This Sony 70-200 F4 is all that you need for filming wedding ceremonies. Yeah. Hot take incoming. You do not need the 70-200 f/2.8. You do not need to spend some boatload of cash. All you need is this relatively affordable, in comparison, lightweight lens, and in this review I am going to tell you why.
Also, for the sake of ethics, I want you to know this video is not paid or sponsored by Sony. They do not even know I am making it. I bought this lens with my own money about five years ago and have used it at dozens upon dozens of weddings.
Why Do You Need A 70-200?
In my opinion this is the best focal range for filming a wedding ceremony. No matter where you put your tripod, as long as you are not stuck a quarter mile away at the back of a balcony in a church, a lens like this lets you get a nicely composed head and shoulders shot of either the officiant or the couple as they read their vows.
And that closeness gives the film a greater intimacy with the couple while they are saying those vows. It makes the film feel more personal. So you want to be close. Like 200 millimeter close.
Build Quality And Features
Yes, this lens is definitely a bit older, but it is still a G lens, which is a step below GM, and it feels very solid and very well put together with most of the controls you would want.
You get a big fat zoom ring, another big fat focus ring, two programmable buttons, plus the usual controls you would expect: a minimum focusing distance switch, an autofocus and manual focus switch, and an optical image stabilization switch. Because yes, this lens has OSS, and it works quite well.
The only thing it does not have is one of those new fancy aperture control rings with a clickless switch like you see on Sony’s newer GM lenses, which I love. But considering you are most likely using this on a tripod at a ceremony where you are not making a ton of adjustments, I have never once found myself wishing I had those extra controls.
Autofocus And Manual Focus
The autofocus performance is flawless. This lens is fast and smooth.
But if you are like me and you want to use it for a wedding ceremony, I would never recommend leaving it on autofocus, because that can result in the lens hunting around as soon as someone new enters the frame. You are not going to want that happening during a ceremony. You want focus locked on one person, most likely the officiant or one member of the couple.
Which brings us to manual focus, and the main thing to remember is that this is an earlier Sony lens with a focus by wire system that is a little slower than their newer GM glass. Do I think it is unusable? No. It is still very usable. But there is definitely a slightly perceptible lag you are going to notice.
So if you are planning to use this for more than just ceremonies, and you want it as a telephoto for close up couple shots, you may want to lean more on autofocus with eye detect AF and only go manual when you absolutely have to. Honestly though, if you have the budget, take a look at the Sony 135mm GM for your telephoto couple footage, because dang, that lens is absolutely incredible and it feels purpose built for portraits.
Size And Weight, And Why I Love This Lens
This is one of the main reasons I love this lens and why I bring it to pretty much every wedding I film. If you are like me and you prefer to pack as lightweight as possible when travelling to shoot, the 70-200 F4 is just about perfect, because it is one of the lightest and smallest ways to get this focal length, at 1.8 pounds or 840 grams.
Compare that to my older Canon 70-200 f/2.8, which comes in at 2.8 pounds or 1310 grams, and you can see how the Sony is not only smaller but much lighter too. Because it is only an F4 it requires less glass, which means it can be thinner, shorter and lighter than a lot of the other options out there. So if you have a wedding across the country and a lot of gear to bring, this lens is one way to lighten the load.
Of course, keep in mind that Sony just released a new 70-200 f/2.8 GM Mark II, which weighs 2.3 pounds or 1045 grams, which honestly is not much heavier. But that lens is also dramatically more expensive. More on that in a bit.
Image Quality: Is F4 Enough?
I am sure you are wondering about that F4 aperture and may already be preparing to comment about it, because you want to ask whether F4 is enough, especially when you have the option of f/2.8.
Having used both a 70-200 at F4 and at f/2.8, I would say the difference in light gathering between the two is not as big as you would think. And from a bokeh standpoint, an F4 lens is still going to give you quite a shallow depth of field, especially as you get closer to 200mm.
Alternatively your concern may be low light, and you may be worried this lens cannot handle darker ceremonies. To that I would say F4 is where you lean more on your Sony camera’s high ISO capabilities. I personally have never felt the F4 aperture holding me back, especially because I can always crank the ISO to compensate. If you are on pretty much any Sony full frame mirrorless body that you can push to ISO 6400, 8000 or 12,800 without too much noise, you should be fine.
If you are on an older crop sensor Sony like an a6600 that cannot go as high, this lens may not work as well for you, and you might need to look at an f/2.8 option or an upgrade to full frame. Heads up: this link goes to the newer Sony a6700. And if you have something like Sony’s FX30, which is still crop sensor but newer, the high ISO performance is not going to match Sony’s full frame options but it should still be quite good.
Ignoring aperture for a moment and talking pure sharpness, in my testing and use over the years I have found the 70-200 F4 to be very sharp, without any crazy chromatic aberration or softness. Overall it offers excellent quality for filmmaking.
Price
At $1,498 at the time of writing, the 70-200 F4 is the cheapest way to get a native, name brand, Sony mount lens at this focal length for filmmaking. Do I wish it was cheaper? Of course. But Sony, just like Canon and Panasonic, have all set higher prices for their mirrorless lenses.
That said, whenever you compare that $1,498 to the 70-200 f/2.8 GM Mark II, which comes in at an eye watering $2,798, the F4 looks like quite a good deal.
What About Tamron?
I am sure some of you are getting ready to comment. Matt, what about third party manufacturers? What about Tamron?
Do not worry, I have not forgotten Tamron. They have a very impressive 70-180mm in E-mount that I unfortunately have not had the chance to review yet. Let me know in the comments if you would like me to review it and compare it against this Sony, and I will try to get my hands on one soon.
Should You Buy It?
The Sony 70-200 F4 is one of my favorite lenses for filming wedding ceremonies, and with its compact and lightweight form factor, great image quality and relatively affordable price, especially compared to Sony’s f/2.8 options, I have no qualms about recommending it as a great purchase for wedding filmmaking.
Sony has since released a second version of this lens, and I reviewed that one too: the Sony 70-200 G F4 II.
If you are a wedding filmmaker like me, which I assume you probably are considering this is a lens review for wedding filmmakers, I have put together a free guide called Level Up Your Wedding Films, which shows you a lot of the steps you can take to improve the quality of your wedding films. It is completely free.
I have also got a playlist of my other lens reviews if you want to dig in, because I have reviewed a decent number of lenses at this point. And this video was colored using my color presets, so if you like these colors you can get them too.
Thanks so much for reading, and have a great day!