With the best Sony telephoto lenses, you can get closer to the action and ensure you capture stunning photos in challenging situations. I firmly believe that whether you shoot sports, wildlife, portraits or landscapes, these lenses are essential to have in your photography kit bag, if you're using Sony mirrorless cameras.
As Sony's full-frame mirrorless range has been running longer than any others, the manufacturer has built up a seriously impressive stable of lenses to choose from. With zooms and primes in a range of focal length configurations, the Sony E range is deep and varied. Plus, thanks to Sony's historic openness to third-party manufacturers, there are also plenty of affordable and unique lenses available from the likes of Sigma, Tamron and Samyang.
In this guide, I've compiled a list of the best Sony telephoto lenses right now, based on testing and reviewing. Read on to see which are the lenses that made the grade – and for more options, check out our general guide to the best Sony lenses, which includes wide-angles and standard lenses as well as telephotos.
Matthew Richards is a photographer and journalist who has spent years using and reviewing all manner of photo gear. He is Digital Camera World's principal lens reviewer – and has tested more primes and zooms than most people have had hot dinners! Here, he picks the best Sony telephotos that have crossed his testing bench.
Best Sony telephoto lenses
Why you can trust Digital Camera World Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out how we test.
Best 70-200mm
My first impression of this Mark II Sony lens was how much lighter it is than the original, as well as beating most other ‘trinity’ telephoto zooms in this respect. Despite the lightened load, there’s no shortage of high-end handling extras, including switches for auto/manual focus, full-time DMF on/off, autofocus limiter, stabilization on/off switch, and stabilization mode. On the opposite side of the lens, there’s a switch to turn the aperture ring on and off.
Performance is everything I’d expect from a next-generation Sony G Master lens, combining excellent image quality with fast autofocus and effective stabilization. The only real sticking point is the price; then again, most camera manufacturers’ 70-200mm f/2.8 command the big bucks, so the Sony isn’t unusual in this respect.
Read more: Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS II full review
Features ★★★★★ | A rank of function buttons, an autofocus range limiter and dual-mode optical stabilization are just some of the high-end features. |
Design ★★★★★ | It’s designed and built as a fully pro-grade telephoto lens with a white finish and a rock-solid construction. |
Performance ★★★★★ | Performance is excellent, from the speed and accuracy of autofocus, through reliable stabilization to superb image quality. |
Value ★★★★☆ | There’s no denying it’s an expensive G Master lens but I reckon it’s still pretty good value at the price. |
Value 70-200mm
Tamron's 70-180mm F2.8 Di III VC VXD G2 is a clever idea for a lens – a lighter and more affordable alternative to the standard Sony 'trinity' lens above, the 70-200mm f/2.8. As the 'G2' implies, this is the second go-around, and Tamron has chosen to refine the formula of its original 70-180mm lens rather than reinvent the wheel. The major addition is something people were crying out for in the original – optical stabilization. This makes an appearance in the form of Tamron’s proprietary ‘Vibration Compensation’ functionality, and it makes an optically brilliant lens much more usable when shooting handheld.
Image quality from the lens is superb at all focal lengths, and in testing, I was particularly taken by the quality of the bokeh it's capable of producing when shooting with a shallow depth of field. The autofocus, using Tamron's VXD (Voice-coil eXtreme-torque Drive) system, offers a high degree of speed and precision, offering full compatibility with Sony's Fast Hybrid AF and Eye AF features.
Read more: Tamron 70-180mm F2.8 Di III VC VXD G2 review
Features ★★★★★ | Fancy features in the ‘Generation 2’ include a three-pole Custom switch, function button and USB-C port. |
Design ★★★★★ | The design gives you almost the same zoom range as a classic 70-200mm f/2.8 telephoto zoom but in a much smaller, lighter package. |
Performance ★★★★★ | From super-fast and highly accurate autofocus to great image quality and effective optical stabilization, it’s a cracker. |
Value ★★★★★ | It’s less than half the price of many ‘trinity’ telephoto zooms, making it a standout bargain. |
Best 135mm
While the FE 85mm f/1.4 G Master will be seen as the most ideal portrait lens by many, this 135mm version gets you closer to your sitter while maintaining a natural shooting distance, thus working really well for close-up portraits, and any other shooting scenario that calls for impeccable image quality at this focal length. The high-grade optical path includes XA (eXtreme Aspherical), Super ED, and regular ED elements, along with an 11-blade diaphragm that maintains a particularly well-rounded aperture when stopping down a bit.
For hands-on aperture control, there’s a physical aperture control ring with one-third f/stop click steps and a straightforward de-click switch to enable smooth transitions during movie capture. Along with impressive sharpness and contrast, the lens delivers sumptuously smooth bokeh, helped not only by the long focal length but also by the sheer optical quality. The only slight niggle is that defocused lights near the edges and corners of the frame can take on a very elliptical appearance.
