Sony SEL 100400GM lens evaluation for challenging professional eyes

IT 168 Evaluation As a professional lens released together with Sony A9, Sony Fe100-400 mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS (hereinafter referred to as SEL 100400GM) is naturally expected. Sports photographers need a lens of 100-400mm to fight with their A9 on the court; Landscape photographers also need a high-quality lens with a focal length longer than 70-200mm for outdoor shooting. SEL 100400GM, as a master of Sony G, can show professional quality? Let's see.

Advantages:

1, high lens optical quality: high resolution, maximum aperture can be used, and other qualities are professional lens performance.

2, reasonable design, exquisite workmanship: adjustable zoom ring damping, detachable tripod pin, hood with window, first-class mirror feel.

Regret:

1. When using a tripod (the pin of the lens holder is below), it is a little inconvenient to turn the zoom ring.

conclusion

As a professional lens, Sony Fe100-400 mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS has shown its due quality. Professional lens is to perform well in any scene.

Sports photography needs fast focusing and maximum resolution, and SEL 100400GM did it.

Landscape and architectural photography needs small distortion and anti-backlight, and SEL 100400GM has done it.

SEL 100400GM still shows a good level even in such details as respiratory effect that few people will pay attention to.

All-round performance is the best name for Sony SEL 100400GM professional lens.

Design professional Sony SEL 100400GM appearance introduction comments

For users, the design of lenses is as important as the optical quality of lenses. A telephoto lens, whether the focus range is adjustable or not, and whether there is a differentiated anti-shake mode, is directly related to whether the photographer can use the lens at work. In terms of functional design, Sony's SEL 100400GM can be said to be all-encompassing.

▲ Sony Fe100-400mm F4.5-5.6gmoss lens.

▲ Sony Fe100-400mm F4.5-5.6gmoss lens.

▲ Sony Fe100-400mm F4.5-5.6gmoss lens.

▲ Sony Fe100-400mm F4.5-5.6GM OSS lens with Sony A9 body.

▲ Sony Fe100-400mm F4.5-5.6GM OSS lens with Sony A9 body.

▲ Sony Fe100-400mm F4.5-5.6gmoss lens.

Sony SEL 100400GM mirror body has four adjustable options, namely auto focus/manual focus switch, focus range selection switch (full range /3m to infinity), optical anti-shake switch and anti-shake mode selection switch.

Among them, the focus range selection switch can reduce the focus stroke and improve the focus speed in actual shooting; Second, it can prevent the lens from suddenly losing focus when shooting at a long distance. Optical image stabilization can be turned off, and the resolution of the picture can be improved when using a tripod. The choice of two anti-shake modes can be switched between ordinary daily shooting and sports follow-up.

▲ Sony Fe100-400mm F4.5-5.6gmoss lens.

Sony SEL 100400GM mirror body also has three custom buttons, which can set some common operations on the lens.

▲ Sony Fe100-400mm F4.5-5.6gmoss lens.

Sony SEL 100400GM lens has a diameter of 77mm, which is often used to facilitate the later selection of filters.

▲ Sony Fe100-400mm F4.5-5.6gmoss lens.

It should be noted that the back group of this lens goes deep into the lens barrel. When replacing the lens, be careful that dust falls on the rear group, which will affect the imaging.

▲ Sony Fe100-400mm F4.5-5.6gmoss lens.

In addition to the rotation of the tripod ring, this lens tripod pin is designed to be detachable, which is convenient to replace with ARCA pin or simply remove it to carry.

▲ Sony Fe100-400mm F4.5-5.6gmoss lens.

The zoom ring damping of this lens is adjustable, one is loose and the other is tight. It is recommended to use a tight gear when carrying it at ordinary times, and cut it to a smooth gear when shooting.

▲ Sony Fe100-400mm F4.5-5.6 gmoss hood.

Sony SEL 100400GM's hood has a window, which is convenient for adjusting the filter when shooting (for example, rotating CPL to adjust the polarization angle).

▲ Sony Fe100-400 mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS range hood.

