The Sony 50mm F1.2 GM Will Need to Be Less Clinical, More Character

If the Sony 50mm f1.2 G Master lens really comes next month, then we need to stop talking about MTF charts.

As much as things change, they also stay the same. And honestly, I’m expecting the same thing from Sony. If the Sony 50mm f1.2 G Master is real, then it’s going to be good. However, I’m also sure it’s going to be just the clinical definition of good. Sony’s engineers have sucked the soul out of lenses. The only recent exception is the Sony 35mm f1.4 G Master. But a lens like the Sony 50mm f1.2 G Master will really need to be something extraordinary. 

This site has reviewed pretty much every Sony E mount lens out there. We have an entire Sony E Mount lens guide that we update twice a year, and we continue to see the same things. Their lenses are clinically perfect. I mean, who really complained about onion bokeh before? It’s a problem because it’s creating too sharp a world. What portrait subject wants to see their pores and crinkles? Why do we need to Photoshop the images? It’s fed into an entire culture of body issues. And the Sony 50mm f1.2 G Master will need to find a way to bring the character back. But here’s the truth, Sony fanboys won’t care; they’ll buy it just because it’s a Sony lens.

The photo above is from the older Sony 50mm f1.4 for A mount. That was a beautiful lens! Here are a few more images from it.

I say this all as an Canon RF 50mm f1.2 L USM lens owner. Speaking on behalf of image quality, this is the most perfect lens I own. It’s not incredibly sharp. And everyone just looks fantastic when shot on Canon. It’s similar to shooting on a medium format or Instax film. It’s impossible for someone to look bad. This has been the case for years. 

But, the one Canon RF lens I own isn’t perfect. It’s heavy. That’s the biggest flaw. I can totally understand its high price tag. However, it’s otherwise a nearly perfect lens. If you look at DXO Mark charts, you’ll read about the Zeiss Otus and Sigma’s 50mm Art lens. The Sigma has no soul, which is odd since it’s an Art lens. And the Otus is an overpriced lens with no weather sealing or autofocus. So how can Sony outdo the most perfect 50mm lens on the market?

Well, for starters, it needs to be lighter. That’s something I think Sony could easily do. But they also need to raise the build quality: arguably also something Sony can do. Sony’s autofocus is excellent, but it sometimes lags behind Canon’s. Quite honestly, one of the best things Sony could do is make this lens a low contrast option. There’s a huge difference between sharpness and contrast/clarity. Lots of modern lenses have a ton of contrast that makes them more vivid and look sharper. But true sharpness is all about the optics. If you’ve ever shot with medium format film, you’d understand. Medium format film is akin to the camera sensor. The lenses are sharp, but they’re not as contrasty. So, folks just look better.

In the end, I think Sony just needs to engineer character back into their lenses. Photography is loved by all; let’s get that clear. But, only passionate photographers are really buying cameras these days. That includes both hobbyists and professionals. From the point of a reviewer, everything is also starting to look and feel the same. We need the magic back. And we don’t need to do that by spending hours in front of a computer. We do enough of that every day.

I know the folks over at Sony read our site. I sincerely hope the feedback doesn’t fall on deaf ears.