Sony FE 50mm F1.8 E-mount lens reviews
reviews found: 12
 Miranda F#45799 date: Dec-29-2021 | |
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sharpness: 4.5 color: 5 build: 5 distortion: 4 flare control: 4 overall: 4.5 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Samyang 12mm f2 MF Samyang 18mm, 24mm, 35mm f2.8 AF primes Most of the Sony, Minolta A-mount 50mm primes and a few others. Sony 30mm f2.8 DT macro Minolta 50mm f2.8 macro Tamron 90mm f2.5 and f2.8 macros Cosina 100mm f3.5 macro Minolta 30-70mm f4 (a very good near-macro) Sony 28-70mm FE OSS (the kit one) Sony 18-135mm E OSS Sony 16mm f2.8 & PZ16-50mm Sony 16-50PZ Sony 18-55mm & 55-210mm E lenses. Meike 35mm f1.7 MF Newer 32mm f1.6 MF MF lenses in 28, 35, 50mm All the A-mount SAM DT lenses Lots of other A-mount lenses. |
| price paid: | £125 s/h |
| positive: | Convenient size Modest cost Sharp, especially in centre Reasonable macro with extension tube Low-geared MF is excellent for tripod work but ... |
| negative: | MF is too slow for casual hand-held work. AF is slow and unreliable Edges a little soft |
| comment: | This is a classic Double-Gauss lens design as used in countless film-era SLRs to provide a fast aperture 50mm lens despite the long back-focus distance needed to clear the mirror assembly. This feature is not needed on a mirrorless camera but it's nice to see another classic lens design on FE-mount and I'm happy with the compromises necessary on a 6-element lens. The lens design is fairly symmetric and in film days these lenses worked well with extension tubes for close-up, or reversed. The Sony 50mm f1.8 FE is not bad at all in near-macro, and fine for flowers and things, especially with a 10mm spacer like the Meike ones. With this, the lens is capable of very sharp results in MF, and MF is good to use with a very low-geared linear fake manual control. AF works in macro but is not always reliable and for critical focus you need either MF with focus peaking or DMF with magnification. Incidentally the very slow AF on this lens is almost certainly due to the all-moving design but this doesn't excuse the poor AF accuracy. Of course the 50 1.8 isn't as good as a dedicated macro and doesn't have the sharp flat-field macro performance but if you need essentially the centre sharp in close-up it makes a very effective substitute for one at f4 and above. Indeed the first Tamron specialist macro lens (the 90mm f2.5 Adaptall) had the same double-gauss arrangement and like this one works well with extension tubes and TCs, unlike many other lens designs that have fixed rear elements. Overall it is a nice lens to use and balances well, but the AF is slow by E-mount standards and almost unusable on AF-S, so stick the camera in AF-C and leave it there (AF-A reverts to AF-S most of the time) or else use one of the MF modes. With an extension tube for near-macro it is usually best to use MF with focus=peaking and move your body, so AF performance ceases to be an issue. The lens is sharp in the centre wide open though as usual you need f5.6 for good corners. I'm not entirely sure why anyone needs sharp corners wide open on a medium-length prime, but if you do, pick one with more elements. Bokeh is good most of the time, with excellent front bokeh but some iris shapes visible on back bokeh (behind the plane of focus). Not as good as the superb (in this respect) Minolta 50mm f1.7, which has perfect back bokeh but much more CA, but nowhere near as bad as the onion rings visible on many zooms. Overall the impression is a convenient-sized 50 which is much like its film-era cousins for good and ill, but won't compare well for ultimate sharpness with more recent designs with more elements, if that matters to you. I know some people leave this lens at f1.8 all the time for maximum DOF and provided you want the background blurred this can work well. Lens compensation (in-camera or on the PC) takes care of most of the usual faults, except axial CA at full aperture which can very occasionally be objectionable. I find it makes a good companion to a travel zoom, ideal to stick on for those night pictures where the f1.8 helps and (as I said) works okay as a near-macro lens with a simple extension tube. |
; 20MP| jml79#45790 date: Nov-29-2021 | |
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sharpness: 4.5 color: 4 build: 3 distortion: 5 flare control: 4 overall: 4.1 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Samyang 14mm f/2.8 MF MK2 Tamron 20mm f/2.8 FE Tamron 35mm f/2.8 FE Sony 50mm f/2.5G FE Sony 85mm f/1.8 FE Sigma 35mm f/1.4 Art (A Mount) Sony 50mm f/1.4 (A Mount) Tamron 90mm Macro f/2.8 (A Mount) Sony 135mm f/1.8 (A Mount) Sony 28-75mm f/2.8 SAM (A Mount) And lots of others. |
