The Sony FE 85mm F1.4 GM II ($1,799.99) lens is an all-around upgrade to 2016's FE 85mm F1.4 GM. It features a new optical formula that effectively eliminates false color and stands up better to high-pixel sensors. It also has much faster autofocus with support for 120fps tracking and a slightly lighter carry weight. Minimal focus breathing and the addition of a few on-barrel controls round out the package. You pay a premium for all this, though the 85mm F1.4 GM II's impeccable performance and handling unquestionably earn it the same Editors' Choice award as the original. Alternately, the Editors' Choice-winning Sigma 85mm F1.4 DG DN Art provides nearly as good image quality for a more reasonable $1,199.

Design: Slightly Smaller Than the Original

The FE 85mm F1.4 GM II is part of Sony's top-end G Master lens lineup. The original FE 85mm F1.4 GM was one of the first GM lenses to hit the market and is still a great lens all these years later. Even so, the Mark II benefits from some innovations that Sony's engineers have developed in the interim. It adds a couple of controls missing from the original, improves upon an already fantastic optical formula, and focuses more quickly and quietly, all while cutting some weight.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

The GM II comes in at 4.2 by 3.3 inches (HD) and 1.4 pounds, with support for 77mm front filters. The barrel uses sturdy polycarbonate, a material that's lighter but just as durable as the metal on older premium lenses. Inside, the GM II uses a 14-element/11-group optical formula that includes a pair of Sony's extreme aspheric (XA) elements. I won't call the 85mm F1.4 II small since it's only a hair shorter than the original (4.2 by 3.5 inches) and decidedly midsized for a prime, though its weight makes for relatively easy carry. The original FE 85mm F1.4 GM weighs 1.8 pounds, for comparison, despite its less complex optical design (11 elements/8 groups). Sony attributes the weight savings to an overall lighter optical formula and housing.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

The FE 85mm GM II includes internal seals to protect against dust and splash ingress, as well as anti-smudge fluorine on its front element that prevents grease and moisture from sticking to the glass. Weather sealing is standard on most of Sony's full-frame FE lenses, but the fluorine coating isn't. Neither the older FE 85mm F1.8 nor the Sigma 85mm F1.4 DG DN Art have the latter.

Sony ships the lens with front and rear caps, a reversible lens hood with a push-button lock and bayonet mount, and a zippered soft case.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

Competition: Plenty of Alternatives

The FE 85mm F1.4 GM II enjoys some healthy competition at its focal length. Sony still sells the older FE 85mm F1.4 GM at a reduced price, for instance, and offers the excellent, value-priced FE 85mm F1.8 ($599.99). Sigma's 85mm F1.4 DG DN Art and Zeiss Batis 85/1.8 ($1,199) round out the mid-market options. The Sigma is a relatively new lens that's quite good. The Batis impressed me when I reviewed it in 2015, though its minimalist approach to controls is now outdated.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

You can also consider the Rokinon 85mm F1.4 AF ($699) and 75mm F1.8 AF ($399). Both are good for beginner portrait photographers or those who use a short telephoto infrequently, though the FE 85mm F1.8 is a better choice overall. I haven't reviewed some of the other autofocusing options: the Meike 85mm F1.8 STM ($199.99), Tokina atx-m 85mm F1.8 ($549), or Viltrox AF 85mm F1.8 II ($399).

If you are willing to consider other focal lengths, the Sony FE 135mm F1.8 GM ($2,099.99) is worth a mention. Its tighter angle and closer focus provide an opportunity for an even shallower depth of field than the FE 85mm F1.4 GM II, and it focuses quickly, too. Portrait specialists should also look at the FE 100mm F2.8 STF GM OSS ($1,499.99) for its uncommon integrated apodization filter that diffuses and reduces incoming light to capture photos with perfectly circular, softly feathered highlights in blurred backgrounds.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

Controls: On-Lens Aperture and Function Buttons

The FE 85mm F1.4 GM II includes a healthy set of on-barrel controls, including the expected manual focus ring and AF/MF toggle, an aperture ring that swaps between silent and clicked operation, and two copies of a configurable function button set 90 degrees apart (they fall in the same place regardless of how you hold your camera).

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

The aperture ring is closest to the lens mount and goes from f/1.4-16 in either third-stop increments or, with the flick of the Click On/Off switch, smoothly. The former is ideal for photographers who want to lock in an f-stop, while the latter is better for video applications. The aperture ring also has an A (automatic) position that cedes f-stop control to the camera body, along with a corresponding Iris Lock switch that keeps the ring set either to its manual or A range. The first edition's aperture ring doesn't have the Iris Lock but otherwise works the same way.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

As mentioned, the updated lens gets an additional on-barrel Fn button toward the top of the barrel. You can configure what those do via the camera menu, though both always have the same function. Sony cameras set them to focus lock (AF-L) by default, but you might prefer something else. I keep the button set to AF-ON with the a7R IV I use for lens reviews, for instance, though that's just one of a couple dozen assignable functions.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

An on-lens AF/MF toggle switch makes it easy to swap between focus modes without diving into the camera menu. The manual focus ring features industry-standard rubber ridges and sits toward the front of the lens. Although the ring isn't huge—about a half-inch wide—it's easy enough to locate by touch and turns with just enough resistance to provide precise control.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