Flocking extinction design is adopted inside the hood, which can effectively reduce glare, and the black apron in front can also reduce bumping and better protect the lens.

First-class definition Sony SEL 100400GM resolution test

The resolution requirement of telephoto lens is not only that the imaging of landscape photography should be sharp enough under small aperture, but also that under maximum aperture, because most shooting scenes need to be shot with maximum aperture. The first thing that bears the brunt of imaging quality is resolution. A lens with sufficient resolution can not only make the image clearer, but also allow the photographer to boldly cut the picture to get a longer focal length.

In order to test the resolution of this lens, we went to the Summer Palace, a famous imperial garden in Beijing, for outdoor shooting.

The sharpness of the center and edge of this Sony SEL 100400GM was tested by grabbing a screenshot of 100% from the real shot. The shooting position is shown in the red box below, and the camera used for testing is A7RII, the highest pixel in Sony at present.

Sony sel100400gm100mend:

Sony SEL 100400GM 400mm end:

Comments:

Sony SEL 100400GM has excellent resolution at the end of 100mm, and the gap between the center and the edge is very small. Among them, F8-F 16 is the best imaging aperture range, the strokes on the central Foxiang Pavilion plaque can be clearly divided, and the stone pillars under the eaves at the edges can also be clearly distinguished. The gap between the maximum aperture performance and the optimal aperture is very small, both of which belong to a high level, and the maximum aperture can be obtained in practical use. Affected by diffraction, the image quality after aperture F22 is obviously degraded, which is also an inevitable problem for all digital cameras.

At the 400mm end, the center resolution of Sony SEL 100400GM is still the best F8-F 16, which can be seen from the window lattice behind Foxiang Pavilion. The same maximum aperture F5.6 can be used. However, the edge is slightly decreased, and the best resolution performance needs to start from F 1 1, which can be seen from Wanshou Mountain. Similarly, after the aperture F22 is affected by diffraction, the image quality drops and enters the unusable range.

Suggestions for use:

With this lens, it is recommended to use F 1 1 and F 16 aperture if the shooting scene pursues the ultimate image quality. The performance from the center to the edge is impeccable. As for other projects that need full aperture shooting, such as sports, ecology and indoor shooting, you can rest assured to shoot with full aperture. Try not to use the aperture after F22. This is the common sense of shooting in the digital age. Knock on the blackboard.

Fuzzy soft Sony SEL 100400GM defocusing imaging test

The telephoto lens is easy to take pictures with blurred background because of its long focal length and deep scene. The quality of Jiao Wai fuzzy imaging also determines the final effect of the whole picture. In the following hand-made collection, you can see the out-of-focus imaging level of Sony SEL 100400GM from the cheese cat in the foreground and the desk border in the background.

▲F5.6

▲F8

▲F 1 1

▲F 16

▲F22

▲F32

▲F40

Comments on Sony SEL 100400GM defocusing imaging

Judging from the blur of the above aperture, the out-of-focus imaging of Sony SEL 100400GM is still excellent. Jiao Wai's articles can still be clearly distinguished, without being messy. Just like the eyes and beard of a cheese cat, even in Jiao Wai, you can still see a rough outline.

In addition, Jiao Wai has a special form of expression, that is, Jiao Wai spots. Generally speaking, we think that the spot in Jiao Wai should be as round as that in Jiao Wai. If the Jiao Wai point is not well controlled, the Jiao Wai point in the center of the picture may be round, but the closer it is to the edge of the picture, the closer it is to the diamond.

▲ Sony SEL 100400GM Jiao Wai spot.

The Jiao Wai spot of Sony SEL 100400GM is quite round, even at the edge of the picture, it is only slightly oval, which is a good performance for a zoom lens.

Sony SEL 100400GM has excellent purple edge suppression performance.

When we take photos with large light and dark, dispersion is easy to appear at the junction of black and white, which is purple edge under direct vision. Generally speaking, as long as the purple edge of a shot is not too serious, it will not affect the shooting. As a professional lens just released, I guess the performance of Sony SEL 100400GM test will not let us down. How is the actual performance? Just look at the picture and talk. Take a 100% enlarged screenshot in the red box below.

