With a Sony FE 12-24mm F2.8 GM lens on your camera, you have to ask yourself the question: How wide do you want to go? The answer will most likely be very wide! That's the case for many photographers who have been waiting for Sony to get their act together. They have been dreaming of the day where they can boast to Nikon AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8G ED users and Sigma 14-24mm f/2.8 DG DN Art lovers that Sony has something better. Now with the release of this highly anticipated lens, that day has come.

What Can You Expect When Picking Up The Sony FE 12-24mm?

When you first pick up the Sony 12-24mm, you will notice that it's quite large. With such a wide focal length and a fixed aperture of F2.8, it's expected. However, if you are going to compare against similar lenses, it's a little bigger and heavier. The Sigma 14-24mm weighs 795 grams and Nikon equivalent - 970 grams, whereas the wider Sony sits in between these weights at 847 grams. So, in other words, you will feel when the lens is mounted on the front of your camera.

How About Autofocus?

There are four XD linear motors which drive the focus. This feature is a class-leading for an ultra-wide lens that captures wider than a human eye. You will get ideal focus with Real-Time Eye Auto Focus regardless if you are photographing or recording video. Plus irrespective of your autofocus setting expect fast, precise focus for tracking a range of indoor and outdoor subjects.

What About the Functionality?

The Sony FE 12-24mm F2.8 GM has a minimum focus distance of 0.28m and a maximum magnification ratio of 0.14x. This means you can get extremely close to your subject with minimum distortion. However, you will have to watch out for distortion if you are pointing the lens at any angle other than horizontally parallel with your subject.

To assist in focusing the lens offers a focus hold button. You can use this button to lock in your focus at a particular point to ‘override' autofocus. While not many photographers may use this feature, it can come in handy in specific environments such as recomposing when you have a subject in the foreground.

The Sony 12-24mm mounts on either a Full Frame or APS-C E-Mount sensor. If you were to have the latter option, then your focal length pushes to 18-36mm as a 35mm full-frame equivalent. The main target audience of this lens is full-frame users. So if you have a Sony a7 series camera, this is something you will most likely covet.

Lens Construction That is Built Like a Tank

The construction of the lens is complex. Within the lens, Sony has 14 lens groups with 17 elements. This amount of glass provides a 122ﾟ-84ﾟangle of view for full-frame sensors or 99°-61°1 for APS-C models.

Breaking open the lens you will find three newly designed, high precision XA (extreme aspherical) lens elements which effectively minimises astigmatism (something that causes blurry vision), coma (comatic aberration caused by imperfections), and field curvature right out to the image edges.

This build combined with three ED (extra-low dispersion) and two Super ED glass elements; offers exceptional resolution and superb suppression of chromatic aberrations. The imaging result from such a lens is breathtaking. Edge-to-edge sharpness is the norm here.

Forget About A Filter to Protect the Sony FE 12-24mm.

As the lens is super-wide filters become an issue which is why Sony has built a Neutral Density filter template in the rear of the lens. Utilising this feature will greatly assist your photography in challenging light. All you need to do is pop in a compatible ND filter in the holder, and you will be well on your way to longer exposures.

Class-Leading Features For a G Master Lens

To achieve the badge of G Master, Sony adheres to the following philosophy:

E"very aspect of G Master series lenses is refined to fully meet professional requirements in the studio or out in the field. Unparalleled imaging performance is accompanied by outstanding speed, efficiency and reliability."

So, from the construction to the design, glass and autofocus, this lens has it all. With this latest addition to the G Master series, the 12-24mm extends the special lineup from 12mm to 200mm constant. Labelled as the world's widest zoom and the world's first ultra-wide lens with a constant F2.8 aperture, users can now capture new creative perspectives in a wide variety of environments.

With the G Master Lens status, you should not expect anything less. Expect high reliability and smooth operation for a better user experience. After all, if you are paying top dollar for a lens - you should expect exceptional results. With the Sony FE 12-24 F2.8 GM, every dollar is justifiable. The photographic results you will obtain from this lens should blow you away. Expect images to be pin sharp with beautiful fall off into creamy bokeh areas.