Read more: Sony FE 135mm f1.8 GM full review
Features ★★★★★ | Feature finery includes dual function buttons, a click/de-click aperture ring and autofocus range limiter. |
Design ★★★★★ | It’s quite a large and weighty lens but build quality is rock-solid. |
Performance ★★★★★ | Sumptuous sharpness meets beautiful bokeh in this lens, with perfect portraiture performance. |
Value ★★★★☆ | There are very viable alternatives from the likes of Viltrox that are much less expensive. |
Value 135mm
The Samyang AF 135mm F1.8 FE goes head to head with Sony’s own-brand Sony FE 135mm f/1.8 G Master lens. It boasts many of the same high-end features and handling exotica, as well as a tough, weather-sealed construction, but costs less than half the price to buy. It’s ideal for tight head shots in portraiture, as well as for sports and wildlife photography, and any time you want medium telephoto reach with a fast aperture for isolating the main subject with a tight depth of field, or for freezing motion under low lighting conditions.
Autofocus is both fast and virtually silent, and it works particularly well with Sony’s eye-tracking AF mode in portraiture. The lens also features Samyang’s Astro-Focus Mode, complete with LED Index, for accurate infinity focusing at night. Although sharpness is very impressive, the quality of bokeh is arguably a bigger plus point in terms of image quality. It’s beautifully smooth when shooting wide-open at f/1.8 and remains excellent when stopping down a little. The 11-blade aperture diaphragm ensures that bokeh discs, formed by defocused bright spots, remain very well-rounded.
Read more: Samyang AF 135mm F1.8 FE full review
Features ★★★★★ | There’s a customizable mode switch and function button, plus a 3-way autofocus range limiter switch. |
Design ★★★★★ | The design is well though out, making for great handling complete with weather-sealed build quality. |
Performance ★★★★★ | Great sharpness meets super-smooth bokeh and excellent all-round image quality. |
Value ★★★★★ | The Samyang / Rokinon offers a big saving compared with the own-brand Sony equivalent. |
Best 85mm
Sony's gorgeous G Master lenses have garnered a reputation as being some of the finest optics you can buy, and this long-awaited update to the 85mm f/1.4 continues that trend. It manages to improve on what many people thought was a near-perfect lens, delivering a configuration that's ideal for most portraiture scenarios. Where you need sharpness, it's sharp as a tack. Where you need dreamy, bokehlicious softness, it gives it to you in spades. It achieves this by doubling the complement of XA (extreme aspherical) elements included in the optical construction.
Autofocus speed has also been upgraded, driven by two XD (extreme dynamic) linear motors that Sony promises will deliver a seven-fold improvement in tracking of moving subjects. Somehow, even with all this, the weight has been reduced from the previous version, making the lens easier to use handheld. The aperture ring has a de-clicked option, and there's an Iris Lock switch to prevent it from being knocked out of place. It's undeniably a considerable investment, but for portraiture, it rules the roost.
Read more: Sony FE 85mm F1.4 GM II review
Features ★★★★★ | From its optical path to its fast autofocus and handling exotica, the lens is packed with features. |
Design ★★★★★ | High-end design includes an aperture control ring with click/de-click options and dual function buttons. |
Performance ★★★★★ | Performance is simply fabulous, from all aspects of image quality to quick, reliable autofocus. |
Value ★★★★☆ | It’s a very expensive lens, costing about twice as much as the directly competing Sigma. |
Value 85mm
I’ve become a big fan of Viltrox lenses over the last few years, and recently they’ve been going from strength to strength. That said, most recent offerings have been either from the ‘Air’ line-up and are very compact and lightweight but also fairly basic, or from the ‘Pro’ and ‘Lab’ series, which are relatively chunky but packed full of features and handling exotica.
This lens is the first in a new ‘Evo’ range, and I love it. It’s like having the best of both worlds. It’s compact, lightweight, and easy to live with, yet it also boasts plenty of handling finery, including an aperture control ring with a click/de-click switch, an AF/MF focus mode switch, and a customizable function button.
The lens feels solid and robust, with a metal barrel and weather-sealed mounting plate, complete with a USB-C port for applying firmware updates if and when needed. Best of all, image quality is superb and, although the f/2 aperture might not seem overly fast, the lens is perfectly capable of combining excellent sharpness with soft and dreamy bokeh. It’s also incredible value for money.
