The Sony FE 50-150mm f/2 G Master lens is the first of its kind, not only for Sony but any lens manufacturer. It’s exciting for photographers whenever a company breaks new ground with a lens. In the case of the 50-150mm f/2, the excitement is taken up a notch (or two) because the lens is phenomenal.
This is Sony’s second ultra-fast f/2 zoom in the last six months or so, following the FE 28-70mm f/2 GM, which PetaPixel called “one of the best lenses ever made” before naming it the “best zoom lens” of 2024 in the annual PetaPixel Awards. Although this lens was unique within Sony’s system, it was not wholly new, as Canon released the RF 28-70mm f/2 L USM alongside the original Canon EOS R mirrorless camera in 2019.
On the other hand, the new Sony 50-150mm f/2 GM is entirely new. Its closest competitor, the Tamron 35-150mm f/2-2.8, while a great lens, trades a stop of light-gathering for 15 extra millimeters of focal length on the wide end. Tamron’s lens is also around $1,700, whereas Sony’s new G Master zoom is $3,900, so that’s a major difference as well. The primary takeaway is that, like the Sony 28-70mm f/2 GM, the 50-150mm f/2 GM aims to replace a series of prime lenses with the versatility of a single zoom lens, and the 50-150mm f/2 GM targets focal lengths no other full-frame f/2 lens ever has. But does the lens do more than break new ground? Does it ultimately stand on its own merits, or is it only interesting because of its novelty, size, and price?
Sony 50-150mm f/2 GM Review: Design and Handling
Given that no other lens like the Sony 50-150mm f/2 GM is on the market, it is difficult to say whether it is unusually large and heavy or impressively compact and lightweight. There is no benchmark, but given Sony’s prior products, it’s a safe bet the company’s engineers made the lens as small and light as possible.
However, in absolute terms, it is a rather beefy lens. It has a diameter of 102.8 millimeters (four inches) and accepts 95mm front filters. It’s pretty thick and over half an inch wider than the Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS II. The 50-150mm f/2, at 1,340 grams (47.3 ounces), is heavier than the 70-200mm f/2.8 GM II (37 ounces) but lighter than the original 70-200mm f/2.8 GM (52.2 ounces).
The 70-200mm f/2.8 reference is helpful, as there is some definite overlap in the target audience between the 50-150mm f/2 GM and 70-200mm f/2.8 GM II. Both appeal to photographers who prioritize the versatility of a zoom lens and want a fast, constant aperture. All else equal, a portrait, wedding, or sports photographer who cares most about a fast aperture may prefer the 50-150mm f/2, while those who prefer a lighter lens and longer focal length would rather have the 70-200mm f/2.8.
The 50-150mm f/2 GM has a removable tripod foot but like other Sony lenses, it is not Arca Swiss compatible, much to my annoyance. The foot itself is fine, though, and is ruggedly built.
I genuinely like the overall build quality of the 50-150mm f/2 GM lens, including its impressive balance, good zoom and focus ring feel, and good aperture control ring. However, the tripod foot is not the only aspect of its design that frustrates me. The front filter thread of 95mm is big, and 95mm filters are expensive. The 50-150mm focal length is underrated for landscape photography — a 70-200mm f/2.8 is an underappreciated landscape lens — but landscape photographers like me often use filters, including polarizing and neutral density filters. The lens is already expensive, so needing to buy big new filters stings.
The other frustrating aspect of the lens’s design is its incompatibility with teleconverters. So a 50-150mm f/2 GM is great in and of itself, and the fast aperture is awesome. However, what if a photographer wants to have their cake and eat it too by throwing a 1.4x teleconverter on the lens to turn it into a 70-210mm f/2.8? Then you can have the best of both worlds, where those worlds are the 50-150mm f/2 and 70-200mm f/2.8. Unfortunately, no such luck, as Sony, prioritizing as compact of a design as possible, put the 50-150mm f/2’s elements super close to the rear lens mount, preventing the use of a teleconverter.
My complaint about the tripod foot is relatively minor — it isn’t that big of a deal to put a tripod plate onto the foot — but the humongous filter thread and lack of teleconverter compatibility are genuine disappointments that, if they had been avoided, would have made the Sony 50-150mm f/2 GM more appealing to someone like me. That said, these shortcomings may be of little consequence for someone looking to use the 50-150mm f/2 GM for portraits, weddings, and indoor sports.
All that said, the Sony 50-150mm f/2 GM remains an engineering achievement. The weather-sealed lens feels great in the hands and has professional-oriented controls.
