Sony 20-70 f4 REVIEW: NOT My First Choice (vs Sigma 24-70, Tamron 28-75, Sony 24-105, Tamron 20-40)

Love you man...thanks!

Liked this video... and really like your HAIR♡♡♡♡

Been leaning towards the 20-40 personally. I have my 85mm prime if I wanna go longer. But i'm mainly shooting wide, normally I shoot on my 35mm prime the most. So having the ability to still shoot at 35mm but pull out to 20mm is incredibly appealing to me. Especially as I hate heavy lenses.

Sell it because of the 400g less than the sigma

Yes, the 20 is what I've been waiting for for so long.Only the bokeh could be better...

Genuinely like your opinions and commentary. Polin seems like a really cool guy

We need this kind of video but for the 70-200mm range

One of my lenses has an aperture ring and it's awesome. I don't know what I would do without it. Spin the front dial?






It's a manual lens

Incredible lens top to bottom, if it was a GM with OSS it would be truly perfect, but otherwise it’s all you need in a midrange zoom for modern digital photography. Pair this with a 70-200/4 mk.II and your favorite prime and you have a kit that can cover almost any kind of regular scenarios.

Great work Jared

Chiming in as someone who shoots events with two camera bodies paired with a Tamron 28-75 + 70-180.

I find myself having to swap out one of these lenses several times per job for my 17-28 because 28 is just not wide enough for certain things. I've considered picking up a 24-70 to replace both the 17-28 + 28-75, but to convey the scope of a venue I have found that 24mm is still not wide enough.

I haven't used this lens yet, but I think having 20mm on the wide end would be a worthwhile trade for the F4.

My other option is shooting one body with the 17-28 and picking up a 35-150 for the other, but that 35-150 is *HEAVY*.

As an owner of both an A7R3 and Sony A1, and also the 24-70 F2.8 II and also several primes including the 20mm f1.8. I guess it would not seem an obvious choice. was going on holiday around Europe and wanted the smallest package. So i took the A7R3 and this lens. I have to say the images seem as sharp as the 24-70. And for street photography the 20 is much more use than having longer range. As an aside, when 'snapping' I often have the camera in manual but with Auto-ISO (in effect in auto). In this mode I just find the aperture ring much more natural than the on camera option (A) as you can depth of field bracket very quickly (you cant move both dials and once with one hand, whereas this works better, one hand for aperture one for shutter speed, and youre grip on the camera is better). So I guess I'm a big fan of this lens from a photographic standpoint.

Bokeh is PRO photography, the rest is phone snapshots, take the widest aperture lens any time and go to gym to be able to work with. It is insane. And it is how Sony makes money on idiots. I have shot 12 hours event with Tamron 35-150, and when you are paid for this and have nothing else to do it is ok, but when you have little children on beach, my choise is 28-60 kit lens :)

Which one would you chose? tamron 20-40mm or tamron 28-75mm. As context I'm amateur an I'm gonna use mostly on family trips. I have a sony a7II. I just bought it last December, it cames with a 28-70mm kit lens. I already own a Rokinon 24mm f2.8.

Wow. This is certainly one of the worst gear reviews I’ve ever seen. It is 90% about your personal preferences (“I don’t care about 20mm or aperture ring, I miss OSS”) and 10% about the lens features.
You miss the whole point that make this lens not only unique, but very desirable: the combination of compactness, versatility and IQ. From all of the serious reviews I’ve seen, at many settings this lens is significantly sharper than any of those others you compared it to. And only the 24-70mm GM Ii comes close to have my favorite feature of the 20-70mm: high magnification at 70mm (instead of the wide end) . Not to mention that it barely has focus breathing even in cameras that don’t have compensation. And it’s almost parfocal at some settings.

You are missing the point here. The sigma art 24 - 70 is heavy. Too heavy. Tamron G2 is great but it doesnt offer the wide angle of 20. Tamron 20 - 40 is great but it doesnt offer the 70 mil at the zoom end. The 24 - 105 is old, less sharp and, wait for it, ... heavy. This lens has the perfect focal ranges for a travel videographer/photographer. Yes, it is an f/4 but that is okay as we almost always shoot at f/4 minimum unless indoors or shooting portraits. The samyang 45mm f1.8 is the best bang for buck portrait lens out there and I picked up mine for just 180 euros used. So, yeah, I am sending my G2 back, cancelling the 24-105 order and getting this lens instead.

