Sony 24-70mm F/4 Vario-tessar T Fe Oss Review

The Sony Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar T* FE 24-70mm F4 ZA OSS ($i,199.99) is a step up from the standard FE 28-70mm F3.5-5.6 OSS ($398.00 at Amazon) for Sony full-frame mirrorless cameras in terms of zoom range and sharpness, and it maintains an f/4 aperture throughout that range. But its price tag is more than twice that of the standard zoom, and the law of diminishing returns applies to the operation gains yous'll get for that price. It's definitely a better lens, but whether or not it'south worth the cost is dependent on how important a standard zoom lens is to your style of photography. If you're primarily a prime lens shooter and simply want a zoom to supplement for the occasional shot, the 28-70mm can salve you some money. But if y'all opt for this lens you tin can capture more than detailed shots with a slightly wider field of view, too as images with a shallower depth of field when zoomed in.

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The 24-70mm ($398.00 at Amazon)  is fairly meaty when y'all consider its zoom range, measuring in at 3.7 by 2.ix inches (HD) and weighing 15.2 ounces. Information technology uses 67mm front filters and includes a reversible lens hood. It does extend a bit when zoomed, but the front end element never rotates so using a round polarizing filter is not a problem. The lens barrel has both a manual zoom band and manual focus ring, merely there are no switches to adjust the focus mode or toggle image stabilization. Instead, you lot'll take to change those settings via the camera's bill of fare organization. The 24-70mm tin focus equally close as 15.7 inches. Its maximum magnification is 1:5, which doesn't quite give it macro status.

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I used Imatest to check the performance of the lens when paired with the 36-megapixel Sony Alpha 7R ($398.00 at Amazon) . At 24mm f/iv information technology scores two,556 lines per picture show tiptop on a heart-weighted sharpness examination. That'due south much higher than the 1,800 lines we require to call an image sharp, and it exceeds that standard through nigh of the frame. The outer tertiary is a scrap weak, with an average core of just ane,068 lines. Stopping down to f/5.half-dozen improves the overall score to 3,145 lines, and edges sharpen up nicely to ane,613 lines. At f/8 the lens shows its best performance (3,392 lines) and edges are as well solid at 1,950 lines. If you shoot in JPG distortion isn't an upshot, but there is some very noticeable barrel distortion (iv percentage) when shooting in Raw. Lightroom 5.five includes a profile for this lens, which corrects for distortion with a unmarried click. At its widest 28mm focal length the standard 28-70mm lens scores near 2,125 lines at f/3.v, 2,422 lines at f/5.six, and 3,492 lines at f/8, with similar edge performance to the Vario-Tessar at corresponding f-stops.

At 35mm f/iv the lens is quite sharp at 3,130 lines, with splendid performance up to the edges and minimal barrel baloney (0.viii pct), fifty-fifty when shooting Raw. Stopping downward to f/5.vi offers marginal improvement (3,206 lines), and at f/8 it manages iii,407 lines. The FE 28-70mm lens narrows to f/4 at 35mm and isn't nearly as sharp; information technology manages 2,458 lines at f/4 and 3,000 lines at f/5.6 and f/eight, with solid border operation at each aperture.

At 50mm sharpness drops a bit to two,853 lines at f/4, but information technology holds its own up to its edges. In that location'southward improvement at f/five.6 (iii,173 lines) and f/8 (3,313 lines), but if yous're shooting in Raw there'due south about 1.9 percent pincushion baloney, which causes straight lines to announced to curve inward. The Fe 28-70mm narrows to f/4.5 by the fourth dimension it gets to 50mm and scores two,770 lines, not that far off from the Vario-Tessar, but it doesn't acuminate up when stopped down. Its edges are a niggling soft, and they don't sharpen up until you narrow to f/8.

At 70mm the performance dips a bit, especially at the edges of the frame. The centre-weighted score is still solid at two,447 lines, and at 1,444 lines the edges are noticeably sharper than they are at 24mm. Stopping downwardly to f/5.6 improves the overall score to 2,731 lines, but the edges hover around i,575 lines. At f/viii the lens manages 2,931 lines, with edges that are still shy of one,600 lines. There'southward a lot more than pincushion distortion, 4.2 percent, here, and the amount of in-photographic camera correction that the 7R is performing on images likely shares role of the blame for the scores near the outer parts of the frame. The 28-70mm shows similar performance here every bit it did at 50mm, its edges too suffer, striking merely ane,400 lines at f/8.

This lens is a definite upgrade over the standard 28-70mm kit lens that Sony offers for its total-frame mirrorless system, but I'd like to come across more consistent sharpness beyond the frame at this asking cost. If you're a Raw shooter the distortion is fairly easily corrected if you employ Lightroom as your workflow application, and information technology's something you'll want to exercise as it is severe enough to detract from your images. The edge softness at the wide bending, and to a lesser extent the telephoto extreme, is not atypical for a zoom lens, but in that location are some zooms that avert those pitfalls. The Sigma 24-105mm F4 DG Bone HSM ($398.00 at Amazon) , which can exist mounted on an Alpha mirrorless camera via an expensive Metabones adapter, is 1 of those, but it'due south a lot bigger and heavier, especially when you lot consider the size of the adapter, and using information technology with an Alpha camera isn't ideal.

The Sony Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar T* Atomic number 26 24-70mm F4 ZA OSS is the all-time native standard zoom for the Alpha 7 family, but information technology's not quite the equal of lenses available for SLRs that are priced in the same range like the Sigma lens. Sony has made some design compromises in gild to keep the size of the Vario-Tessar manageable; some of those compromises are easily fixed via software, but others aren't. The Vario-Tessar is an excellent lens, but it'due south not quite worthy of beingness called Editors' Choice. The two Zeiss primes that are available for the Blastoff 7 family, the Zeiss Sonnar T* Fe 35mm F2.viii ZA ($398.00 at Amazon) and the Zeiss Sonnar T* Atomic number 26 55mm F1.8 ZA ($398.00 at Amazon) , set the bar very loftier and walked away with Editors' Choice honors thanks to impeccable epitome quality. The Vario-Tessar doesn't match their near perfect quality, but it does add image stabilization and a zooming design. If you're primarily a prime number lens shooter and don't ofttimes achieve for a zoom, only want the convenience of one, the less expensive 28-70mm can be seen equally an affordable alternative. Just if y'all desire to accept full advantage of the excellent prototype sensors in the full-frame Sony Alpha mirrorless family unit with the convenience that a zoom lens offers, the Vario-Tessar is your best option.

Sony Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar T* FE 24-70mm F4 ZA OSS

Cons

The Bottom Line

The Sony Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar T* Atomic number 26 24-70mm F4 ZA OSS is an upgrade from a standard zoom, merely you'll pay dearly for the performance boost yous get with this lens.

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Source: https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/sony-carl-zeiss-vario-tessar-t-fe-24-70mm-f4-za-oss

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