Sony Alpha FE 14mm F1.8 GM Lens Review 

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Always nice to have one of your videos play while I'm prepping a meal.

Long time coming Mark. Us landscape/ Astro and Creative togs been waiting for. 🤪

So excited by this lens. No other company compares to Sony quality and finally we have this Ultra wide angle prime in such a light package. Definitely getting one some day.

Excellent review. These are amazing lenses. I have many G master lenses now and love them all for different reasons.

Superb video and masterful shots. I think I need this lens!

Pre ordered! Thanks for a great video Mark

Great review Mark! I always come to your videos first when there's a new lens or camera being reviewed! Looks like this will be a good choice of lens for Milky Way landscape photography.

Always the best videos for Sony lovers.

Great review. Thanks Mark

These are some of the best sample shots I've seen in all the reviews of this lens. Truly stunning!

Thanks for the review Mark. I want that lens.

Thanks Mark. Great review and stunning photos!

Great reviews with many beautiful pictures!

Fantastic landscape, real estate & Astro lens. The Haida internal filter kit at 3,4,6 & 10 stop Nd filters works really well. Thanks for the review Mark! 😀👍

Stunning review. You gave the best review. I was expecting distortion with this super wide lens. But I am very surprise with the vertical straight lines you presented. Wow! Now I need to beg, borrow or steal something to afford this lens. Thank you for a great review.

Great review Thanks!

Super review, as per your high standard. Extraordinarily helpful. Your work is a trasure trove. Thank you !

Thanks Mark. As an astro/landscape guy this looks amazing. While I love my Venus Laowa 15mm f/2 ($850 and accepts 72mm filters w/min vignetting stacked if using Haida slim pro filters) this Sony is not only a half pound lighter, it autofocus for regular shooting, and has much less coma and better corner sharpness for astro.

I love how you did that with the picture! You earned a new subscribers from me ❤

Another Great Review of one of Sony's finest lenses, compact fast and well corrected, Great lens for night and low light photography. Thank you Mark

Thanks Mark, a great video as always. I enjoy using the combined Neutral Density and Circular Polarizer Filter to avoid stacking. In most cases I use the nd filter water are involved so a polorizing filter is also welcomed.

The go to page for all things Alpha! Wow! So refined, replete and with attention to detail, it's always a pleasure to watch your videos.

This lens is glorious. Great shots Mark

Great reviews

I think you'll have the correction profile in Sony's Imaging Edge Desktop app, which I use to export to TIFF/PNG 16-bit to further enhance on Luminar 4.

Thank you for the in-depth review, and especially the focus on astro-landscape photography. While I love my Sony 24mm 1.4 GM with its pure coma-less edge to edge stars and sharp as a tack, There were numerous times that I wanted a bigger field of vision. This lens gives me all the checkboxes (size, weight, sharpness, coma control, color control, etc...) for the low low-light lens. I am excited about the lens. Preordered and can't wait to receive it.

Will be taking this to St Kilda & Prahran Skate Parks over the winter. My new go too lens.

Thanks for such a comprehensive review. Not a lens for me at this point but would love to do astro photography at some point.

Many thanks! what are your thoughts on the 14mm 1.8 vs the 16 - 35mm 2.8? i found a great deal of noise with the 12 - 24mm f4, so definitely need to consider a faster lens & GMaster, but will that extra stop make a big difference? many thanks again for your incredible reviews!

Nice! What a sweet lens to addition to the Sony line up!

Great review, good analytics, nice smooth voice. All i have to say is. Very good. Will stay and listen ○

Absolutely nuts. Less than half the weight of the Sigma and a lot shorter. Cannot believe the quality for the size of this. Now I just need to wonder do I need it on top of the 24mm for astrophotography...

