Released in autumn 2018, the Sony FE 24mm 1.4 GM marked an important point in the history of the E-mount. This was the first time Sony released a class leading prime lens that was far ahead of the competition – especially taking into account its comparably small size – before many more GM and also G lenses followed its footsteps. Let’s have a closer look, why this lens is still easy to recommend years later.
Update 2026: complete update of the review to bring it to the same level of detail as other more recent reviews
Sample Images
Most of the sample images in this review can be found in full resolution here.
Specifications
The Sony FE 24mm 1.4 GM has the following specifications
-
- Diameter: 75 mm
- Field of view: 84° (diagonally)
- Length: 92 mm
- Weight: 445g (without hood[32g] and caps)
- Filter Diameter: 67 mm
- Number of Aperture Blades: 11 (rounded)
- Elements/Groups: 13/10
- Close Focusing Distance: 0.25 m
- Maximum Magnification: 1:5.9
- Mount: Sony-E
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Handling/Build quality
If you have handled any of the other GM primes you will feel right at home here. The rubberized focus ring has decent damping and as is typical for recent Sony lenses the coupling is linear, so it doesn’t matter how fast you turn the focus ring, it always takes 180° from the minimum focus distance of 0.25 m to infinity.
When you turn your camera off the lens will remember the last focus position and will still be there when you turn the camera on again.
The aperture ring has 1/3 of a stop click stops (which you can declick by using a lever on the lens).
You can also set the ring to “A”(utomatic) and let the camera choose the aperture value or use the camera dial to change the aperture value when it is set to “A”.
On the left side of the lens there is a programmable button and an AF-MF switch.
On the right side there is a de-click switch for the aperture ring. Unlike more recent GM lenses this one does not feature an “iris lock” switch.
The outer casing seems to be made from a high quality polycarbonate and all markings are engraved and filled with paint.
The hood has felt on the inside and there is also a button which you have to press to remove it.
The Sony FE 24mm 1.4 GM is actually the smallest and lightest GM lens so far (as of 2026) but shares the 67mm filter thread with the Sony FE 35mm 1.4 GM and the Sony FE 50mm 1.4 GM as well as the Sony FE 16mm 1.8 G and Sony FE 20mm 1.8 G. In the picture above you can see that its casing design is still closer to that of the earlier GM lenses like the Sony FE 85mm 1.4 GM.
This lens also works surprisingly well adapted to Nikon Z cameras via the Megadap ETZ21pro+, Neewer ETZ or Viltrox E-Z adapters.
AF performance
I am not shooting sports or fast moving animals/humans so if you want to know if the lens is fast enough for this, or how it compares to other lenses in this segment, you may have to look for a different review with a more detailed assessment of this aspect.
This Sony FE 24mm 1.4 GM uses what Sony calls the “DDSSMM” AF. It is not an “XD” linear actuator – which can be found on the newer GM lenses – but is also faster than the “RDSSM” found in the Sony FE 85mm 1.4 GM. In terms of speed it seems to sit inbetween those lenses as well: surely faster than the Sony FE 85mm 1.4 GM, not as fast as something like the Sony FE 50mm 1.2 GM or the Sony FE 135mm 1.8 GM.
In the field I never had the feeling that the AF is slow or holding me back from me anything though.
Vignetting
Light falloff
| f/1.4 | 2.8 EV |
| f/2.0 | 2.1 EV |
| f/2.8 | 1.9 EV |
| f/4.0 - f/16 | 1.8 EV |
The Sony FE 24mm 1.4 GM shows very typical vignetting figures for a lens with these parameters that has been designed for mirrorless cameras. Compared to the Samyang AF 24mm 1.8 FE and the Sigma 24mm 2.0 DG DN C it has an advantage at f/1.8 and f/2.0, stopped down it is the same as the Samyang and slightly worse than the Sigma.
If we also have a look at DSLR designs, the Nikon AF-S 24mm 1.4G shows the same vignetting values at f/1.4 whereas the Canon EF 24mm 1.4L USM II shows the highest I have seen from these 24mm 1.4 lenses yet. Stopped down the DSLR designs are at an advantage and show barely 1 EV vignetting whereas this Sony FE 24mm 1.4 GM and the Samyang AF 24mm 1.8 FE still show almost 2 EV.
It is recommended to have a look at this article first to get an idea how this brightness graph works.
Optical vignetting
Fast lenses usually show a noticeable amount of optical vignetting, especially so the compact ones. Without going too much into technical details optical vignetting leads to the truncation of light circles towards the borders of the frame.
In the center of the frame almost every lens will render a perfect circle, but only lenses with very low optical vignetting will keep this shape in the corners.
So in the following comparison we move from the center (left) to the extreme corner (right) and see how the shape of the light circle changes.
I did not shoot these lenses side-by-side, so the size of the circles is not directly comparable.
When this lens was released it was the first 24mm 1.4 lens designed for mirrorless cameras and therefore also the smallest 24mm 1.4 lens with AF – 8 years later it still is.
Sometimes this minituarization leads to severe optical vignetting and strong cat’s eyes. Here this isn’t the case at all: of all the fast 24mm lenses I reviewed this Sony FE 24mm 1.4 GM shows the lowest optical vignetting and on top of that it also shows the cleanest bokeh with the least amount of outlining and onion ring structures.
Sharpness
MTF-Graphs
The MTF graphs of this Sony FE 24mm 1.4 GM look really good. Very high contrast and resolution over all of the frame with only a slight drop towards the corners and almost perfectly corrected astigmatism.
Most MTF-Graphs show calculated values that do not take into account manufacturing tolerances and sample variation. Furthermore they are usually calculated for infinity, so in the field and shooting at different distances a noticeable variation may be visible.
