Sony FE 50 mm f/2.5 G review - Distortion

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Sony FE 50 mm f/2.5 G

29 March 2021

Maciej Latałło

6. Distortion

The Sony FE 50 mm f/2.5 G, like two other models launched at the same time, after being attached to a camera body does what I personally hate. Let me explain. When I buy a camera with certain options I do so in order to have a free choice, not to be limited. Meanwhile the tested lens limits me by deactivating distortion correction option; as a result distortions are corrected automatically and obligatory and, as much as I hate it, I have nothing to say about it. I don't understand and don't tolerate such an approach – especially that in case of this lens it's way over the top because its distortion is not that high to resort to such tactics.

When it comes to JPEG files Sony programmers did an adequate job because deformations are corrected in a perfect way. We got a result of −0.01% for the smaller APS-C sensor and −0.07% on full frame . In both cases, within the margin of error, it is in accordance with 0.

The values measured for RAW files developped with independent software are a tad higher but still they give you no reasons to worry. In case of the APS-C sensor distortion remains imperceptible, amounting to just +0.29% and in case of full frame we got a tad higher result, that of +0.91%. In the sense of absolute value you deal with a lower level than the level of many older Gauss 50 mm devices that, more often than not, showed barrel type of deformations as high as about -2%.

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When it comes to a duel within the system, in this category once again the Sonnar fares the worst, as it has a distortion level of +1.48% on full frame. The simplest and the cheapest Sony 1.8/50 FE performes the best, with barrel distortion of just −0.71%.

To sum up, in the case of the Sony 2.5/50G you shouldn't worry about distortion at all. Taking it into account, the decision to correct automatically deformations on JPEG files is even more strange.