• Categories
• Tips & Inspiration
• Reviews
• News
• Events
• Features
• Buying Guides
• Competitions

Sony FE 28-70mm f/2 GM Lens First Look

Released alongside the A1 II camera, the Sony FE 28-70mm f/2 GM Lens is a professional-grade G Master zoom with a bright constant aperture and razor-sharp optics. This lens showcases Sony’s optical expertise, featuring an even brighter aperture than the popular second-generation Sony FE 24-70mm F/2.8 GM II Lens, along with advanced technology that rivals the world’s best zoom lenses.

Join us for this Sony FE 28-70mm f/2 GM Lens First Look, where we share a hands-on video review by Gareth Evans, his sample images, and a quick overview of optics and specifications. Discover if this might be the lens you've been waiting for to elevate your content.

How much is the Sony FE 28-70mm f/2 GM Lens?

The Sony FE 28-70mm f/2 GM Lens was released alongside the flagship A1 II camera on 19th November 2024, and costs £3,049. This places it in line with other professional zooms of this calibre. With a versatile zoom range and a bright aperture, it’s designed to let you leave your primes at home when shooting in venues where lens changes may be challenging.

Sample image with Sony A1 II @70mm. Camera settings: 1/500 sec. f/4. ISO 160

Sony FE 28-70mm f/2 GM key features

The Sony FE 28-70mm f/2 GM lens is designed for advanced enthusiasts and professionals, bringing Sony’s latest technology in a refined, relatively compact form. Weighing in at 918g, it combines portability with exceptional optical performance.

Here’s a quick overview of its key features and specifications:

• Constant f/2 aperture
• Weighs 918g
• Optics include 3 XA, 1 ED and 3 Super ED lenses
• 11-blade circular aperture
• Four XD linear AF motors
• Capable of shooting at 4K 120p
• Well controlled focus breathing and breathing compensation compatible
• 0.38m minimum focusing distance with maximum 0.23x magnification
• Weather sealed
• Fluorine coating
• Nano AR Coating II reduces flare

What is a 28-70mm f/2 lens good for?

Sony offers several full-frame standard zoom lenses, but none with the bright f/2 aperture that the FE 28-70mm f/2 GM provides. This standard zoom is designed to rival prime lens image quality, allowing photographers to replace a collection of primes with a single zoom for certain situations. Ideal genres for this range include:

• Portraits and lifestyle
• Weddings and events
• Product and commercial photography
• Close-range sports
• Hybrid/filmmaking

Other suitable uses for this are food photography, landscapes, everyday snapshots, interiors, and headshots, although it really is a versatile range and can be used in many shooting situations.

Sample image with Sony A1 II @70mm. Camera settings: 1/2500 sec. f/2. ISO 400

Image quality

The 28-70mm GM’s optical design prioritises image quality, incorporating a mix of special elements, including ED, Super ED and XA glass. These elements, which are found in Sony’s premium lenses, work together to control aberrations, improve sharpness, resolution, minimise distortion, and enhance other image attributes.

A Nano AR Coating II is also applied to enhance image quality, helping to control flare and ghosting, maintain contrast, and enrich colours when shooting heavily backlit subjects. This is especially beneficial with cameras such as the A1 II, which has a dedicated AI processor that calculates colours and focuses on a subject even when it is backlit.

Sony’s new 11-blade aperture unit in the lens ensures smooth, rounded bokeh, while the bright f/2 maximum aperture enables a shallow depth of field, strong subject separation, and handheld low-light shooting.

Lastly a short minimum focus distance of 0.38m with a maximum magnification ratio of 0.23x provides large, detailed results even when shooting close to your subject.

This combination is designed to rival the quality achieved by prime lenses, allowing photographers to bring a single zoom instead of multiple primes, reducing the need for lens changes on location.

Quick, quiet AF and movie features

Many Sony lenses are designed for both stills and video and the FE 28-70mm f/2 GM achieves this through a design, which incorporates a fast and quiet autofocusing mechanism with four high-speed AF motors, well-controlled focus breathing, and compatibility with Sony’s breathing compensation feature for consistent framing.

Additionally, the lens offers customisable zoom rotation speed and de-clicked aperture controls, enabling smooth exposure transitions and greater customisation when recording video. It’s also able to maintain pace with full AF tracking when recording 4K120p, as well as burst shooting at a staggering 120 frames per second (fps).

Sample image with Sony A1 II @70mm. Camera settings: 1/2500 sec. f/2. ISO 400

Ergonomics and build

The lens barrel features controls typical of G Master lenses, including a de-clickable aperture ring, customisable focus hold buttons, and Linear Response MF. While there’s no built-in image stabilisation, this is managed by the attached camera body. A rubber ring on the metal E-mount provides weather sealing, and a dedicated switch allows you to lock the aperture when needed.

The lens accepts large 86mm threaded filters, and although it weighs a not-insignificant 918g, it remains well-balanced and easy to manoeuvre for handheld shooting.

The Sony FE 28-70mm f/2 GM Lens offers a combination of versatile zoom range, bright optics, fantastic image quality and professional features, making it a strong contender for professionals and advanced enthusiasts.

Its constant f/2 aperture with an 11-bladed design and high-quality optics deliver sharpness, accurate colours, and beautiful bokeh, which is able to compete with the qualities from prime lenses.

Sample image with Sony A1 II @70mm. Camera settings: 1/200 sec. f/5.6. ISO 800

With fast, quiet autofocus and video-friendly controls, it’s ideal for hybrid creators who need support for both stills and video, and the robust, weather-sealed design enhances its appeal for numerous shooting situations.

If you’re looking for a single high-performance zoom to replace a few primes, this lens could be there perfect choice.

Reserve your Sony FE 28-70mm f/2 GM Lens today and explore our vast range of Sony mirrorless lenses to find the perfect model to complement your content creation.

If you’re selling an unwanted lens to upgrade, why not grab free instant trade-in quote and we’ll take the hassle out of upgrading to this impressive zoom.

Share this post:

By Nick Dautlich on 19/11/2024