Roger Cicala tests new Sony FE 135mm F1.8 GM, confirms 'insanely good' MTF results
Roger Cicala is a hard man to impress. His team tests a lot of lenses, but the new Sony FE 135mm F1.8 GM is a cut above the rest. Literally, all the rest. Roger's verdict? 'This is the sharpest lens we've tested. Period'.
This is the sharpest lens we’ve tested. Period.
We already knew that the FE 135mm F1.8 GM was good, but the MTF results are quite spectacular. In Roger's words, 'curves higher than anything I’d ever seen in a normal-range lens'. Compare the Sony's performance at F1.8 to the Zeiss Batis 135mm F2.8, below. Even if you're not familiar with MTF curves (in brief - the center of this graph shows resolution at the center of an image, the extreme right and extreme left represent corner sharpness, and higher lines are better), it's clear that the Sony outperforms the Zeiss in the center and compares well towards the edges, even wide open.
And this isn't just a standout outlier sample hand-picked by Sony to give the best results - these graphs are created from data averaged from ten copies of the lens.
The 135mm F1.8 was so sharp, in fact, that just for fun Roger ran tests at 100 lp/mm as well as the usual 50 lp/mm, which - again - showed that Sony's latest lens should perform brilliantly for several generations of even higher-resolution full-frame cameras to come. Importantly, none of this sharpness comes at the cost of bokeh, thanks to enhanced polishing techniques that remove any onion-ring patterning on aspherical elements.
Read Roger's full article on the Lensrentals blog
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Sony's FE 135mm F1.8 GM is a fast-focusing, fast-aperture telephoto prime that will be a welcome option for wedding, event, portrait and sports shooters. Click through to learn about its optical design, autofocus features, and handling.
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