Read more: Viltrox AF 85mm f/2 FE Evo review
Features ★★★★★ | Advanced features include an aperture control ring with a click/de-click switch, customizable function button and an AF/MF focus mode switch. |
Design ★★★★★ | The design is a delight. Sophisticated handling extras are shoehorned into a remarkably compact and lightweight metal build with a weather-sealed mount. |
Performance ★★★★★ | The lens can’t deliver the wafer-thin depth of field of an 85mm f/1.4 lens but still combines superb sharpness and clarity with beautiful bokeh. |
Value ★★★★★ | It’s naturally pricier than low-budget Viltrox ‘Air’ series lenses but still exceptional value considering the additional features and handling extras. |
Best 100-400mm
There’s no denying that the Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 G Master OSS is a large lens, but surprisingly, it’s barely any bigger than the 70-200mm f/2.8, slightly less heavy, and no more expensive. That’s despite having twice as much telephoto reach, albeit with a variable aperture that shrinks to f/5.6 at the long end of the zoom range. Although physically only 5mm longer than the 70-200mm, it lacks an internal zoom mechanism, so the inner barrel extends when zooming toward the long end of the zoom range.
Up-market build and handling characteristics are very similar to those of the 70-200mm f/2.8 G Master lens, but this one adds a variable torque adjustment for the zoom ring. Again, the Optical SteadyShot is very effective, and the autofocus system is super-fast, this time based on a combination of double linear motor and DDSSM (Direct Drive SSM) systems.
Read more: Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 G Master OSS review
Features ★★★★★ | There’s a high-end feature set that includes dual-mode optical stabilization, an autofocus range limiter and function buttons. |
Design ★★★★★ | The design is pro-grade through and through, complete with a comprehensive set of weather-seals.
|
Performance ★★★★★ | Autofocus speed, sharpness and other areas of image quality and handling are all top-ranking. |
Value ★★★★☆ | You won’t find a cheap Sony G Master lens but this one is pretty reasonable value for money. |
Best 200-600mm
Think air shows, action, sports, wildlife, and bird photography, and you might be thinking that your telephoto lens simply doesn't have enough reach. That's where the Sony FE 200-600mm comes to the rescue, with its huge focal length range that really covers the distance.
Though it has a slightly slower aperture range than some telephoto lenses, it’s equipped with Sony's Optical SteadyShot stabilization that pairs with the A7 III’s built-in stabilizer to deliver consistently sharp results whether you're shooting handheld or with a monopod. It has three OSS modes and customizable focus hold buttons placed around the barrel at 90-degree intervals, enhancing the handling and performance of this excellent lens.
Read more: Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS review
Features ★★★★★ | There are all the up-market controls, switches and handling extras you could hope for. |
Design ★★★★★ | It’s a necessarily big lens but less of a heavyweight than some, along with robust build quality. |
Performance ★★★★★ | Image quality is great throughout the entire zoom range, with effective stabilization and fast autofocus. |
Value ★★★★☆ | It’s pricier than the alternative Sigma lens but not bad value for an own-brand Sony G zoom. |
Best 500mm
Super-telephoto primes are generally thought of as being two things: prohibitively expensive and weighing an absolute ton. The Sigma 500mm F5.6 DG DN OS Sports, however, is something of a welcome corrective in these regards. At 1.3kg, it's not light, but it's a lens you can use handheld for extended periods without wearing out your arms. And at a list price of £2,779/$2,999, it's not cheap, but it's much more accessible than the top-end super-telephoto primes, which can and do rack up five-figure price tags.
It's also a pretty brilliant lens in its own right, and is ideal for sports and wildlife shooting, with an effective five-stop stabilization system and super-fast autofocus action. The resolving power is more than capable of keeping up with the detail demands of high-resolution Sony sensors, and as I found in testing, it consistently produces images with plenty of punch and contrast, even on dull days.
Read more: Sigma 500mm F5.6 DG DN OS Sports review
Features ★★★★★ | Top features include fast autofocus with a range limiter, dual-mode stabilization and two custom modes. |
Design ★★★★★ | The lens is well built but remarkably lightweight for a 500mm f/5.6 prime, enabling comfortable handheld shooting. |
Performance ★★★★★ | Speedy and consistently accurate autofocus plus stabilization help to ensure a great git rate of sharp shots. |
Value ★★★★☆ | It’s an expensive lens to buy but is still very good value for a 500mm f/5.6 prime. |
Best APS-C
The Sony E 70-350mm f/4.5-6.3 G OSS is a really welcome addition to the Sony lens line-up. Designed specifically for APS-C format Sony E-mount cameras, it sports a 5x zoom range equating to 105-525mm on a full-frame body. It might not have an ultra-fast maximum aperture, but the modest f/4.5-6.3 aperture rating enables a much more compact, lightweight build, at a more affordable price.