| price paid: | 200 (Cdn, Used) |
| positive: | Small, cheap, decent IQ |
| negative: | Slow AF on older bodies (A7ii and older), noisy AF motor. |
| comment: | Decent lens that holds up to the 42mp sensor. Some coma at the corners but not a lot, mild colour fringing. Overall a decent lens for the price. I'll often carry it if I think I might need something faster than f/2.8. Make sure you update the lens and it works much better on 3 series bodies than the older original or 2 series. The AF is very slow on the older bodies. This is an updated review after buying an A7Riii. |
| ganchoo#45665 date: Mar-15-2021 | |
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sharpness: 4.5 color: 5 build: 4 distortion: 5 flare control: 5 overall: 4.7 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Sony 24-105 G f/4 OSS, Minolta 50mm 1.4, Samyang 35mm 2.8 and many others. |
| price paid: | £109 |
| positive: | Light, fast 1.8, E mount full frame, natural colours, cheap in comparison to others, small lens, relatively responsive AF on my Sony A7. I believe it may behave better with Sony A7 III onward, 49mm tread filter. |
| negative: | Plastic build, Noisy AF but OK as long as you do not shoot video with AF. A bit soft wide open, |
| comment: | I want something light and good and all this would be Sony 55 1.8 but it is expensive so I got Sony 50mm 1.8 instead. As a quality my Sony 24-105 G f/4 lens is much better in every aspect but it is not fast and it is not light. As you may espect on Sony A7 I prefer light lenses. I do have Samyang 35mm f/2.8 and is a fantastic lens but I found I prefer 50mm to 35 mm especially for portraits with 35mm lens you must be in someone private distance that is not convenient for me.I do have Viltrox AF 85mm f/1.8 but is heavy. On the other hand if I buy Samyang 45mm f/1.8 it will be very close to my Samyang 35mm f/2.8 I would not use Sony 50mm f1.8 for fast moving objects or sport just because the AF is not responsive enough but it is nice lens and does not brake the bank. |
| A68noob#45651 date: Feb-27-2021 | |
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sharpness: 5 color: 4 build: 4 distortion: 5 flare control: 4 overall: 4.4 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Sony 50 1,4 Minolta 50 1,7 |
| price paid: | 80€ used, good cdt. |
| positive: | +very light, tiny.. fits a7 very well +very good low budget build: solid and nicely looking plastic, and not nearly as cheap as the extremly awful A-Mount 50 1,8. +very precise and nicely dimensioned MF ring +best "minolta" colours i have ever seen.. even in harsh lighting situations this lens delivers superb images on a7 (as a APS-C user for years, this is another world of photography) +in most situations surprisingly pleasing bokeh (thanks to full frame and thin DOF) +excellent IQ straight out of camera a7 .jpgs +sharp, detailed pictures even at F1,8 (very surprised by that) +slightly stopped down even sharper +only the very very slightest purple fringing in extreme situations even at widest apertures (how can a Zeiss be even better?) - only seen in pixelpeeping! +cheapest FE lens you can get.. with everything you want: fast aperture, sharpness, colours, build quality.. all well done +best flare control i have ever seen.. only a small flare with strong contrast remaining +beautiful sun rays.. shooting straight into the sun is pleasing! +distance encoder for MF on screen (a7) |
| negative: | -bit noisy, slow and sometimes even inaccurate AF.. easily the worst AF i have ever seen (on a7) -MFD could be closer.. bad magnification |
| comment: | As mentioned above.. colours, sharpness, saturation are the best i have ever seen. Straight out of camera jpgs are already mindblowing in many situations.. this combination is an eye opener to my photography after years of APS-C usage (even the best camera: A77ii). 50mm on APS-C feels very limiting anyway. I have shot hundreds of pics with this lens already in a short period of time and most of them were at F1,8. This is another dimension coming from old 1,7 Minoltas. Almost no purple fringing, significantly sharper wide open, no low contrast flare, nothing hazy, shooting straight into the sun is possible.. just epic.. BUT: i really prefer the AF of screw drive minoltas compared to this Fail-AF-Drive. I am aware that AF on A7 and A7ii is not really good, nor quick.. but this lens is ALWAYS hunting for focus. No matter the lighting, no matter the subject, no matter if it is stationary with AF-S.. always hunting. My screwdrives on the other hand usually always snap directly onto the subject - the accurate focus is not as high, but a much better feeling than the continously hunting, slightly noisy AF on