Sony 85mm f/1.4 G Master II: The New Must-Have For This Wedding Pro

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Wedding and elopement photographer Henry Tieu (@henrysdiary) approaches capturing every moment during a couple’s special day with intention. To help him with this approach, an 85mm prime lens is a staple in his kit. “That's one thing I really appreciate about the 85mm focal length, is that it just makes me really pay attention and be intentional with every single shot that I take on wedding and elopement days,” he says. Tieu had the chance to test the best of the best when it comes to 85mm lenses when he recently used the new Sony 85mm f/1.4 G Master II lens to photograph two elopements in Mount Rainier National Park and an intimate wedding in beautiful Kauai, Hawaii. We connected with him to learn more about his experience using the Sony 85mm f/1.4 G Master II – keep reading as he shares his insights and imagery for the newest second-generation G Master. 

Photo by Henry Tieu. Sony Alpha 7 IV. Sony 85mm f/1.4 G Master II. 1/1600-sec., f/2, ISO 200

85mm – A Wedding Kit Must-Have

Most wedding photographers would say it’s a no-brainer to include an 85mm lens in your kit, and Tieu is no exception. “I love an 85mm for wedding work because it’s perfect for portraits,” he explains. “It doesn’t create that distortion on my subjects, so it gives me the most natural looking faces that you can get out of a lens.”

Photo by Henry Tieu. Sony Alpha 7 IV. Sony 85mm f/1.4 G Master II. 1/800-sec., f/4, ISO 250

It’s not just portraits, though – he says he also likes to use this focal length for capturing the important details. “It helps me isolate items really well,” he says, “so I use it for flat lays if I want to get a ring to pop, or a reception table where you have so many items on the table and I want to highlight each. For example, you have an arrangement of flowers and a glass of champagne, and I really want that glass of champagne to pop, I would use the 85mm more than my 24mm or 35mm.”

Photo by Henry Tieu. Sony Alpha 7 IV. Sony 85mm f/1.4 G Master II. 1/200-sec., f/2.2, ISO 1000

Ain’t No Mountain High Enough

The new Sony 85mm f/1.4 G Master II is approximately 20 percent lighter and 13 percent smaller than its first generation version. If you’re a wedding photographer, or really any photographer carrying their gear for long periods of time, you know just how much of a difference this can make. Now imagine being an elopement photographer like Tieu, who happens to hike mountains with his gear to get such stunning shots!

“I really like the compact size and how much lighter it is from the first version,” Tieu says. “It's really helpful in my line of work because I'm not just doing weddings, I'm doing elopements where we hike up mountains a lot. My average elopement is about anywhere between two-to-four miles each way when you hike up. So with lighter gear that can still give me both portrait work and that compression to get the landscape really close to the couple is really beneficial.”

Photo by Henry Tieu. Sony Alpha 7 IV. Sony 85mm f/1.4 G Master II. 1/640-sec., f/2.8, ISO 200

Some of his favorites taken with the new Sony 85mm f/1.4 G Master II were following a hike to reach a spot for an elopement. “One of the Mount Rainier elopements was on a cloudy day, and they ended up being my favorite because of the way the compression pulled the mountain so close to the couple,” Tieu explains. “It made the mountain look so dramatic. You see the couple super small and a ton of cloud cover, then out of nowhere just a little bit of mountain peak in the back. I've never taken a photo like this before, even though I've been to this spot so many times.”

Throughout the event he took a wide variety of images with the Sony 85mm f/1.4 G Master II, some with details of the couple filling the entire frame, and others where the couple appear smaller to show the enormity of the surrounding landscape.

Photo by Henry Tieu. Sony Alpha 7 IV. Sony 85mm f/1.4 G Master II. 1/800-sec., f/2.2, ISO 100

Photographing With Intention

While Tieu didn’t have to hike during the intimate wedding he photographed in Hawaii, he was very happy to have the lightness of the new Sony 85mm f/1.4 G Master II since he carried it on him the entire event. The f/1.4 aperture was also an advantage for him during low light. “I was able to just get the emotion without worrying about whether or not this lens could handle the darkness of the reception.”

Photo by Henry Tieu. Sony Alpha 7 IV. Sony 85mm f/1.4 G Master II. 1/125-sec., f/1.6, ISO 5000

Another key feature of the Sony 85mm f/1.4 G Master II that Tieu really noticed on wedding day was just how fast the autofocus was for the lens. “It's super-fast,” he explains. “I can just stand in one spot and I know that I can get my focus dialed in. And with the focal length of 85mm, I can be further away from the subject and I don't have to really worry about interfering with a moment.”

He continues, “I really noticed this a lot during the wedding that I photographed in Hawaii. It was just very intimate, only a few family and friends there. That means these people really mattered to the couple, and so I wanted to be able to stand back and capture those big moments. The mom crying, her sister laughing so hard – those big reactions are really something that I look for when I photograph elopements and weddings. And being able to have that fast focus, I know for sure I can get those moments and I really like that a lot.”

Photo by Henry Tieu. Sony Alpha 7 IV. Sony 85mm f/1.4 G Master II. 1/80-sec., f/1.6, ISO 3200

For Tieu, wedding photography is all about storytelling and documenting those fleeting moments that may only happen one time and never again. The new Sony 85mm f/1.4 G Master II is just the lens he says he’ll be 100 percent adding to his kit to continue to tell these stories with intention. “I think there's something about a fixed focal length that really makes you extra intentional about capturing the wedding day or the couple,” he says. “The space that you take, it matters. It allows you to either immerse into the experience or remove yourself, so that the couple can enjoy a moment without feeling like everything is a photo shoot. So that's the one thing I really appreciate about the 85, is that it just makes me really pay attention and be intentional with every single shot that I take on these days.”

[Ski542002]

Great insights!  I’ve been shooting with the 85 1.8 for 6 years and hesitated upgrading to the 1.4, feeling the extra speed was not worth the price/weight. So glad I pulled the trigger on the new 1.4 85.  Super fast focus, and superlative image quality. The 1.8 was close, but noticeably below the performance of the new 1.4.   The 85 will be a great compliment to my 50 1.4.

After heavy testing of the new lens, I have 2 commercial shoots and 2 weddings in the next 3 weeks. Looking forward to putting it thru it’s paces.

Edited 22 minutes ago by Ski542002
forgot to add a lens