Sony is on a tear with their recent lens designs.  In the past couple of years we have seen one exceptional lens after another, with standouts including the 24mm F1.4 G Master (perhaps the best 24mm lenses thus far – my review here), the Sony 135mm F1.8 GM (one of the sharpest lenses I’ve ever tested – my review here), the awesome (and compact) 20mm F1.8 G (my review here), and, most recently, the 35mm F1.4 G Master (my review here).  Each of these has proven to be one of the best (if not the best) lens in its class, and I haven’t even had a chance yet to test the awesome Sony FE 50mm F1.2 GM.  Sony has surely laid to rest the antiquated idea that the E-mount is incapable of supporting innovative wide aperture lenses, as it has received some of the very best in recent years.  What has instead happened is that Sony has hit its stride as a lensmaker and figured out how to make lenses that excel in every way – building and handling, autofocus, and optical performance.  What’s even more clear is that they’ve also cracked the code on how to do all of that while keeping lenses small and lightweight.  That philosophy is perhaps best exemplified by their newest lens – the amazing Sony FE 14mm F1.8 G Master.  The photos of the Sony 14mm F1.8 GM that I share below were all taken on the Sony Alpha 1.  

I’ve had a bit of a love affair with the 14mm focal length going back many years.  My first Samyang (Rokinon) lens review was done in 2013, and was of a 14mm F2.8 prime.  I’ve spent time with about a half dozen 14mm lenses since, and there’s one in my kit as we speak.  14mm is an extremely wide focal length on full frame (this Sony lens gives you an amazing 114° field of view), and shooting with that wide of a lens is both challenging and rewarding.  The challenge is that such a wide angle of view requires one to rethink composition and often get much closer than you might expect to your subject so that you don’t leave a lot of empty space in the foreground.  Most zoom lenses start at 24mm, but 14mm is dramatically wider than 24mm.  Here’s a look at how the two focal lengths compare:

It takes a completely different eye to compose with such a wide angle of view (and I don’t actually enjoy lenses wider than 14mm very much), but the reward is dynamic perspectives on scenes that less extreme lenses cannot match.

The only other lensmaker that I’ve seen tackle this focal length was Sigma, who released a 14mm F1.8 lens about four years ago.  I praised them in my review for taking on the challenge of building a lens that no one else had, but also noted the challenges inherit to the lens.  It was big, heavy, and (for a Sigma), quite expensive.  The 14GM is another story, however.  Sony has used all of their recent lens expertise and has made a lens that is incredibly compact while also being much higher performing than the Sigma in basically every facet.  It’s truly impressive.  The Sigma lens is 154%!!! heavier (1170 vs 460g), and the Sony lens is over 26mm shorter.  This is a shockingly compact lens for such a wide angle and wide aperture marriage, and Sony has managed to do while holding the 14GM to a very high optical standard.  This is a lens that is going to allow you to get truly amazing images, and, while it didn’t shave much money off the Sigma’ price ($1598 vs $1599 USD), it shaved everywhere else.

So let’s dive into this great lens and explore the amazing photos you can take with it along the way.  To discover more, you can read my text review, watch either my long format definitive review or shorter standard video reviews, or just check out the photos in the galleries below.

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Thanks to Sony USA for getting me an early loaner of the lens.  As always, this is a completely independent review.

Photos of the Sony 14mm F1.8 GM

Photos taken with the Sony 14mm F1.8 GM

Gear Used:

Purchase the Sony 14mm F1.8 GM @ B&H Photo  | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay 

Purchase the Sony 35mm F1.4 GM @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay 

Purchase the Sony Alpha 1 @ Camera Canada | B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay 

Purchase a Sony a9M2 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay 

Sony a9 Camera:  B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada  | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay 
Sony a7RIV Camera: B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay 

Buy DA Merchandise https://bit.ly/TWIMerch

Purchase a Sony a7C @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay 

Peak Design Leash Strap:  Peak Design Store | B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon Canada  | Amazon UK

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