Sony FE 24-50mm f2.8 Lens Review

The Sony FE 24-50mm f2.8 lens landed within the Clifton Cameras office bolted to a Sony A7C Mark II, begging to be taken away on a trip out, to discover what this lightweight powerhouse had in store for its user. Being a bit of a Sony fanboy, I was only too happy to oblige.

Sony 24-50mm lens

First look

At first glance, you’d be forgiven for assuming this was simply just a 24-70mm cut short, but seeing it in the flesh, the size difference is notable enough for a genuine, standalone contender for a space in any camera bag, as a standard zoom lens.

Those who prefer the wider end of the most popular element of the holy trinity will be sure to love the more compact feel and weight-saving over its bigger brother. The lens compacts down small enough that it could be a carry anywhere, ‘just in case’ lens, for those unexpected situations where you need a high-quality, fast aperture, wide-standard zoom lens.

In the field

To find out how good this lens was at being used as a daily carry, I entered tourist mode and travelled to a town I’d never visited before. Let’s have a gander in Tewkesbury.

Sign shot

First thing to note was just how at home the lens felt on the A7C II body, it was comfortable to hand hold and although not quite a pocketable, take anywhere camera setup, for those wanting a pro-am slant on holiday and travel, it certainly packs some very nice specs into a size that’s not ungainly. I didn’t take a camera strap with me on this day trip, and the grip of the A7C II was plentiful enough to have confidence in the carry, paired with the 24-50mm.

What was nice was having a high-end amateur, entry-level professional setup that is now subtle and somewhat inconspicuous. I’m always a little wary of taking big cameras into places of worship, but the duo here didn’t feel like I was disrespecting the surroundings, or standing out too much.

church plaque

Functional features

The lens has the same design tweaks found on a lot of Sony’s latest releases, a de-clickable aperture ring for personal feel or smoothness when recording video, and a customisable function button that allows the user to set it to their preference.

Being an externally zooming lens, one that extends out physically to widen the focal length, it’s always a precursor for the balance to potentially become affected. Video and gimbal users will rejoice in the fact that the shift in weight isn’t so great that they’ll need to constantly rebalance for every change in focal length during a shoot.

Sony 24-50mm zoom

Although I wasn’t requiring any massive speed while shooting out and about in the town, the autofocus performance of the lens held up to what you’d expect from current Sony kit; it was quiet, quick, and accurate to achieve, allowing for confidence in seeking out those potentially fleeting moments. As I was shooting an abbey that’s been in the same location for over 900 years, it was more than up to the challenge here.

The lens also stacks up exactly as you’d expect for a G series lens; images are sharp, distortion is low, and the corners look great. The lens designers at Sony prove time and again that they certainly know their craft, and to think of where we were only a few years ago with DSLR-sized standard zooms, to have it shrunk down to this package, we would only dream of back then.

Compact lens

How it stacks up

Other than the top of the tree G Master lenses from Sony that rightfully stand head and shoulders above the rest within E Mount, their G series will always have firm competition from other manufacturers also designing for the E Mount. As great as this lens is, there will always be a call to compare to offerings from the likes of Sigma, who themselves have been going great guns on revamping their line for the mirrorless domain.

With price negated between the Sony lens here, and the Sigma AF 24-70mm f2.8 DG DN Art MK II, it calls to question why, or who would be interested in the Sony lens, offering a less flexible zoom range, for the same aperture, and as near as makes no difference, the same quality.

The only answer I have here is for the video shoots, on something like an FX30 or FX3, those who want a short scale zoom lens that doesn’t upset the balance heavily.

Every other use case scenario I can think of, the competition of this and the Sigma, is a hard one to justify. Sony has always had a strong brand identity, and I admit I love the design styling of the entire Sony range, but does that brand allegiance come good when you’ve got third-party manufacturers very heavily breathing down your neck? One to be decided on a user-by-user basis.

Right for you?

See all the key features of the Sony FE 24-50mm f2.8 G Lens here!

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By Aled Phillips
15 Apr 2025