Honestly, I do not know I will keep the 35mm GM or not just yet, sure it is a better lens than the Batis 40mm f2CF or the Sigma 35mm f2C, but in the aperture range I use most often it is just as good as the Sigma....and costs about 3 times more than the tiny cheap Sigma 35mm f2C.
Plus, I think I prefer the Voigtlander 35mm f2 APO Lanthar to both the Sigma and the FE35mm f1.4GM as the Voigtander is sharper at infinity and any focus distance over 40feet or so.
I think I will complete my 35 -40mm prime testing by the end of this or next month, as I am very busy these days , I cannot do it very fast. The worst thing happened to me recently is my university lab got closed, and worse we do not know when it will reopen. And without the optical lab the school owns I cannot really test these extraordinary sharp lenses as all of the new 35-40mm primes I have been testing are super sharp and we cannot easily tell which one is actually sharper or the sharpest without using the lab level equipment.
DxO or Immatest cannot do the same as these are very incomplete tests and focused on a certain focus distance(10 feet focus distance). So I think these are literally useless tools.
The cult of lenses 22 - Again my 35-40mm lens dilemma continues:
It started like this below:
In the first week of this Feb I accidentally read a good review on the FE35mm f1.4GM , which I thought I 'd never buy myself.....the review was I think from Lenstip.com and I kinda trust their reviews , and they really raved about it. Usually they are very critical on most of new lenses, but this time they just raved raved raved about the lens. That review got me really interested in that lens. I immediately pre-ordered it and thought I made the right decision.....
A couple of days after I ordered the Sony GM I went down to my local big Sony Store and tested their sample units myself. I must say I was really impressed with it , the new FE35mm f1.4 GM seems to be a must-have lens if you are into that specific focal length or range or you are a shallow DoF freak.
The problem for me is that I am not normally a 35mm person, I am a 40mm or 28mm kind of person. But the Sony FE35mm f1.4GM is exceptional enough to make it really really special even to those of us who are not really interested in the 35mm specific field of view.
I am really really impressed with the bokeh, the rendering , the AF accuracy, resolution both at infinity and in Immatest focus range.
I do not test flare resistance or CA or like that yet, but I am sure these are at least as good as my Batis 40mm f2CF or Sigma 35mm f1.2 Dn monster lens. And the Sony does not cost much more than the Batis 40mm f2CF....well I am a fan of the Batis line but I must admit the 40mm CF is just killed in terms of sells.
The new Sony 35mm GM is sharper than any other 35mm prime ever existed , I do not want to admit that as I am big Zeiss and Voigtlander fan, but it is true.
The new GM is light for a super fast 35mm prime.
Super well corrected(although I did not test it for CA but I think it has a very low amount of total CA). And even more incredible feature of that lens is its reasonably sized lens barrel design with a 67mm filter thread especially considering it is a super well corrected super sharp modern 35mm f1.4 prime.
It has almost no distortion , no CA other than a bit of Lo CA wide open in close focus distance.
Focuses as fast and accurately as the FE135mm f1.8GM and optically a bit better than the FE135mm f1.8GM(which is already a super lens). And its rendering is really beautiful , definitely more appealing to that of the Batis 40mm f2 CF or Voigtlander 40mm f1.2, or event the monstrously huge Sigma 35mm f1.2 Dn,
I normally never talk about rendering or such really subjective aspect of IQ, or at least try not to mention about that kind of subjective image quality, but the 35mm GM is really special and there is not really good logical word to describe its magical rendering quality in any really logical way. It is such a great lens.
Considering all the pros of the lens , I must say it is a bargain even at the full retail price of 1400 US , or at least really reasonably priced for what it is.
I never thought Sony would give us such an incredible lens for just 1400 USD or 160000yen(we must pay ten percent VAT, so it is a bit more expensive here than in the US but we get free three year extended warranty here).
So thought I really made solid decision on this lens....and never regretted my decision to pre-order it until Sony guys told me that the lens will be delayed indefinitely(I am not very sure what this means , though).
And Sony asked me and probably all of those already pre-ordered the lens to cancel it for now. And I canceled it.
A couple of days after that, I read about the new Voigtlander 35mm f2 APO Lanthar lens. Well I was glad I did not buy the Sony GM. As much as I loved the GM , I knew I would not need the speed of that lens , I'd just prefer a bit smaller f2 lens as long as it is as sharp or near as sharp as the GM. I thought the Voigtlander 35mm f2 APO might be that lens for me.