Thanks to Lensrentals.com we have some data of actual lenses though and I thought it might be a good idea to compare these graphs to those of the Nikon AF-S 24mm 1.4G from 2010, the Canon EF 24mm 1.4L USM II from 2008 and the Nikon AF-S 28mm 1.4E which was released in 2017:
We see a few interesting things here. First thing: Sony’s calculated graphs look very similar to Lensrental’s measurements, which is always good news.
Furthermore this Sony FE 24mm 1.4 GM far surpasses the 8 years older Nikon AF-S 24mm 1.4 G (released in 2010) as well as the 10 years older Canon EF 24mm 1.4L USM II (released in 2008). Only the Nikon AF-S 28mm 1.4E (released in 2017) slightly surpasses this Sony lens, but it is 28mm instead of 24mm and because of still being designed for DSLRs – and further taking into account the adapter needed to use it on mirrorless cameras – it is also much bigger.
Focus shift
Because this is an AF lens and at wider apertures the modern Sony bodies focus at working aperture anyway it would hardly matter if there was any focus shift, but I still checked and I am happy to report I didn’t find any.
infinity (42mp Sony A7rII)
The performance at infinity at f/1.4 is good to very good but not as impressive in the corners as Sony’s latest wide angle designs like the Sony FE 16mm 1.8 G or the Sony FE 20mm 1.8 G. Also the Sigma 24mm 2.0 DG DN C looks slighty better in the corners at f/2.0.
Compared to the DSLR 24mm 1.4 lenses Nikon AF-S 24mm 1.4 G and Canon EF 24mm 1.4L USM II this Sony lens performs significantly better though.
Latest by f/5.6 resolution and contrast hardly leave anything to be desired anywhere in the frame. In the field (with usually three dimensional subjects) I was also very happy with the performance at f/1.4.
portrait 0.9 m (42mp Sony A7rII)
I guess many people will want to use this lens for portraits, so let’s see what the performance is like at a typical portrait distance for a 24mm lens of ~0.9 m.
f/1.4 <—> f/2.0
At the important portrait distance we can see a very good performance from f/1.4 – no matter where in the frame you place your subject. Here the difference compared to the older DSLR 24mm 1.4 designs is not as big, but still this Sony lens looks best to me among the 24mm 1.4 lenses.
If we also consider slightly slower 24mm lenses, the Sigma 24mm 2.0 DG DN C looks very similar (comparing both lenses at f/2.0) whereas the Samyang AF 24mm 1.8 FE looks a bit worse.
Close 0.25 m, 1:5.9 (42mp Sony A7rII)
Most of the other fast 24mm lenses I reviewed show slightly better maximum magnifications: Nikon AF-S 24mm 1.4G and Canon EF 24mm 1.4L USM II both offer 1:5.2, the Sigma 24mm 2.0 DG DN C offers 1:5.3 and the Samyang AF 24mm 1.8 FE even 1:4.4
In terms of image quality this Sony FE 24mm 1.4 GM looks best though: while most of the others are noticeably softer at their maximum aperture (especially the Nikon AF-S 24mm 1.4G and the Sigma 24mm 2.0 DG DN C) that is not the case here, this Sony lens is fully usable from its maximum aperture and even corrects field curvature at close distances very well.
Flare resistance
As always evaluating flare is a complex matter since you can get any lens to look bad if you push it hard enough and a slight change of scenario can affect results a lot.
Generally speaking, many of Sony’s more recent lenses have been very good performers in this category, but this is actually one of the earlier GM lenses and the other 24mm 1.4 lenses I reviewed performed pretty awful in this category, so let’s see what we can find out here.
At the maximum aperture with the sun inside the frame I only managed to create minor artefacts that could often be avoided by slightly reframing. This is actually a very good performance.
Stopped down it is easier to catch some minor ghosts, again not something with the potential to often ruin your pictures. Definitely an improvement over the earlier DSLR designs. And also better than slower mirrorless 24mm lenses like the Sigma 24mm 2.0 DG DN C and the Samyang AF 24mm 1.8 FE.
There is one thing to watch out for though: with the sun outside the frame it is pretty easy to catch a rainbow artefact. This does not happen when using the hood, so this is one of those lenses where using the hood actually makes a noticeable difference and would be my recommendation.
Coma
The Sony FE 24mm 1.4 GM shows a really good performance here. It is worlds better than the earlier Nikon AF-S 24mm 1.4G and Canon EF 24mm 1.4L USM II, as these older DSLR designs need to be stopped down to f/5.6 to look as good as this Sony lens at f/1.4. Also here the Nikon AF-S 28mm 1.4E performs on a similar level.
Looking at the slower competitors: the Samyang AF 24mm 1.8 FE also corrects Coma well with only minor artefacts at f/1.8 whereas the Sigma 24mm 2.0 DG DN C looks worse at f/2.0 than this Sony lens at f/1.4.
Distortion
While some of Sony’s “G” lenses have very strong distortion (e.g. Sony FE 16mm 1.8 G or Sony FE 20-70mm 4.0 G) and heavily rely on its digital correction, the GM primes still correct this mostly by the optical design. This 24mm 1.4 actually only shows a low amount of slighty wavy distortion – way better than what I have seen from the Sigma 24mm 2.0 DG DN C and the Samyang AF 24mm 1.8 FE. If you want to get rid of the small remaining distortion, a profile is included in-lens for correcting Jpegs and Lightroom also features a profile for correcting Raw files that works very well.
