Since Sony first announced their FE lineup of lenses, we’ve been hard at work reviewing each and every single one. Further, our team has worked to tell the transparent truth about the lenses while also giving our own insights based on industry experience. If you’re a passionate Sony photographer exploring your hobby further, then there’s something here for you. But if you’re a passionate professional, then this Sony FE Lens guide will also help you navigate and find exactly what you want.
Before you go on, you should know that none of our content in this guide is sponsored. We’re also not a website that does sponsored reviews. In fact, we think you should check out our Ethics Policies about all this as we take it incredibly seriously. We reviewed all these lenses in-house and we also shot all the images for this roundup. So without further adieu, please explore the Sony FE Lens Guide.
Here are some tips on how to use this Sony FE Lens Guide:
In our review, we said:
“The Sony 14mm f1.8 G Master isn’t innovative in that it’s a fast wide-angle. Sigma has done this kind of lens for a long time now. Instead, it’s innovative in how lightweight and small Sony made it. Plus, it focuses incredibly fast. More importantly, this lens was made from the ground up for mirrorless cameras.”
In our review, we said:
“The Sony 20mm f1.8 G is a small lens that packs a punch. The images the glass will help you capture will be tack sharp from f1.8 and on. The colors that it renders are pleasant and neutral and will no doubt please many. The bokeh is very good for a wide-angle lens, and the way the lens coatings help control flares and ghosting is excellent.”
In our review, we said:
“The Sony 24mm f2.8 G is a fun lens to slap on your camera and walk around with. In fact, I think it would be perfect to pair up with the Sony a7c. The metal build and weather sealing will fill you with confidence. Overall, I think the images will please most people. The lens focuses fast and is accurate. The aperture ring will remind you of days gone by and will make you feel more connected to the lens. It’s just fun to use.”
In our review, we said:
“The Sony 24mm f1.4 G Master is a lens many photographers will want to add to their shopping list, regardless of their photographic specialty. Whether you’re a landscape photographer, an astrophotographer, a street photographer, or even a portrait photographer, there will be situations where the 24mm f1.4 G Master will shine.”
In our review, we said:
“The Sony 28mm f2 is not only sharp, but offers very good color, beautiful bokeh for a lens this wide, and very little in the way of image quality issues. Wide-open, it will vignette a bit, but you can creatively embrace this”
In our review, we said:
“The Sony FE 35mm f1.4 GM is a joy to use, and the photos a joy to look at. I found little to complain about. The lightweight design is excellent; the de-click aperture ring a pleasure to spin. The weather-sealing handled some light snow. I love both the colors and sharpness of this lens, while distortions and flare are kept to a minimum.”
In our review, we said:
“In fact, it’s an incredible lens. On the A7 it will focus like a speed demon. On the A7r it will resolve more detail than your mom will want to see in her face. Then when you’re all done with that, you can take it out into inclement weather with no problems. Then there is your excellent color rendition and class-leading sharpness.”
In our review, we said:
“This lens is small, lightweight, weather-sealed, fast to focus, and can deliver excellent image quality. For the photographers who need speed like street photographers, event photographers, and documentary shooters–it’s there. For those who want details and beautiful bokeh like portrait shooters, it’s also there.”
In our review, we said:
“The image quality is sharp, saturated, and overall very beautiful. It beats much of the previous lenses that Sony has offered but in many ways also rivals the company’s 55mm f1.4 for their A-mount.”
In our review, we said:
“Sharpness is top-notch — though maybe a little too sharp — and the colors are great. The autofocus is excellent and even a little better than the sister 50mm lens. The smaller aperture also allows the lens to seriously slim down. You could easily shoot with this lens all day without being weighed down.”
In our review, we said:
“The Sony 50mm f1.2 G Master is a fantastic lens overall, objectively speaking. The autofocus performance is quick and accurate in lots of cases. It will serve street photographers, portrait photographers, and any other professional or passionate photographer well. As we saw, it’s going to also stand up to the elements pretty well. Within the FE lens lineup, it’s the fastest aperture lens. It also has incredibly smooth bokeh, sharp optics, and decent color.”
