Review: Sony FE 85mm 1.4 GM MK II – A worthy Update?

February 16, 2025 BastianK 28 Comments

Introduction

sony fe 85mm 1.4 gm mk ii 2 mark bokeh master sony 42mp 61mp a7rii a7riv a7riii a1 a9iii a7rv review resolution sharpness contrast bokeh vignetting coma astrophotography z6 z7 z8 z9 — Sony FE 85mm 1.4 GM II on Sony A7rIi

The Sony FE 85mm 1.4 GM is my favorite portrait lens out of the almost 300 lenses I have used so far. Being one of the first GM lenses, it features a comparably slow autofocus and some of the recent competitors offer higher contrast and resolution at f/1.4, so Sony decided to update this lens. Does it still have the bokeh qualities of the first generation 85mm 1.4 while making it smaller and sharper? Let’s find out in this review.

Sample Images

Continue reading Review: Sony FE 85mm 1.4 GM MK II – A worthy Update? →

Canon EF-Mount, Canon FD-Mount, lenses, Minolta SR mount, Sony E-mount

Guide to wide-angle lenses for Sony A7/A9/A1 series

February 15, 2025 The Team 111 Comments

Sony A7rII | Zeiss Loxia 21mm 2.8 | f/8.0

We summarize our experience with all the native E-mount and a few manual legacy lenses in the 20-28mm bracket to give you a compact and independent resource for choosing the right wide-angle lens for your Sony A7/A9/A1 camera. In this summary we also included some adapted lenses we think are worth mentioning. We didn’t include any zoom lenses, you can find those in our general guide to FE lenses as well as the guide to 9-18mm ultra wide angle lenses.

You may also want to check out our guides to 35mm lenses, 50mm lenses and 85-200mm portrait lenses.

Some of these lenses are manual focus only (MF) whereas others feature auto focus (AF). There is also a noticeable amount of lenses listed here that do not feature electronic contacts to communicate with the camera (no Exif).

We have no association with any manufacturer apart from occasionally loaning a lens for a review. Before any short introduction we tell you how long we have used a lens and if we have borrowed it from a manufacturer. But in most cases we have bought the lenses on the market. If you want to support our independent reviews please consider using one of the affiliate links. It doesn’t cost you anything and helps us a lot.

If we have left any question unanswered please leave a comment or contact us on social media and we will do our best to answer it.

Last update: March 2025, Voigtländer 28mm 1.5E Nokton, Viltrox 28mm 4.5 AF added

Continue reading Guide to wide-angle lenses for Sony A7/A9/A1 series →

Meta, Nikon

Call out to readers: Looking for a Nikon Z 35mm 1.2 S

February 14, 2025 BastianK 16 Comments

Dear readers,

I plan on doing a comparison of super fast 35mm fullframe lenses (very similar to my comparisons of Super Fast 50mm M-mount lenses and Fast 28mm lenses) and I already gathered the Sigma 35mm 1.2 DG DN Art, Samyang 35mm 1.2 XP, Voigtländer VM 35mm 1.2 Nokton III, Laowa 35mm 0.95 Argus and a new unreleased 35mm 1.2 AF lens.

I would love to include the recently announced Nikon Z 35mm 1.2 S in this comparison, that should hit the market on February 26th. Sadly at the moment I don’t have 3.250€ lying around to just buy one (remember: reviewing lenses doesn’t make you rich).

I reached out to Nikon Marketing Germany, but I haven’t heard back from them yet and as I haven’t worked with them before and just a year ago we started doing Nikon reviews on a bigger scale I doubt I will.

So if someone among you (preferably from Germany) has a Nikon Z 35mm 1.2 S on preorder it would be great if you would consider sending it to me first for a week, as then I could include it in that comparison, which would be a great service to the community.

I know chances are slim, but I also know we have a great community, so I am taking my chances here.

Just leave a comment to get in contact!

Thanks in advance
Bastian

Analogue, Nikon, Projects

Analogue Adventures – Part 39: Fujichrome Velvia 100

February 12, 2025 BastianK 13 Comments

fuji fujifilm fujichrome slide film velvia 100 france review nikon f analogue film hamburg germany f80 — Fujichrome Velvia 100

Under the label Fujichrome, Fujifilm is still selling several types of slide film and one of those is Velvia 100. Let’s have a look at some pictures taken with this film under varying conditions.
Processing (E-6) and scanning (Noritsu) was done at urbanfilmlab in Germany.

Continue reading Analogue Adventures – Part 39: Fujichrome Velvia 100 →

Leica M, Review, Voigtlander

Review: Voigtländer VM 90mm 2.0 Apo-Ultron

February 9, 2025 BastianK 15 Comments

Introduction

voigtländer vm apo-ultron 90mm 2.0 review 42mp sony nikon z 61mp z6 z7 z8 z9 a7riv a7rv contrast sharpness bokeh vignetting portrait — Voigtländer VM 90mm 2.0 Apo-Ultron on Leica M10

I wasn’t sure, if after the Voigtländer VM 90mm 2.8 Apo-Skopar, Cosina will also produce a faster 90mm lens, but that thinking was put to a stop in early 2025, when they announced this Voigtländer VM 90mm 2.0 Apo-Ultron. A direct competitor to the Leica 90mm 2.0 Apo-Summicron, which was first released in 1998. Let’s see how it performs.