if I was ever forced to Super Glue one lens to my Sony camera's e-mount, let it be this one. The 28-70 F2 G Master is the cure to uncertainty the night before a shoot. Every few years we get a lens from Sony which breaks the

boundaries of their own lineup. A zoom as fast as F2 is unprecedented from Sony, so this is going to be one of those trophy lenses to represent what's Best in Class. Now, before we get overwhelmed by people telling us that a certain other imaging

brand, which may or may not be delighting you, always has also released a 28-70 F2 all the way back in 2018. Yes, I'm well aware of that, but that lens is not an option for my Alpha cameras. So, for the world of e-mount, this

is a first worth celebrating. Also, even if we were to compare this GM against the RF counterparts, the G Master might just appear a bit slimmer in diameter, but in terms of weight, the Sony is lighter by more than half a kilogram. Because of this, the lens actually feels

lighter than it should. This F2 G Master is a pretty big lens even when you mount it on the new Alpha 1 Mark II. It's um, not very understated, but when a lens with such volume weighs in at under 1 kilogram, it makes the handling of it really

quite pleasant. You're pretty much guaranteed to be holding the lens by its zoom ring, which occupies a huge portion of the barrel. For reference, this zoom ring is wider than the one on the 70-200 GM2, so in terms of zoom operability, it's

practically just grab and twist without needing to look or feel around the proportions. Also, give this lens a very recognizable look. Being a top-of-the-line lens, it's unsurprising this comes with the full suite of hardware features: autofocus, of course, the clickable

iris ring, iris lock, tightness toggle for the zoom ring, two focus hold buttons, and it even comes with a windowed petal hood. It's internal focusing, rear element stays put as you zoom, while the barrel extension is remarkably little as you zoom from 28 to 70 mm. The filter thread

however, is 86 mm, so it might be a bit trickier to find filters for this since that's not exactly a common thread size. I would also very much not enjoy losing the lens cap to this, but you're going to have to keep the lens cap off and stow

it away somewhere safe to enjoy the image quality this G Master has to offer. For a lens which you pay for to shoot at f/2, you can bet that Sony made sure wide open sharpness is GM worthy throughout the range. This f/2 is going to be that

one zoom lens you reach for to do the job of several primes. There's usually almost always a compromise in image quality when you choose a zoom over primes, but this one puts up a surprisingly good fight against primes when it comes to sharpness. Saying

that this exceeds the performance of G Master primes would be exaggerating a little bit, but then again, I am putting this up against a 50mm f/1.2 G Master, which isn't exactly fair either. Against many more average primes, though, this would actually outperform those with relative

Ease Corner resolution I find is interestingly better at its wide end than the tend Corner resolution at distance is also better than up close you'll find a little bit of chromatic aberration but flare suppression is not bad for a lens with 20 elements to tame

I've seen cleaner Boke balls on Sony's recent 85 gm2 but it's still very pleasing and creamy Bokey otherwise also pokes of F2 you already get that beautiful large aperture look right off the wide end of 28 mm Focus breathing is

excellent on this F2 zoom and it's optically suppressed the first hint is how little the crop is when you enable Focus breathing compensation but here's Focus breathing compensation completely off and racking Focus from minimum Focus to Infinity at F22 very safe to say you won't be

noticing Focus breathing on this 2870 f2g Master for the video Shooters as well this lens is also par focal as you zoom all focus on this is driven by four XD lanar Motors and this is one of those lenses where half pressing to focus

moves the glass so quickly it all just happens in a Flash so large aperture standard Zoom but EX excellent keeper rate even when tracking fast moving subjects I wouldn't consider this to be a lifestyle lens it's a bit bigger than what I'd personally be willing to travel

with on holiday but if I was traveling for work then this might actually make it to the very top of my considerations cuz it's the perfect pack one lens and never worry candidate I believe the whole point of choosing this lens is minimizing having to change lenses this

would be an area where traditionally the 24 to 70s would come in, if we're talking about the f/2.8s then this 28-70 trades 4 mm of the wide end for one whole stop of aperture. It's actually perfect for

events when you need that shallower depth of field to isolate your subject from everything that's happening around them. Or maybe you could just use that one extra stop of light to keep your ISO down. I still very much enjoy shooting with primes, but if you're getting live

coverage, there's always that fear of missing a moment cuz you're limited in terms of how much you can react with a prime. This gives you the best of both worlds, the unparalleled versatility of a standard zoom while also getting that prime-like f/2.8. While testing this lens

out for this review, I have actually been really spoiled by this lens when it comes to shooting b-roll in the studio. I usually do it with a few primes, but with this glued to my camera, it has sped things up a lot. Some of the benefits may

not be instantly apparent, but one thing I've really come to love is something I like to call 'de-crop'. You know when you frame up on something, then engage a higher frame rate or active steady shots, for example, it crops your frame in. With this, just pull back on the zoom and

get your original framing back. Saying it out loud sounds like such an obvious thing to do, but when you're thinking in primes, this is a really neat bonus for shooting smaller subjects. The minimum focus distance of 38 cm is decent. There will be times when you still wish that

it was even closer but the 38 mm is throughout the entire zoom range so you don't have to pull further as you zoom in this means you do get a fairly close up magnification of 23 times life size at the 70 mm end this 2870 is certainly

a luxury for those willing to spend for it you've probably guessed that it doesn't come cheap and indeed it is launching for 13,100.99 ringgit here in Malaysia what you do get in return is one of Sony's best performing zoom lenses it's the answer

for situations where you don't want to change lenses but don't want to give up a fast aperture either it does empower you with that feeling of being ready for just about anything especially so when you pair it with the new Alpha 1 Mark II which I've also covered in its own video

Sony's Brightest Zoom Lens – FE 28-70mm F2 GM Review

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