Sony announces Full Frame 24mm F1.4 G Master Prime for E-mount

Sony has announced a new ultra-high speed lens for its mirrorless APS-C and full-frame camera systems, the FE 24mm F1.4 G Master Prime. It has a relatively complex design of 13 elements in 10 groups, with three of those being ED glass to reduce CA and focuses to (a fairly typical) 0.24m (0.79 ft).

Sony claim the adoption of two XA (extreme aspherical) elements effectively suppresses sagittal flare, more commonly known as coma. Thus, with its wide angular field of view and ultra-high speed  F1.4 maximum aperture, should appeal to photographers hoping to capture the night sky without the tell-tale aberration that results in smeared stars (point light sources), usually more noticeable towards the borders and corners of the frame.

The new model shares the same cosmetic appearance and exterior design as the FE 85mm F1.4 complete with a de-clickable aperture collar for quieter operation when filming, and a focus hold button. The button is programmable and allows useful additional control such as initiation of Sony’s excellent Eye AF, for example.

With a 67mm filter diameter, the new lens measures a relatively compact 75.4mm x 92.4mm and weighs just 445g. The FE 24mm F1.4 GM will ship in Europe in October 2018, priced at approximately £1,450.

Check pricing and availability at WEX Photo.

For US pricing and availability check Adorama and B&H.

With the recently announced Sony FE 400mm F2.8 and this new lens, we’re seeing a return to a balance between size and optical performance.

Comparison against Canon and Nikon offerings

Press release (UK)

Sony Expands Full-Frame Lens Line-up with launch of 24mm F1.4 G Master™ Prime

New Large Aperture Wide-Angle Prime Lens is the compact and lightest in its class , with superb sharpness even at F1.4

Sony today enhanced its line-up of flagship full-frame G Master series lenses with the launch of a highly anticipated 24mm F1.4 Prime lens. Expertly engineered to deliver best in class performance across all aperture settings, the new FE 24mm F1.4 GM (model SEL24F14GM) utilises Sony’s specialist advanced optical technologies to satisfy the needs of the most demanding photographers. It features a compact and lightweight design with a filter diameter of φ67mm and measures just 75.4mm x 92.4mm and weighs a mere 445g. Meeting the strict standards for G Master status, the FE 24mm F1.4 GM combines the high resolution and beautiful bokeh that are the signature of the G Master series.

This incredible high image quality and compact lens is also a perfect complement to Sony’s APS-C sensor mirrorless cameras such as α6500 and α6300 and brings the total number of native Sony α E-mount lenses to 48 . Sony will continue to evolve its lens line-up in order to meet the demands of all types of photographers, videographers and multi-media creators, with a range of different offerings to maximise the power of the innovative α™ camera line-up.

Realising consistently high resolution across the entire frame, even at F1.4, the FE 24mm F1.4 GM boasts a new optical design comprising 10 groups with 13 elements featuring two XA (extreme aspherical) elements and three ED (Extra-low Dispersion) elements. The incorporation of two XA elements effectively suppresses sagittal flare so that point light sources are accurately reproduced, making the FE 24mm F1.4 GM a compelling proposition for starscape photographers. Sony’s unique Nano AR Coating is applied to reduce flare and ghosting for impressive clarity, even in landscape shots where the position of the sun is often problematic with a normal lens.

This industry leading performance has been packaged in an extremely compact and lightweight body weighing just 445g. For landscape photographers who often have to walk for long distances to get to the perfect shooting spot, this provides a welcome reduction in the weight that they have carry, an advantage that is further compounded when the FE 24mm F1.4 GM is paired with one of Sony’s award winning α7 / α9 bodies. This lightweight package has been realised in part by the development of a new high power DDSSM (Direct Drive SSM) which delivers approximately three times greater thrust than the previous DDSSM, enabling fast response, high positioning accuracy and quiet operation for both stills and movie shooting.

In addition to its landscape and starscape shooting abilities, the FE 24mm F1.4 GM also has excellent close up performance of 0.24 metres (0.79ft.) and delivers soft and natural bokeh. As a member of Sony’s flagship G Master series lenses, the new lens features an incredible level of image quality and bokeh. As bokeh quality is directly affected by spherical aberration and axial and lateral chromatic aberration that can also cause colour bleeding, all of these factors are painstakingly controlled at the design and manufacturing stages and each lens is individually tested and adjusted to achieve maximum image quality and bokeh.

Furthermore, the FE 24mm F1.4 GM includes a number of professional controls aiding ease of operation for both stills and movie shooting. An aperture ring allows direct, intuitive aperture control whilst an aperture click switch makes it possible to enable or disable click stops as required. The focus ring features Linear Response MF for fine, responsive manual focus control, giving the user the control immediacy needed for fast, accurate manual focusing. The focus hold button is customisable and a focus mode switch makes it possible to quickly select auto or manual focus to match changing shooting conditions.

The FE 24mm F1.4 GM will ship in Europe in October 2018, priced at approximately £1,450. A product feature video can be viewed on the Sony Camera Channel on YouTube and full details on the new product can be seen here.

i Compared to other full-frame 24mm F1.4 auto-focus prime lenses. As of September 2018 press release, based on Sony research

ii Including converters, excluding discontinued models

iii A phenomenon that results in an unnatural spreading of point light sources that appears somewhat like a bird spreading its wings and becomes more pronounced towards the image periphery. It is most common in large-aperture lenses