Product Reviews

Having shot the 85 1.8 for 6 years, I pulled the trigger on the new 1.4 gem. The slightly faster 1.4 aperture doesn’t tell the whole story. Better build quality, moisture resistant, more responsive AF, sharper, and exquisite tonal fidelity. Especially coupled with the newer Sony bodies (I shoot the A7RV and A7CR) the responsiveness is fantastic.

This lens is an awesome workhorse lens that you can you so many purpose .The bokeh is fantastic - creamy and the hight lights roll off is incredible. And it is pin sharp. I shot a few shoots just using 90% with this lens

What's not to like - very sharp, well built medium telephoto....and the price is reasonable (for a Sony G Lens). Essential kit.

I recently changed brands. I am extremely happy with this lens and camera combination. The sharpness wide open at F1.4 the color smoothness and rendition is world class and frankly exceeds other brands.

Great lens does job perfectly.. nothing in market close to it

Two months real world use. Exceptional results when using in conjunction with my A7R3 body. The quick adjustment of aperture and access to the programmable custom button on the lens itself has been both convenient and revolutionary in terms of utilizing the features with the camera body - without needing to take your eyes off the subject and/or composition. The design of the lens is heavy, thought this is expected when handling such a mass amount of optical glass.

From all the 85mm lenses I have this is the best of the best. Beautiful colours, beautiful bokeh, beautiful sharpness, beautiful everything. Heavy, bulky, slow. I love it.

I first bought this lens because I got a discount and then I was still waiting for my camera to go with it. My A7 IV finally arrived so I could take the lens for a test drive. It is fair to say that this is the oldest in the GMaster series of Sony lenses, therefore its focus speed is not the fastest and it's quite loud (but that's compared to other Sony lenses, it's not all that noisy). The image rendition and sharpness is still excellent, not to mention its beautiful colour rendition which is typical for all the GMaster lenses. It's a great feature because if you choose to use several GMaster lenses in a photoshoot, there would hardly be any difference in colours among them. I also have to appreciate its bokeh. Yes, I admit that I'm crazy about bokeh when shooting portraits. For this reason I appreciate that the lens is f/1.4. The image is sharp even wide open, so no problem here. I also appreciate 11 aperture blades that create the creaminess of the bokeh. To summerize, I don't regret getting this lens by any means. For me it was a new impulse to enjoy the 85mm focal length once again.

Genuinely one of the best Sony Lenses I’ve owned, I mainly use the lens for street and landscape photography and have been nothing but impressed.

This lens replaced a much loved f1.4 85mm A mount that I was using with the LA-EA5 adapter on my Sony A7R4, pleased it did as this one is sooooo much better in every respect which I was doubtful of, it certainly is deserving of the G Master badge & reputation! Focusing is really fast, bokeh is delicious & even wide open images are sharp. Build feels solid & weather sealing is a must have on lenses. Aperture ring clicks in increments & internal focusing is smooth & precise. This is my absolute favourite lens & bonus, it's not too heavy as a walkaround. With the A7R4 I can switch to APSC mode giving me 127mm reach, very useful feature of the camera meaning I can use this lens as more than an 85mm prime. All in all I love this lens, it's superb.

Really great for interviews, especially like the iris ring. Just wish Sony would hurry up and bring out the 24-70 T3.1 cine lens !!!

In my line of photographic work my go to lens is the 85mm, I recently changed systems over to Sony and purchased the 85mm f1.4 GM lens. This lens is so sharp with beautiful tone rendition and a fast f1.4 aperture. The Bokeh is fabulous from the 11 leaf aperture. This is a Killer lens!! totally recommend this product.

Not had this lens for long but absolutely love it. The images are really sharp, as I expected, and the build is chunky so not too long. This balances my mirrorless camera better. I love the neat lens hood. It has a little safety catch that works well. I have lost too many on my travels.

Image quality is superb, but the autofocus could be better. It's fairly slow and noisy, feels a bit clunky. But for the superb image quality it's something that you may feel fine overlooking.

