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Lens review

Sony FE 24-105 mm f/4 G OSS

11 January 2023
Maciej Lata³³o

8. Vignetting

The Sony FE 24–105 mm f/4 G OSS forces distortion correction but vignetting correction can be switched off in the camera menu. Unfortunately, because of that distortion correction, your images are additionally cropped, their extreme parts removed, so vignetting is automatically lowered as well. In order to assess this aberration in a proper way we have to analyse both JPEG and RAW files. Let's start with these first and APS-C format images.

A7R III, APS-C, JPEG, 24 mm, f/4.0 A7R III, APS-C, JPEG, 24 mm, f/5.6
Sony FE 24-105 mm f/4 G OSS - Vignetting Sony FE 24-105 mm f/4 G OSS - Vignetting
A7R III, APS-C, JPEG, 40 mm, f/4.0 A7R III, APS-C, JPEG, 40 mm, f/5.6
Sony FE 24-105 mm f/4 G OSS - Vignetting Sony FE 24-105 mm f/4 G OSS - Vignetting
A7R III, APS-C, JPEG, 70 mm, f/4.0 A7R III, APS-C, JPEG, 70 mm, f/5.6
Sony FE 24-105 mm f/4 G OSS - Vignetting Sony FE 24-105 mm f/4 G OSS - Vignetting
A7R III, APS-C, JPEG, 105 mm, f/4.0 A7R III, APS-C, JPEG, 105 mm, f/5.6
Sony FE 24-105 mm f/4 G OSS - Vignetting Sony FE 24-105 mm f/4 G OSS - Vignetting


In this case you won't encounter any problems practically at any focal length. At 24 mm and by f/4.0 vignetting is just 9% (−0.26 EV) and it decreases by another percentage point when you stop the aperture down.


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At the 40 mm focal length and at the maximum relative aperture brightness loss in frame corners reaches 10% (−0.29 EV) and it decreases to 6% (−0.19 EV), when you stop the aperture down to f/5.6. A very similar situation can be observed at 70 mm, where, by f/4.0, vignetting is 10% (−0.31 EV) and decreases to 5% (−0.15 EV) after employing the f/5.6 aperture.

At the maximum focal length vignetting is at its highest, because by f/4.0 it reaches 11% (−0.39 EV), but even there it would be difficult to notice it. Especially that by f/5.6 it decreases to just 4% (−0.11 EV).

The performance on RAW files is only slightly weaker and small wonder; distortion on the detector of the size of the APS-C sensor is moderate so there is not much to be corrected and cropped afterwards. Vignetting on RAW files is by 1-2% higher than on JPEGs - a difference within the margin of measuring error.

Now let's check the situation on full frame. Our analysis we start with JPEG files and appropriate thumbnails can be found below.

A7R III, FF, JPEG, 24 mm, f/4.0 A7R III, FF, JPEG, 24 mm, f/5.6
Sony FE 24-105 mm f/4 G OSS - Vignetting Sony FE 24-105 mm f/4 G OSS - Vignetting
A7R III, FF, JPEG, 40 mm, f/4.0 A7R III, FF, JPEG, 40 mm, f/5.6
Sony FE 24-105 mm f/4 G OSS - Vignetting Sony FE 24-105 mm f/4 G OSS - Vignetting
A7R III, FF, JPEG, 70 mm, f/4.0 A7R III, FF, JPEG, 70 mm, f/5.6
Sony FE 24-105 mm f/4 G OSS - Vignetting Sony FE 24-105 mm f/4 G OSS - Vignetting
A7R III, FF, JPEG, 105 mm, f/4.0 A7R III, FF, JPEG, 105 mm, f/5.6
Sony FE 24-105 mm f/4 G OSS - Vignetting Sony FE 24-105 mm f/4 G OSS - Vignetting


At the difficult combination of the widest angle and the maximum aperture losses of light in the frame corners reach 59% (−2.58 EV). It's a lot but not unheard-of in mirrorless lenses. Stopping down the aperture hepls a bit but is not especially efficient. By f/5.6 vignetting is 45% (−1.74 EV), by f/8.0 it reaches 32% (−1.12 EV), and by f/11.0 it approaches 27% (−0.91 EV). Even by f/16.0 you still get a chance to notice it with a result of 25% (−0.83 EV).

A noticeably better situation can be observed at the 40 mm focal length where, at the maximum relative aperture, vignetting amounts to 32% (−1.10EV); it decreases to 23% (−0.76 EV) on stopping down the aperture to f/5.6. By f/8.0 it reaches 17% (−0.55 EV), and further stopping down is able to reduce this aberration by another 1% at the most.

At 70 mm you see a deterioration of the performance because by f/4.0 vignetting reaches 44% (−1.67 EV), and by f/5.6 it gets to 27% (−0.89 EV). By f/8.0 and f/11.0 you get respectively the following results: 14% (−0.44 EV) and 12% (−0.38 EV). Further stopping down doesn't bring any measureable effects.

After passing to the 105 mm focal length the situation doesn't change in a meaningful way. At the maximum relative aperture the result is 45% (−1.72 EV), and by f/5.6 you see a value of 26% (−0.88 EV). By f/8.0 vignetting is reduced to 12% (−0.38 EV), and by f/11.0 it becomes completely imperceptible, dropping to 9% (−0.27 EV).

Finally let's check the situation for uncorrected RAW files – appropriate thumbnails you can find below.

A7R III, FF, RAW, 24 mm, f/4.0 A7R III, FF, RAW, 24 mm, f/5.6
Sony FE 24-105 mm f/4 G OSS - Vignetting Sony FE 24-105 mm f/4 G OSS - Vignetting
A7R III, FF, RAW, 40 mm, f/4.0 A7R III, FF, RAW, 40 mm, f/5.6
Sony FE 24-105 mm f/4 G OSS - Vignetting Sony FE 24-105 mm f/4 G OSS - Vignetting
A7R III, FF, RAW, 70 mm, f/4.0 A7R III, FF, RAW, 70 mm, f/5.6
Sony FE 24-105 mm f/4 G OSS - Vignetting Sony FE 24-105 mm f/4 G OSS - Vignetting
A7R III, FF, RAW, 105 mm, f/4.0 A7R III, FF, RAW, 105 mm, f/5.6
Sony FE 24-105 mm f/4 G OSS - Vignetting Sony FE 24-105 mm f/4 G OSS - Vignetting


When compared to JPEG files there are some differences but only at the shortest focal length. In the 40-105 mm range distortion and vignetting gradient are lower so RAW files show results by just 1-3% higher than on JPEGs.

In case of 24 mm focal length on RAW files the lens basically performs on the border of its image circle and that's why by f/4.0 vignetting reaches a huge level of 76% (−4.81EV). Stopping down the aperture helps very little – by f/5.6 that value decreases to 70% (−4.06 EV), and by f/8.0 to 62% (−3.24 EV). Even by f/11.0 you won't have any problems with noticing vignetting as it amounts to a high value of 55% (−2.73 EV).

Sony A7R III, 24 mm, JPEG, f/4.0
Sony FE 24-105 mm f/4 G OSS - Vignetting
Sony A7R III, 40 mm, JPEG, f/4.0
Sony FE 24-105 mm f/4 G OSS - Vignetting
Sony A7R III, 70 mm, JPEG, f/4.0
Sony FE 24-105 mm f/4 G OSS - Vignetting
Sony A7R III, 105 mm, JPEG, f/4.0
Sony FE 24-105 mm f/4 G OSS - Vignetting