Sony FE 20-70mm f/4 G Lens (Sony E)

This lens is a winner. I come from 30+ years of shooting nearly every brand out there, from Nikon to Canon to Fuji and now Sony. These systems are all quite good these days, and it’s mostly a matter of what features you value most. For me, I value FF for image quality, high ISO capability and light weight. I’m currently using this lens on the A7R V.

After years of using f/2.8 zooms, my needs have changed and love what Sony is doing with f/4 zooms. They’re a really interesting package in terms of features, size, focal length and weight. I was debating between this 20-70 and the 24-105 and having shot 24-105 on Canon FF for years, I decided that the size and weight savings of this lens was something worth trying out. I don’t regret it at all.

With f/4, you lose one stop of speed, but with excellent high ISO on modern cameras, it’s less of an issue these days. What’s innovative is that this zoom breaks the traditional mold of 24-70 or 24-105; at the wide end, the extra 4mm give you an extra 10 degrees field of view. To me, this is far more useful than 15-20mm on the wide end. When cameras have 40-50MP of resolution, I would rather have 20mm and capture more, and if so, shoot Super 35mm to turn 70mm into 105mm.

This lens really nails it on many fronts. It is very compact, lightweight and focuses very quickly. I paired it with the Sony A7R V on a trip to Japan and it performed flawlessly. When you’re shooting landscapes or indoors, the extra width that 20mm gives you is really handy. I grew up shooting aperture priority and continue today; having the aperture ring is really nice and lets you quickly slide it to wide open when you go indoors. Much quicker than using camera body dials.

From an image quality perspective, the lens is pretty sharp. There is some distortion at 20mm and some vignetting in the corners. That is to be expected in a zoom like this and can be corrected in camera or in post. Not a huge issue. Color rendition is good and works well with Sony’s color science.

Overall, I recommend this if you’re interested in a lightweight walk-around lens that is easy to live with and won’t weigh you down.

I rarely purchase any new lens at first offering, but this lens was an exception. The reviews on YouTube were very tempting and the only down side I could see was the f4 minimum aperture.

Now that I have it hand I can say it truly delivers. I especially like the 20mm wide end. I soot mainly landscapes and having that expansive 20mm view is a game changer. I don’t have to change out to a wider view and that mean less chance for getting dust on the sensor. If you own a later model of Sony camera, you know that they are dust magnets.

The lens is plenty sharp, more that good enough for the 42 megapixels of the A7Riii Your milage may vary with the newer mark 4&5 versions of the A7R. I can’t speak for the A1 either. Coming from the old version of the 24-70 GM there is no real difference between the lenses execept the weight and the larger minimum aperture on the GM.

I’m not a a big fan of “pumper” zooms as I prefer the 70-200 and 200-600 lenses internal zoom. But I can understand that this was required to get the 20-70 so small at the wide end. And it is a rather petite package at its 20mm setting. The weight isn’t objectionable even on long outings but it does get nose heavy when zoomed out to the maximum of 70mm.

It’s a bit hard to mention bokeh with an f 4.0 lens, especially at 20mm. But close focus is very decent at 70mm and there is some pleasant out of focus blur with the lens. It’s not going to be as good as a prime, no zoom lens ever is, still there’s nothing objectionable. There’s no harshness or business, and there’s good transition to out of focus areas.

All said, it is a solid “G” lens. G lenses are a definite step above kit and consumer lenses and are definitely a value proposition. For owners of the old 24-70 GM I would definitely sell that old workhorse and get the 20-70 as you gain more on the wide end without loosing much other than weight. If you own a kit lens, first why, but second definitely save up to get this lens as a replacement.