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<\/a>Minolta G lens; AF APO 80-200mm f2.8 G<\/p><\/div>\n
What it actually means is that Sony bought Minolta and “G” essentially means that the lens is rooted in Minolta legacy, and, more precisely, it’s their high grade lens lineup. They also have a regular lineup without any particular designation, a Zeiss lineup with the Zeiss logo and naming scheme, and the ultra high grade lineup, the G Master series, which has the G logo in an orange rectangle. Essentially, the G Master, or GM, is a sub-series of particularly fancy lenses within the G lineup, and you can read them all as something based on the Minolta legacy of excellence.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Sony GM lineup<\/p><\/div>\n
So, that’s what it means. Canon had a similar way of grading EF lenses; they had the ordinary series, the USM series with the golden ring on the lens, and the L series of lenses that were also USM, but had the red ring on the lens. Another difference between the mid-range and high-range is the aperture. A mid-range lens will have reasonable aperture, for instance the 85mm f\/1.8, while the L lens will be 85mm f\/1.2 or something; a leap from the reasonable and good enough, into the state of the art. Sigma, too, has the Art series which has extreme apertures, and the Contemporary lineup, which has more reasonable and practical designs for less money and weight, but maintaining excellent build and image quality.<\/p>\n
So, essentially, it’s a naming scheme. In Minolta times, G meant top of the line, but Sony started with that and then they decided they want to separate the ultra high end designs into a special category, and they made the lenses with G in the orange rectangle. That’s all there is to it. G means Minolta. GM also means Minolta, but on steroids.<\/p>\n
<\/a>90mm G macro<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’ve seen lots of YouTubers making incorrect and incoherent statements about what “G” means on the Sony lenses. They guess it’s “great” or whatever. No. “G” is designation of Minolta autofocus lenses for the Dynax\/Maxxum\/Alpha series in the film era, … Continue reading