Sony 70-200mm f2.8 GM II Review

When it comes to the ultimate Sony lens, it’s hard to look past the 70-200m f2.8. A Grandmaster in its own right, in this blog I’ll be reviewing the lens, navigating its pros and cons, and discussing the hefty price tag.

I use this lens paired with the Sony A7 IV, which you can read the review of in a separate blog here.

Why 70-200mm? And Why the f2.8 Version?

First off, let’s start with the range this lens brings to the table. A 70-200mm lens such as this allows for complete creative flexibility, and opens up many new corridors into the way you shoot. As a telephoto lens, it covers a wide range of focal lengths, therefore giving you the best possible adaptability across the board depending on the situation required. The zoom available allows you to focus and hone in on key subjects, getting you closer to the action without you needing to.

At the lower end of the focal range, this lens is perfect for street photography and the ideal length for travel shots, picking out the details in architecture and negative space in the crowd. Furthermore, landscape photography with this lens allows you to pick up greater details in the landscapes and the world beyond, while also giving a sense of compression within your photos. At 200mm, wildlife and sports photography can be shot with the magnifying options at hand, all while containing that incredible level of sharpness and detail.

Now for the next important question, why the f2.8 version over the f4? First thing needing to be said is the price difference in both, around a whopping £1k in retail price, with the f2.8 model actually costing slightly more than a Sony A7 IV camera body, coming in at £2,500. Is it worth the money? Well, personally I feel that depends how far along in your photography journey you are, because if you are in it for the long run, then long-term as I felt, it will be worthwhile.

As to why the f2.8, the combination of the rangy 70-200mm and the f2.8 aperture makes for a formidable piece of equipment. Being able to shoot at these types of focal lengths, especially in low light, gives you a huge benefit in creating a depth of field within your images, all while compressing your subjects into the image and background. For photography such as sports and wildlife, with this lens you can really make your subjects pop and stand out, using the wide aperture to create that dreamy quality effect to enhance the focus and draw the viewers attention.

Build Quality & Ergonomics

The build quality is everything you’d expect from a top level Sony GrandMaster line product. Simple put, the lens is built to last and from that point of view it is outstanding. The body of the product is made from pure metal, and therefore always feels solid and firm in the hands when holding, allowing yourself to have full control of the lens at all times.

The rubber rings which negate the zoom and focus mechanics have a tight and grippy feel, with the resistance just the right balance to allow for smooth and flexible photography. This lens hosts a series of buttons on its side, all of which allow you to adjust and dictate your shooting style to your own personal needs. The buttons and switches are firmly fixed onto the exterior of the camera, and look the part to match the cameras high quality style. Further on down to the base of the lens, the mount is also built with high quality materials in order to give it the best possible chance of avoiding any kind of damage.

Following on from this, the overall balance and feel of the lens has been designed to keep the weight even and controlled. The inbuilt feature of an internal zoom mechanism provides a pinpoint centre of gravity, preventing it from getting front-end heavy. The lens also hosts three focus hold buttons at its top end, a handy feature when trying to keep up with the action.

The overall coating of white paint gives it that unique glossy feel, even by view the lens gives off that sense of a high end product. If there was one hole to pick on its build quality, it’s the detachable foot, which over time has seen scrapes and pieces of paint come off of it. With that being said, given it can be used for placing on objects for balance, that’s the probably the reason why.

Image Quality

As a G-Master, this is really where the quality and high paid premium of purchasing a top tier Sony lens shines through. All things considering, you’d be forgiven to think that the image quality produced by this lens naturally came from a Prime lens. The details and sharpness within the shots taken with this lens are simply incredible.

At any range, whether it be at 70mm or zoomed right in at 200m, or even further cropped post edit, the rendering process never changes and always stays the same, giving you that high quality imagery from every angle and perspective necessary. As an example of using the whole specs of the lens, stopping down to f2.8 and taking photos in low light feels natural and a joy to use, while knowing the fact the results will still maintain that sharpness and all the details.

Below are some of my favourite images that I’ve taken using this lens over the last few years:

Autofocus

To complement the already well advanced and incredibly accurate autofocus system Sony has integrated into their Cameras, the use of the Sony 70-200mm GM bumps the action up to the next level.

In terms of speed and movement, with this lens you’ll never miss a beat or that special moment. The way the lens reacts to movement and keeps up with the tracking is outstanding, whether it be facial and eye recognition or random subject tracking, the lens is very quick to react, and moreover incredibly accurate.

Summary

To summarise, this is an outstanding lens and one that is built to last. In terms of focusing and image quality, the results you can achieve from this lens is as good as it gets, the very fast and responsive auto focus combined with the incredible image quality makes for an dream combination.

Once you add in that it has been designed in a way to keep it balanced and even, part in thanks to its internal zoom mechanism, and the abundance of buttons and controls actually on the exterior of the lens for quick and fast adjustments, you have the perfect lens for any scenario, not to mention the range it presents.

With that being said, this lens isn’t for everyone for a number of reasons. Its big and heavy size makes it a chore to carry around at times, if you’re a fan of keeping your travel gear light, it will put you off straight away. Then of course you have the price, a whopping £2,500 retail price.

Personally, I feel only once you know you are going to be in the world of photography for the long run then you can justify shelling out the cash. For the average shooter, it simply wouldn’t be worth it. However for those serious about their photography and are looking to take themselves to the next level, then having the Sony 70-200mm F2.8 GM II in their kit would certainly give them every chance to gain the best results possible.