Hey Everyone! Hope you've had a great week! Me ? Pretty good and it's getting hot in the south. Heat index over 100 degrees Fahrenheit today. Whew! Thats why I'm indoors writing this blog to stay cool. I know I've been all about film the last couple of months but today I want to talk about some digital adjustments I'm making to my digital kit. I am updating my mid-range zoom.  There are a few reasons that I'm updating my mid-range zoom. First let me say that the zoom that I replaced the 24-105mm f/4 G is an excellent lens and had great optical quality and built like a tank.  It had a great focal range but its biggest draw back was that it is heavy. It was heavy enough that I wouldn't take it with me if I was going on a walk or photo walk around town. It was just too big and heavy weighing in at 663 grams compared to the 488 grams of the 20-70mm. No matter what camera I put this on the Sony A7III or my Sony A7C it was very lens heavy. The length was 4.5 inches before being extended for the longer focal lengths compared to the 3.9 inches of the 20-70mm. So it was bigger and heaver. And if you know me I like compact camera kits and lenses for a walk  around photowalks that I love so much.  Ever since this lens came out in 2023 I've had an eye out for it but just haven't pulled the trigger.  Until last week. Now you know that I really don't buy very much new equipment and I found one at MPB and traded my 24-105mm and a beloved 28mm lens for the 20-70mm. I hated getting rid of the 28mm but I knew that I wouldn't use it with the new lens on.  If I need a 28mm lens to play with I have two other manual ones that I can adapt to my Sony digitals. So let me go over some of the specs of this Sony 20-70mm lens.

-Sony 20-70mm f/4 G. As the model name says its a 20-70mm focal range . Most mid-range are 24-70mm even though its only 4mm wider than standard mid ranges it does make a difference. Great for street and a travel walk around lens. This may be the only lens with this range and the 20mm focal length is great for folks that Vlog. Works great for arm distance selfies and videos.

-Sony 20-70mm f/4 G- The f/4 is the constant widest aperture for this lens. Now there are many lenses with f/2.8 widest aperture and they are great and expensive. Almost twice the price and weight of this lens. That is only one stop of light difference and unless you really need that one stop you can't tell the difference.  I have been using f/4 lenses for quite a while and don't miss the one stop of light if I really need to shoot in super low light I either use a tripod or put on a prime with one or two stops faster than the f/4 like a f/2.8 or a f/1.8.

-Sony 20-70mm f/4 G The G moniker on this lens means its of high quality. Sony makes standard lenses with no moniker, G lenses like this one and G Master lenses highest quality. This is a very sturdy build lens and feels good in the hand.  It is moisture and dust resistant with rubber gaskets that seal everything and one between camera and lens. 

-Lens features- This lens sports an aperture ring which I love on my lenses. It has two programable buttons that you can program all sorts of stuff on from eye focus , to almost anything else in the camera. It has a manual/ auto focus switch. It has a click/de-click button for the aperture ring. and an iris lock switch. It uses 72mm filters which are the same as its sister lens the 16-35mm f/4 G which I also have. So I don't have to buy new filters.

-Focusing Motors- Its has dual XD linear focusing motors. Which means there are two rails with motors on either side of the lens and the focusing is super quick and really beats the older type of motors and focusing systems found on the older 24-105mm. It is very quick. The 20-70 has a minimum focusing distance of .25 meter or 9.8 inches compared to the .31 meter or  14.9 inches on the 24-105mm. This makes it very good for close up detail shots within 12 inches.  Does very good on close up stuff.

-Stabilization- This lens is not stabilized unlike the 24-105mm. But almost all of Sony's camera have IBIS (in body image stabilization ) which will work just fine for me and probably saves some on the weight of the lens which I'd rather have a lighter lens than the stabilization .

Is this the perfect lens? I don't think that a perfect lens exists. With every one there are compromises that have to be made if you want all the bells and whistles the lens will be heavy and bulky. If you get a stripped down model well you won't get what you want either. For now this tool seems just right for me now and will fit the way I shoot now.  What I do know that this lens will probably be on the my Sony A7C almost all of the time because it seems to be a great fit and will also work for my Sony A7III if I need it.  I have been shooting this lens for a few weeks now and love the images that I get out of it. The weight and handling of this lens is great! My over all feelings of this lens is that it's another great lens from Sony in my Kit.  Well that's enough about this lens. Until next week make sure you Get out and Shoot!