Sony 50mm f/1.2 GM lens review: The niftiest fifty
Sony 50mm f/1.2 GM lens review: The niftiest fifty
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Camera manufacturers have long used the standard 50mm focal length to show off what they can do with optics, and that’s still the case in the mirrorless era. One noted grumpy camera reviewer once said the ‘60s-era Nikon 55mm f/1.2 existed “to give little men bragging rights decades ago when little men bragged about the speed of their lens as opposed to how many pixels their camera had.”
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Inside, there are four AF motors to drive the internal focusing mechanism. The lens focuses extremely quickly and silently without any of the elements extending past the front of the barrel.
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If you’re looking to get close to your subject, the 50mm GM achieves a surprisingly short focusing distance of 15.7 inches.
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Close focus
Sony boasts that it uses its best glass inside the GM lenses, and that’s evident here. As stated above, shooting wide open creates some natural vignetting, but it’s tasteful and easily lessened with software if you don’t like it. Once you get to f/2.8, it largely goes away.