Shootout @ 18mm: Sony FE 12-24mm f/2.8 GM vs Sony FE 12-24mm f/4 G: View from Crooked Creek Canyon to White Mountain Peak
Related: hard core, Inyo National Forest, peak bagging, Sony, Sony FE, Sony FE 12-24mm f/2.8 GM, Sony FE 12-24mm f/4 G, Sony Lenses, White Mountain Peak, White Mountains, Zeiss, Zeiss Batis, Zeiss Batis 18mm f/2.8, Zeiss Lenses, Zeiss mirrorless lenses
See my Sony mirrorless wishlist.
This shootout on the 60-megapixel Sony A7R IV complements First Ice on Beaver Pond with a near-to-far composition with focus very far out, to give both lenses a chance to show their behaviors, both in terms of focus shift and field curvature, and the best possible performance that each can deliver.
Includes images at up to full camera resolution from f/2.8 through f/11 with extensive crops and analysis.
The about $2998 Sony FE 12-24mm f/2.8 GM, sets the gold standard for ultra-wide lenses, zoom or prime against which all other lenses in this range now need to be referenced.
My field time with the Sony 12-24/2.8 GM has impressed the hell out of me. It’s going to deliver a wallop to my bank account, because there is no way in hell I am sending this lens back: the Sony FE 12-24mm f/2.8 GM is the holy grail of wide angles lenses: one lens that can do it all over the entire 12-24mm range, making prime lenses blush with embarrassment.
I drove down this canyon and hiked through beautiful sunlight backlighting... just in time for a pall of clouds to deaden the landscape. Well, on one of those unpredictable days when I have the energy, I have to shoot what nature presents.
Sony A7R IV + Sony FE 12-24mm f/2.8 GM @ 18mm
ENV: Crooked Creek Canyon, altitude 9350 ft / 2850 m, 45°F / 7°C
RAW: LACA corrected, vignetting corrected, pull 0.33 stops, +30 Whites, +10 Dehaze, +15 Clarity, diffraction mitigating sharpening
[low-res image for bot]