The manual focus response is linear, which means that the angle of rotation determines the amount of shift in focus. As such, videographers can repeat the same focus rack across multiple takes of a scene. The focus throw is around 120 degrees, another positive. The rotation angle isn't too much to manage for times when you want to shift focus quickly from a close to a distant subject and still allows for fine focus adjustments.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

The lens does a good job of suppressing the focus breathing effect. Many bright primes show a noticeable change in angle of view when you set focus, which can be distracting for video shots that shift focus between subjects. This isn't much of a problem for photography, however, and the FE 85mm F1.4 GM II is a minor offender anyway (its angle of view is slightly broader with distant subjects). Newer Sony cameras support in-camera breathing correction for FE lenses, so breathing is more of an academic concern than a practical one.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

Autofocus: An Instant Linear Response

The FE 85mm F1.4 GM II focuses more quickly and quietly than its predecessor, which is good news for stills and video creators alike. Its pair of linear motors drive focus instantly with my a7R IV and work nearly silently. The action is not vibration-free (I feel a small thunk as the focus locks into place), but this doesn't impact picture quality.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

The focus is fast enough to support all the high-speed video and photo modes on Sony's fastest cameras. The lens can track subjects at 120fps with the a9 III, for instance, and Sony promises that it keeps up with focus for 4K120 slow-motion video recording. I didn't have access to a camera that supports those features to verify, though I don't doubt that it does, given the quick focus action. Sony claims the autofocus system is three times as fast as that of the original and that the lens is seven times as accurate for tracking moving subjects. The older FE 85mm F1.4 GM tops out at 20fps tracking with the a9 III, and Sony restricts third-party lenses (including the Sigma 85mm F1.4 DG DN Art) to just 15fps.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

The Mark II matches the original for close-up macro photography. It focuses on subjects as close as 2.6 feet (0.8m) in manual focus and 2.8 feet (0.85m) with autofocus. That translates to about a 1:8.3 reproduction ratio, which is good enough for decently large images of flowers and similarly sized subjects but not for bringing jewelry, coins, insects, and the like into clear view. If you want a short telephoto with bright optics and close focus, target the FE 135mm F1.8 GM (1:4 macro).

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

Image Quality: Close to Ideal

I matched the FE 85mm F1.4 GM II with the 60MP a7R IV camera body and Imatest software to check its resolution in our test studio. The lens aces the evaluation, notching an outstanding score (5,050 lines) at its widest aperture and getting just slightly better (5,200 lines) from f/2-8. Diffraction sets in at f/11 and slightly softens the results (4,500 lines) but isn't a real-world concern until f/16 (3,800 lines). The field of focus is extremely flat regardless of aperture, so objects on the plane of focus toward the edges and corners of an image are just as clear as the center. Resolving power is one area where the GM II does better than the more affordable Sigma 85mm F1.4 Art. The Sigma scores in the very good range (3,950 lines) at f/1.4, though it's on par with the Sony once you stop down to f/2.8-8 (around 5,000 lines).

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

Wider f-stops get you the blurred background bokeh look in pictures, but you might still find a reason to stop down to f/11 or f/16. At these narrow settings, light scatters (diffracts) as it passes through the iris and causes small points of light to render as 22-point sunstars. The stars show crisp tines, though green blobs of flare can appear if the light hits the lens at a particular angle (a result of internal reflections). The lens effectively suppresses flare at wider apertures, even in the presence of a strong backlight.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

Without correction, the optics show very slight pincushion distortion and a little bit of dimming toward the corners and edges from f/1.4-2. If you use your camera in JPG mode, you won't have to worry about either since a built-in profile compensates for those effects. If you opt for a Raw format, however, you might want to apply a correction profile. Adobe Lightroom Classic doesn't yet have one for this lens, but both distortion and vignette are minor enough that you might not care.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

The FE 85mm F1.4 GM II is one of the best lenses you can get for background blur. Its defocused highlights are free of false texture and show soft, tapered edges. Specular highlights toward the edges and corners show a slight cat's eye effect at f/1.4 but are circular from f/2 onward. I don't see a huge difference between the bokeh here and with the Sigma 85mm F1.4 DG DN Art; both are fantastic in this regard.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

I also noted little to no sign of longitudinal chromatic aberration (LoCA) in focus transitions. In most instances, the lens suppresses these unwanted green and purple halo effects completely. I noticed a hint of LoCA in some scenes of horseback riders wearing black outfits set against an overcast gray sky, but false color is far less noticeable than with the older FE 85mm F1.4 GM or the FE 85mm F1.8.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

Verdict: Premium Performance for Demanding Creators

Sony tends to pull out all of the stops for its GM lens series, and that is true of the FE 85mm F1.4 GM II. Photographers who want a short telephoto prime with loads of background-blurring power for portraits, fast focus performance for high-speed action photography, exceptional optical performance, and a carry-friendly design should look no further. It easily earns our Editors' Choice award and is worth the splurge for discerning professionals. The Sigma 85mm F1.4 DG DN Art, another Editors' Choice winner, offers comparable image quality for a lower $1,199.99, though it can't take advantage of the faster drive speeds and breathing corrections of Sony's first-party offering.