12 lenses of Christmas: Sony adds flourish to a near-perfect lens

Sony FE 85mm F1.4 GM II.

For each of the 12 days of Christmas, we're running down each of the 12 months of 2024 and the lenses that were released. Today we're running it back to August…

Something of a legend in its own lifetime, countless portraits have been shot with the original Sony FE 85mm f/1.4 G Master lens. But being one of the company’s original three G Master lenses, it was launched all the way back in 2016 – and things have moved on since then. Enter the new Sony FE 85mm f/1.4 G Master II, a revamped and revitalized lens that is smaller, lighter and altogether better.

Improvements in the Sony FE 85mm f/1.4 GM II include sharper image quality and autofocus that’s three times faster (Image credit: Matthew Richards)

Top superzoom news was the announcement that the Tamron 50-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD would soon be available for the Nikon Z mount, spreading its wings beyond the Sony E-mount coop. The lens had already made a name for itself by delivering everything from a standard perspective to super-telephoto reach.

Originally launched in Sony E-mount, the Tamron 50-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD became the company’s fifth lens to get the Nikon Z treatment (Image credit: Tamron)

Down in the bargain basement, there was news of a new super-cheap Yongnuo YN17mm f/1.7 autofocus lens for Micro Four Thirds cameras, on which it has a street-friendly 34mm effective focal length.

Not to be outdone on the budget-friendly front, there were also announcements for Sony E-mount versions of the existing, full-frame compatible Viltrox AF 40mm f/2.5 as well as the low-cost APS-C format Viltrox AF 56mm f/1.7, ideal as a portrait prime.

It's portrait prime time for APS-C format Sony cameras, with the launch of the Viltrox AF 56mm f/1.7 (Image credit: Matthew Richards)

Other news included the announcement of the delightfully retro Thypoch Simera 50mm f/1.4 lens for Leica rangefinder cameras, adding to the previously launched Simera 28mm f/1.4 and Simera 35mm f/1.4 lenses. And for extreme close-ups, new macro offerings included the TTArtisan 100mm f/2.8 2X Ultra Macro and Astrhori 120mm f/2.8 Macro.

The fully manual TTArtisan 100mm f/2.8 2X Ultra Macro delivers powerful 2.0x maximum macro magnification for Sony, Nikon, Canon, Fujifilm and L-Mount cameras (Image credit: TTArtisan)

On the reviews front, we tested the Sony FE 85mm f/1.4 G Master II and found that it came up trumps, matching our very high expectations for the new lens. We were also pretty impressed with the Nikon Z 35mm f/1.4 that, while not one of Nikon’s premium S-line lenses, nevertheless delivered good performance at a competitive price.

In a trifecta of primes, the other lens that we reviewed in August was the dinky little Fujifilm XF 16mm f/2.8 R WR, which we praised for being small, neat and affordable.

We enjoyed reviewing the Nikon Z 35mm f/1.4, a reasonably priced prime with street smarts (Image credit: Matthew Richards)

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See more from our 12 lenses of Christmas series, and take a look at the best lenses for portraits and the best Micro Four Thirds lenses.