Sony FE 85 mm f/1.4 GM review - Introduction

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Sony FE 85 mm f/1.4 GM

14 September 2016

Arkadiusz Olech

1. Introduction

Older 85 mm f/1.4-1.8 lenses used to be relatively simple. For example the Zeiss Planar T* 85 mm f/1.4 ZF/ZK/ZE featured just 6 elements positioned in 5 groups. Later constructions had a bit more elements: for example the A mount Sony Carl Zeiss Planar T* 85 mm f/1.4 was an 8-element device and the Nikkor AF 85 mm f/1.4D IF, produced in 1995, had as many as 9 elements inside.

The jump toward an even more complex level happened in 2014 when Zeiss showed their Otus 1.4/85, a lens consisting of 11 elements positioned in 9 groups. Soon afterwards it was joined by the equally complex Milvus 1.4/85 and the stabilized Batis 1.8/85. In 2016 that group was enlarged by the stabilized Tamron SP 85 mm f/1.8 Di VC USD (with as many as 13 elements) and the Sony FE 85 mm f/1.4 GM which, despite the lack of a stabilization unit, featured 11 elements positioned in 8 groups.

In the following material we are going to present optical and mechanical properties of the latter.

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We would like to thank the Polish Sony subsidiary for lending us one specimen of the lens for testing purposes.

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