My Review of The Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 GM

Welcome to my review of the Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 GM

As always, I purchased this gear with my own money, I have no sponsor and there are no affiliate links on this site. For this review, there is no audio version as I felt it wasn’t needed and when looking at stats, they aren’t utilized that much so I felt it wasn’t worth it.

As you may know from previous reviews, I try to take a more casual approach and make it more real world based than purely technical. Regardless, I hope you enjoy it and provides some value to you.

The 35mm Appeal

It’s now been over 14 years since I started doing photography and for the majority of that time there’s been one focal length I always gravitate to. Considering what this review is all about, I’m sure it doesn’t take a genius to tell that focal length is 35mm.

I don’t want to sound like a broken record but in general, 35mm lenses are great because they’re not so wide you get too much distortion but not so tight that you struggle to fit everything in the frame. Most people are either 35mm or 50mm as what I previously described can fit both focal lengths, depending on peoples shooting styles.

On almost any system you have multiple lenses to choose from but for Sony in general there’s a wealth of options. I believe I had just swapped to Canon a month before the 35GM was announced which had me questioning my choice but after a while shooting that brand, I decided to move back to Sony.

There was 3 lenses I was set on and the main one was the 35GM as the size, weight and image quality were all exactly what I was looking for so I made sure it was the first lens to accompany my a7IV. So far I haven’t regret it one slight bit so continue to read on to learn why.

What Makes the 35GM Special?

You may be thinking the 35GM is just one of many 35mm lenses, so what makes it special?

There are a lot of 35mm lenses indeed and this is actually the 4th 35mm prime I’ve owned but it’s easily my favorite. A 35mm f/1.4 lens in general has a special look to it, you can have a wide perspective with a certain depth to the images that does give a unique look compared to a 50mm or 85mm prime.

For my shooting style, I like my 35mm to be versatile in the sense that I can take photos of food when I’m out at a restaurant, then take a portrait after and even a cityscape without having to change lenses which the f/1.4 aperture allows. Even in the past when 35mm hasn’t been quite wide enough for what I wanted, I simply just done a quick handheld panorama to get everything in the frame.

Although not light, the 35GM only weighs 524g which is one of the lightest in its class which makes carrying it around with you a lot easier. As you’ll notice from the images in the gallery lower down the page, this lens has been used on multiple holidays. From Japan, New Zealand and Melbourne it was the main lens attached to my body the majority of the time. In fact, my FE 16-35mm f/4 PZ G lens hasn’t been used as much as I would like simply because I find I can shoot everything I need with this GM lens. I know if I had to greatly reduce the size of my kit (currently 4 lenses), this 35mm is one lens that wouldn’t even be a consideration to sell as it has always delivered when I needed it to.

Rendering is a big thing on lenses for me, I certainly love fast AF and sharpness which this lens has both but if it produces a boring, flat image then I don’t see a point in using it. This lens does produce beautiful colors and renders the out of focus areas beautifully unlike the Sony FE 35mm f/1.8 which I personally found to be a bit too clinical in its rendering. This lens is obviously quite a bit more expensive but I personally feel the images it produces justify the costs.

The short and sweet of it is this lens is a unique package as for something that is a very reasonable size and weight for carrying around you get images that are tack sharp even wide open with very nice bokeh. Autofocus never misses for me, if it did I could 100% blame it on user error as I personally find it to be that reliable. One thing I can never comment on (and don’t want to) is durability as I don’t shoot with my gear in the rain and I’m also not rough with it.

Will This Lens Appeal to Everyone?

This isn’t an easy question but, in my opinion, yes it will.

If you enjoy the 35mm focal length then I personally believe this is one of the best options of any system. In fact if you had no camera gear at all and wanted to get into photography but wanted a system with an amazing 35mm lens, I’d recommend Sony just for this lens.

You’ll find it is generally cheaper (this is very dependent on where you live but from what I can see, it’s true for people in the United States and definitely true here in Australia) and lighter than Canon’s RF 35mm f/1.4 L and is heavier/more expensive than the excellently sized and price Nikon Z 35mm f/1.4, but from what I’ve seen better in terms of the IQ department.

Based on the above and the fact that you’ll get beautiful bokeh/rendering, excellent sharpness with silent autofocus in a package that is easy to carry around and won’t (completely) empty your wallet, I believe it’s the perfect balance of all areas which makes it the best 35mm f/1.4 lens you can get across all systems.

Of course if you’re more a 50mm person this may not win you over, but just give it a try and it may be able to.

The Images it Produces

I can write all day about what makes this lens so special but it’s easier demonstrating it, this is a photography website after all.

Below you can find a gallery of images taken with this lens, the bodies used where the Sony Alpha a7IV and a7C II. If you’re interested in EXIF data, all these images should be in my Flickr album which can be found here.

Summary

The Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 GM is easily the best 35mm lens I’ve used from any system. If you shoot Sony and are fond of the 35mm focal length, this lens can do practically anything you need from a wide standard lens with ease. The focal length and aperture means you can get some background separation from your subject but still tell a story of the scene while also being able to stop the lens down and use it for landscapes or cityscapes. It’s hard to find a weakness of this lens aside from the price (depending on where you live) or size and weight which are actually very reasonable for a lens of this type. If I could only own one lens, it would easily be this.

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