Sony FE 50-150mm F2 GM with the Sony A9 III
The Sony FE 50-150mm F2 GM is a bigger deal than it looks. Set the size aside, and you’ve got a constant-F2 zoom that can stand in for a stack of E-mount primes and even a few other zooms. It delivers the flexibility to cover everything from standard to mid-telephoto in one lens while keeping low-light performance and background blur consistent across the range. Here are a few lenses we think may spend more time on the shelf once the FE 50-150mm joins your kit.
Here’s a broad list of lenses the 50-150mm F2 can theoretically cover, since it matches or exceeds their focal and aperture ranges. For practical shooting we can ignore the small difference between F2.0 and F1.8.
(click on the image for a larger version)
Size Comparison of Sony FGE 50-150mm F2 with Lenses that it can replace focally
As seen on the scaled size comparison, the FE 50-150mm F2 is by far the largest and heaviest lens in the mixture, but it is expected. That said, no one carries all of these at once. A more likely outcome is this: the 50-150mm F2 replaces three very common primes in a typical kit; Sony FE 50mm F1.8, Sony FE 85mm F1.8, and Sony FE 135mm F1.8 GM.
Sony FE 50-150mm F2 vs Sony FE 50mm F1.8 + Sony FE 85mm F1.8 + Sony FE 135mm F1.8 GM
Beyond size, let’s compare total weight. The FE 50-150mm F2 is 1,340 g / 2.95 lb. A typical three-prime kit of 50mm F1.8 (186 g), 85mm F1.8 (371 g), and 135mm F1.8 (950 g) totals 1,507 g / 3.3 lb. If you often carry those three primes or similar, you’ll still save weight by taking only the 50-150mm. Optical performance is not the focus here, but I expect the 50–150mm to keep up at matched focal lengths, except for the 135mm F1.8 GM, which is one of the best 135mm lenses ever made.
Here’s another make-or-break point: how do their prices compare?
The three primes cost $3,224 in total, while the FE 50-150mm F2 is just under $4,000. It is pricier, but the added flexibility easily makes up for the difference in my opinion.
Here is a specs and feature comparison of all the lenses imentioned in this post for further analysis.
