Worth the Upgrade? Sony 16-35mm f/2.8 GM I vs GM II
Introduction
The last lens in my trinity of zoom lenses is the wide angle lens. I’ve been deciding if I should go for the 16-35mm GM version one or Sony 16-35mm GM II for a while, and I’ve finally had a chance to get a hold of both of them. Here are the tests I did to come to the conclusion of which one of these lenses is best for me.
Price, New vs New or Used vs New?
Since these lenses are pretty expensive, the first thing that caught my eye was the price between these two lenses.
If you have to buy a brand new lens, the Sony 16-35mm GM II makes more sense, spending an additional $400 may seem like a lot, but when you’re spending $1900 on the Sony 16-35mm GM I or $2300 on the v2, you might as well spend the extra for the latest and greatest. If you’re buying them brand new, save up the difference and get theSony 16-35mm GM II, thanks for sticking around and see you in the next one.
The real interesting part of the price comes when you look at the price of the used 16-35, coming in at $1000 to $1300 depending on condition. You can get them cheaper, but there are scratches on the glass or have been dropped, so were going to ignore those. It’s more interesting to think if you already have the Sony 16-35mm GM I or if your comparing the $1300 used version 1 to the $2300 Sony 16-35mm GM II. Let’s keep this in mind as we go through the next specs and I’ll touch on this more at the end.
First up, price and the specs.
Here is a spec table for each of these lenses if you want to pause and compare all of the specs. The ones that jumped out to me were the price, size, weight, minimum focusing distance, autofocus motors, and Iris ring.
Sony 16-35mm GM I vs GM II Differences
For the physical differences in these lenses, the GM II is almost a half inch smaller, and .3 lbs lighter than the Sony 16-35mm GM I. While you can tell a difference if the lenses are right next to each other, it’s not as big of a difference. If the GM II had a 77mm filter thread, I think the size difference would be more dramatic.
If you have a Sony 16-35mm GM I, the version 2 is about as tall as Sony 16-35mm GM I while it’s at 16mm. Both of these lenses extend out at 16mm and in at 35mm. Opposite of what I’m used to with the 24-70.
The Sony 16-35mm GM II also has an iris ring, which I really enjoy using on my FX6 since changing the iris in the middle of a shoot is a bit of a pain. I don’t really use the iris ring on my FX3, since it’s easy to change the iris quickly on the camera.
Sony 16-35mm GM I vs GM II Similarities
They are both dust and moisture resistant, have 82mm front filter threads, have autofocus/manual focus switches, and programable buttons. The Sony 16-35mm GM II has two assignable buttons, the version one only has one. One less assignable button is not a big deal for me.
Autofocus
The biggest concern for me was the difference in autofocus motors. The Sony 16-35mm GM I has 2 direct drive autofocus motors, while the GM version 2 has 4 XD linear autofocus motors. The speed of the autofocus is the reason that I’ve updated my other Sony lenses to the new XD linear motor-variants, but the 16-35 GM one is a really fast focusing lens to begin with.
So instead of just assuming the Sony 16-35mm GM II’s motors were going to be better, I went out and tested them in daylight and low light to see if there were any differences. Starting with the daylight tests.
(See video at 3:00 for Autofocus Tests)
Artlist Sponsor
While we take a look at the low-light autofocus tests, I’m going to take a moment to thank this article’s sponsor, Artlist.
Artlist has a vision to give creators everything they need to create amazing videos, and now they’re offering an ai voiceover feature, created specifically for video creators.
There are a range of different AI voices to choose from, that were made by professional voice actors, and are all exclusive to Artlist.
From aspirational and informational voices to inspire your audiences.
To soft whispers for building suspense, intrigue, and interest.
Each AI voice has its own characteristics, and you can customize each voice to help you fit the exact video tone. You can choose the emotional range, similarity to original voice and style boost, for more or less expression.
The process of creating a voice over is as easy as selecting a voice, adding the text, customizing the voice if you want, then pressing generate. You’ll get a downloadable audio file that you can use in your videos, that is covered by the Artlist license.
It’s also pretty quick, each of my voiceovers took from 10 seconds for a sentence to about 30 seconds for a few paragraphs.
Artlist Max subscribers already have access to the AI voiceover’s, in addition to their catalog of music, sound effects, footage, templates and plugins.
