Sony FE 85mm F1.4 GM Review - Awesome rendering but unnaceptable slow AF!

[Daniel DM]

I have used this lens for 5 months on my Sony A7 III for many portraits sessions. I upgraded from Sony FE 85mm F1.8 and hoped so much that would have been a masterpiece (considering the price).

The sharpness, rendering, colors and bokeh are really fantastic. But it has one major weakness: AF!

AutoFocus is just unacceptable for a 1800 dollars lens!
- The AF in low light is so slow, and noisy. (like an old cheap lens)
- When the light just falls a little, AF accuracy drops significantly.
- The AF accuracy of people walking slowly is below average at F1.8 (in longer distances, even in good lighting).

I have used both lenses and compared in the same situations and the results are crazy:
99% AF accuracy with Sony FE 85mm F1.8 and just 80% with Sony GM F1.4.

There is no sense to buy an expensive F1.4 lens to use only in full sun for having good and accurate AF! At the end of the day, if the eyes of the subject are not in focus, a photo is just missed.

So 1 month ago I sold the GM, and bought another copy of the Sony 85mm FE F1.8. (which is again amazing!)

 

[Peter Ngn]

This thread should belong to lens section but anyway, it could be a defective lens. I don't own one but my friend let me borrow one for a week for testing purpose and it was great. It's a pure portrait lens so we can't expect anything beyond what the lens is designed for. Lens was tested with A9 and A7RIII.

If people are walking slowly and you have hard time to get good focus, then I suspect it's the body. The job of the lens is to acquire focus, tracking is the body's job. With slow moving subjects, I got great results with the A9. Eye AF enabled, every shot was in focus. The A7RIII couldn't nail them all due to shallow DOF and high MP. At high MP, any flaw can be seen. Good to know that you are happy with 85 1.8. Great lens for the price.

 

[RGBCMYK]

I think it is the camera and not the lens. I shoot with the a7III and a9 and the 9 smokes it with the 85f1.4. The speed is noticeable.

 

[Sanjeev Das]

I hear you. Everything you said is true. It is a pity. Love the rendering and sharpness of the lens so much. But trying to focus indoors, it groans and cries. It makes a fuss. And sometimes misses focus. I did the same as you - bought the 85/1.8, but kept the GM for special occasions...

 

[Joe Tam]

I guess it is time for the next version of this lens to get the direct drive af ssm motors from 400/2.8 and 24mm/1.4. When I shot Nikon unfortunately the fastest prime glass is usually the slowest(in af) eg. Nikon 35/1.4. I have the 50/1.4 Zeiss Planar and I am in the same boat.

 

[MILC man]

Sony FE 85mm f/1.4 GMaster Emergency Tear Down

OK, I usually don't respond to requests to disassemble things. I have a day job and the blog stuff is my hobby. But every so often the Bat Signal get's raised over Gotham Internet and Aaron and I feel the need to fight the crime of massive overreaction and stomp out the flames of...

www.lensrentals.com

 

[SilvanBromide]

I think it is the camera and not the lens. I shoot with the a7III and a9 and the 9 smokes it with the 85f1.4. The speed is noticeable.

FWIW, I use the FE 85mm f1.4 with an a7Riii and do *not* find the AF particularly sluggish (though it is not quite as fast as a few others in the Sony stable).

In particular, I find that it locks focus, then it tracks well, even with fast moving subjects.

--
Former Canon, Nikon and Pentax user.
Online Gallery: https://500px.com/raycologon

 

[PWPhotography]

If weight/size is not matter, you can try Sigma FE 85/1.4 Art, similar bokeh and rendering, even a bit sharper at f1.4 wide open at edge and cheaper, but much heavier.

--
https://www.flickr.com/photos/55485085@N04/albums

 

[RE Alpha]

I have used this lens for 5 months on my Sony A7 III for many portraits sessions. I upgraded from Sony FE 85mm F1.8 and hoped so much that would have been a masterpiece (considering the price).

The sharpness, rendering, colors and bokeh are really fantastic. But it has one major weakness: AF!

AutoFocus is just unacceptable for a 1800 dollars lens!
- The AF in low light is so slow, and noisy. (like an old cheap lens)
- When the light just falls a little, AF accuracy drops significantly.
- The AF accuracy of people walking slowly is below average at F1.8 (in longer distances, even in good lighting).

I have used both lenses and compared in the same situations and the results are crazy:
99% AF accuracy with Sony FE 85mm F1.8 and just 80% with Sony GM F1.4.

There is no sense to buy an expensive F1.4 lens to use only in full sun for having good and accurate AF! At the end of the day, if the eyes of the subject are not in focus, a photo is just missed.

So 1 month ago I sold the GM, and bought another copy of the Sony 85mm FE F1.8. (which is again amazing!)

Indeed, this lens is slow to focus. However, even in dim light situations (studio) my hit rate is well above 80% (also with closed down aperture). I did see that from FW3.0 on the A7riii the hit rate dropped. The same happened with the A7riv which I had for one day.

But all the great elements are still there as you have mentioned above. That's why it is one of my favourite lenses and the one to go to for my fashion shoots.

 

[Adam Palmer]

I have the GM and I am happy with the AF but it is definitely slower than my tiny little 1.8 and 2.0 lenses. It's just physics-- its much easier to move tiny little elements.

 

[Sanjeev Das]

I have the GM and I am happy with the AF but it is definitely slower than my tiny little 1.8 and 2.0 lenses. It's just physics-- its much easier to move tiny little elements.

The Sony 135/1.8 GM with its XD Linear Motor system doesn't have these issues.

 

[Adam Palmer]

I've never tried that one. I think some of the most recent lenses are doubling up on focus motors to counteract the heavy elements.