Just a few years ago, we did not have any good 35mm or 40mm prime in the E mount system, now it is one of the most crowded very highly competitive focal range.
And honestly none of the existing lenses are really bad (except the FE35mm f2.8ZA).
There are many great 35mm and 40mm primes from Sony, Cosina , Zeiss, Sigma and Tamron, even the Samyang 35mm f1.4 is not bad...actually a quite great lens(if you get a good copy).
Many many people love the Sigma 35mm f1.2 Art Dn lens in 2019, before that their 40mm f1.4 A Dn was the king of that range. Sure these are great lenses optically especially in resolution and bokeh(and lack of distortion).
But these are huge lenses and unnecessarily fast , I think most of us do not need f1.2, f1.4 is super fast already, or I might say even f2 is fast enough at 35 or 40mm for most of people. The total amount of bokeh is not really much different between f1.4 vs f1.2 at 35mm, but the f1.2 speed requirement surely increase the size of the lens barrel especially in diameter and length, and thus in volume too.
To be honest it is easy to design a great lens if you are allowed to go big like Sigma A series. I think most of Sigma Art lenses are really impractical in real world use outside of studio or landscape work on a solid tripod.
So I have boycotted their lenses until really recently(the 85mm f1.4 Dn was my first Sigma E mount lens).
I think the biggest mistake of Sigma E mount lens system is they have made their excellent 35mm f1.2 Art Dn a bit too big , they should have designed it the sharpest compact 35mm f1.4 prime.....but they just chose to go unnecessarily faster than it should have been with that lens.
I mean if the new Sony FE35mm f1.4GM is as big as the Sigma 35mm f1.2 Dn , I am not interested in that lens regardless of its overall optical quality or value.
I just cannot stand the size of the Sigma 35mm f1.2 Art. If it a 200mm lens or something I accept that size , but as a 35mm prime? No.....
Resolution wise their small new 35mm f2 C their contemporary line prime is really really good especially at f2.8 and on. I think many of so called lens experts or reviewers dismiss stopped down resolution of most of lenses they test and rarely compare lenses at f5.6 or f8 at or near infinity focus range. But it is very important in many many real world lens use cases.
The Sigma 35mm f2 C Dn lens seems really good , at least a tiny bit better over all than the Batis 40mm f2 CF from f4 and on and much sharper at f8. In fact the Sigma 35mm f2C even beats the Sony GM at f8. But at f7.1 and faster f stops Sony beats the Sigma.
After roughly tested it I was really really positively surprised, as I am not a big fan of super shallow DoF and for me f2 is great , more than good enough.....so I may just buy both the Sigma f2 and the Voigtlander APO..... When I travel or walk around at night I my prefer the tiny Sigma due to the AF. When I need the best overall look and resolution then go out with the Voigtlander APO assuming the Voigtlander lens is sharper than the Sigma at f4 or f5.6.
I think I will have to retest all these options side by side at out university soon , but now our university lab is closed.
So I visited my local Sony Store again, then they told me that I would be able to receive the GM in 5 days if I ordered it now.
And they let me use it again. This time I could walk around the city area of Fukuoka with the 35mm GM for a mile or so to see how it would work for me. I think I regret I did as it made me really want the lens. Like I said this many times it is a super bargain lens even at 1400 US. It is really insanely good even at f8 or f10. So it is a really versatile lens.
Still I will try to resist it at least until I can test or see rational resolution tests for the new Voigtlander 35mm f2APO.
As I am not a big fan of f1.4 lenses, or say the shallow DoF.
I think people must realize that many of them do not need f1.4 , let alone f1.2 at 35mm or even 50mm.
Normally I am not a conspiracy theorist but sometimes I must suspect there is a serious industry-wide incentive to have us believe in the superiority of fast lenses(because with those they can rip off the naive shallow DoF lens fanboys), despite their drawbacks in design, development time, cost, practicality, utility and also QC and stopped down resolution(although the Sony 35mm GM is fine at that).
Honestly It is just much easier to make a super sharp f2 or f1.8 prime than a super sharp f1.4 or f1.2 prime without having to over size it to the point no one actually wants to use it in real life(outside of the rendering cult fora world).
It's a strange situation when one realizes that so many studio pro portrait shooters frequently use f5.6-f11, even lower F stop - to get enough DoF so their clients can see a better representation rather than that expensive OOF enveloping half the face and most of the hair that the internet rendering cult group really love or even worship..
