Lens Rentals tested the Sony FE 135mm f1.8 GM and were shocked by how well it resolved detail. The new Sony 135mm is the sharpest 135mm ever tested and even super telephoto lenses don’t score as well as Sony’s latest. In fact, it scored so well at 50 lp/mm that they decided to test it at 100 lp/mm and it still impressed. There are two excerpts below from the testing
50 lp/mm test
Let’s make this simple and straightforward. In the center, that’s the highest MTF I’ve seen on a non-supertelephoto lens. The highest. Let’s put particular emphasis on the purple line, which is 50 lp/mm. That’s a higher frequency than any manufacturer tests (that we know of), appropriate for fine detail on the highest resolution cameras. We would consider an MTF of 0.5 at 50 lp/mm to be very acceptable. This is hugely better, nearly 0.8 in the center. We’ve never seen that kind of resolution before.
100 lp/mm test
No lens we’ve ever tested has resolved 100 lp/mm this well at any aperture. One other lens was close, but I can’t tell you the name of it. We were under such strict nondisclosure that we never referred to it by name. It was just referred to as ‘the lens in question’ and was a huge prototype. But even that lens wasn’t quite this good at 100 lp/mm.
What does this mean for you? Well, in a couple of years if you are shooting a 90-megapixel camera, this lens will be the one that wrings the most detail out of that sensor. Right now it looks at your 43 megapixels and goes, “that’s cute.”
You can read the full results here and see more MTF charts, but the new Sony FE 135mm f1.8 GM is seriously impressing testers. Lets hope photographers enjoy it as much.
Sony 135mm f/1.8 GM: B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama
