It's difficult to know where to start when describing a lens as fantastic as Sony's 135mm GM, but one word comes to mind: insane. From overall feel to sharpness, there is no other lens I've handled that performed at a level anywhere near this one.
In this review, I'll be covering some of the following aspects:
- Build quality
- Image Quality
- Autofocus performance
- Use cases
Build quality on the 135 is second to none. Made with a magnesium-alloy shell and fully weather sealed, this lens feels fantastic in the hands. A de-clickable aperture ring is a useful touch, and a rubberized focus ring yields a nice throw, although a little light to my taste. As usual, a focus-by-wire mechanism is in place, electronically coupling the focus ring to the glass elements within. Last but not least, a pair of customizable focus hold buttons and MF/AF and focus limiter switches round out the selections on this lens.
A generous lens hood is also found in the box, with a felted interior to wrangle stray reflections. While on the topic of the hood, I am greatly appreciative of the smooth locking mechanism. An easy button click instantly loosens its latch, providing a buttery-smooth mounting unlike my previous 70-200 f G, which felt gritty by comparison and always necessitated several attempts to get on correctly. The front houses large 82mm filter threads.
Although one heck of a lens weighing in at over two pounds (33.5 oz., 950g), it is nicely balanced and the addition of a battery grip to my a9 makes for a nice package that does not wear on the arms.
This lens has to be one of the sharpest lenses to exist on this planet. Certainly for me, nothing I've personally handled has ever even come close. Its rendering shows a level of detail previously unseen, and I found the quality is maintained even with a heavy crop at ISO's of 1600 and above, a quality absent in any of my other lenses. Although already tack-sharp at f/1.8, sharpness increases up to f/3.2 before slowly reducing at higher f-stops.
Bokeh is one quality that is impossible to leave behind in the 135mm GM. This combination of medium telephoto focal length and fast f/1.8 aperture gives this lens some of the most bokeh physically available in a lens. Although striking and undeniably present, the bokeh ranges from slightly oblong in the center to extremely cat-eyed in the surrounding area which I find both distracting and slightly disappointing for a lens of this caliber.
Distortion on this lens is minimal, with only slight pincushion distortion present.
I have somewhat mixed results with the autofocus performance of this lens.