Thank your for your review Mark 👍 I was waiting for such a lens for almost 3 years, not buying the Sigma equivelant. I´m living in the Austrian Alps und doing Astrophotography and Milky Way Photography (until now with the Sony 16-35 F 2.8 GM), this lens is so small and light (wonderful during long hikes with a tent and other stuff) and it will help me to lower the ISO and to make Milky Way panos 🌌

This is a dream lens for skateboarding

Hi Mark, love your videos on Sony! A lot of good insight and advice which is helping me to see the light and making the switch from Canon to Sony. Loving the quality and weight savings make my photography much more enjoyable. I was just wondering with this 14mm if you crop in 1.5x will you have the same distortion and quality as the 20mm G as I know you like doing this to get the most versatility out of your primes ? I’m thinks of trying to create dramatic wedding portraits as something different in addition to what I already do. Thanks 😊

Great review. I’d love to see that 85 f1.4 GM remade as an 85 f1.8 GM to bring it in at a similar weight, I was hoping the 50 was going to be f1.4 for the same reason. 450-550g across the range in your chart would be perfect.

I see other good scenarios/type of shooters who might be interested in this lense (on top of astro and ground figure separation with a very wide angle of view as pointed out by you): -> run & gun shooting in nature/hiking (gives you a nice being there feeling while being nicely compact and lightweight for longer hikes) -> street photography in crowded places (not focused on street portraits for which the 24mm or 35mm would be much better suited as pointed out by you but more focused on the surroundings such as markets, small shops, places with lots of people -> vlogging (in case 14mm is your cup of tea, i.e. you are looking for a modern high quality option besides the typical 24mm or 18mm choices, it gives you the nice and silent AF tracking, separation at 1.8 with a nice spacious around view, lightweight with centered weight at the camera which makes it easy to stabilize or keep stable handheld) -> run&gun shooting video hand held or on a gimbal if you are looking for a very wide option (it will be much easier to use this one than the much beefier zoom options such as a 12-24mm 2.8 GM and can be combined with the 20mm or 24mm, you can easily obtain two lenses for the price of such a zoom) while also offering some focus on the subject at 1.8 (not much, but you will notice the gradual fall-off) Obviously the lense can be used for some other things but they are than either more niche (e.g. wide angle macro style with extreme view) or it can be used for that but there are probably much better options out there (e.g. classical architecture where you won't be using that aperture anyways and a good quality super wide angle zoom just gives you way more options). Compared to older designs of canon/nikon dslr lenses or the sigma 14mm 1.8 (which also is an older dslr design with an integrated teleconverter) this one is actually an interesting option for travel fotography as an additional lense in your bag due to it being to small and lightweight. You would think twice before throwing in that 1.2kg lense when walking around a lot but at 460grams this becomes an attractive option.

Thx for that review. Greetings from Poland.

hey Mark long time no see. havent bee seeing your vids lately. I need to catch up. Keep up the great work. Anxiously awaitibg the Song a7IV but I know the chip industry shortages is holding back a lot of new electronics right now..... take care

First rate review of a highly desirable lens. Looks to easily be best in class. I want one, but honestly don't know how much use it would get when we can resume travelling again, as I would first prioritise versatility and pack my 16-35 f2.8 GM. As you say, it's going to get picked for astro work and other niche applications where you know it will be used, rather than just another lens in a bag that I would struggle to carry if I tried to hump all my glass.

Great insight on the latest GM - looks like Sony has another brilliant piece of glass.

The only inconvenience is not able to use my existing screw on filter and it’s a bit expensive to buy a new set of filter just for one lens. Love the size, weight, speed and the GM grade sharpness, guess I will stay with the Zeiss for now. Sony is crazy with all these new lenses, just received the new 35mm f1.4 yesterday and haven’t tried it yet while waiting for 50mm f1,2 in May.

Having this lens for just over a week now, very impressed so far, can I ask a quick question is there a way of using the function buttons on the lens to remember where you previously focused, example using for astro I manually focus to infinity then re focus for foreground, then can I setup buttons to remember the infinity focus using AF Many thanks

Another beautiful review mark! If you'd choose either this lens or the 12-24 f2.8 primarily for Astro, which one would you go with ? Thanks again!