Bokeh
I can save you some time here: among the 24mm 1.4 I reviewed so far, this Sony FE 24mm 1.4 GM creates the most appealing out of focus areas. Let me show you some examples in this section, so you can decide for yourself, if you arrive at the same conclusion.
Close distance
In close focus scenarios it is possible to create extremely shallow depth of field with this lens. And the quality of the bokeh combined with the high resolution and contrast in the focal plane hardly leaves something to be desired. Optical vignetting (cat’s eyes) is hardly existing and there are no issues with outlining or very obvious onion ring patterns.
The problem here is merely, that one is often tempted to get even closer forgetting the issues a 24mm lens will cause in terms of perspective distortion, so be careful with where in the frame you place your subjects and how close you get to them.
Mid distance
Mid distances are where I think fast 24mm lenses really shine for creating environmental portraits: while the backgrounds are blurred enough to create the illusion of depth they still give enough context to tell a story.
Also here the quality of the bokeh is very good.
Long distance
At longer focus distances a wide angle lens will simply not yield as much bokeh as a longer lens with the same maximum aperture. Looking at the low resolution samples in this review, in some you will only barely notice the background being out of focus at all, if you look at the full size image on a bigger screen, it will be more noticeable.
Compared to other fast 24mm lenses like the Nikon AF-S 24mm 1.4G and Canon EF 24mm 1.4L USM II, this Sony FE 24mm 1.4 GM creates a more appealing bokeh to my eyes, especially at longer focus distances, as it is better corrected for Coma and Astigmatism, leading to cleaner bokeh without double structures. Similar to e.g. the first generation Sony FE 85mm 1.4 GM, there is also a bit of residual spherical aberration, which leads to the out of focus backgrounds being rendered smoother compared to lenses like the Sigma 24mm 2.0 DG DN C or the Voigtländer 28mm 1.5 Nokton (or also the Sony FE 50mm 1.2 GM).
Sunstars
Like most of the other recent GM primes (like the Sony FE 35mm 1.4 GM, Sony FE 50mm 1.4 GM or Sony FE 50mm 1.2 GM) also this Sony FE 24mm 1.4 GM makes use of a diaphragm with 11 aperture blades. Also here the alignment of the blades is pretty good, so we see nice sunstars from f/8.0 to f/16 – at least when dealing with smaller light sources. With bigger light sources like the sun things will more often look like in the following picture.
Chromatic aberration
lateral
The Sony FE 24mm 1.4 GM features a built-in lens correction profile for lateral CA that will also be recognized in most raw converters, so in the end: you won’t see any.
longitudinal
Bokeh fringing is on an average level: similar to the Samyang AF 24mm 1.8 FE or the Sigma 24mm 2.0 DG DN C, better than older 24mm 1.4 designs like the Nikon AF-S 24mm 1.4G or the Canon EF 24mm 1.4L USM II, but also worse than the later GM primes like the Sony FE 35mm 1.4 GM, Sony FE 50mm 1.2 GM or Sony FE 85mm 1.4 GM II.
The situation is exactly the same when having a look at purple fringing.
Conclusion
good
|
average
|
not good
|
When it was released in 2018, the Sony FE 24mm 1.4 GM redefined what can be expected of a 24mm 1.4 lens. Not only was it significantly smaller than its DSLR counter parts (Nikon AF-S 24mm 1.4G and Canon EF 24mm 1.4L USM II) – that was somewhat expected – it also marked a significant improvement in terms of optical performance: Coma is corrected splendidly by comparison, bokeh is nicer, purple fringing much less of an issue and flare resistance finally deserves to be called that.
Until now – 8 years after its release – no one managed to make a smaller autofocusing 24mm 1.4 fullframe lens and I also have some doubts anyone managed to make a better one (I haven’t personally tried the Canon 24mm 1.4L VCM yet, which might be better due to being almost a decade younger).
What has changed in the meantime: on the used market you can now often find this Sony FE 24mm 1.4 GM for less than half of its original price, making it affordable for a broader audience and making it even easier for me to highly recommend it if you are looking for a lens with these specifications.
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Alternatives
Most of the alternatives are covered in our Guide to 20-28mm wide angle lenses for E-mount, so I will only talk about the most obvious ones in detail here.
Sigma 24mm 1.4 DG DN Art:
The Sigma 24mm 1.4 DG DN Art is the direct competitor, as it shares same focal length as well as maximum aperture and is also available for E-mount. I haven’t tried it personally yet, so I cannot tell you how they compare in detail.
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Samyang AF 24mm 1.8 FE:
The Samyang AF 24mm 1.8 FE is my “budget” recommendation if you cannot or don’t want to buy this more expensive Sony lens. The Samyang performs slightly worse in most categories, but actually not enough to worry about. A very solid performer.
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7Artisans AF 24mm 1.8:
Compared to the other lenses the 7Artisans has less vignetting but it also doesn’t perform particularly great at portrait distances and has rather bad flare resistance. Doesn’t look like a great option compared to some of the others listed here. It is the cheapest lens new but I would rather spend a few bucks more on the Samyang or a used Sigma.
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Viltrox 24mm 1.8 AF FE:
Generally a bit worse than the Samyang yet similarly priced so I don’t see a lot of reasons to recommend it.
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Sigma 24mm 2.0 DG DN Contemporary:
If this Sony lens is too expensive or too heavy but you don’t like the build quality of the Samyang AF 24mm 1.8 FE, the Sigma 24mm 2.0 DG DN C might be for you. It has very high contrast and resolution, metal body and an aperture ring, but the uncorrected distortion is also very high and at the end it is only 80g lighter than this Sony FE 24mm 1.4 GM.
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Sample Images
Most of the sample images in this review can be found in full resolution here.
