherical) and Super ED elements—alongside an 11-bladed circular aperture to generate a smooth, circular bokeh. It handles autofocusing via two separate groups powered by a total of four Extreme Dynamic (XD) Linear motors, which deliver fast, quiet, low-vibration tracking while maintaining a close focusing distance of 2.3 feet. For operability, the lens is built with professional controls such as a de-clickable physical aperture ring, a focus range limiter switch, and two customizable focus hold buttons inside a relatively portable 33.6-ounce body. The reviewer praises the lens for its "soulful" rendering, beautiful backlight flaring, and rapid tracking when paired with Sony's Eye-AF system. The main pros highlighted are its outstanding corner-to-corner sharpness even when shooting wide open at f/1.8, high-speed and silent autofocus tracking on moving subjects, and excellent distortion control for faithful facial proportions. On the flip side,...

Roger Cicala’s bench testing of the Sony FE 135mm F1.8 GM, based on 10 retail copies, confirms it is the sharpest lens ever tested at LensRentals, delivering unprecedented MTF results that exceed any previously measured prime. The lens offers incredible sharpness at f/1.8, surpassing competitors like the Zeiss Batis 135mm f/2.8 and Sigma 135mm f/1.8 Art, with resolution that handles ultra-high-density sensors. Key advantages include record-breaking center-to-edge contrast and consistent manufacturing quality, while the analysis is limited to laboratory optical performance, excluding real-world factors like weight, autofocus, and price.

The Sony FE 135mm F1.8 GM is a premium, professional-grade portrait lens in Sony's top-tier G Master series that delivers unmatched, record-breaking image quality. Laboratory testing confirms it is one of the sharpest lenses available, achieving an outstanding peak of 5,333 lines at f/5.6 on high-resolution sensors like the 60MP a7R IV. Its robust polycarbonate barrel features full weather sealing, a fluorine-coated front element to resist moisture, a physical declickable aperture ring for silent video iris adjustments, and dual programmable focus-lock buttons. Driven by dual focus groups, its exceptionally fast autofocus system easily tracks indoor sports, while its close-focus capability provides a competitive 1:4 macro magnification ratio. Furthermore, its advanced optical engineering incorporates Extreme Aspherical (XA) elements and an 11-blade circular diaphragm to generate incredibly smooth backgrounds with minimal "onion ring" bokeh artifacts. However, this exceptional performance comes with a few notable drawbacks, primarily its steep price tag, which debuted at $1,900 and later increased to $2,100. Another major omission is the lack of built-in optical image stabilization, which relies entirely on modern Sony camera bodies equipped with In-Body Image...

The Sony FE 135mm f/1.8 GM is lauded for exceptional, record-setting sharpness wide open, smooth bokeh, and robust construction including weather sealing and customizable focus hold buttons. Ideal for portraits and events, this telephoto lens offers superior, tight background compression compared to 85mm or 100mm alternatives. Key trade-offs include a higher price point, along with significant size and weight due to the complex, fast optics. Additionally, the electronic focus-by-wire system offers a different, less tactile experience than traditional mechanical, manual focus mechanisms.

In his hands-on review, Steve Huff proclaims the Sony 135 f/1.8 G Master as one of the finest prime lenses he has ever tested, even outclassing top-tier competitor glass in pure image sharpness and rendering quality. Dubbing it the “Money Lens,” Huff emphasizes its potential as a powerful tool for wedding and portrait professionals due to its medium-format-like ability to resolve immense detail, rich contrast, and dramatic subject separation right out of the camera. Testing the optic at a fast-paced basketball game in Brooklyn paired with the Sony A9 camera, he notes that the combination tracks action effortlessly, effectively making professional-level results accessible to anyone. The review highlights several remarkable pros, starting with a completely silent and lightning-fast autofocus driven by four XD linear motors. Optically, the lens delivers outstanding wide-open sharpness at f/1.8, beautifully rendered "buttery" bokeh from an 11-blade aperture, and a superb minimum focusing distance of 2.3 feet aided by a floating focus mechanism. On the physical side, it features a durable dust-and-moisture-resistant build, dual customizable buttons, and a de-clickable aperture ring. Conversely, the primary cons mentioned...

The Sony FE 135mm F1.8 G Master is a lightweight (950g), portable full-frame E-mount prime lens offering high resolution, minimal aberrations, and exceptional bokeh for portrait and sports photography. While delivering fast autofocus, the lens features a substantial design that requires support during use, with some users noting stiff focus mode and limiter switches.

The ePHOTOzine review gives the Sony FE 135mm f/1.8 G Master lens a "Highly Recommended" rating, praising its exceptional, near-record-breaking sharpness from f/1.8 to f/2.8, robust build, and smooth bokeh. It features a weather-resistant magnesium alloy construction, a 2.3-foot minimum focusing distance for improved close-up potential, and utilizes advanced XA, Super ED, and ED glass elements for superior image quality. Pros include outstanding, consistent sharpness, rapid autofocus, and excellent handling, while cons are limited to its high price point and relatively heavy, bulky, 950g design. Ultimately, the lens is considered a top-tier performer for professional Sony full-frame users.