11/29/10
Sony 85mm F/2.8 SAM review is up and running! The Sony 85mm F/2.8 SAM is another stellar performer from Sony’s “easy choice” series. It was almost boring to review because I couldn’t elicit anything bad from it, and the sharpness crops are nearly indistinguishable from one aperture to another,including the corner crops. Other attributes include: very little distortion or light fall-off, even on a full-frame camera, long manual focusing throw, which is more precise than the typical Sony MF ring rotation, and a good macro shot. The only slight negatives are; color fringing, but that’s about average based on the rest of Sony and Minolta lenses, and flare, which is manageable with included hood or a hand-block. Lastly, the Sony 85mm F/2.8 performs almost as well on a full-frame camera as it does on an APS-C camera, which is another indication of great quality!
I decided to include a complete sharpness crop set for the full-frame section, which shows sharpness variations a little better than the APS-C crops, although you have to look carefully to see any differences!
The 85mm F/2.8 is a medium telephoto lens, suitable for portrait work, and based on performance, may spoil some of the sales of the super expensive Sony CZ 85mm F/1.4. If you don’t need the extra two stops, or don’t have $1370, I’d highly recommend the new 85mm F/2.8 lens; it’s currently discounted at B&H Photo for a very low price of $224.99 until the end of the year.
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