Further Reading
- All E-mount lens reviews
- Review: Sony FE 16mm 1.8G
- Review: Sony FE 20mm 1.8G
- Review: Sigma 135mm 1.4 DG Art
- Become a part of our Discord community
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Latest posts by The Team (see all)
- November / Black Friday Deals 2026 - October 19, 2026
- Review: Sony FE 24mm 1.4 GM - October 2, 2026
- Sony FE Lenses: The honest Guide for the A7/A9/A1 Series - May 18, 2026
I am really looking forward for the review of this one as I am still looking for a super fast wide angle for astro photography. I really hope coma correction and flare resistance are good.
I heard that the coma is great and Sony made ads about its coma correction alot
“A new optical design incorporating two precision XA elements suppresses sagittal flare, a common aberration in large-aperture lenses. Sagittal flare can cause an unnatural spreading of point light sources that becomes more pronounced towards the image periphery.”
Looking forward to your fine review, and samples of its application. I have never shit using a 24mm and not too sure if I might need it ever, but I can always be tempted…
THank you very much for your work Bastian, I’ve been taking pictures with the Nikon 24mm f1.8 in sony a7ii for a year
I’m really looking forward to this Sony lens surpassing the Nikon, because I have not found anything better, in my opinion of biginner photography Nikon 24mm f1.8 is better than f1.4 and better than 20mm f1.8
I know you do not have time, but I would like you to review Nikon 24mm f1.8 some day
I have to agree that the Nikon 24mm 1.8G might be the best balanced lens in this range (yet).
When I was shooting Nikon it was not available though, I used the 1.4 and traded it in for the 20mm 1.8G which I sold when I got the Loxia 21mm 2.8.
Thank you very much your answer, we expect a year 2019 of news in photography that my opinion has driven Sony by clicking Canon Nikon Panasonic, missing Olympus, I’m looking forward to see your review of the Sony 24mm f1.4
Thanks you very much
“In this focal length range we already have the Zeiss Batis 25mm 2.0, the Zeiss Loxia 25mm 2.4 and the “native” Sigma Art 24mm 1.4.”
What about the Rokinon 24mm f1.4 lens? If your primary reason for buying the Sony is for astrophotography, I would recommend the Rokinon which is much cheaper.
My current ownership of the 28mm F2 is so far keeping me off the pre-order list for this lens…I’m trying to justify it to myself, but not sure the added cost is worth the width and stop of light.
That 28 has its quirks, but boy is it great value for money.
Great take on what looks to be a promising lens! I dont have much experience with wider lenses in general so I would like to ask your take on using a 24mm as a “walking around” lens. I know people typically opt for 35mm in conjunction with a normal lens for general use, but would 24mm be a good alternative if I use it in conjunction with something like a CV 65? Thanks!
That is something, I am also curious to find out.
If you are using one of the higher MP count cameras you can also crop to a 28mm f/1.6 or a 35mm f/2.0, both lenses currently not existing with Autofocus for E-mount cameras anyway.
Hi B
Its easy to crop to 35/2 due to camera crop mode. But how do you crop to 28/1.6 during post processing? Is there a software which lets crop to different exact focal lengths later?
Thanks,
Anurag
You could use Photoshop and dial in the exact pixels of the 28mm crop, but I rather plan on cropping what I think will yield the best image.
Just need to keep in mind to leave some room when taking the shot.
Have you thought about doing a writeup on “environmental portraits”? I assume that is how you handle “I have seen some cool samples from the Sony events, but I have also seen some beautiful models with distorted faces, so don’t just follow the hype.” I for one would be interested in hearing tips. Love your other articles.
If there is interest I can write an article like that.
I’d be interested in your thoughts on that subject,
Bastian.
I have good news for you, in anticipation of the 1.4/24 I decided to write such an article which will be published soon.
Hi Bastian, what do you think about using this lens for street photography?
I think everyone has his or her favorite focal length for street photography.
Back in the day I was using the Nikon AF-S 24mm 1.4G on a Nikon D700 for this and it worked quite well for me.
A few pictures in my album for the Nikon 1.4/24 might qualify as street photography.
Thank you for the answer! Very nice pictures!
Please can you do a comparison with the Batis 25mm if possible.
Thanks!
“Corners lag a bit behind even at F8”
Means they are sharp (for landscapes) but not as sharp as the center.
Right?
Yes…but by the sounds of it the corner sharpness may been effected by field curvature. Best to wait for the final tests
That is my recommendation as well 🙂
I am at the moment considering which lens to buy with the a7RIII as a first lens.
I have sold most of my old camera gear and am trading the camera and a lens in for the a7rIII.
My most used lens was the Sony 20 f/2.8 closely followed by my old Minolta 24-105 and my most used focallengths as a primary landscape/architecture photographer is by far 20 and 24 (factor 8:1) followed by 70 100 and 200.
I have from your recommendations narrowed down to the Loxia 21 or the Sony 24 GM, so I am also awaiting your review.
Right now I am leaning towards the Loxia because I always can crop to 24 and because of the GM corners you have shown here, and then buying the Sony 55 f1.8 and some old adapted manual lenses for portraits and tele.
What would you do ? I have to decide before next year.
Thanks for a great site.
Mit Freundlichen Grüßen
David Cartagena
Are you completely out of Instagram? Long time since your profile was updated.
My work: http://www.davidcartagena.dk
My favorite 2 lens set is 21mm 2.8 Loxia + 85mm 1.4 GM.
The 55mm 1.8, I am not the biggest fan for several reasons. In case you want a ~50mm lens I would recommend having a closer look at the 50mm 1.4 ZA.