If you’re new, and only need access to the voiceovers, there is a dedicated voiceover plan. Or if you want to test the voiceovers, the free plan allows you to generate a small amount of test voiceovers, but you’ll have to subscribe for full access and license.
Artlist is offering two months for free to my viewers by using the link in the description, so sign up today and start browsing their catalog of over 700,000 assets, and making voiceovers today.
Thank you Artlist, for sponsoring this article.
Low Light Autofocus
(View video at 5:13 for low light autofocus test)
The XD linear motors are slightly better at holding autofocus in extreme low light, but that alone wouldn’t be enough choose the Sony 16-35mm GM II over the Sony 16-35mm GM I.
Flare
When it comes to flaring, there isn’t much of a difference here. The marketing said there was an improvement to the coatings, but both the Sony 16-35mm GM I and Sony 16-35mm GM II lenses performed very similarly in my testing.
Bokeh
The marketing from Sony also said the bokeh was improved, which is true if your really zooming in and looking at them side-by-side, but overall I feel like the improvement is pretty small.
Sharpness & Image Quality
Whenever I’m testing a lens, here are the things I’m looking for. I typically shoot charts for this, and to save you the boredom of staring at charts, here are the results that I got.
Sony 16-35mm GM I at 16mm
For the Sony 16-35mm GM I, there is heavy distortion at 16mm and there is vignetting at f/2.8. By f/4 the vignetting is gone but the distortion is still there. For sharpness, the center is sharp wide open, the edges seem sharp at 100%, but zooming into 300% they’re a little soft but clean up by f/3.2. This is very picky and the vignette and distortion are much more distracting than the very minor softer edges.
Sony 16-35mm GM II at 16mm
For the Sony 16-35mm GM II, I was really surprised with the vignetting at 16mm wide open, there wasn’t any that I could tell. These lenses were shot in the same lighting, and the Sony 16-35mm GM II has much less vignetting than the I wide open. That’s interesting, but whats more important to me is the difference in distortion correction with the 16-35. The GM II can get closer to subjects, I’ll go over this more in a bit, but it also has noticeable less distortion than the v1.
Sony 16-35mm GM I vs GM II at 35mm
At 35mm, both lenses are sharp throughout the frame with no vignetting. The main difference here is the frame is the minimum focusing distance of these lenses, which brings me to the next very interesting part of these lenses.
Minimum Focusing Distance
When it comes to minimum focusing distance the Sony 16-35mm GM I can focus up to 11 in away from the sensor, while the GM II can focus 8.7 in away. 2.3 inches may not seem like much, but it makes all the difference, especially when at 16mm. The magnification and the perception of how close or large within the frame are very apparent. Here are the test clips I shot that shows off the differences of the minimum focusing distance, focus breathing and a low light autofocus test.
(View video at 9:13 for minimum focusing distance, magnification and focus breathing tests)
At 16mm when your close to an object, the version 2 will allow you to get closer and feel like the subject is bigger than with the v1. If you’re farther away, this wont be as noticeable, but if you want to shoot up close, the extra magnification of the version 2 is noticeable.
Conclusion
When it comes to which of these two lenses to choose, I thought this was going to be a no-brainer for me. A slightly used Sony 16-35mm GM I for $1,000 less than the new Sony 16-35mm GM II sounded like a great deal. If you’re only looking at sharpness between these lenses, there actually is very little difference here.
But there is more of a difference when you take into consideration the vignetting, distortion, minimum focusing distance, aperture ring, it’s smaller and lighter. There are a lot of small improvements, that add up to make the lens better than the v1, but I still don’t think the v1 is obsolete or anything. It’s still a great lens, and if you don’t shoot close up shots or wide open with the version 1 you may not notice the difference in image quality.
Is it worth Upgrading?
Is it worth upgrading from the Sony 16-35mm GM I? Maybe maybe if you want to take advantage of the size, weight, distortion correction, and magnification - but if those weren’t bothering you before.. I’d just stick with the Sony 16-35mm GM I.
Which One I’m Buying
While I thought I was going to get the Sony 16-35mm GM I, the slight upgrades to the Sony 16-35mm GM II are enough for me to wait and save up the money for the Sony 16-35mm GM II. The distortion correction and larger magnification are what put it over the edge for me, the lighter size and weight are a bonus.
I understand that decision wont be for everyone though. Which of these lenses would you get and why? Let me know in the comments on the YouTube video here.