Sony camera owners enjoy access to one of the earliest, and most well established, made-for-mirrorless lens libraries. With all of the basic optics covered, there's room to explore more exotic, niche designs. The FE 14mm F1.8 GM ($1,599.99) captures an ultra-wide angle and has an extra-bright aperture, a real benefit for night sky photography. It's smaller and lighter than zoom lenses, making it a better fit for use on a gimbal or drone, and a lot easier to carry than the Sigma 14mm F1.8 DG HSM Art, a lens first made for SLRs that is available in E-mount.
Mirrorless Optics Cut Down Size
Many tout the smaller size and weight of mirrorless camera systems as the big reason to move away from an SLR. There's not always a dramatic difference—most full-frame cameras are sized and shaped similarly to comparable SLRs out of ergonomic necessity, as tiny cameras make too many sacrifices in handling.
But for wide lens designs, the benefits are palpable. Optical designers have the freedom to put lens elements very close to the image sensor, something that's not feasible with SLR optics. It makes the FE 14mm a much smaller lens than you'd expect—it comes in at 3.9 by 3.3 inches (HD) and just about a pound. Compare that with the Sigma 14mm F1.8, which is notably larger (5.0 by 3.8 inches) and nearly twice as heavy (2.6 pounds).
A lighter kit isn't the only benefit. Sony's design puts focusing elements near the rear, so it drives focus with serious speed and without any audible noise. It's not a lens that most will reach to for tracking action, but if you're after shots of pets, kids, or other quickly moving subjects, the FE 14mm is up to the task. The Sigma 14mm F1.8 falls a bit short for action—it has to move heavier pieces of glass to set focus, making it a better fit for still life, wide street shots, and environmental portraiture.
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Fit and finish are premium, as expected. Sony uses a tough polycarbonate material for the barrel and includes internal seals and gaskets to keep dust and moisture outside. The front element is too bulbous to take a filter, but is protected by an integrated petal hood with the standard anti-reflective and anti-smudge coating. A slip-on lens cap is included.
Front filters aren't supported, but there is a frame at the rear for slip-in gel filters. You can cut your own using a template (included), or opt for an off-the-shelf solution from Haida. I didn't have a chance to try the lens with filters, but Sony tells us that any mdoels you use with its FE 12-24mm F2.8 GM zoom will work with the FE 14mm as well.
On-lens controls include an aperture ring and a corresponding toggle switch to set it to turn freely or click at third-stop increments. There's also a toggle to swap focus modes, a programmable function button, and a manual focus control ring.
Sony has done a good job making its focus-by-wire lenses behave a bit more like a lenses with mechanical helicoids. The rubberized focus ring turns with a little bit of resistance and no discernible lag. Response is linear, and it takes little effort to make very fine adjustments. Manual focus aids kick in automatically and the camera shows a distance scale with the set focal distance.
There's a little bit of focus breathing, the effect where the angle of view changes along with the focus point. It's a modest effect, one that you'll find more distracting when racking from close-up to far away. It's still a good fit for walk-and-talk vlogs: You can blur out the background when working at wide apertures and the light build makes it a good fit for use with a gimbal.
Sony a7R IV, f/1.8, 1/320-second, ISO 100
Close focus is available to 9.8 inches, giving you some freedom to lean in and get those shots with a huge, sweeping background behind diminutive subjects. It's not macro—the wide angle of view nets just 1:10 life-size reproduction.
In the Lab
I paired the FE 14mm with the 60MP a7R IV and Imatest software for lab testing. It's an excellent performer, especially given its ambitious optical formula.
Sony a7R IV, f/5.6, 1/500-second, ISO 100
When shot wide open, lab results show resolution that's very good for any lens on the a7R IV sensor (4,200 lines), a feat for an optic with such a wide angle and aperture. It's a little bit sharper at f/2.8 (4,400 lines), and approaches outstanding levels at f/5.6 (4,800 lines).
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Real-world results back up what we see in the lab. When the lens is stopped down for landscape work, it's sharp from edge to edge, and you can focus close at a wide aperture to net images with the shallow, blurred-background look. When stopped down the lens draws multi-point sunstars at f/8 through f/16.
Sony a7R IV, f/16, 1/640-second, ISO 100
You may note some curvature to the field of focus when working close-up—it's not flat like standard angle and telephoto lenses. For distant subjects and photos shots at smaller f-stops, it's not something you're likely to notice.
I didn't have the opportunity to use the lens for any dark sky photography, but Chris Niccolls from DPReview TV did and found it to be an excellent performer in terms of sharpness, and well corrected aside from a vignette, something you'll want to correct to keep your night skies evenly illuminated. He tells us that he was most impressed about how well it suppressed coma in the corners. Astrophotographers do everything to avoid the coma effect, which draws pinpoint stars with an unnatural trail or color bloom. You can see some of his night sky work in DPReview's sample gallery.
Sony a7R IV, f/1.8, 1/3,200-second, ISO 100
In-camera corrections eliminate barrel distortion and a visible vignette from photos if you set your camera for JPG or HEIF capture. There's some barrel distortion visible in uncorrected Raw images, but it's not too bad given the angle of view. Adobe hasn't released a Lightroom correction profile for this one yet, but it's only a matter of time.
An Ultra-Wide View Without the Bulk
Most ultra-wide lenses are zoom, not prime, designs. The convenience of changing the angle of view provides more flexibility in composing images, and the type of images that many make with wide lenses are done on a tripod at a narrow aperture.
Sony a7R IV, f/1.8, 1/1,250-second, ISO 100
But prime lenses have their place. Big zooms like the FE 12-24mm F2.8 GM and Sigma 14-24mm F2.8 DG DN Art aren't as well suited for use with high-end drones like the DJI Matrice and the forthcoming Sony AirPeak. The FE 14mm's lighter, squatter build is a better fit for handheld gimbals, too.
The FE 14mm's wider aperture makes it a better fit for times when you need to gather more light. It's especially appealing to astrophotographers, who need to use shorter exposures to freeze the stars and want to keep ISO sensitivity as low as possible.
It's more of a niche lens than a wide zoom, but if you're in that niche you'll enjoy excellent performance all around. The FE 14mm F1.8 GM is easier to carry than its only true peer, the Sigma 14mm F1.8 DG HSM Art, and offers a quicker, quieter autofocus experience for video and action shots.
If you're choosing between the two, the Sony FE 14mm F1.8 GM is the one to get, especially when you remember that it costs the same Sigma's 14mm. We're reserving Editors' Choice honors for a pair of zooms, the affordable Sigma 14-24mm F2.8 DG DN Art for $1,400 and the high-end FE 12-24mm F2.8 GM at $3,000.
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June 08, 2021 at 03:22AM
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Sony FE 14mm F1.8 GM Review - PCMag
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