You can find me on flickr, but we pretty much abandoned Instagram.
Thank you Bastian 😉
50 GM is out of reach because will not spend that kind of money on a standard lens. Especially when the corner performence of the GM is worse than on the 55.
I think I will go the sigma way for a standard lens then.
Your review of the 55 was quite positive, how come you are not a fan?
David
Sorry ment 50 ZA and not GM
Phillip and I do not necessarily always share the same opinion on a lens 🙂
I hate the non linear focus by wire focus ring on that lens,
especially as it has only few steps and on the A7rII I was not able to set
exact precise infinity focus as there was no step programmed.
Furthermore I don’t like the onion ring bokeh, the fuzzy sunstars, the
huge amount of loCA and at full body portrait distance with more difficult
backgrounds (foliage) not even the bokeh in general.
Ok Thanks Bastian. I understand.
It’s difficult to judge a lens just from a few photos on your page so had to ask.
Have a nice weekend.
Thanks again.
David
So what is your opinion on cropping the GM 24mm to 28 or 35mm/f2?
With ever increasing megapixel counts it becomes more attractive but it still isn’t the same as a native lens as you have to switch to crop mode or crop later and also lose sensor size and with it DR.
Oh boy, that initial coma test has me licking my chops. The Laowa is too special outside of astro to get rid of, but this would be so fun to have, especially if it can pull off corner sharpness like the 16-35/4, which I find is more than adequate for my needs. The Laowa 15/2 / 24/1.4 GM / 55/1.8 is a killer trio for astrophotography.
“The Laowa is too special outside of astro to get rid of…”
What did you mean by that?
And I agree that trio of lenses sound great for astro! Pretty sure I’m gonna bite the bullet and get the 24 to complete the trio. The question I am struggling with is if I should keep my 16-35 f4 or not.
Bastian, thank you for the great review as I have been following this forthcoming lens for quite some time. You mention that this lens is best suited to Astrophotography and Environmental portraits.
I have recently moved up to Sony full frame from the APS-C line and trying to make a choice on the best landscape lens for my A7ii. I have looked closely at the Batis 25 f2, the Zeiss 16-35 f4, among others.
Do you see the new 24mm 1.4 as a very good choice for landscapes?… or should I be considering elsewhere for my budget (no more than $1,400)?
Looks like a very good choice for landscape, too.
Any chances to test/compare to Sigma 24/1.4 Art?
That one seems to be the main competition here.
That is unlikely to happen.
I expect to see better loCA correction and slightly less vignetting with the Sigma.
Sony has smoother bokeh and is way more compact.
So the choice remains difficult 🙂 Thanks!
I compared these lenses and I can confirm Bastian’s assumption. The GM has a bit smoother bokeh in some situations and is definitely sharper at corners at f1.4-f4 (The Sigma is sharper in center at wide open) but the Sigma has better LoCA correction at every distance and slightly less vignetting. The GM’s CA can get quite noticeable (even without zooming in LR) in certain scenes depending on the light where the Sigma corrects it better to the level that is not bothering even in those difficult scenes. For most people, the GM is the obvious choice for its size and weight. I decided to keep my Sigma as I often shoot wide open in those difficult light scenes where the Sigma shows less noticeable CA, which saves my time in post.
Great job again guys! You do the best lens reviews on the web.
I love the GM lenses and this one seems to be no exception.
If I can convince myself of the added utility in crop mode as a 36mm maybe I’ll purchase it. It does look optically fantastic and I do like the GM series- although I don’t shoot much at 24mm- which I can appreciate this review pointing out. Have to make sure you have a need for 24mm. TBH, as far as fast wides go- I’m kind of hoping Voigtlander releases their 21mm 1.8 in e mount.
Great to see you guys rolling as a team and that Jannik finding some time again!
Minor correction: is the aperture series mislabelled F1.4 as F1.8?
Some comment on my 24GM: the field curvature is low and refocusing does not significantly influence the resolution for my sample, but the coma/astigmatism is somehow related to the focus. If I focus on center, there might be slight cross-shape aberration patterns at the corners for point light sources. Slightly adjust the focus enables them to disappear, when the center is very slightly defocused.
Had that observation regarding coma as well.
Hi Haitong ;-).
What do you think about the corner resolution on the GM?
I absolutely hate soft corners for my landscape and architicture photography.
Can it be used for that?
Best regards
David Cartagena
Hey Bastian,
Thanks for the great review, as always.
I have a quick question for you:
I’m owning a Sony a7rIII for 3 weeks now and I’m still looking for the “ideal” (for my needs) wide angle lense. I already got the 55/1.8 as my normal lense and I still can’t decide whether to get the Sony 24/1.4 or the Zeiss 25/2. The price difference at the moment is quite high in the UK (almost 500,-) so I was wondering, if it’s “worth” spending the extra bucks on the Sony, or if the Zeiss should be the way to go in that case. Also I’m not 100 percent sure, if I should get a 16-35/2.8 instead of the 24 or 25mm just to have that extra flexibility… On the other hand, I’m shooting often indoors (my little son and other family members/groups) in addition to land/cityscape and thought a higher aperture would fit my needs a bit more. Maybe you can help me with that tough decision.
All the best,
Patrick
I cannot help much with that question.
Figure out what maximum aperture you need and what your budget allows for first.
If you don’t need a maximum aperture of 2.0 or 1.4 the Zoom might be the smarter choice for you.
Hey Bastian,
Thanks for your answer! But would you have an advice for the Sony/Zeiss question?
Rather get the Sony.
Really appreciate the dated updates at the top of the post for these rolling reviews. Makes it much easier to know if something has been added when I check back. Thanks!
