Sony FE 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 G OSS Review
With Comparison to 100400GM
Sony FE 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 G OSS (SEL70300G)
Announced- Mar 2016
Pro
Comfortable Size and Weight
Con
Soft at the corner
Not compatible with teleconverter
What’s included:
There is the lens, hood, caps, manuals, and a soft carrying case in the box.
Body
The lens body is 144mm long x 84mm in diameter, weight at 854g. It takes a 72mm filter at the front, and is not compatible with Sony’s 1.4x and 2.0x teleconverter.
There is a bunch of controls on the side. At the front is the zoom ring, then focus hold, focus ring, then a bunch of controls. Then there is a panel of switches closer to the body. Top is the focus mode switch, focus range limiter, and steady shot switch at the bottom. There is a lock button on the side that can be used to prevent zoom creep.
The lens is nicely built overall, but there is no rubber gasket like the GM series lens.
There is a lock button on the side that can be used to prevent zoom creep.
Image Quality
This is a variable aperture lens. The aperture starts at f/4.5 at 70mm, f/5 at 85, then f/5.6 starting 160. Below is a comparison on different focal lengths. First with 70mm comparison, starting at largest aperture @ f/4.5. The center is a bit soft wide open, and gets better as the aperture is stepped down. The corner is soft with noticable chromatic aberration until f/8.
100mm comparison, starting at largest aperture @ f/5. The center is good wide open and gets better as the aperture is stepped down. The corner is still soft until f/8.
135mm comparison, starting at f/5, The center is good already wide open. However, the corner is quite soft.
200mm comparison, starting at f/5.6, the two lens are really similar at center and corner. No significant improvement at f/8 at 2:1.
300mm comparison, starting at f/5.6. The center and corner are good at 5.6. I feel this is the strongest focal length of this lens.
Conclusion
The 70300G is a good telephoto lens for the Sony FE camera, but with some compromises on image quality. It is also the cheapest telephoto option for Sony full frame, and is a good size and weight to travel with. The IQ is good at the center, but the corner is pretty soft across most focal ranges. Some other options to consider is the 70200G, 70200GM, 100400GM, and the 200600G. For APSC user, I think the newly E 70350G is probably a better choice, as it seems to have good reviews and is even lighter. However, I still believe it is a good choice if you are not a pixel peeper. Below are sample images I shot on my A7R3 and A7R4 across the years using this lens.
Sample Gallery
