[1] The Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II comes with three rings in total, one for manual focus, one for zoom and one slimmer for aperture, which is new in this generation.

Sony's Nano AR Coating II (AR stands for Anti Reflection) reduces disturbing effects like ghosting effects and four extreme dynamic Linear Motors achieve silent and precise autofocus.

The most obvious difference to the predecessor is the lighter weight (695 g vs. 886 g) and more compact body (length 120mm vs. 136mm).

The measured sharpness increased from 33 Mpix to 40 Mpix, the measured chromatic aberration decreased from 10 μm to 5 μm, and the distortion (distortion of straight lines in the real world for example) decreased from 0.7 % to 0.4 %.

However, distortions, such as bokeh, or the loss of detail towards the edge of the image are criticized, but some reviewer also disliked the focus breathing.