I feel like the rolling review is no longer rolling..?
Can you test the marketed Astrophotography benefits & positive features of this lens? ty
Jannik is busy, David is on vacation and I returned mine for a refund.
The high astigmatism bothered me a bit for astro, see also Haitong Yu’s comment.
On top of that you have very strong light fall off.
So for 1599€ it is not an improvement big enough for my astrophotography,
especially as milky way season will only start again next March/April.
Happen to have any astro RAW files? I can’t seem to find any
No, returned it before I got to that.
Wow, this is some impressive lens! I own a Milvus 25, it has a lot more weight, is twice as expensive and vignettes quite heavily.
On the other hand, images look very beautiful, extremely sharp with almost no sharpness difference when stopped down, absolute flare resistance against the sun, barely any chroma and a metal body that feels like a weapon. Never I would trade in that jewel, but that Sony, man it’s really impressive as well
Thank you for the review!
I am an avid backpacker. I am now looking to add one excellent astro lens for the night, with size and weight being somewhat an important factor (fighting any unjustifiable gram) – I used to rely on the ZA 35 2.8 for astro because of size/weight but the “manual focus” process on that lens is too frustrating, with infinity going beyond focus and crappy control and feedback, so it is time to ditch that.
Now pondering about about the sony 24 1.4, vs the Loxia 21 or loxia 25. Any thoughts ? or should I add other lenses to my list of possible candidates ? (felt like the Laowa and firin were quite a bit bulkier/heavier)
Neither Firin nor Laowa are bulkier, I would recommend having a closer look at those two first.
Thank you Bastian. Such a tough choice. I might have to rent the candidates simultaneously and do a serious comparison. If the loxia 21 was just a notch faster this would be a no brainer… (I like quality manual focus and sunstars!).
Meanwhile I just saw you returned your copy of the 24 gm so I guess you did not see value in there…
I greatly prefer manual lenses for astrophotography, even though the 24mm is a Sony lens with a better MF implementation.
I also prefer the field of view of 21mm over 24mm.
So yes, for 1600€ it is not of enough value for me at the moment.
Thank you for your advice! I ended up renting The Laowa 15 and the firin 20 and took them to shoot in the eastern sierra for a couple days. The firin is intriguing, but quality seems a little more flimsy and it did not seduce me completely despite making a few lovely shots… On the other hand I was extremely impressed with the Laowa 15, great quality overall, working with it was very rewarding, the lack of exif did not matter at all. It looks like I found my default astro lens.
I also had the impression the Firin does not spot that great build quality compared to the Loxia/Voigtlander/Laowa lenses.
Glad to hear you had the opportunity to rent both and make an informed decision!
Hi Nicolas,
I’m also backpacking multi-day trips and Zeiss Batis 18mm F2.8 is my go to astro lens @ 330g. Was looking into the Sony 24 F1.4 but the comma performance is not that great for the price, the lens is not as wide as the Batis and also heavier and more expensive.
Hope it helps,
ovi
Thank you Ovi! aaahh 330 g is light indeed… mmmm I might have to test that one as well. Is the manual focus ok on the batises ? I have not played with any of these yet
The focus is the weak spot of Batis line, it’s all electronic and the oled scale is not that accurate. You can focus on stars with magnification set to x6.2 easily though
To the team
What did you finally do with the lens? Did you keep it or did you return it? Bastian explanied very well his reasons to skip it at the moment, but what about the rest of you guys?
Jannik is still very short on time but he is still a big fan of it.
I still believe the lox 25mm is a better option if landscape and travel photography are your preferences. If I want enviromental portraits I will always have a few 35mm in the line up, and If I want enviromental portrait + compact maybe the new Batis 40mm f2 is a reasonable option at a lower price.
Do you plan to test the Batis?
This comparison between gm24 and batis 25 does not correspond to your conclusion regarding sharpness:
http://immian.com/sony24gm-vs-batis25
At the corner sharpness test (you can find it without translation) batis 25 at f2 is pretty crisp, while gm24 can catch up with batis resolution only when going above f4.
gm24 only wins in central sharpness of a close-up shot (long distance central sharpness is identical), which kind of shots, i think, is pretty unconventional for a landscape lens.
Besides, batis 25 looks more color-saturated (look at the bricked wall). But that might be a software profile, authors did not explain it (i read a machine translated version).
So, either somebody lying about sharpness or somebody got a bad copy of a lens or miss-focused.
Unfortunately the field curvature of my Sony 24 f1.4 GM is relevant both on the left but mostly on the right side of the picture, I do not know if it is due to the A7RIII or what but I see clearly at every f/stop aperture that if I focus near infinity or, let’s say at some subject at more than 40 meters from me, the focus area in the right side is 20 meters from me, the curvature is absolutely evident and this is a pity because the lens is sharp @f1.4 🙁
For a cheap thrill…
1. Purchase a used Sigma dn 19/2.8 Art lens.
2. carefully remove the rear plastic dust cover…3 screws..
3. turn off APSC mode in menu on your a7 body.
4. some vignett will be present but slight cropping will still rendure an image FOV of about 21-22mm or so.
Great review, thanks.
How do you regard the image quality of this 24mm GM compared to the Loxia 21mm, different focal length aside?
Hi Maximilian,
I think the Loxia is a landscape specialist because of:
– At least equal sharpness in the corners, maybe a tad better
– Better flare resistance
– More pronounced sun stars
If you are only into landscape photography, the Loxia is the lens to go.
For everybody else, I recommend the 24 GM from now on.
