Sony FE 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G OSS Review

June 27, 2016 | Jack Baker | Rating star Rating star Rating star Rating star Half rating star

Sharpness at 70mm

For this test, the Sony FE 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G OSS lens was attached to a Sony A7S body, which in turn was mounted on a sturdy tripod. Exposure delay mode was activated. Tonal and colour variances across the crops are due to changes in natural light during the session.

The full frame at 70mmThe full frame at 70mm

Centre-frame sharpness at 70mm is very high at all focal lengths, apart from f/22 where diffraction softens things slightly. Corner sharpness is ever so slightly softer than the centre of frame at f/4.5 and f/5.6, but at f/8 there’s barely any variation in sharpness across the frame.

These detail levels remain fairly constant as focal lengths increase, with maximum sharpness reached between f/8 and f/16, and minor softening at extreme apertures. On the whole, sharpness from the FE 70-300mm comes impressively close to that produced by the new FE 50mm f/1.8 lens when comparing optimal apertures.

Aperture Centre Crop Edge Crop
f/4.5 Sony_SEL70300G-sharpness-70mm-f4_5-centre_crop.jpg Sony_SEL70300G-sharpness-70mm-f4_5-edge_crop.jpg
f/5.6 Sony_SEL70300G-sharpness-70mm-f5_6-centre_crop.jpg Sony_SEL70300G-sharpness-70mm-f5_6-edge_crop.jpg
f/8 Sony_SEL70300G-sharpness-70mm-f8-centre_crop.jpg Sony_SEL70300G-sharpness-70mm-f8-edge_crop.jpg
f/11 Sony_SEL70300G-sharpness-70mm-f11-centre_crop.jpg Sony_SEL70300G-sharpness-70mm-f11-edge_crop.jpg
f/16 Sony_SEL70300G-sharpness-70mm-f16-centre_crop.jpg Sony_SEL70300G-sharpness-70mm-f16-edge_crop.jpg
f/22 Sony_SEL70300G-sharpness-70mm-f22-centre_crop.jpg Sony_SEL70300G-sharpness-70mm-f22-edge_crop.jpg