Sony 24-70 f2.8 GM II Review
In this post, I’ll be going over one of my favorites lens in my kit: the Sony 24-70 GM II. I bought this lens some time in the middle of last year since I wanted a good mid range zoom lens that I could use during my travels in 95% of the situations I may find myself in, including any landscape, street, portrait, photography in low light, so on and so forth, you name it. And to put it simply, this lens has done exactly that and more, which is one of the reasons why I love this lens so much. There are quite a number of reasons why I love this lens so much and why I not only chose the 24-70 GM II as my mid range zoom lens, but also why I even got a mid range zoom lens, which I’ll be talking about in the next section.
Perks of a Zoom Lens
All the pros that typically come with zoom lens are in the 24-70 GM II as well, as it is a zoom lens. This gives me the ability to get a wide selection of focal lengths all within one lens. This allows me to really focus on capturing photos rather than the lens thats currently on my camera. This has been helpful for when I’m in a new city when I might not be familiar with what focal length might be best for me in a certain environment. I learned this lesson when I first traveled to Seoul and I was switching lens so much my first day there. I would carry my 16-35 lens with my 55 mm and my 85 mm, and because it was a new location, you can only imagine how many times I’d seen a composition with my 16-35 on just to switch to a 55 to capture what I want then walk around again only to have to change my lens back to the 16-35… Yeah, never again. Compared that to when I returned with my 24-70, it was just a way better photography experience and allowed me to capture many images I love without any hassle. I just walked around and enjoyed the city, focusing on the photography aspect rather than trying to figure out if I even had the correct lens on my camera to get what I wanted. But even if it’s not a new environment, it’s still great to use zoom lens in familiar areas. I still capture shots I hadn’t seen before like during my time in Venice Beach and Santa Monica. It just overall beats having to change lens multiple times in a shoot or wasting time thinking about which lens you want to bring to a shoot. You just take your one zoom lens and go out the door ready for a day of photography.
Lightweight and Small for a 24-70 f2.8
The Sony 24-70 GM II next to the Sony 70-200 GM II for size reference compared to a telephoto zoom lens. It's not really a fair comparison since telephoto zoom lens are always pretty big, but it's still pretty interesting to see just how small the 24-70 GM II is.
I don’t know if this is the lightest 24-70 f2.8 out there for any system, but if it isn’t, it’s got to be one of the lightest. Weighing at 695 grams, it’s roughly around the same weight as the Tamron 28-75 version I (550 g), which is considered SUPER light for a midrange zoom lens, and the Zeiss 35 mm f2.8 lens (120 g), the lightest lens for the Sony E-Mount. That’s definitely a testament to how the former lens I mentioned are, but at 695 g, for a 24-70 f2.8 with G master quality, you’re really getting the best of both worlds in terms of not only travel friendly with it’s size and weight, but the quality of the pictures you are going to get with this lens.
Reliability
I did not want to carry too much on this crazy hike in rural Japan. The 24-70 GM II was perfect for me in this scenario.
This may be the most underrated feature of this lens because of all the scenarios this lens covers. It’s so damn reliable. If it’s raining outside? No worries, it’s a weather sealed lens. Limited space in my bag? I just take this lens and call it a day. Want to go for a hike and get some landscape shots for sunset then grab dinner in the city and do some street photography at night then return back to my hotel? This lens can literally cover that entire scenario, which I had done plenty of times in Seoul (I miss the hikes there). Almost any environment and circumstance I can think myself in, this lens will cover 90-95% of those scenarios. Combine that with not only it’s premium build quality and fantastic quality of pictures taken with this lens from the sharpness that rivals even prime lenses to the great performance from 24 mm all the way to 70 mm. It’s just a fantastic lens that will allow myself to take responsibility for “incorrectly” taken images. If an image comes out not how I want it, whether it’s an out of focus image or a picture that’s not as sharp as I’d like, then I know for sure it’s a me issue rather than a gear issue, which in itself is very reassuring for me. That lets me have the utmost in my gear, which removes any room for doubt in my gear’s performance ability.
Price
The 24-70 GM II, at retail price, costs $2,298, which is a shit ton of money. So if you can afford it, great! I know you’ll have a fantastic time with the lens and will definitely not be disappointed ! But if you can’t, then this section may be helpful for you.
Other Options
If you aren’t sure the Sony 24-70 f2.8 GM II is right for you, then here are some things to ask yourself along with the options in those cases.
Do You Need the f2.8?
The first feature to think about is the f2.8. If you know for sure you aren’t going to be shooting in low light or need the f2.8 for any type of portraiture or whatever you’d imagine yourself using the f2.8 for, then you definitely don’t need to be spending this much money on the 24-70 GMII. There are plenty of other great options available! If you want to stick with Sony only, there is the Sony 20-70 f4 G lens. You get fantastic image quality along with the bonus extra 4 mm on the wide end, which it may seem like a little, but trust me, it’s a lot. The difference between 20 mm and 24 mm is a way bigger difference than focal lengths on the telephoto side such as 70 mm and 75 mm. This lens is also 200 g lighter than the 24-70 GM II. It’s definitely a great option if you know you aren’t going to be using the f2.8.
Focal Length Range?
The second feature to think about is the focal length range. If you find yourself not really using the longer end of the 24-70, then there are options for you as well! Sony recently released the Sony 24-50 f2.8 G lens this year. You still get f2.8 if you want to do any portraiture work so you can really separate your subject from the background or if you want to do any low light stuff. It’s also even smaller and lighter than the 20-70 f4 lens we just spoke about, so you know for sure it’s way lighter than the 24-70 GM II.
There’s even a lens if you don’t mind the weight of the 24-70 GM II, but you want to have more variety in terms of focal length for your travels and you don’t need the f2.8. Sony has the 24-105 f4 G OSS lens. I actually had this lens before I moved onto the GM II and its a fantastic lens. Since it’s an older lens as well, you can get a pretty good price for it used, which is how I ended up trying it out. Because of it’s focal length being 24-105, it really makes this a great all in one lens for a lot of people.
A great comparison picture from cameradecision.com
These are only the options within Sony as well. There are plenty of other options you can look at from 3rd party vendors such as Tamron and Sigma. I encourage you to search and look at those options to see which lens best fits you!
Final Words
All in all, I love the Sony 24-70 GM II lens. It’s helped make my life easier when traveling to new locations or even familiar locations. When traveling, I am a pretty sporadic person. Of course, I like planning for shoots that involve the weather, landscapes/hikes, time of day, etc so I give myself the best chance to get the picture I want, especially in cities where I have limited amount of time in. But there are also some days when I suddenly see the clouds and I think it’s going to be a great sunset so I have to quickly think of something to get to location and get the photo I want. Or even days when I’m walking around and I end up in places where I wasn’t even planning to go to. In these situations, the GM II has been there for me and it’s allowed me to travel exactly how I like to travel: free