Sony Announce A 50mm F/1.2 GM Fast Portrait Lens

Sony just announced its fastest AF lens

A very interesting announcement came from Sony today, and from the sound of it, this new piece of G Master glass is quite an innovative 50mm lens. The most interesting aspect of Sony’s 60^th E-mount lens – the FE 50mm F1.2 GM is how small this lens is. It is about the same size and exact same weight as the Sony 50mm f1. 4.

The new lens features 4 high-thrust-efficiency linear motors, similar to Sony’s 400mm f2.8 lens. Its construction includes 14 elements, including three XA (extreme aspherical) lens elements in 10 groups.

When presenting the new 50mm GM lens at the press event, Sony talked about the challenges of creating a good AF f1. 2 is hard, especially while keeping it small. This new lens is half a stop brighter than Sony’s f1. 4. Usually, the faster the lens, the bigger the front element needs to be, but that has negative effects on AF speed.

Sony promises that because of its smaller elements and the four XD (extreme dynamic) Linear Motors, this new lens will offer faster, more precise, and quieter AF and tracking.

bold Sony innovations

This new Sony glass features the latest optics that are said to allow the lens to produce high resolution across the entire image even wide open at f1.2. Sony’s Nano AR Coating II helps effectively minimize reflections within the lens to prevent flare and ghosting.

The FE 50mm F1.2 GM provides clean bokeh at its biggest F1.2 aperture that gives a greater dimensional look to your images. The newly implemented optical design with an 11-blade circular aperture minimizes spherical aberration, so that the lens may achieve smooth, deep bokeh both in the foreground and the background.

For critical focusing, especially when shooting 4K video with human eye tracking, the FE 50mm F1.2 GM promises minimum delay and low vibration, allowing the user to focus on composition.

Features

The design of the new FE 50mm F1.2 GM combines easy operation with professional control, offering professional content creators ease of use and functions such as a Linear Response MF (Manual Focus), aperture ring with a de-click mechanism, focus mode switch, and two customizable focus hold buttons. The FE 50mm F1.2 GM is also dust and moisture-resistant, as well as having a special coating that helps clean the front element.

Developed using Sony’s latest simulation technologies and the latest optical design, the lens comes in a surprisingly compact and lightweight form factor (φ87x108mm, 778g), providing high mobility and easy handling for a 50mm F1.2 lens.

Sony 50mm f/1.2 GM Specs

Here are the main specs of the new lens:

Lens: 50mm f/1.2 lens with FF coverage
AF mechanism: four XD (extreme dynamic) Linear Motors.
Optical design: 14 elements in 10 groups including 3 extreme aspherical (XA) elements.
Aperture blades: 11.
Coatings: Nano AR II coating.
Minimum focus distance: 40 cm (1:5.8 macro magnification).
Filter thread: 72mm.
Weight: 785g/27.5oz.

Price and availability

The new FE 50mm F1.2 GM will be available in April 2021 and will be sold for just under $2,000 at a variety of Sony’s authorized dealers.

Hand on Reviews/Previews from across the web

There are already several lens previews, reviews, and hands-on videos published online and we bring you a few of them below.

Our friends over at DPreview with a little bit of humor and a look at the new lens

Gerald Undone hates 50mm lenses but is impressed with the new Sony 50mm f/1.2

Manny Ortiz on the new lens

Dan Watson on the new 50mm f/1.2 Sony lens

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Iddo Genuth

Iddo Genuth is the founder and chief editor of LensVid.com. He has been a technology reporter working for international publications since the late 1990's and covering photography since 2009. Iddo is also a co-founder of a production company specializing in commercial food and product visual content.