Sony introduces 400mm F2.8 G Master Prime Lens

Sony announced the FE 400mm F2.8 GM OSS large aperture super-telephoto prime lens. It is the first large aperture super-telephoto prime to join the E-mount line-up and is suitable for professional sports, wildlife and nature photographers.

The lens features two newly developed XD (extreme dynamic) linear motors that drive the lens’ focus group for achieving improvement in moving-subject tracking performance. These motors are supported by motion algorithms to minimise lag and instability and control noise levels with the intention to achieve accurate and quiet autofocus performance. This should allow the lens to capture dynamic, fast moving athletes or wildlife. The optical design of the lens includes three fluorite elements that, as per Sony, help to minimise chromatic aberration and suppress colour bleeding. The lens has also been coated with Sony’s original nano AR coating to suppress reflections, glare, or ghosting. It features an 11-blade circular aperture mechanism that allows it to produce background defocus or ‘bokeh’.

The new FE 400mm F2.8 GM OSS is compatible with Sony’s 1.4x and 2.0x E-mount tele-converters. It weighs 2.8kgs which is said to provide portability and manoeuvrability.

To withstand the harsh conditions, Sony’s new FE 400mm F2.8 GM OSS is built with a magnesium alloy and carbon fibre hood. The lens is also claimed to be dust and moisture resistant, and its front element is coated with fluorine to resist dirt and fingerprints.

The lens also consists of hard controls on the lens, including a ‘Full-Time DMF’ switch to engage manual focus, customisable focus hold buttons in four different locations on the lens barrel. It also features built-in optical stabilisation for dynamic sports action and three different ‘mode’ settings. The new model includes a function ring with selectable ‘preset’ and ‘function’ settings.

The latest system software update (Version 3.00) for α9 (ILCE-9) provides support for the new FE 400mm F2.8 GM OSS lens to optimise optical image stabilisation performance and enables continuous shooting with auto focus tracking.

The lens is available for pre-orders from August 7 and it is priced at Rs 10,34,990.