Very bad performance and old technology compared to the value 1. Slow focus 2. Hunting in low light 3. Can't breath to nail the focus 4. Very noisy 5.weather sealing is not guaranteed to be protected from the dust 6. Too much chromatic and colore fringing 7.very heavy 8. Expensive compared to the compatitors 9. Not the sharpest of the class

Bought this because I love portraiture and it is a great lens, not as good as I hoped for low light but I’m still getting used to it and the photos are coming out looking very professional.

The lens has focusing lens noise problem that I have never heard before. Sony needs to step up and resolve this problem. On the internet there are countless people complaining about this issue. This is not a cheap lens. (Never had problems like this with NIKON)

I call this the magic lens. That's all i have to say.

I bought this 2 weeks ago. The picture quality, autofocus and bokeh nice. But, Focus motor sound too loud and grinding.

I'm happy with this lens - expensive - but good. Cash back is a problem. You have to wait 30 days (hoping we forget maybe?) Then type in serial number and photography serial number etc. They seem to look for any tiny reason not to pay out cashback. Bit shabby since we pay a lot to become Sony customers.

It is a touch slower to eye focus than the 70-200 2.8 but it produces gorgeous images.

Unfortunately the majority of my camera gear was recently stolen :( However, while I had this lens it was fantastic. The separation you can achieve at F1.4 is simply stunning! It really does make ordinary pictures look phenomenal. One day ill buy another copy of this incredible lens.

The Sony FE85mm F/1.4 is a stunning lens and is capable of producing some stunning images in relation to portraits. I love the rendering of this lens and how it feels. I hope Sony provide an update firmware to improve the speed of this lens and its low light performance. To be fair though most 85 lenses are not speed demons, but I am sure Sony could improve this lens with a future firmware update.

After switching from Canon to Sony and using my old Canon 85 1.2L this lens along with my Sony a7iii focusing much better and is tack sharp! Very sharp and wide aperture

One of my favorite lenses for portraits by far. It was my first G Master lens and it hasn't let me down during my portrait sessions.

Hands down my favorite lens. It's kind of heavy and the autofocus is a little noisy, but the image quality is outstanding. The bokeh is sooo smooth and the sharpness is out of this world. Owning this lens makes me so happy. If you shoot video or have a limited budget or want to travel light, go with the 85mm 1.8 which is also a super lens. But if your main focus is stills and you want the best out there, this is your goto lens.

The image quality is very good. The seal to prevent rains makes it very friendly for a outdoor usage. But the focusing speed is very bad. If the target is keep moving. The only way you can get the clear image is to decrease the aperture. The image quality at F1.4 is still not good enough to a G Master product.

Had this Len for bout 2 years all i can tell you is......check out my gallery on Instagram @trapboifuse don’t know why it’s not $2500

Having recently moved from Nikon to Sony I needed to purchase a new 85mm lens. As a wedding photographer the 85mm range is an important one for me and most of the portraits of our couples are taken using this focal length. I first purchased the Sony FE85MM f/1.8 which is also a strong performer with very quick autofocus and is razor sharp but I missed the better bokeh that I was able to get when using my previous 85mmm f/1.4. After looking in store I decided on 85mm GM Lens after comparing it to another third party lens. This lens was a little more compact than the third party option and also has the focus hold button which I really like as it I assign eye a.f to this button. Since purchase we have photographed a few weddings and engagement sessions with this lens and I have been extremely happy with the performance. It renders out of focus areas beautifully and is very sharp. The autofocus speed isn't as quick as the f/1.8 Sony but that would be the case with most 85mm lenses. For me this is the best 85mm lens available for e-mount. It's an expensive lens but well worth it.

I bought this lens and the manual focus doesn't work. Auto focus will, but in manual the focus ring does nothin.

It's not cheap but optical preformance is out of this world.

It seems that all great glass is heavy and normally expensive. The 85 F1.4 GM is both great and heavy. If you don't want to settle, it is the 85 to get for the Sony FE system. I do have the Sony 85 F1.8 as well if I want to travel light.

One the best portraits lens in the game! Game changer and faster than other brands at focussing!

After much deliberation I part exchanged all of my APS-C equipment and bought an A7-3 and this lens. The lens is magnificent, it is heavy but re-assuringly so, the quality of the images are all that I hoped for. I take many pictures in low light (dawn and dusk) and prefer to avoid external light sources, absolutely no problem for this lens. Highly recommended.