Hi Mark, thanks for the great detailed review. If one has to choose only one prime wide lens, what lens would you choose ? Sony 14mm f1.8 GM or Sony 20mm f1.8G ?

Hi Mark - great review! Do you know if that custom button can be programmed to "infinity focus"?

Hi ! Can anyone help me with some advice ? I am currently shooting some POV videos with my iPhone 11 Pro ultra wide angle lens which I understand is a 13 mm lens. My question is, if I get a full frame mirrorless, which lens should I get in order to replicate the image from the iPhone ( but better quality ) ? One important thing to consider is that I would like everything in frame to be in focus ( no bokeh ) and very good low light performance . Thank you !

This is the astro lens I've been waiting for.

Mark do you have a video that shows how to set AF-On and AEL buttons on a7r3 to 2 different focus modes? If it can’t be done please tell me

I have this lens and use it for astrophotography. I can testify that the quality is INSANE. I do use it on an APS-C body which means I don't use all of the glass, but nonetheless, corner-to-corner sharpness is impossible to fault!

Please let me know the diffrent when you were using f/1.8, 30s, and ISO 1250 for Astrophotography vs ISO 3200 in star detail/sky detail? I was using ISO 3200 for more detail in the sky. And off course ISO 1250 would be better for the noise than ISO 3200 even 6400. Thanks

Hi Mark, fellow Aussie here, switching to Sony A7III from Canon 6D. I decided to buy a 24-105 and 85 1.8 also after checking out your videos. You have so much to share indeed and your content is really amazing. I was debating whether to get the 20 1.8 or the 14 1.8 once i am comfortable with the Sony system. The 20mm looks nice but i feel like 24 to 20 is not a huge step. Would you agree that a 14mm is probably a more diverse lens to add to one's bag?

Nice

Hi Mark ! Just discovered that the alpha cameras actually change the bit depth of the raw images taken depending on some settings. What settings are 14bit what settings are 12bit depend on the model. I discovered I was taking 12bit images for years because of silent mode on my a7s II. Could you make a video on this topic and how it affects dynamic range ? Cheers.

Matt. What about food photography with a 14mm with such close focusing?

There is a 2012 lens APS-C Sony E 10-18mm f4 OSS (15-27mm) that can be used full frame at 12-18mm (18 if you remove the light shield) that uses screw on filters and using today's NPF rule you get default 25s and accurate 12.52s (13s) on A7iii but when I used in '15 a 30s shot had pinpoint stars on A7s. 14mm D 21.50s A 10.75s A7iii. You can use a screw in adapter to hang a front filter holder instead of a NiSi ($$$) to hold the blur filter glass and the Haida Filters filter for the clear night filter in the rear. Super light and very small. Lightweight even for use on the Move Shoot Move star tracker. I used for three years before a 12mm was ever available.

Thank you for this great video .. what is the best focus distance in meters when shooting stars, I switch to manual and magnify but with when I turn the ring and try to make the stars as small as possible I still can’t decide where to stop cause the screen is very noise .. im using A7r Iva.

Great Video. Trying to find comparisons between this Sony 14mm vs the Sony 20mm.

This lens looks a beast! In a small bag with say an A7C this combined with the 35mm GM would be a serious travel setup IMO. Also, is there any chance you can do a short video for the alpha cameras covering AF in video whilst capturing fast moving subjects? I am having a real hard time with the A9 capturing dogs running straight at the camera. Be it in movie mode or S&Q I don't know how to nail great focus and my lenses for this are the 2-600 G and the 135 GM. I have come to the conclusion that I can't activate steadyshot for smooth handheld video recording for this type of use either? When I hold focus button, it's as though it stivks to the plane of focus and my dog is then obviously out of focus then all footage becomes unusable. Everywhere I've looked for weeks on end, I can't find anuthing covering shooting video of fast moving subjects coming straight at the camera. If you have covered it then I must have missed it somehow as I've watched all your video's on AF. Most of them in general tbf lol. Stay safe bud

