Sony FE 12-24mm F4 G Review - Review 2022

There are wide lenses, at that place are ultra-wide lenses, and there are lenses like the FE 12-24mm F4 G ($1,699.99), which is at the extreme cease of coverage when paired with a full-frame image sensor. It's not the widest rectilinear zoom—Canon'due south EF 11-24mm f/4L USM ($ii,999) captures images with a slightly broader scope—but it's a lot less expensive and virtually half every bit heavy. To meet its price and come up in at a reasonable size it makes some optical compromises, but no more than you get with costlier ultra-wide zooms. It'southward a strong performer, and a better option than adapting the Catechism or Sigma equivalents for Sony shooters who want the widest lens available.

Design

The 12-24mm ($1,773.00 at Amazon) is deceptively small compared with similar zooms for SLR systems. It measures 4.6 by three.5 inches (Hard disk) and weighs simply 1.2 pounds. The Sigma 12-24mm F4 DG HSM Art ($one,599) measures 5.2 past 4.0 inches and weighs ii.5 pounds, which certainly makes Sony's take on the pattern easier to deport.

You tin utilize the Sigma lens on a Sony camera with the MC-xi adapter, and you'll get good imaging results. But I'd much rather use the smaller, lighter FE 12-24mm. Wide-angle lenses are easier to design for mirrorless cameras, as the rear element of the lens is closer to the image sensor than with an SLR, which makes a pattern like this possible.

Sony FE 12-24mm F4 G : Sample Image

The barrel is polycarbonate, with ribbed focus and zoom rings. The lens hood is integrated—a large sideslip-on cap is included to protect it, forth with a soft drawstring pouch and rear cap. The front element is bulbous, so there'due south no way to add a front filter. If you desire to utilise filters, you'll need to invest in a organisation to attach external drinking glass ones. Mural photographers are used to this, as they oftentimes employ graduated neutral density filters to balance exposure between sky and land.

The lens itself doesn't modify length when zooming. The front element does move back and forth, just information technology stays well within the confines of the lens hood. There is a Focus Hold button, which halts the autofocus system when pressed. It can exist remapped if desired—I like to gear up it to activate Sony'southward Eye AF system, which prioritizes focus on optics and faces. The other control is a toggle switch to change between AF and MF operation.

Sony FE 12-24mm F4 G : Sample Image

The 12-24mm focuses as close as 11 inches (0.28-meter). The broad field of view means you're not going to magnify subjects in the same fashion that a longer macro lens would if it focused this close, just it does give you some freedom in composing images. You tin get close to a subject and still capture the surroundings behind, though y'all'll certainly exaggerate proportions when getting upwardly close and personal—that'southward inherent to an ultra-wide lens.

The lens doesn't include optical stabilization—some ultra-wide APS-C lenses do, just you won't find it in a full-frame lens wider than 16mm. It'south not a huge deal, even if you have a first-generation a7 camera without in-body stabilization, as it's possible to capture crisp, wide images at longer shutter speeds than at telephoto focal lengths. Just if you're considering this lens for video, be aware that you lot'll want a torso with integrated 5-centrality stabilization to steady handheld footage.

Sony FE 12-24mm F4 G : Sample Image

A lens this wide is a specialized tool, but also a very useful one. Shooting with it can be challenging, just also rewarding when done well. It's cracking to have on hand for travel, every bit you can actually get a feel for an environment, and for working in tight spaces. Because of its zooming design, you can likewise set it to 24mm, a more than moderate wide angle, for more general apply.

Image Quality

I tested the 12-24mm in the lab with Imatest software and the full-frame a7R III torso. At 12mm f/4 it puts up potent sharpness numbers, three,392 lines. That'southward notably ameliorate than the 2,750 lines nosotros desire to see from a loftier-resolution torso like the a7R Iii. Sharpness is strongest at the heart (4,292 lines), just drops off as you move toward the periphery. The edges of the frame are in the very good zone, three,057 lines, just you can expect corners to be blurry when shooting at f/4.

Sony FE 12-24mm F4 G : Corner Crop

Narrowing the discontinuity improves corner and edge performance, bringing the average score upwardly. At f/5.vi the lens shows iii,560 lines and at f/viii it nets 3,667 lines; edges approach 3,200 lines at both f-stops. Corners performance also improves vastly when stopped down; the crop above shows what the extreme corner of the frame looks like at 12mm f/four (left) and at 12mm f/8 (correct).

Paradigm quality is maintained at f/11 (3,592 lines), but diffraction cuts into resolution at smaller settings when paired with the a7R Three. At f/sixteen resolution drops to 2,998 lines and is just two,018 lines at f/22. For all-time results, keep the aperture at f/eleven or wider.

Sony FE 12-24mm F4 G : Sample Image

At 18mm f/4 resolution is stiff through most of the frame, showing an boilerplate of iii,344 lines. Just edge performance dips to a noticaebly soft ane,944 lines. Edges go a footling improve at f/5.6 (2,148), and the average improves to iii,568 lines, but you don't get strong sharpness throughout the entirety of the frame until f/eight. In that location, the average is 3,705 lines, and edges show about 2,800 lines. At f/11 the edges move from acceptable to very good (3,450 lines), lagging merely behind the average score (3,740 lines). Nosotros come across the expected drop in clarity at f/sixteen (3,211 lines) and f/22 (two,175 lines).