In our review, we said:
“The Sony 50mm f1.8 for the full-frame E mount system is a beautiful lens when it comes to image quality. Like other 50mm f1.8 lenses, that’s its strongest feature.”
In our review, we said:
“The Sony FE 50mm f2.5 G isn’t Sony’s most impressive 50mm — but it is only $600 and six ounces. For photographers who don’t want to lug around the new 50mm f1.2 G or cough up $2,000, the f2.5 is a good alternative. It’s plenty sharp with great color and won’t weigh down your camera bag.”
In our review, we said:
“Here’s where I really am perhaps most pleased with this lens. The colors are very, very nice. They feel almost film-like.”
In our review, we said:
“This lens is absolutely incredible at f1.4 when a flash’s output is added to the scene. Even with natural light, it’s still pretty amazing though I’ll always encourage everyone to use a flash when they can. At f2.8 the lens becomes super sharp and even more so at f5.6–where I personally find the best balance between bokeh and sharpness.”
In our review, we said:
“Wide open, this lens will give you desirable results, and that only gets better as you stop down. For the bokeh connoisseurs out there, this is the lens to get.”
In our review, we said:
“It’s sharp, has less saturated colors (only the Loxia is less saturated than this), focuses pretty well with most cameras (the Batis is fastest) and it has weather resistance. But it’s also small and offered at a pretty affordable price point.”
In our review, we said:
“This lens has fantastic sharpness, class-leading bokeh, good construction, weather sealing, fast autofocus performance, and lots to offer the high-end Sony shooter. You couldn’t honestly ask for anything more.”
In our review, we said:
“This lens is a bokeh monster: the Sony 100mm f2.8 STM G Master OSS lens has 11 aperture blades, an f2.8 aperture, and then throw in the 100mm focal length factor.”
In our review, we said:
“In addition to acquiring and maintaining focus quickly and reliably, the Sony 135mm f1.8 G Master creates images that marry corner to corner sharpness with lifelike colors, minimal distortion, and little to no chromatic aberrations. In focus areas appear tack sharp and defocus into velvety smooth bokeh, helping your subjects stand out from the rest of the frame”
In our review, we state:
The Sony 400mm f2.8 G Master is a holistically fantastic lens. It’s amazingly very lightweight, fast to focus, and incredibly versatile. Sports photographers will be able to use it with a variety of cameras and get the shots that they want. We used it with both the Sony a1 and Sony a7r III and captured photos we were very in love with. What’s more, wildlife photographers will never want to put this lens down. We shot a bunch of photos of birds going about their daily lives using this lens. Frankly, we captured some of the most amazing moments we’ve shot with the Sony 400mm f2.8 G Master. In fact, unless you’re not nailing the autofocus, it’s pretty hard to take a bad photo.
In our review, we said:
“As is expected, the Sony 600mm f4 G Master OSS is incredibly sharp. It is, after all, a G Master lens. The photographers who use it will be surely pleased with the results they get. This is only complimented well by Sony’s autofocus system and the sensors you choose to work with. As far as image quality goes, I don’t have much to complain about.”
In our review. we said:
“Distortions are well controlled, chromatic aberrations are almost non-existent, images are sharp and have natural colors, and the lens is built like a tank. At $3,000, it’s not cheap, but that’s the price you pay for innovation when coupled to a G Master designated lens.”
In our review, we said:
“Those who like Sony’s contrasty and saturated look will want to reach for the Sony 12-24mm f4 G FE as that look is ever-present in the photos no matter what camera I’ve used. For that reason, it will be great when combined with Sony’s sensors due to how good they are at getting details out of the highlights and shadows.”
In our review, we said:
“The sharpness from this lens beats the Rokinon 14mm f2.8, 24mm f1.4, and 35mm f1.4 altogether. Plus, it even starts to edge out to best some of Zeiss’s native prime lens offerings with perhaps the exception being the 15mm f2.8 and their 25mm f2. If you get your hands on this lens and you’re creating images that aren’t sharp, then you’re probably doing something wrong.”