What camera do you use a the astro photos in the video? Best Regards Markus in Sweden

Is this lens is good for vlog or 16-35 please reply

I hope Sony will release a G version of this. An advantage version from Voigtlander 15/f4.5, NiSi 15/f4, and Laowa 15/f2, which is that i want. - 15mm f2.8 or f4 - Removable hood that allow front filter system (minus from Voigt) - Very nice sunstars with 5 or 10 blades (minus from Laowa) - Of course EXIF data (minus from Nisi and Laowa)

Hi Mark - we actually tested the NiSi 15mm on LensVid recently and while it is a really nice first lens for the company it is far from sharp corner to corner at f/4 (actually even at f/8 I am not sure you can call it very sharp corner to corner), just look at our test results - did you test it on the A1/A7R IV? or on a lower res camera?

Great video, but an error at 5:41 in the Z-mount numbers, the throat diameter is 55mm (not 49) and the flange distance is 16mm (not 34.85mm). You probably took the numbers from another mount, no big deal but could you add a corrective caption maybe?

i just bought this lens sony 14mm. I noticed a sound when you press shutter button i hear mechanical "chik" of closing aperture sound in lense while focusing. Is it normal?

Excellent review as always. Only trouble watching your reviews is I could quite easily transition into a 'gear head'. This is another lens I would like to own.

12:29 Nice alliteration - better bit o' background bokeh ;-)

Zeiss Batis series is focused in movies. It has diferent focus ring appropriated to manual focusing. Besides, the possibility of using filters are very important limitation. Long exposures and high dynamic range videos really need the filters. Stills it is possible to eliminate the filters with exposure blending with more effort in workflow. 35mm is not less suitable for street photography. It is the opposite. The most classical focal lenght for that. I will go for this lens for astro.

The most comprehensive reviews are always here. No need to look elsewhere.

You can use this lins for wedding Videography?

The lenses is king of the streets.

16:43 what a beaaaaatifull shot!!

Can this lens be used with a Sony a6600??

Why compare the NISI 15F4 when there is the good Laowa 15F2?

Just got the 14mm GM. Comparing it with the Batis 18mm, it reminds me that I do wish we had minimum and maximum focus areas calculated in the Sony cameras. It's something that Panasonic S1 cameras do, and it's on the LCD of the Batis lenses. Why can't Sony add this in firmware?

Diagonal's angle of view?

I have the Sony 24mm 1.4 GM, I do not need 1.4 aperture, BUT I cannot find any 24mm as good as the Sony 24mm 1.4 GM, I would have loved a compact 24mm 2.8 just as good or better as the Sony 24mm 1.4 GM for landscape photography to make very large prints. I will guess the the same goes for the Sony 14mm 1.8 GM that no other 14mm are just as good.

Excellent. And rear filters suitable for this??. Thanks

Nice lens. I bought it along with Laowa 15mm. I, unfortunately, returned the GM. I use 100mm square nisi v6 and 14mm not able to use CPL was a dealbreaker for me.

I like it, but to be hornets, I'm really would be happy with 20mm even. 14mm in most of the cases too wide in astro. You really need to find good place to start shooting. What I like from the video the picture with a dog, absolutely amazing !

The specs for the Z mount are way off: flange distance is 16mm and throat diameter is 55mm

I wish it didn’t have that bulbous front lens element so a ND filter could be fitted.

Flange range of the Nikon Z are not 34.85mm

Two stops less on a 14mm, hardly going to make much difference in the dof...

when shooting wide do people use 16:9 then in format. u would think .

why wouldnt g master have screw in filter option on all there mfn lenses. They need to ball up and ball big on all these mofos.