New Lens
There is a thing in photography circles nicknamed ‘the holy trinity’ when it comes to camera lenses. This means every photographer should have three of the most popular, and most versatile lenses:
- A fast (meaning f/2.8 or larger) 50mm prime lens, used primarily for portraiture.
- A medium-range zoom lens, the most popular being 24–70mm at f/2.8, which can be used for virtually everything.
- A telephoto lens, usually about 70–200mm at f/2.8, used for both regular use, and for close-up, beautiful portraits.
After getting my full-frame camera, it was only a matter of time before I would upgrade my lenses. Some of that happened quickly, while I was holding out on the telephoto lens. I still had my older, cropped-sensor telephoto lens that I thought was adequate for the time being, but our trip to NYC convinced me that I needed a better telephoto.
I used the cropped-sensor one while in NYC, and got some shots that weren’t as nice as I would have preferred. For one, there was a lot of noise in the images, and the fact they were cropped kept me from cropping in as close to a subject as I would have preferred. There were several instances where I would have benefitted from a better telephoto lens.
For months, I have been keeping eyes on the rumor mill about Tamron or Sigma releasing a full-frame telephoto zoom lens for Sony, but haven’t even seen rumors. I considered adapting an existing lens to the Sony FE mount, but the results were mixed, and I wanted something that would be able to perform well in all conditions. The only lens that truly met my requirements was the Sony 70–200mm f/2.8 G-Master lens.
So I went and bought one.
This lens is a BEAST. It’s not only the largest and heaviest lens I’ve ever owned, but it’s also the sharpest. There’s definitely a reason they call it a G-Master. I have only taken a few test shots with it so far, but I’m already quite impressed. It’s a bit unwieldy using it handheld though, so I can myself using a monopod with it. Still, I can’t wait to get this monster out to a shoot, and put it through its paces.
With the trinity complete, I’m probably done buying lenses for a while. I have plenty of other gear that I’d like to invest in, but glass is pretty much done for now.
