Over the past decade, I’ve noticed a shift in photography towards wider and wider fields of view. This new 20-70mm lens matches that direction and challenges the idea of what a ‘standard’ zoom range, should be.

My name is Liam Man, and I am a Sony European Creator from the United Kingdom. Like many other pros, the 24-70mm G Master has a regular place in my bag. It covers a moderately wide to short-telephoto range and is a great walk-around lens. But there are times when 24mm isn’t wide enough, and I’m forced to switch lenses to a dedicated wideangle lens.

By extending the zoom range to 20mm, this all-new FE 20-70mm f/4 G aims to solve this issue. To find out if the extra 4mm makes a difference, I left my 16-35mm f/4 G at home and spent a couple days exploring the ancient laurel forests of Madeira.

One camera. One lens. One adventure.

This is the first ever 20-70mm lens. What were your first impressions?

Like other G lenses, it has the rugged polymer construction that I am familiar with, keeping the weight down to a little over 500 grams. That’s less than half the weight of my typical 16-35mm & 24-70mm line-up. Mounting the lens on both the Alpha 7R V and Alpha 7 IV camera bodies, they both felt nicely balanced.

Functionality-wise, I was happy to see two programmable focus hold buttons, and my favourite three-ring control configuration, with the focus, zoom and manual aperture rings. Having that manual aperture ring is so important when I’m shooting landscapes; I want to be able to set the aperture and leave it, knowing that I won’t accidentally change it between shots.

The lens does zoom externally, physically extending at the telephoto end, but that is a good compromise for its surprising compactness at 20mm. I really appreciate the simplicity of a one lens setup and the convenience of never having to change lenses. Packing a small camera bag on my trip, I still had plenty of space for travel essentials like extra clothing, food and electronics. This turned out to be a blessing for the ever-changing weather of Madeira.

How big is the difference between 20mm and 24mm?

4mm doesn’t sound like a lot, but it makes a huge difference. At 24mm, the field of view is around 84º, but at 20mm it’s closer to 95º. This makes it much easier to include foreground elements in the composition and gives the images more room to breathe and feel more expansive. I’ve always preferred to shoot wider, especially with today’s high-resolution sensors, as it gives me the flexibility in post-production to crop and resize for different media platforms.

In the image below, I found this beautiful tree that twisted up towards the sky. It wasn’t big, only a few metres tall, and shooting at 20mm really emphasised the form of the trunk as it spiralled towards the centre of the photograph. I had to lay the camera almost flat to the ground to get this shot and was thankful of how wide this lens is. Only at 20mm, was I able to surround the subject in the starry night sky, using the negative space to give the tree context.

During the day, I wanted to capture the feeling of being surrounded by the twisting branches of the Fanal Forest. Positioning the lens right up underneath one of the limbs, I made sure to frame the composition with dark elements on the top and right-hand side. This gives the feeling of being enclosed and balances the dark shadow on the bottom left of the frame. Using 20mm reduces the “lens compression” and helps separate the layers of the scene, from the human subject to mid ground branches and foreground elements, creating so much depth and dynamism with the emphasised leading lines.

‘Standard’ zoom lenses are often used by videographers, how did you find filming with the 20-70mm f/4 G?

For run and gun shooting, portability and versatility are key. This lens ticks both boxes and is light enough for use on smaller sized gimbals. By removing the need to switch lenses when wanting to shoot wider than 24mm, it removes the need to fully rebalance the gimbal, speeding up the process and allowing you to focus on finding creative shots.

When I visited Madeira, it just happened to coincide with a tropical storm, so lens changes were kept to a minimum, and having the peace of mind to trust the weather sealing and keep shooting was fantastic.

How did you find the performance of the lens?

Across the whole focal and aperture range, I found the image quality to be great. The Alpha 7R V, in particular, is a very critical camera with super high resolution, so any visual aberrations are clear to see.

Even when shooting the starry night sky, an optically challenging subject, I saw very little distortion of the stars. During the day, the amount of detail that this lens resolved, really allowed me to relive the environment when I got home and started editing.

I shot through a wide variety of conditions, with a mixture of wind, rain, and fog. Even though I was soaked to the skin, the lens shrugged all the elements off and allowed me to keep shooting.

Do you have any advice for people interested in buying a “standard” zoom?

Whether you go with this 20-70mm, a 24-70mm or 24-105mm, you can’t go wrong. I’ve taken most of my favourite shots in these ranges and they will all capture great images.

My advice would be to go through your photos and see what focal ranges you typical gravitate towards. Do you like the compression of a telephoto lens, or dynamism of a wide angle? That’s a question that only you can answer.

If you still can’t decide, the best thing to do, is head to your local camera store and try it out in person.