Absolutely LOVE this lens! Skins tones and colour pop is second to none - truly beautiful.

Great focal length for head to full portrait. The f1.4 aperture draws my subject out from the diffused background.

I’ve been using this lens with my Sony A7rii and it’s my go to set up for my portraits photos. Nice solid lens. Amazing bokeh affect

The rumors were true, it can be said without exaggeration that based on its incredible sharpness and flawless bokeh rendering this lens marks a new paradigm in 85mm portraiture.

This is my favorite lens the picture is very sharp and the glass is fast. The drop off is very special. I'm using it with my A6300 and I can't wait to start using it on my A7R3 next year

I primarily shoot portraits and this was a much needed adition to my line-up. From the creamy bokeh, great image quailty and solid build this is going to be a go to lens for a long time.

When I purchased my Sony a7R II, the 85 mm GM was the only lens available. It was, by far, the best piece of glass I’ve ever used. It has rapid autofocus and in aperture priority, I’m able to use it wide open in almost any situation and get amazing results.

Awesome bit of glass. 85mm fixed focal length may not suit all however this is a wonderful lens...... bokehlicious with the 1.4 aperture.

Beautiful lens, very sharp and lovely bokeh. Just an annoying autofocus noise

Magical glass!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got this recently and no regrets. Never thought I'd ever need or use an 85mm but now realised after first shots with this on my new a7Rii that this is the best portrait combination I've ever had. (Recently moved over from Nikon D810)

I plan to keep this lens in my kit at all times. It's an absolute must have for portrait work with Sony E mount cameras. The only issue I can point out is the auto focus noise. It doesn't effect me because I will not use an on camera microphone. If it was a quiet lens then it would be an easy 5 stars from me.

I was looking at a few alternatives but finally decided on this because of the following factors; 1. at 85mm, stabilization is useful and it's stabilized on the A7RII due to the IBIS, 2. at f1.4 and 85mm, DOF is shallow but with Eye-AF, obtaining spot on focus is reassuring 3. while the lens is no lighter than its equivalent from other brands, the total combined weight on the A7RII is balanced and significantly lighter. Overall impression, it's very well made. In use, the combined weight with A7RII is very manageable, the button on the lens can be programmed to invoke Eye-AF and the rendering is superb. In fact I found there's not much edit necessary in RAW and the JPEGs are good enough most times. The ability of this lens to resolve fine details at 42mpx even when shot at f1.4 is excellent. It is a little noisier than my other lenses but during actual shooting, I don't really notice it. It is also expensive but when paired with the A7RII, the combo offers capabilities not found in other equivalent lenses from other brands.

Excellently built lens with very fast AF for an 85mm. I am convinced of the Sony's capabilities to deliver pro level lenses with the G Master. I had proceeded to purchase the 24-70mm G Master as well!

The best lens I've had in 60 years of photography, very pleased with all aspects.

I am very impressed with the level of details I get from this lens and I am glad with my purchase. However it is a bulky object that defeats the purpose of my 7RII. Also it is let down by a rather slow autofocus. I thought it would be on par with the best in the business at this price but clearly it can't compete with the likes of Canon or Nikon lenses. I understand it has got a lot of glass to move but stil...

Stunning Bokeh and pin sharp. Absolute best portarait lens out there.

I'm a portrait photographer. This lens is a beast. I'm totally in awe with the build and the results it can produce. At f1.4, the subject is sharp and in focus together with the help of eye auto focus on A7RII. The bokeh is really cool as it simply melts the background. The 11 aperture blades is one of the features of this lens that convinced me to buy this beast. One thing that can be improved is the aperture ring. Sometimes, I do not realize that i have actually changed the aperture (because my hand is holding the lens) during a busy shoot even though it is in "click" mode. The "click" mode doesn't really make it that difficult to adjust the aperture ring. An aperture ring lock feature will solve this problem for portrait photographers like me because I rarely change from f1.4. I bought this lens to use it at f1.4.

Dream has outside the focal blur, the sharp imaging,

This is probably the best portrait 85mm available right now. The resolving ower is designed far past what todays sensors are capable of which should give it a long useful life. It's a little expensive bu the cost of ownership should even out.