- Say hello to the 71st
Sony E-mount lens,
and the first of its kind.
This is the Sony 20 to 70 millimeter
F/4 G Series lens.
How's it going?
My name is Miguel Quiles,
I'm a proud member
of the Sony Artisans of Imagery,
and I had the opportunity to spend the holidays
with this lens, shooting video,
and using it on some portrait sessions.
I walked away from the experience
with the opinion that this might be
one of the best walk around lenses ever made.
Before we get to all of that,
let's go over the specs
that make this lens so special.
For starters,
the 20 to 70 millimeter F/4 G Series lens
packs in many of the features
that Sony has been using
in some of their best lenses.
You'll find two advanced aspherical elements,
one extra low dispersion aspherical lens,
one aspherical lens,
and three extra-low dispersion glass.
All of this is to minimize
and suppress aberrations,
and to give you excellent image quality.
In order to keep up
with some of the advanced auto focusing systems
in today's modern Sony cameras,
and even those that are coming in the future,
The 20 to 70 G Series lens
has two extreme dynamic linear motors,
which makes auto-focus fast and quiet,
not just for shooting photos,
but more importantly, for shooting video.
Looking at the body of the lens,
you'll find an aperture ring
that can be de-clicked,
locked, and adjusted,
from F4 down to F22,
an auto focus and manual focus switch,
and two programmable focus hold buttons.
The lens is light, and compact as well,
weighing in at only 488 grams,
and it's really close to the size
of the Sony 24 millimeter G Master lens.
It's also dust and moisture resistant,
and it probably goes without saying
but this lens offers 60% faster auto focus
than one of Sony's OG lenses,
the SEL 24/70 Z lens.
If you're using one of Sony's
newer camera bodies,
you'll definitely notice the performance differences.
With that outta the way,
let's get into my experience
using this lens for video.
I took this lens with me over the holidays in December,
to a local aquarium,
spending the entire day out with this lens
on my Sony Alpha 7 IV,
it was truly a pleasure.
I like the idea of having a single lens
that I could take with me on vacations,
or for family events,
and having this lens go as wide
as 20 millimeters,
adds so much versatility.
Before this lens, I would end up
having to take something like
a 16-35 millimeter,
and a 24 to 70 millimeter,
to give the flexibility
of capturing any wide scenes
or tight spaces that I might run into.
While I didn't use it the week that I had it,
I could see many situations
where having the additional four millimeters
on the wide end, would come in handy.
If you're used to shooting your video in 16X9,
having that wider angle
will give you that wider field of view,
that will make certain environments look great.
I mentioned this earlier,
but this lens has those XD linear motors;
the auto focus is basically silent
so you won't have to worry about
your mic picking up the sound of the lens
as it's keeping you,
or whatever it is that you're shooting, in focus.
Long story short,
the 20 to 70 millimeter G lens
is a great option for everyday video use,
for vlogging,
and of course, for content creation.
Let's shift gears for a moment,
and talk about my experience
taking still photos.
I also had the opportunity to use the lens
for three different photo shoots,
both outdoors and in studio,
and in all cases, the 20 to 70 millimeter G Series lens
was remarkable.
I typically like to take portraits
at the mid to tele end of a standard lens like this,
and in that focal range
it captured all of the detail that I like to see
in my portrait work.
I primarily use the lens
with the Sony Alpha 7 IV,
and used it as I typically do,
with continuous auto focus setting
and with the wide area focus.
Essentially anywhere
that your subject might move within the frame,
these settings will ensure
that their eye is tack sharp, in every shot.
The wide angle side of this lens is great
when you're taking photos outdoors,
and you want to capture more
of the environment in your shot.
Just like it was for video,
it was a great lens choice to use
as a walk around lens for portraits,
and for stills work, in general.
Here's an assortment of photos
that I took with this lens.
Most of these were straight out of camera
and some of them I actually went in
and I tweaked them in Capture One.
While it might seem
that the additional four millimeters
that you get with this lens,
over something like a 24 to 70 lens,
it might not seem like a lot,
but in actuality
it's more than you might think.
Those extra four millimeters on the wide end
essentially give you a 10 degree
angular field of view,
compared to a 24 millimeter.
If you're comparing it to something like,
say, a 28 to 70 millimeter lens,
it's giving you almost 20 degrees
wider angle of view,
going from 28 to 20 millimeters.
Just to contrast that,
let's say you wanted to add
a 10 degree wider field of view
on the telephoto end
of a 24 to 70 millimeter lens,
you would actually have to add 30 millimeters
taking it from a 70 millimeter
to a 100 millimeter focal length,
just to achieve that 10 degree wider field of view.
So, 30 additional millimeters of focal length.
For the photography and the math whizzes out there,
what focal length would we land at
if we added almost 20 degrees
to the field of view?
You ready for this one?
You would have to add 100 millimeters,
taking that 70 millimeters all the way up
to 170 millimeters.
That's a lot of numbers there,
but my point here with all of this
is that adding four millimeters
on the wide end of a lens
it might not seem like a lot on paper,
but it's one of the reasons
that lenses in this category have shied away
from going wider on a standard zoom lens.
They almost always go
with adding more on the telephoto side.
This is why I say that the Sony 20 to 70 millimeter
f/4 G Series lens, is special.
Getting a 3.5X zoom lens in a compact,
light form factor like this,
is something that I will always have room for
in my camera bag.
So what do you think about this lens?
That's what I want to know.
Sound off in the comments section below,
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Now, if you wanna learn more about Sony lenses,
check out the video that you see here on the screen,
and I'll see you next time.