The new Sony 85mm f/1.4 G Master II is the 76th Sony E-Mount lens in the lineup (as of August 2024), and it comes with upgrades to keep up with Sony’s newest and fastest camera bodies. Sony Artisan and professional portrait photographer Miguel Quiles was able to get hands-on with the new lens, using it for several portrait sessions. “The Sony 85mm f/1.4 G Master II is easily the best 85mm lens I have ever used. Full stop.” Go behind-the-scenes and see more of what Quiles has to say about the performance of the newest in the G Master lineup. Learn more about the new Sony 85mm f/1.4 G Master II HERE.
The new Sony 85mm f/1.4 G Master II features a more customizable, compact and lightweight body, something Quiles says you’ll definitely notice during those long shoots. The focusing system for the Sony 85mm f/1.4 G Master II also comes with improved auto focusing speeds and moving subject tracking to keep up with some of the newer, faster camera bodies like the Sony Alpha 9 III. “If you have any of the latest Sony Alpha bodies, you’re going to enjoy these major benefits with this lens,” Quiles says.
He also calls the 85mm focal length easily his all-time, most-used for portrait photography. “It does an amazing job of giving you great compression for portrait work,” he explains, “and when you’re shooting wide open at f/1.4 the backgrounds end up looking magical. I also appreciated the image quality of this lens, especially when shooting with it wide open. I know that the quality of bokeh is very important for some photographers, but equally important for me is the ability to get whatever it is that I’m photographing to appear sharp and detailed.”
Quiles tests the lens in studio and also in challenging lighting conditions on location. He specifically tests it during golden hour, when ghosting and flaring can be an issue, to see how the lens performs. "As you can see the background defocus looks beautiful. My subject is sharp, and none of the images that I shot in this situation had any of the nasty things that can wreck a portrait." All-in-all, he calls it the best 85mm he's ever used.
Learn more about the new Sony 85mm f/1.4 G Master II HERE.