▲F5.6

▲F8

▲F 1 1

▲F 16

▲F22

▲F32

▲F40

Results Sony SEL 100400GM can be considered to be quite good in testing purple edge control. Well, I even doubt that there is anything wrong with this test method.

However, with the following shooting, I still dispelled this doubt, because from the following various real shots, this lens does not seem to encounter the problem of purple edge.

Sony SEL 100400GM test has excellent dark angle distortion.

Sony SEL 100400GM Test Dark Angle Test

In the era of digital photography, the dark angle can actually be solved by post-optimization or even in-machine optimization, so as long as it is not serious enough to affect the luminous flux, it is not the key to judge the quality of a lens.

However, in order to have a comprehensive understanding of this lens and provide some guidance for readers to use this lens, we still need to take a look at the dark corner performance of this lens.

Turn off all lens calibration in the machine, and it is still a real shot test. Let's take a look at the dark angle characteristics of this lens.

Performance of Sony SEL 100400GM 100mm end dark angle

▲F4.5

▲F5.6

▲F8

▲F 1 1

▲F 16

▲F22

▲F32

Sony SEL 100400GM 400mm end dark angle performance

▲F5.6

▲F8

▲F 1 1

▲F 16

▲F22

▲F32

▲F40

It can be seen that the dark angle under the maximum aperture of SEL 100400GM is quite obvious. When you need a photo with uniform illumination at the center edge, you can consider reducing the aperture below F8 to control it.

Sony SEL 100400GM Distortion Test

Also through the above photo, let's take a look at the distortion performance of this lens. The red line in the photo is the reference line, and the black line is the line shot through Sony SEL 100400GM lens. The closer the black line is to the red absolute straight line, the more deformation of the lens can be controlled.

Sony SEL 100400GM 100mm Terminal Distortion Performance

Sony SEL 100400GM 400mm terminal distortion

It can be seen that the screen deformation of Sony SEL 100400GM at the end of 100mm is very small and almost negligible. There is a certain pincushion distortion at the 400mm end, but it is not serious, which is already an excellent performance in similar telephoto zoom lenses.

Sony SEL 100400GM respiratory effects test with excellent performance.

The so-called respiratory effects refers to the different scenes in the picture when the lens has the same focal length and different focus points. Generally speaking, the smaller the scene, the better. If the focus changes, the lens will be like adjusting the focal length. It doesn't matter for static shooting, but now the professional lens should consider the demand of video shooting, so it will also consider the breathing effect of the lens. As a professional lens, how does Sony SEL 100400GM perform? Please see the demo video below.

Please note the distance between the front wheel of the car and the edge of the video. You can see that the focus has changed from infinity to the nearest focal length, and the scene has hardly changed. Sure enough, the professional lens has professional performance.

The potential is yet to be developed. Sony SEL 100400GM Focus Review

In the previous test of Sony A9, we had a good understanding of the focusing intensity of A9+SEL 100400GM. From the lens alone, it seems that SEL 100400GM still has enough performance in the focus test. As a long-term professional lens, this design naturally leaves room.

In the face of Sony A9' s continuous shooting of up to 20 frames per second, SEL 100400GM did not fall in the wind at all, and did not feel the progress of the lens when focusing. Of course, at this time, no sense of existence is the best performance.

In fact, you can feel that Sony SEL 100400GM is hard to detect through the shutter sound, and the camera's focus calculation is almost on call.

During the whole process of continuous shooting, the focus changed smoothly without any frustration.

In addition, we also used the Sony A7RII of SEL 100400GM for testing. As far as the feeling of single focus AF-S is concerned, there is little difference between A7RII of SEL 100400GM and A9 of SEL 100400GM, which is generally difficult to detect. It can be seen that SEL 100400GM has good support for both the latest focusing system A9 and A7 series traditional phase+contrast focusing system.

Sony SEL 100400GM lens sample for challenging professional eyes