Sony FE 70-200 mm f/2.8 GM OSS II review - Introduction

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Sony FE 70-200 mm f/2.8 GM OSS II

13 October 2021

Maciej Latałło

1. Introduction

The full frame mirrorless Sony system was launched in October 2013 along with two new cameras, the Sony A7 and the Sony A7R. The latter model featured a sensor of 36 megapixels; it seemed to be perfect for testing the rest of the new optics, as, at that time, the system was being developed in leaps and bounds. Still, some time passed before our editorial office managed to get that camera and then we found out that its shutter mechanism had serious vibration problems, showing substantial vibration-induced blurriness and making reliable lens tests impossible, especialy when it came to tests of instruments with a longer focal length.

We had to wait for the successor. The Sony A7R II appeared on the market in June 2015 and offered a sensor with even higher resolution, reaching 42 Mpix. We tested it several months later and it proved to be a body perfect for advanced optics tests. Accordingly, in 2016, we started to test Sony lenses at full steam.

In February 2016 Sony presented a classic journalistic telephoto lens, the FE 70-200 mm f/2.8 GM OSS. As we were still literally swamped with tests, having a significant backlog in reviewing Sony FE optics, we simply lacked time to take a closer look at that lens.

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After next five years the Sony company decided it was time to refresh their flagship lenses, and the 70-200 mm f/2.8 model was one of the first in the queue. Already in October 2021 they showed the Sony FE 70-200 mm f/2.8 GM OSS II and one of its final specimens was sent to our editorial office before the official launch. We had enough time to test it thoroughly and now the results we can present in the following chapters – enjoy your lecture!

We are really grateful that the Sony company managed to deliver us the final version of the lens so quickly – thank you very much!

You are also invited to get acquainted with our test procedure, described in the article "How do we test lenses?" If you feel it’s still not enough, please go to our FAQ section where you can find some further explanation.