Also, yes to UV filters and anyone who advices not to use a UV filter is mad or gets his lenses sent to him for free.

I'd get a used 24-105 until I could afford a new GM Mk 2.

I love my sigma 24-70 it’s definitely the best value photography lens AND it’s great for cinematic video imo

Thank you for this video! You helped me to decide on buying the 24-70 sigma 2.8 over the Sony 20-70. Going this week to B&H to get myself a new lens

I love putting my lens hood bc it’s pull of stickers lol

I don't quite understand the loss at the wide end, from 20mm to 24mm. Is that with just video when using IBIS? Can you explain that to me in a little more detail? Thanks!!!

I love the Tammy 20-40mm

Isn’t that the lens hood not vingetting

I am selling my Sigma 24-70 F2.8 after buying this lens, specially due to the weight and ergonomics of this lens. It is very sharp and the extra wide in more important than extra reach for me.

I just got the 20-70 F4. I had several 24-70 and 24-105 and this is the best all around lens I have ever used. Specially the weight and ergonomics.

I do love lenses with Aperture ring. Started with the Panny Leicas and its really great as an control option. Since it's also part of the barrel, having more features would not hurt. I do agree the earlier design might cause users to rotate it accidentally. But improvement were made to lock it via a switch. And overtime the handling technique will change to accommodate this additional aperture ring.

$1100 is absolutely brutal for a lackluster lens, I paid about half of that for my (used) 24-105.

Have the Nikon 20mm and somehow had the VIGNETTING.. 😱😬😬
But figure out.. 😬😡 the hood wasn't attached CORRECTLY...
🤣🤣😬😬
And looks exactly like your picture.
So? It's your HOOD? your problem??

To BAD didn't include the Nikon too.
😱

Lemme just jump in and say FO with the Sigma. I hate that effin’ brick. I’ll take the Sony 20-70 over all those lens.

Vloggers need wider lenses, and they got it in a form of Sony 16-35mm f/4. This 20-70mm lens, as a video creator and photographer, I do not see any use case for it compared to the other options you mentioned. This is more like a kit lens.

Considering between sigma 24-70 f2.8 vs 28-70 f2.8. I like the 24 focal but it's heavy and big . what is your suggestion ?

I'll be using this with my Sony A7RV for an all around lens. I'll be pairing this with my 35mm f/1.4 for my everyday carry :)

In Europa it's 1600...

I think if it’s a true 20-70 then the lens would have it’s place. But active mode eliminates that 4mm is HUGE, IMHO

Hi Jared, a great video and comparisons as usual, thanks again. I decided recently to replace my F4 Zeiss Sony 24-70 mm for a Tamron F2,8 20-40mm on my Sony Alpha 7 III. I appreciate having a better aperture with 2.8 and win 10 degrees angle. 😉

A lot of good photography talk in this review in addition to the lens review 👍👍

You find 1099 dollars expensive, you must know they are asking 1599€ for this in Europe, so must be even more insane.

I'm not interested on this lens. They should have made the wide version that complete it first, like a 12-20 for example. Because it does not makes sense to me go at f/4 at this price for buying a wide lens later that already have 20mm. I prefer sigma 28-75 price and 2.8 aperture

What a confusing statement about lens correction, he turns it off and lets adobe choose his destiny, except when he doesn't and they haven't. Here's some footage of where you should clearly leave it on, which Jared never does! But must, because the video would be unusable.
Glad we got that out of the way!

I’ll stick with my 24-105. Internal zoom & OSS. The difference between 20-24 is the same as 70-105 though. I just use my iPhone when I want ultra-wide.

The Sony 20-70 f4 is one of the sharpest zooms that Lenstip has ever tested, it easily outperforms, the Sigma/Tamron 2.8 standard zooms. So if an F4 max aperture is not an issue, if you don’t want to carry around a boat anchor, the 20-70 f4 G is great choice.

Thanks for First normal Review! It is Good lens but OVERPRICED like u said. In Europe is 1699€ !!!!! (With VAT). Mindblow!

The ultraboost has lost its place in a running shoe line up. It's not particularly fast to be considered a race shoe while not particularly cheap to fall into that daily workhorse shoe.

No Samyang?

Is a public nude beach a public place? That would be a problem. It seems the US have a very different understanding of privacy.

Horrible lens. Goofy focal range, and useless at f/4.

Fro knows fro-toe!!

Where is Jared Polin????

Sony didn’t send you the 50 1.4?

Thanks Jared for all you do 🖤