Sony 50-150mm f/2 G Master Review: Shooting Experience
The Sony FE 50-150mm f/2 G Master lens delivers an exceptional all-around shooting experience thanks to excellent image quality, swift autofocus performance, and a unique focal length and aperture combination.
We will look at image quality in more detail in the next section, but a note worth making here is that the 50-150mm f/2 GM excels in nearly every conceivable situation. When shooting wide open, the lens is sharp at all focal lengths, although it is better at the long end than the short end at f/2 when you start pixel peeping. It is also very good at handling backlit situations and stray light.
Thanks to its optical quality, the 50-150mm f/2 GM provides you with the confidence you need for any situation. Go ahead, take that shot: it’ll be sharp. This is also thanks in large part to the superb autofocus performance. Sony says the 50-150mm f/2 GM has its “best” autofocus system to date, and the lens touts a whopping four powerful Linear XD Motors. There are a lot of elements to move inside the lens, and the Linear XD Motors precisely positions them very rapidly. Changes in focus position, even large ones from near to far, are nearly instantaneous.
Autofocus is also impressively quiet, and as we note in our view review at the top of this article, the lens has essentially no focus breathing at all. Sony’s lens will be as at home in a video project as a photo one, which could make it especially appealing to the increasing number of photographers who do video work as part of their professional offerings. Sony makes a lot of lenses that are comfortable in a hybrid workflow, and you can safely add the 50-150mm f/2 GM to that growing list.
Strong sharpness and swift autofocus performance are outstanding, but these factors mean little if the lens is not enjoyable to use. Fortunately, the Sony 50-150mm f/2 GM is a joy in that regard despite being a fairly large lens. I love the Tamron 35-150mm f/2-2.8, and the Sony 50-150mm f/2 GM scratches much of that same itch while being a stop faster throughout most of its range, notably better optically, and delivering better autofocus performance. Granted, it does all that at nearly $2,000 more, which I’ll discuss later.
The 50-150mm focal length is a surprising one. On paper, it feels like you’re losing something at both ends — no wide-angle or long telephoto shots here — but in reality, it doesn’t feel like a compromise or sacrifice. Instead, it feels like you’re gaining the ability to shoot with many popular prime lenses without constantly switching lenses.
Sure, a 50mm f/1.2 or f/1.4 is faster, as is an 85mm f/1.4 and 135mm f/1.8. However, they aren’t that much faster, and none of those excellent Sony primes can change their focal length on a whim. For photographers who don’t have the luxury of swapping between different prime lenses or don’t want to, the 50-150mm f/2 GM delivers nearly the same imaging performance as three heavy-hitter prime lenses, plus it has all the coverage in between.
The 50 to 150mm range is pretty darn good for a wide range of situations. While I occasionally wished I could zoom out more or punch in a bit closer when using the 50-150mm f/2 GM, it gave more than it took away. I imagine it offers a dedicated portrait or wedding photographer even that much more. From a purely photographic perspective, the Sony 50-150mm f/2 GM is an incredible achievement and one that is a blast to use.
Sony 50-150mm f/2 G Master Review: A Closer Look at Image Quality
With a whopping 19 elements arranged across 17 groups, the Sony 50-150mm f/2 GM has a lot of glass in its light-gray, pro-built body. More than that, it features an incredible nine highly specialized optics, really living up to its “G Master” billing, the series where Sony pulls out all the engineering stops. The lens features three ED, two Super ED, two aspherical, and two XA elements, all of which promise impeccable resolving power, strong control over chromatic aberrations, and minimal flare and ghosting.
Unfortunately, this section is going to be a bit “boring” because everything Sony promises, the lens delivers. There’s no major catch, no “gotcha” moment, and no drama. The Sony 50-150mm f/2 GM is sharp at all focal lengths and apertures.
If you’re desperate for something to dissect, it would be the sharpness at 50mm f/2. The lens is softer than at 100mm and 150mm wide open, but not by much, and the performance is still excellent overall. The lens is very flat, meaning when it is in focus in the corners, it is in focus in the center, and there is no distortion to speak of.
Impressively, Sony achieves these results by relying heavily upon the physical optical design of the lens. While every modern Sony lens employs some level of digital correction — which doesn’t bother me at all, by the way — Sony worked hard to ensure that the 50-150mm’s optics did the majority of the heavy lifting.
One other minor quibble with optical performance: sharpness at very close-focusing distances. To be clear, the 50-150mm f/2 GM is not a macro lens. It can only focus as close as 0.4 meters (1.3 feet) at 50mm and 0.74 meters (2.4 feet), which is around 0.2x maximum magnification across the board. Technically, the lens produces “better” close-ups at 50mm than 150mm, but I prefer the working distance at 150mm and the better background separation. It’s much easier to get a silky smooth background at 150mm.
