antero
Sony just released the FE 12-24mm f/2.8 GM (29.9 oz./847 g, 11″/0.92’/0.28m close focus)
Making it the worlds first 12-24 at f2.8
Its a Full-frame G-master lens.
The front glass is super curved which makes it impossible to have filters on the front side.
Price is around $3000
-17 elements in 14 groups.
-Three Extreme Aspherical elements.
-One Aspherical element.
-Two Super ED elements.
-Three ED elements.
-Fluorine front coating to protect against dirt and smudges.
-New Nano AR Coating II used on the rear of the curved front element. This coating addresses the color shift problems all coatings have when addressed at different angles.
Why would you choose the FE 12-24mm f2.8 instead of the FE 16-35mm f2.8?
Both are very wide. I went from using a 24-70mm f2.8 for years, and when I got the 16-35 it was just amazingly wide. And it was a pleasure to shoot with. It was a huge difference between 24mm and 16 mm. 35mm was also a very good focal distance for getting nice bokeh on portraits and closeups. 16-35mm gives both a super wide angle and a very nice closeup portrait lens. So you get a bit of both with that lense. It is much sharper than the 24-70 lens in my opinion. Now with the 12-24mm on the market, Sony has made the 16-35 a bit useless. You can now get a range of 12mm-200mm on f2.8 on only 3 lenses. The 3 lenses 12-24 f2.8, 24-70 f2.8 and 70-200 f2.8 suit each other very well. While the 16-35mm overlaps a bit with the 24-70mm which makes you pay for the same focal length twice, 24-35mm you’ll be having in 2 lenses then, which is a bit dumb. So if you already own the 24-70 focal length the go for the 12-24, If you dont have the 24-70 I would rather choose the 16-35 since you get a bit of both. Im not saying that you get a long zoom range on the 16-35, Im saying you’ll be getting a feel of zoomed in and compressed background with nice bokeh in 35mm and super wide at 16mm.
More facts about the 12-24mm f2.8:
Autofocus
The two internal focus groups move with four original high-speed, high-thrust Linear Motors. No external movement as focussed, whitch means that no air or dust will be sucked in.
Filters
This Sony lens has a new way to connect filters. The rear part of the lens, that connects to the camera is where you can slide in a tiny filter. In my opinion this is not good since you need to take of the lens from the camera for putting in or taking out the filter, which will let dust and moisture in.
Focal lenght
Full-frame 12-24mm. On an APS-C camera, it sees the same as an 18-36mm lens sees when used on a full-frame/35mm camera.
Image stabilization
This lens has no stabilization. But usually you dont need it on a wide angle and as fast as this lens is. Most newer Sony emount cameras has in body sensor stabilization which will take care of this anyway.
Successor
The f2.8 is replacing the same focal lengt but in f4, with ca 50% more weigth and ca 70% more expensive. The f4 is still a great lens. So I would consider that first.