Image quality is also very impressive for a lens of this class, and while it doesn’t have the world’s most effective optical stabilizer, you can still expect a good hit rate of sharp handheld shots. Overall, this is a lens that’s big on performance but refreshingly small and lightweight for handheld shooting.
Read more: Sony E 70-350mm f/4.5-6.3 G OSS review
Features ★★★★★ | High-end features include a function button, AF/MF switch and optical stabilization. |
Design ★★★★★ | G-series quality comes to this APS-C format lens with up-market design and weather-seals. |
Performance ★★★★★ | It’s impressively sharp and the XD linear motor-driven autofocus system is fast and snappy. |
Value ★★★★☆ | This is a pricey telephoto zoom for an APS-C format lens but worth the outlay. |
Lab data and comparisons
The graphs below show the comparative performance of the lenses in this guide, based on our in-house lab tests. The Sony FE 85mm f/1.4 G Master II, Samyang AF 135mm F1.8 FE, and Sony FE 135mm f1.8 G Master primes lead the way for sharpness, but the Tamron 70-180mm f/2.8 Di III VC VXD G2 does particularly well for a zoom lens. The Sony E 70-350mm f/4.5-6.3 G OSS is the least impressive for control over distortion, but automatic in-camera correction is available.
Scores for sharpness and color fringing are averaged from data taken across the entire image frame, from the center to the edges and corners, throughout the aperture range. For zoom lenses, the scores are also averaged from data measured at all marked focal lengths, and the same applies to distortion. Bear in mind that these average values don't fully reflect specific areas of performance. For example, a zoom lens might have noticeable barrel and pincushion distortion at its shortest and longest focal lengths, respectively, which tends to average out when looking at the data overall. For more detailed graphs of each lens's performance, which give the full picture, check out the graphs in our full standalone lens reviews.
How to choose the best Sony telephoto lenses
If you're a serious wildlife or sports photographer, then owning a telephoto lens is a must. Telephoto lenses enable you to pick out finer details in the distance and still produce a sharp, clear image. It also means you don't have to be too close to your subject, which is perfect when you're shooting wildlife, and you don't want to scare animals away.
Likewise, if you're a sports photographer, you'll often be in a defined area, so you'll want to make sure you can still capture some great pictures, even if you're on the far side of the track, pitch, or court.
Telephoto lenses have many uses, though, and are great for producing different perspectives from wider options. They have much less distortion, which makes them great for picking out details in a landscape, and the longer focal lengths enable you to achieve greater separation between your subject and background. For this reason, portrait photographers will shoot with a telephoto lens so that they have a beautifully blurred background in their image.
In this guide, I've included telephoto zoom lenses like typical 70-200mm offerings, but also prime lenses with 85mm and 135mm focal lengths. These are ideal for shooting portraits, as they provide a flattering perspective while also enabling a larger maximum aperture than a zoom lens.
Which Sony telephoto lens you use is going to be dictated in part by which Sony camera you're using. We're assuming for the sake of argument that you're using Sony E-mount, as the A-mount DSLT series is all but defunct. This means you'll be using a mirrorless camera with one of two sensor sizes: full-frame or APS-C.
Most of the lenses in our guide are designed for full-frame Sony cameras. The current line-up consists of:
- Sony A1, A7, A7 II, A7 III, A7 IV, A7R, A7R II, A7R III, A7R IV, A7R V, A7S, A7S II, A7S III, A7C, A7C II, A7CR, FX6, FX9, A9, A9 II, A9 III and ZV-E1.
Full-frame compatible E-mount lenses are denoted as "Sony FE".
We have also included a lens option designed specifically for APS-C-sensor mirrorless cameras. This range currently includes:
- Sony A6000, A6100, A6300, A6400, A6500, A6600, A6700, ZV-E10, ZV-E10 II
These lenses are officially denoted as Sony E, rather than FE, although confusingly, this term is sometimes used more casually to refer to full-frame lenses as well.
The important thing to remember is that the full-frame FE lenses are fully compatible with both types of camera, whereas you can only use APS-C lenses on a full-frame camera in 'crop' mode. This results in using only an APS-C-sized section of the full-frame image sensor, so you'll lose quite a few megapixels. Either way, the APS-C format gives a boost in telephoto reach by a factor of 1.5x. For example, if you use a 100-400mm lens on an APS-C format camera, or on a full-frame camera in crop mode, you'll get an'effective' 150-600mm zoom range.
How we test lenses
We test lenses using both real-world sample images and lab tests. Our lab tests are carried out scientifically in controlled conditions using the Imatest testing suite, which consists of custom charts and analysis software that measures resolution in line widths/picture height, a measurement widely used in lens and camera testing. We find the combination of lab and real-world testing works best, as each reveals different qualities and characteristics.