In our review, we state:
The Sony 16-35mm f4 PZ G may be the company’s more affordable ultra-wide zoom, but it shoots with the technical greatness Sony’s G series is known for. Images are sharp except for the very corners. Lines remain relatively straight, even at 16mm. While a more affordable choice, it’s still weather-sealed and the barrel houses several controls.
In our review, we said:
“The Sony 16-35mm f2.8 G Master FE has pretty alright color right out of the camera. It’s neutral as opposed to very saturated like many of the company’s primes. For that reason, I feel like most of what this lens can do will shine with post-production. If you’re a landscape photographer, then you know exactly what I’m talking about here.“
In our review, we said:
” It’s surprisingly sharp and even though our images looked pretty amazing on the LCD screen of the camera, they had me looking twice and cleaning my glasses to ensure that I wasn’t seeing thing”
In our review, we said:
“The 24-70mm f4 FE OSS gives us beautiful colors and some of the best skin tones that we’ve seen in a zoom lens of this type. For that reason, we once again think that event photographers will want to reach for this lens and otherwise work with the uber versatile Sony RAW files to get more out of their images.“
In our review, we said:
“It delivers wonderful image quality, performs well, has fast autofocus, and will make lots of professional photographers very happy.”
In our review, we state:
The Sony 24-70mm f2.8 G Master II is an excellent lens for a professional photographer that wants the cleanest, most sterile image possible. This has been Sony’s mission since the start. It removes any issues with lens flare, all aberrations and gives you a clinically perfect lens. While doing this, they cut down the size and weight. Objectively speaking to how photography has been presented for years, the Sony 24-70mm f2.8 G Master II is a winner. But if you’re looking for something with more soul, I’d suggest looking at Tamron and other brands instead.
In our review, we said:
“If you’re shooting street photography, you’ll like the Sony 28-60mm f4-5.6. But if you’re also just photo walking around town, it’s an excellent lens to use.”
In our review, we said:
“During the review process, I was absolutely amazed at this kit lens. Many times I didn’t think that I was using one but instead something targeted at the middle of the road user. Indeed, there is very little to complain about with this lens if you’re using it for general shooting purposes.”
In our review, we said:
“It can deliver gorgeous image quality and with the right lighting, I doubt that anyone would really be able to fault the lens or the photographer. Combine this with the little bit of weather sealing, and I can totally see how this lens can be one that stays glued to your camera in most instances.”
In our review, we said:
“This lens renders images to be super sharp; originally I thought that the images weren’t so when viewing them on the back of the A7, but when imported I was completely shocked. The bokeh? Same thing. And the colors? Yup…it’s all incredible.”
In our review, we said:
“Since I believe that the best sharpness from a lens comes out when you use a flash, I did just that. The sharpness from this lens is impeccable when the subject is nailed perfectly in focus.”
In our review, we state:
The Sony 70-200mm f2.8 GM OSS II has quite a few upgrades from the original. The autofocus is faster, and also works much better on close-up subjects. The sharpness has improved and the lens significantly lighter, yet Sony still managed to add a dedicated aperture ring. It’s a lens with a lot of technical greatness.
In our review, we said:
“You get weather resistance, great image quality, decent autofocus, and a compact size for a little over $1,000”
In our review, we state:
“You’re paying over $2,000 for a lens, and so you should expect the Sony 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 G Master FE to deliver stellar images. Indeed, the image quality is the last thing that you need to worry about here as the lens is capable of delivering lots of sharp details, wonderful colors, great bokeh, and all the while keeps the chromatic aberration down. No matter what camera I mounted the Sony 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 G Master FE onto, the images were always awesome.”
In our review, we said:
“The Sony 200-600mm f5.6-6.3 G OSS Super Telephoto combines snappy and precise autofocusing performance, robust build quality, and stellar image quality into a superb lens that is worthy of being added to any sports and wildlife photographer’s arsenal.”
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