Still many people have strong aversion towards these f2 primes no matter how sharp these get, so, for commercial reasons, they lens makers must put the f2 lenses lower than their f1.4 equivalent lenses even those APO primes.
That is the reason why all Sony GMs are f1.4 , all Canon Ls are either f1.2 or f1.4......Nikon, Sigma all have the same marketing policy.
With that said , though the FE35mm f1.4GM is still the greatest lens ever release in the last 5 years or so by any lens maker.
It is insanely good and if you use it in real life scene even for a several minutes or so, you will have to agree with me on this one. It is just fantastic lens, it is really versatile there is no other super fast f1.4 prime that is as sharp as the new Sony GM throughout the aperture range.
I think the most amazing quality of the Sony FE35mm f1.4 GM is that it is already super sharp wide open and peaks at f4 and keeps that resolution up until the diffraction effect gets really serious at f11.
If you compare it to the Batis 40mm f2CF or Sigma 35mm f1.2 Art Dn , you can see it very clearly. Those lenses get more severe diffraction effect damage in resolution in the f9-f11 range than the GM.
The Batis 40mm f2 CF peaks at f5.6 and it gets noticeably softer at f8 and on. Its resolution at f8 is not really good.
Even the tiny Sony FE35mm f1.8 beats the Zeiss at f8.
The Sigma 35mm f1.2 Dn is quite sharp already at f1.2 and peaks at f3.2 , then gradually gets softer. Still at f5.6 it is amazingly sharp, in fact really sharp till about f7.1.
At f8 though, it is quite much softer than it is at f7.1, and after that it is simply just an average lens or worse than that.
Compared to the resolution charts of the Sigma 35mm f1.2 and the Batis 40mm CF, the Sony FE35mm f1.4GM's resolution figure seems much better. Much more consistent.
It is already better than the Sigma at f1.4 , f2 and f2.8. It peaks at f4 with the record breaking max central resolution of 80.2 lpmm, at f5.6 it drops slightly to get down to around 79.2lpmm level(still outstanding though) and keeps that outstanding level of resolution till f8. At f9 it is clearly much better than the Batis 40mm f2CF, maybe about 25 percent better and that is a significant difference. Even at f10 it is quite much sharper than the Zeiss Batis at f8. So the Sony FE35mm f1.4GM is an outstanding lens. If you compare its corner resolution vs the other lenses the difference will become more glaring.
So now I am waiting for the resolution tests of the new Voigtlander 35mm f2APO(as I cannot test it myself), but honestly I do not think it will be much better than the Sony GM...maybe a tiny bit better at f5.6 or f8 but not in any dramatic way. At f4 I think the GM will beat the Voigtlander APO.
Now the Sigma 65mm f2 C holds the central resolution record in the Sony E mount system, but it is a odd focal length to many of us. The Sigma 35mm f2C is the second best in terms of the central peak resolution record and considering the price and size it is an amazing achievement.
But it cannot focus as accurately as the Sony GM and the AF speed in low light is definitely slower. That AF difference may make more serious IQ difference in real life than the slightly better central resolution figure of the Sigma 35mm f2C over the GM.
And if you do need the best resolution across the frame or the greatest corner resolution, then the GM is much better than any of the other lenses in its range.
Immatest may say other wise , but in 30 -50 feet or longer focus distances the Sony FE35mm f1.4GM seems to be quite much sharper than the Batis 40mm f2CF, the Sigma 35m f1.2Dn , the FE35mm f1.8 and a bit slightly sharper than the Sigma 35mm f2C at f5.6 especially in the corners.
The Sigma 40mm f1.4 Art may be as sharp as the Sony FE35mm f1.4GM , but it is a DSLR lens and huge.
So the FE35mm f1.4GM is another great GM lens from Sony and the it is definitely a class above the other GM line lenses before it. I think all GM lenses are at least good , but this new 35mm GM is not just good or great but outstanding.
This one and the FE135mm f1.8GM showed us that Sony can favorably compete with any of the other major lens manufactures like Leica, Zeiss, Nikon, Sigma, Canon, etc..
They may even be the best consumer mirrorless lens designer now, and I think they deserve a bit more serious respect for what they have done with their amazing GM line in the last 3 or so years.
I may not buy the FE35mm f1.4 GM myself , but I think we should at least respect what Sony has done with it.....
