Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 G Master – Available for Pre-Order

The Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 FE Mount is a lens I have been waiting for ever since I got into the Sony A7 line of cameras.

Within my Nikon kit, the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II is easily my most used lens. Well, excluding my Sigma 12-24mm , but that doesn’t count as I am a full-time real-estate photographer and I have no choice but to use this ultra-wide lens. The Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II is my most used lens when I have a choice I should say…

Nikon D610 with Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 @ f/3.2, ISO100, 1/400sec

I love the images the 70-200mm produces. The compression you get at 200mm and the Bokeh it can produce is simply stunning.

I recently bought the Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM and I do love it! It allows me to produce portraiture with stunning Bokeh.

Sony A7R II with Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM @ f/1.4, ISO100, 1/1600 (HSS Off-Camera Flash)

Sony A7R II with Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM @ f/1.6, ISO100, 1/2000sec (HSS Off-camera flash)

The Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM is amazing for Portraiture work, however for my event work, I find it a little tricky.

I like to shoot quickly at events and sometimes the framing isn’t ideal with an 85mm and would either like to zoom in or out, but with an Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM, I would have to step in and step out, in some cases, miss the moment.

So I still do desire the Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 GM for my event work as I would like to eventually switch fully from Nikon to Sony, but at £2,500……… I am struggling!

Steve Huff did a quick preview of the lens over on his YouTube channel and what I will say is the Bokeh looks a bit harsh. I can imaging the lens being sharp because of this, but one of the benefits of the 70-200mm range is the buttery bokeh and from Steve Huff’s samples, it doesn’t look the smoothest.

One thing I am very curious about is this lenses Focus Breathing. The Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II was known for having bad focus breathing and was more like a 150mm when focussing on your subject close to the lens even when your lens is zoomed out to 200mm. Whereas the Canon EF 70-200mm F/2.8 L IS II USM was a true 200mm at 200mm, even when focussing close.

I personally noticed this a lot whenever I compared my Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II to the Canon EF 70-200mm F/2.8 L IS II USM, or even the beastly Nikon 200mm f/2.0 VR II. However whenever I was photographing an event, it didn’t phase me that much and the compression when photographing at a further distance was still nice.

Nikon D610 with Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII @ f/2.8, ISO100, 1/500sec

Anyhow… this was just meant to be a post for the Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 GM price announcement which is a mighty £2,500 and it’s available to pre-order via Jessops.co.uk.

I will not be pre-ordering at this stage as I would like to wait for a few more reviews before I commit as I do already own a 70-200mm for another system. Although I do love the 70-200mm range, I don’t see much point in the overlap, but if it’s really impressive I may do it stupidly on impulse!

I just wish Sigma would make an Art version and have an E-Mount version as well.

If you do decide to order one for yourself, leave a comment below.