Sony FE 50mm f/1.4 GM Lens

Sony FE 50mm f/1.4 GM Lens Summary

Combining speed, versatility and image quality, the Sony FE 50mm f/1.4 GM Lens is a new standard prime, which delivers a bright f/1.4 aperture and refined optical design, whilst remaining extremely portable and lightweight for all-day shooting.

Sony has included the latest G Master optics, which feature two XA elements, Extra Low Dispersion glass and Nano AR coatings. These combine to ensure superb corner to corner resolution along with well controlled flare, when mounted on any Sony Alpha camera, including ultra-high resolution bodies such as the 61 megapixel A7R V.

A maximum f/.1.4 aperture with 11-bladed design renders creamy defocus areas in the image, with beautiful rounded bokeh for which GM Sony lenses are renowned. This provides plenty of opportunity to capture stunning shots, such as portraits where the subject is isolated from distracting background elements.

A 50mm lens of this calibre is also well suited to weddings, street photography, travel and landscapes, and excels when recording video. Its effectiveness is enhanced by the inclusion of two XD linear focus motors, which are the most advanced in Sony’s current line-up, delivering extremely responsive and quiet AF capabilities.

Key Sony 50mm f/1.4 GM Lens Features

• Compact and portable design at 516g
• 11-bladed circular aperture design with bright f/1.4 maximum
• Two fast XD linear focus motors
• Advanced G Master optics with two XA and one ED element
• Streamlined ergonomics with customisable buttons and de-clickable aperture
• 38m minimum focus distance (MF) and 0.41m (AF)
• Maximum 0.16x magnification (AF), 0.18x (MF)
• Nano AR II coating reduces ghost and flare
• Fluorine coat
• Dust and moisture resistant design
• Compact 67mm filter thread

Sony FE 50mm f/1.4 GM Lens in More Detail

Designed for portability

With the previous generation now six years old, the latest large aperture standard prime from Sony capitalises on new optical manufacturing techniques, resulting in a lens which is around 30% lighter than the Sony Zeiss Planar T* FE 50mm F/1.4 lens.

The newer model measures just 80.6mm wide x 96mm long and weighs 516g, which is perfect as an all-day walk around option for general snapshots.

Exhilarating optical performance

With enhanced G Master optics the Sony FE 50mm f/1.4 GM Lens is capable of rendering high resolution results from corner to corner. The latests lens technology includes 14 elements in 11 groups, with two XA (extreme aspherical) lenses and one ED (extra low dispersion) element.

XA lenses minimise aberrations, whilst the ED glass suppresses chromatic aberration, resulting in consistently well-controlled results irrespective of subject. Sony also added their latest Nano AR coating II in order to subdue flare and ghosting, which also helps to maintain contrast when capturing backlit subjects.

Beautiful bokeh and creamy defocus

An 11-blade rounded aperture design and wide f/1.4 maximum aperture help you to capture beautiful rounded bokeh and soft, out of focus areas in the frame. This enables you to experiment with an extremely shallow depth of field, separating your subject and rendering smooth creamy bokeh, which live up to the G Master name.  Onion rings are also well suppressed thanks to the XA elements.

Close-up shooting

For added versatility in both MF and AF, users can experiment by shooting close to their subjects, with a high magnification in order to fill the frame. In manual focus you can get as close as 0.38m to your subject, or 0.41m when shooting in autofocus mode, with 0.18x and 0.16x maximum magnification respectively.

Fast, near silent AF

Two of Sony’s fast XD linear focus motors are included in the design, which keep up with high speed burst shooting and tracking, as well as high-speed video at speeds even up to 120fps. Stills AF is up to 1.9x faster than the preceding Zeiss lens, with subtle physical vibration and noise during focusing.

Shared lens attributes

The latest FE 50mm f/1.4 GM joins two previously released GM prime lenses with similar attributes, for a trio of premium primes, with the FE 24mm F/1.4 GM and FE 35mm F/1.4 GM lenses. This similar size and weight distribution between all three models is perfect for gimbal mounting and sharing 67mm lens filters.

Supports customisable workflows

For exceptional useability the Sony 50mm f/1.4 lens provides extensive controls throughout the lens barrel. These include:

• De-clickable aperture ring with F-stop engravings
• Iris lock prevents aperture ring changes
• Two focus hold buttons which can be customised via camera body
• Focus mode switch to change between MF/AF
• Focus ring with linear response MF and fine focus control

Designed for field work

In support of outdoor creators, the FE 50mm F/1.4 features comprehensive dust and moisture sealing and a Fluorine coating to reduce the impact of dirt, dust and smears on external elements. This reduces the requirements for cleaning the lens, whilst keeping it free from debris to minimise post processing requirements.

Sample Images

With Sony A7R V. Camera settings: 1/640 sec. f/1.4. ISO 100

With Sony A7R V. Camera settings: 1/250 sec. f/2.8. ISO 100

With Sony A7R V. Camera settings: 1/160 sec. f/1.4. ISO 100

With Sony A7R V. Camera settings: 1/160 sec. f/1.4. ISO 640

What’s in the box

• Sony FE 50mm f/1.4 GM Lens for Sony E Mount
• Lens hood
• Lens front cap
• Lens rear cap
• Case