Hm,
watching your infinity test photos here (and other similar infinty sharpness test photos) I’m having the – perhaps wrong – impression that corner sharpness at f/5.6-8.0 of the Loxia 21mm is not just “a tad” better than the GM 24mm, but rather noticeably better…
Well Sigma is still twice the price cheaper.. Other than comma control I do not think it is worth the double price..
If you care about size or about bokeh it probably is, see this comparison.
I notice you’ve left the 28mm f2 out of the comparisons section. I’ve heard that the true focal length of the 28 actually is more like 26mm or so, which would put these two fairly close in perspective. Do you have any thoughts on that comparison?
The 2/28 is small and inexpensive, and could be a good part of many kits. It’s centralky ok wide open so is useful for some environmental portraits. But the contrast is low wide open, and overall it’s not as good anywhere in the field at f2 as the 1.4/24 at f1,4. Stopped down there’s astigmatism on the 28 which makes the corners never great, even on a good copy. Talking of which, the 28 is quite variable from copy to copy. The 28 is generally as good as most legacy 28s and better than some, and fast and compact, and makes a great budget choice. But if you have spare cash, like the wider FL and don’t mind the extra size, the 24 is clearly the better lens.
You have been to Gundelsheim? I was living next village for several years.
Yes, but mostly because of the new bridge that has been built there 🙂
Thanks to THE TEAM for another excellent in-depth review!
After some back and forth (buy & sell…) I stick to the following in the wide angle range on my A7R III:
– Voigtlaender 10mm Ultra-wide Heliar (for extreme situations)
– Zeiss Batis 18mm 2.8 as great landscape and astro allrounder
– Samyang 24mm 1.4 (only to capture the fast details of the aurora where I want less than 5 sec. exposure at resonably low ISO!)
– Olympus Zuiko 24mm shift for architecture.
I had to test and replace 3 Samyangs (24mm 1.4) but the one I finally kept is excellent even wide open….
Cheers, keep up the good work,
Holger (https://500px.com/firstlights)
What circular filter do you use on the 24mm GM? It seems to be that it is not possible to use the lens hood when a polarizer ist screwed in. Weired design….
Just returned this lens after renting it for a week, mostly doing landscape/environmental portraits/night moonlit photography. My favorite manual focus yet on the system (have not tried the loxias yet), aperture ring and af/mf switch make this a joy to use. Sadly it was cloudy so no astro, but landscapes lit up by moonlight came up lovely at 1.4.
Hi!
I’ve found a little typo: “[…] a torture test to have a *ver* dark forest with the sun shinning […]” and thanks for another great review! 🙂
Thank you all for a wonderful website and another great review. Your articles and images are very helpful.
A question for the team:
Do you use a filter with the 24mm GM to protect the glass?
If yes – which one?
If not – why?
I plan to use my 24mm GM for daily use including travel and family photos.
Thanks!
Oh no the filter question! It’s like a religious dispute for some people.
Personally I use clear filters for protection. I find my filters often get dirty (I must be dirtier than other people!) and I have to clean them, and over time there end up being cleaning marks that would be on my front element otherwise. And there’s good evidence that a good filter makes no difference to MTF or flare in most conditions (occasionally in strong backlight it might make a very small difference). A rubbish filter on the other hand is a very bad idea. Of course many careful people do fine with no filter at all.
As for what one, I use either B+W Nano (you do want the MRC nano coating to be sure it won’t degrade) or Hoya HD. Hoya fusion is probably as good, but I haven’t checked. I have no doubt that there are others just as good (probably the best line of Marumi and Kenko, certainly Breakthrough Photography but they are overpriced) but almost all the cheap ones are not great, and some expensive ones (Heliopan I’m looking at you) sometimes show up in tests as not good.
Thank you David.
Yes I have found photographers who have much more gear (and more experience) than me who insist that no additional glass should be used as it reduces image quality. Like you I prefer a filter. I use my camera for fun and my fingers have ended up on the filter many times.
I have used B+W MRC filters on all my lenses (including a 67mm) but UV (not clear) and “010” not the clear “007” nano MRC. Based on your experience I will go ahead and get the clear nano MRC.
Do you use the B+W CPL? Bastian did not mention them in his article on filters while the Hoya he did mention is not available through the link.
I have a bunch of CPLs in different makes: B+W, Hoya HD, Tokina. I think the B+W, nano coated again, should be fine (there was a problem a couple of years ago with linear polarisers in CPL cases, but surely that’s fixed).
With CPLs though, don’t leave them on. Use them only when you really want the polarising effect. They will reduce IQ just a touch because of the extra layers and the polarising foils (don’t panic, it really is just a touch) and of course you are losing a lot of light.
I don’t like polarised skies: I can get a much more natural effect in post. And with wide angles it can look terrible. In some but not all circs it can be nice to see though surface glare on water, or reduce glare and increase saturation in foliage and wet rocks. But just take care.
Hi David, many thanks for taking the time to reply!
This has been very helpful.
I just got the 24 mm and I really like it in combination with the A7 III, but…
When I change the aperture, I hear some noise and even when I half press the shutter button I can hear and feel something inside the lens… Did you have the same behaviour or anyone else? I found similar problems in the dpreview forum, but it seems that some lenses are completely silent.
Your help would be appreciated!
Thanks!
Maybe have a look at this thread, the issues you are describing sound very much alike: https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1568332
Have a look at the thread that Bastian linked to, but be careful you may not have a problem.
If AF speed is fast, you can expect the aperture to make a noise in AFS as it stops down.
If it’s pulsing you are getting, this is common at small apertures in AFC.
But if you are getting pulsing in AFC within the PDAF zone at wide apertures, or noise in AFC, you may have a problem.
My lens does also show this behaviour on the A7II.