At 24mm f/4 we run across strong peformance through most of the frame (3,415 lines), but again, the far edges are on the soft side (2,212 lines). They enjoy a jump in clarity at f/5.6 (2,027 lines), and are equally sharp as y'all'll go from this lens at f/viii (3,589 lines); the average score is about the same at both f-stops, only effectually 3,750 lines. At f/11 the average drops only a chip (iii,679 lines), before dipping more at f/16 (3,260 lines) and f/22 (2,238 lines).

Sony FE 12-24mm F4 G : Sample Image

Those are a lot of numbers. In practical terms, the 12-24mm nets images that are very sharp through most of the frame when shot wide open at any focal length. You'll notice softness at the corners of the frame at f/4 at 12mm, and both edges and corners suffer at wide apertures when zoomed in a bit. At f/v.6 and f/8 those bug mostly disappear, so if you're shooting a huge swath of mural and want the accented most detail out of your shot, shoot at f/eight. If you desire the accented nigh resolution, and don't listen a slightly tighter field of view, the FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM is sharper at comparable apertures, but it's as well more than expensive and doesn't cover angles wider than 16mm.

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You tin use both the Canon eleven-24mm and Sigma 12-24mm ($one,199.00 at Amazon) on a Sony torso, with autofocus, using the appropriate adapter. (We recommend the Sigma MC-11.) We've tested both on a high-resolution photographic camera, the 50MP Canon EOS 5DS R, so we can make a ballpark comparison in image quality, merely the numbers are not straight comparable. They both received high marks when nosotros reviewed them, and are strong performers. Only they're really big when compared with the FE 12-24mm, which is par for the course when it comes to ultra-wide zooms designed for SLR systems.

Sony FE 12-24mm F4 G : Sample Image

We wait at other optical qualities aside from sharpness. Distortion is one, and the Atomic number 26 12-24mm is non allowed to its furnishings. At 12mm it shows noticeable barrel distortion, about iii.7 percent. Barrel distortion gives directly lines the apperance of an outward bend. As you zoom the distortion shifts in the other direction, pushing lines inward. We see pincushion distortion at 18mm (i.iv percent) and 24mm (1.6 percent). Both the Canon and Sigma alternatives show nearly 6 percent barrel baloney at their widest, but don't requite manner to the pincushion issue when zoomed. If y'all shoot JPGs with your Sony camera you lot can prepare it to automatically remove distortion, although y'all'll lose a lilliputian bit of your field of view on the wide end. Raw photographers will need to recoup for the upshot in software—Adobe Lightroom Classic CC includes a lens profile to prepare information technology with a single click.

The lens besides shows a vignette, another expected shortcoming of ultra-wide lenses. Corners and edges don't receive equally much low-cal equally the center, giving photos a natural darkened frame. At 12mm nosotros see a 3-stop (-3EV) drop in the corners at f/4, which lessens at f/5.6 (-2.5EV) and hovers around -2EV at narrower apertures. It's not as noticeable at 18mm f/4 and 24mm f/4, about -2EV in both cases, and is cut about -1EV at those focal lengths at f/5.6 and smaller. Similar distortion you lot can enable in-camera correction for the effect when shooting JPGs, and you can compensate for dimmed corners using the aforementioned Adobe lens contour that fixes distortion when shooting in Raw format and processing using Lightroom.

Sony FE 12-24mm F4 G : Sample Image

Flare is very well controlled. It's tough non to get the sun in your shot when working at 12mm. I did my all-time to endeavor and induce flare and ghosts, and only managed to get ane small streak of low-cal visible in a shot where a bailiwick was partially blocking the sun, which was at the far edge of the frame.

Conclusions

The FE 12-24mm F4 G fills a gap in Sony'southward mirrorless camera system—information technology'south a full-frame lens that'south as wide equally whatever you lot tin can get for a Nikon SLR, and comes very close to matching Canon's costly 11-24mm ($2,699.00 at Amazon) in coverage. It has an attractive price, a scrap more half that of the Canon and just slightly more than Sigma's contempo 12-24mm F4 Art offering, both of which can exist used on a Sony photographic camera with an adapter. Just the Fe 12-24mm is much smaller and lighter than either.

The lens is a strong performer, with some caveats. It's an ultra-wide zoom and it suffers some some of the shortcomings we see in virtually every lens of its type—notably some distortion, a noticeable vignette, and a lack of clarity toward the periphery when shot at its maximum aperture. Only it comes in at a reasonable price, and you really will enjoy its size when compared with similar lenses for full-frame SLR systems. In that location are a pair of solid alternatives for Sony shooters who don't demand to get quite every bit broad, the less expensive Zeiss 16-35mm F4, and the high-end xvi-35mm F2.8 GM. Only if you desire the widest shot you lot tin can become with the arrangement without inbound the realm of fish-center, the 12-24mm doesn't disappoint.