Sony FE 50-150 mm f/2 GM
11. Summary
Pros:
- solid, closed and weather-sealed casing,
- sensational image quality in the frame centre,
- very good image quality on the edge of the APS-C/DX sensor,
- good image quality on the edge of full frame,
- negligible longitudinal chromatic aberration,
- low lateral chromatic aberration,
- lack of any serious problems with spherical aberration,
- slight distortion on the APS-C sensor,
- moderate coma,
- low astigmatism,
- lack of problems with vignetting on the APS-C sensor,
- sensible appearance of out-of-focus images,
- silent, fast, and accurate autofocus,
- low focus breathing,
- unique parameters,
- extensive standard equipment.
Cons:
- high vignetting on full frame,
- performance against bright light could have been at least a tad better,
- lack of possibility to attach a teleconverter,
- price?
Of course the matter of the price remains open. I admit I had little doubts that, because of its more extreme parameters, the Sony FE 50-150 mm f/2 GM would be more expensive than the Sony FE 70-200 mm f/2.8 GM OSS II, a lens that currently costs about $2800. Still I didn't expect that we would see a price tag of $3900 especially that the producers resigned from an optical image stabilization unit. I think a level closer to $3300 would suit this instrument far better.
I can understand and forgive getting rid of optical stabilization; the fact that we can't attach any teleconverters to this lens is more painful in my case. After all, if there was such a possibility, after buying the TC 1.4x and the TC 2.0x, we would have at our disposal still impressive 70-210 f/2.8 and 100-300 f/4 parameters. It seems the Sony optics constructors did everything in their power to make the 50-150 mm model shorter than classic 70-200 mm f/2.8 lenses. Perhaps adding a teleconverter would make the construction so long that it would become too cumbersome to handle; perhaps the centre of gravity would be moved so far from the camera body that efficient operation would be simply impossible without an optical stabilization unit.
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I admit the price and teleconverters issues kind of dominate this summary. I wouldn't like them to overshadow the fact that the Sony FE 50-150 mm f/2 GM is a lens not only with unique parameters but also optically brilliant, and completely recommendable. I am very pleased by the facts that current technical level makes it possible to produce so well-put-together, interesting constructions and there are companies that profit from such solutions without hesitation.
