Sony AF 50mm F1.4 A-mount lens review by QuietOC
 QuietOC#44151 date: Oct-23-2018 | |
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| sharpness: 4 color: 5 build: 4 distortion: 4 flare control: 3 overall: 4 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Minolta 40 F1.7 Konica AR 40 F1.8 Canon EF 40 F2.8 STM Pentax-M 40 F2.8 Pentax-DA 40 F2.8 XS Pentax-FA 43 F1.9 Limited Rokinon 45 F1.8 FE Tamron SP 45 F1.8 USD (VC & non VC) Minolta MD 45 F2 Sigma 45 F2.8 DG DN C Rokinon 50 F1.2 Yongnuo 50 F1.4 Zeiss C/Y 50 F1.4 Planar Canon EF 50 F1.4 USM Sigma 50 F1.4 EX DG HSM Minolta MD 50 F1.4 & AF Minolta MD 50 F1.7 & AF & RS Sony FE 50 F1.8 Canon EF 50 F1.8 STM Fotasy 50 F1.8 Konica AR 50 F1.8 Vivitar 50 F1.8 Sony DT 50 F1.8 SAM Sony E 50 F1.8 OSS Minolta MD 50 F2 Neewer/Meike/Vivitar 50 F2 Sony FE 50 F2.8 Macro Sony A 50mm F2.8 Macro Minolta AF 50 F2.8 Macro RS Minolta MD 50 F3.5 Macro Minolta AF 50 F3.5 Macro Konica AR 52 F1.8 Minolta MC 55 F1.7 Sony FE 55 F1.8 Sonnar Minolta SR 55 F2 Minolta MC 58 F1.4 |
| price paid: | 156 USD (used) |
| positive: | Size and weight Spherical aberration Reversible circular hood included Lens Compensation support |
| negative: | Alignment/variation Chromatic aberrations Focus shift Flare Barrel distortion |
| comment: | A clean, undamaged copy with original hood and front cap. I purchased a second copy with both caps and hood to try on the LA-EA4r. I purchased third, fourth, and fifth copies to try on the LA-EA5. The original Minolta AF version was $175 in 1985 about twice the price of the AF 50 F1.7. Sony's last list price was $450 before they discontinued it. "JAPAN" I finally found a decently aligned copy after five tries. The spherical aberration does somewhat mask the misalignment. Maybe the manufacturing equipment was worn out by the time Sony obtained it. The spherical aberration and axial CA makes focusing accurately wide-open difficult. Stopping down to F3.5 like Sony uses for SLT video cleans most of this up. Unfortunately Sony doesn't provide another way to focus A-mount lenses stopped down. It is a bit wider than the Minolta 50mm F1.7. It is brighter wide-open than the F1.6, F1.7, and F1.8 lenses. The corners though are quite dark. It weighs a bit less than the Minolta versions despite the addition of the focus distance encoder. *My Sony cameras display the aperture range from F1.4 as F1.6, F1.7, F2... It is strange especially when Sony only sells F1.8 lenses, and F1.7 is the half-step between F1.4 and F2. Probably this F1.7 is actually F1.8 which would also fit with the second stopped down F1.7 setting when using the Minolta AF 50 F1.7 lenses. F1.8 lenses display as F1.8 wide-open. Both ZA Planars are mostly sharper especially the FE version wide-open. The aspherical equipped Sony FE 50mm F1.8 is also sharper in the corners, has less CA and distortion, brighter corners and focuses better. |
; 10MPrating summary
- total reviews: 138
- sharpness: 4.70
- color: 4.78
- build: 4.20
- distortion: 4.79
- flare control: 4.49
- overall: 4.59