It occurs when you stop down and the camera doesn´t have enough light for focusing. You can whatch the aperature opening and closing again while focusing.
I am pretty certain the fast opening and closing of the aperature makes this noise. I think it´s just the same as in old DSLR lenses where the aperature is always a little bit noisy. It is not only the shutter producing the noise.
Thank you very much for your quick response and in general for the reviews you do, I love your page!
So I guess your lense is silent and you would return it?
Well after agonizing about deciding if I should get the 16-35 ZA, or the 16-35GM, I decided “YOLO” and got the 24GM instead. I was never really excited about those zooms, wanting them more because youtube photographers told me I should have a 16-35 in my kit. Stupid peer pressure.
This lens I’m actually really excited about. It seems like a special lens.
Now I have to patiently await its arrival which is gonna SUCK.
Hey there!
Thank you for the very good blog and the work you guys put in. Beeing relatively new to the world of photgraphy this blog was a big help for me and i learnt a lot. I have a question concerning uv filters. Is it possible that they have an impact on flare resistance? This seems to be the case when i use an uv filer on my 24 GM 1.4.
Best regards
Raphael
That is certainly possible, especially with cheaper ones but any glass surface you add wil decrease performance even if they have high quality coatings.
Thanks a lot for your response. May i ask if this also applies to autofokus performance?
Thanks again,
Raphael
With a very bad filter on a tele lens there might be issues but in general terms: no.
I have the 16-35GM and 24-105G, how big of a difference does it make compare to the 16-35 at 24mm? I’m contemplating to get this lens since it’s very compact. Or do you think that would be too much overlapping. Thanks
If you need the f/1.4 regularly it makes sense, otherwise it does not.
Hi, Thanks for this review. And I have bought the lens: the results are amazing.
Now I have a question. You mentioned that with every RAW editor removes the chromatic aberration. Now for instance I downloaded darktable and found the lens correction section. The thing is, this lens is not available. A whole list of Sony lenses except this 24mm lens. Do other raw editor have the same issue?
For removing lateral CA no lens specifc profile is necessary.
For distortion and vignetting correction they are needed.
Lightroom has such a profile for the 24mm 1.4 GM, I don’t know about any other Raw editors.
Still a great review, thank you again for it!
While re-reading it, I stumbled over a little typo: “In the center, vignetting becomes visible at f/11” – shouldn’t that read “diffraction becomes visible”?
And one sentence should probably be updated because it has become outdated: “Now I am pretty confident this is actually part of Sony’s design criteria, so that rumored GM 135mm lens will probably have amazing bokeh rendering as well.” It’s a pity, but in between we know that the GM 135mm is a wonderful lens, but does not feature the super-sweet bokeh of the GM 85mm and 24mm.
Fixed 🙂
Hey guys, I would be VERY interested in a comparison against the Rollei 24mm f/1.8 VAF or maybe even better, if you did a full review of it.
I have it tested around the corner of our photo shop (thanks again Foto Leistenschneider Düsseldorf!) and I couldn’t find any flaws that would annoy me too much.
This lens has a “regular” price of 299€ (UVP/MRSP 349€), but I have seen it personally go for as low as 240€. Fotokoch even liste a price they had for a short while of 194€, which is a bargain, especially for the performance I could get out of it.
It seems to reach its peak at 5.6, while diffraction starts playing games at f/8.
But even at 2.8 it looked amazing to me (61MP), wide open it is a bit soft outside the center, but that is absolutely to be expected.
Obviously a proper test like yours would put the lens through its paces and show the actual flaws of it.
I suspected it based on Brightin Star own 24 f/1.8, even though there seems to be an element moved 1 step further back, but I am thinking this was an oversight on the drawing of the elements.
It could also be something entirely different.
It is definitely no Samyang, as that one has a completely different optical design (Rollei and Brightin Star ate both 14/11).
Now that I looked further, it could also be based on the 7Artisan’s 24 f/1.8, they have also identical specs and seem to be even closer from the optical design, with the only exception of a missing ED element at the back, but I read that Rollei asked for the lens to be manufactured with custom coatings, so maybe this is part of that?
I just took the time to read the review for the 7Artisan’s and it seems to be very, very close to it, although I couldn’t see any flare issues, but I didn’t put it into extreme tests.
If you have no way to get one, I’ll buy one and ship it to you…
Or I will do some testing myself and let you know.
Feel free so write a few lines.
Kind regards,
Erwin K.
Should be the same lens as the 7Artisans 24mm 1.8 AF.
Could be that the coatings are different, if so that would definitely be a welcome change.
Currently we don’t have any plans to review the Rollei branded versions.
Hey Bastian, Thanks for the reply.
Yes, it seems that some coatings are different, at least from the optical drawing and the marketing.
Have a nice Pfingstmontag 😉
Erwin K.
I purchased this lens in 2018 especially for astrophotography. My thinking was that I didn’t wanted to spend so much money on a specialized lens, but ruther buy an all around well working lens I could also use for other purposes.
Since then, it never disappointed me. For astrophotograohy I don’t hesitate to use it at f1.4. For landscape you will end up with perfect sharpness at F8 and there is still some background seperation at F1.4 for bokeh.
The bokeh itself is lovely, but sadly it suffers a bit from bokeh fringing – the only downside I care of.
After 8 years I have one remark on the durability. This lens is extremly robust. When I purchased it, I was shocked about the amount of plastic on it. After 8 years I haven’t got a single scrach on it. The only thing I realized, when I bought an other GM lens: It changes it’s colour from black to dark grey. If you don’t have a comparison you wouldn’t probably notice.
Great lens for the time and still today.