One thing that is great all the time is bokeh. The Sony 50-150mm f/2 GM features a new 11-bladed circular aperture design that promises “smooth, creamy bokeh.” Thanks to the XA lens elements inside the lens, the bokeh is not just “smooth” and “creamy,” like my preferred peanut butter, but it is also squeaky clean. There are no issues with unsightly onion rings or soap bubbles. The bokeh has a cat’s eye effect in the corners when at f/2, which Chris likes and I don’t have strong feelings about either way.
Sony 50-150mm f/2 GM Review: A Remarkable Lens at an Eye-Watering Price
The Sony 50-150mm f/2 GM is not the perfect lens for me, but it is an incredible option for quite a few photographers. For portrait and wedding photographers, in particular, the Sony 50-150mm f/2 GM is a welcome addition to Sony’s lineup. The company’s 80th E-mount lens (59th full-frame one) is among its most exciting for those who love the versatility of a zoom but don’t want to sacrifice a fast aperture. Following last fall’s 28-70mm f/2 GM, Sony shooters after silky bokeh are eating good these days.
However, this versatility and performance come at a steep cost: $3,900. If you consider the prime lenses that the 50-150mm f/2 GM replaces, the price is not so unpalatable, but it remains a lot of money to spend on a single lens. It enables a new kind of shooting, and that has value. Whether it has enough value will depend on the photographer.
Ultimately, what excites me the most is that the Sony 50-150mm f/2 G Master offers something no Sony lens has ever offered. It is a wholly unique lens that builds upon Sony’s rich legacy of incredible G Master lenses. The Sony 50-150mm f/2 GM is not perfect in every possible way, but it gets very close. Sony has crafted an optical delight for its users, and those who can afford it are in for a treat.
Sony 50-150mm f/2 GM Review: Are There Alternatives?
Yes and no. The most obvious alternative is the Tamron 35-150mm f/2-2.8, which as mentioned, gets a bit wider but is also a full stop slower throughout nearly the entire range. It’s only an f/2 at the wide end and becomes an f/2.8 zoom around the 40mm mark. But it’s over $2,000 cheaper, so how much is that stop worth?
There’s another zoom lens that is a reasonably close competitor to the 50-150mm f/2 GM, both in terms of what it offers optically and its general size and weight: the Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 GM II. The 70-200mm f/2.8 GM II is a bit smaller, a bit lighter, $1,100 cheaper, a stop slower, and a bit longer. It also works with teleconverters. For photographers struggling to choose between the two, the deciding factor should be, “What is the extra stop worth to you, and what are you willing to give up to get it?”
I want to take a brief detour here to discuss the Sony 50-150mm f/2 GM in the context of indoor sports photography. While I’m not a sports photographer, I have spoken to many over the years who have stuck with certain non-Sony camera systems in part because of the availability of a 200mm f/2 prime lens. While the 50-150mm f/2 GM is decidedly not a 200mm lens, 150mm f/2 with a bit of a crop, which is easily achieved on today’s modern high-res cameras, gets you there. The 50-150mm f/2 GM has stellar autofocus that is well up to the task of handling fast-paced action, so there might be a sports niche that gravitates toward Sony’s new lens. It could be an excellent option for basketball, volleyball, and even ice hockey.
Getting back on track, what the Sony 50-150mm f/2 GM primarily competes against is not another zoom lens, but a selection of f/1.4-f/1.8 prime lenses. Much like photographers must decide if the extra stop compared to an f/2.8 zoom makes the 50-150mm f/2 GM worthwhile, they must also choose if its flexibility makes it more appealing than a faster prime lens. There is a lot of value in being able to quickly zoom in and out rather than swap lenses or physically move toward or away from a subject. In a fast-paced scenario or situations like weddings when you can’t necessarily be in the perfect position all the time, being able to zoom while maintaining a bright f/2 aperture is a game changer. $3,900 is expensive, but so are three or four Sony G Master prime lenses.
Sony 50-150mm f/2 GM Review: Should You Buy It?
Yes. It is expensive and has some limitations, but the Sony FE 50-150mm f/2 G Master lens delivers exceptional optical performance, swift and reliable autofocus performance, professional build quality, and, most importantly, an altogether novel photographic experience in an age where getting something new and unique is quite rare. The Sony 50-150mm f/2 GM brings something new, and photographers have every right to be excited about it.
Image credits: Photos by Jeremy Gray and Chris Niccolls
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