this relatively new lens.. this is very disappointing and feels like a dinosaur. (a7 + FE50 with latest drivers even). After some research the hunting focus is a design "issue".. So treat it is a MF (with focus peaking, focus magnification and distance enocder on a7 it is already very pleasing) and you will have a good time. Small camera, small lens.. stunning IQ = a joy to use. Another style of photography. This is now my main walk around lens/camera combination and i am very happy with it, especially for the price, but i was still looking for an alternative. Zeiss 55 1,8 - approximately 6x more expensive in similar condition.. but i highly doubt its even 1,3x better than this one.. after reading some reviews i can add the following: AF is obviously better on Zeiss, better Flare control, weather sealing and better corner sharnpess near max aperture.. if this is not crucial to you, the FE 50 is a no-brainer! Edit #2: I added 5* on sharpness again because the low sharpness issue on most pictures taken at F8 was caused due to missfocus. With manual focus it was all good again. I have obtained now another copy and will come back once i did testing if things now work as they should. I also thought in the beginning that the lens is the reason why the colour cast is that nice, but it is just the standard rendering of a7 camera, as colours ALWAYS look the same just as FE 85 or Samyang 85 ones. On A-Mount there was always a big difference between Zeiss, Minolta, Tamron etc.. weird. Highly recommended. Ratings based on price/performance. 4* for build as AF is awful. Lens build itself very nice. |
| Collingsandheal#44344 date: Aug-11-2019 | |
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sharpness: 4.5 color: 5 build: 4 distortion: 5 flare control: 4 overall: 4.5 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I have experience with this lens |
| compared to: | Sony E 10-18mm. Voigtlander FE 15mm. Batis 18mm. Batis 25mm. Zeiss 16-35mm f4. 16-35mm GM. Sony FE 28mm. Zeiss FE 35mm. Batis 40mm. Samyang FE AF 45mm. Sony FE 50mm. Sony FE 50mm macro. Zeiss FE 55. Sony FE 85. Sigma A FE 135mm. Sony 70-200 GM. Sony 100-400mm GM. |
| price paid: | missing |
| positive: | Very inexpensive. Much better than reviews would lead you to think. |
| negative: | plasticy and, well that's it realy. |
| comment: | This is a nifty fifty. it is as good, image quality wise, as any 50mm prime from the Sony Minolta A-mount era and it very fairly priced. Highly Underrated. |
| minolta_mutley#44198 date: Dec-16-2018 | |
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sharpness: 4 color: 5 build: 4 distortion: 5 flare control: 4 overall: 4.4 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Minolta 50mm f1.7 |
| price paid: | 159€ |
| positive: | the lens is sharp affordable metal mount low weight compact even with the hood |
| negative: | The AF is very slow on nex-c3, a6000, rather slow on A7II - usable on the A7RII (good enough in normal light conditions - and still usable with non-moving subjects). Sony should have tried to make a pancake lens out of this. I'm missing the built-in lens-hood as is in the Minolta 50mm f1.7. Form of sun-stars could've been better. |
| comment: | It's a cheap lens well suited for portrait, and still images. Not so well suited for moving objects unless used on more recent FE-mount body's - there it can be used on slower moving things/persons (sports is out of reach). The lens is sharp enough, even usable full open - and it's the cheapest FE-mount lens available. I didn't see much color fringing. When AF-speed isn't an issue, and you don't need the f:1.4 opening - you can put this lens on your list. 2nd hand prices are at this moment around 100à150€'s. Be sure to update to the latest firmware - it helps a bit with AF-speed (version 3 from 05/2017). Hunts like hell at F8 and lower on A6000 + A7II |
| QuietOC#44197 date: Dec-16-2018 | |
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sharpness: 4 color: 5 build: 4 distortion: 4 flare control: 4 overall: 4.2 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I used to 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 & Sony (D) Meike 50 F1.7 Minolta MD 50 F1.7 & AF & RS Yongnuo YN50 F1.8S DF DSM 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 Konica AR 57 F1.4 Minolta MC 58 F1.4 |
| price paid: | 48 USD (used) |
| positive: | Smooth bokeh Corner performance stopped down Very little lateral CA 20 FPS tracking Lens Compensation |
| negative: | Axial CA Alignment/variation Shallow depth-of-field Dark corners Unit focus Slow DC motor No sealing Plastic focus grip |
| comment: | The first one I tried was a retail copy with 2016 manufacturing date purchased from a local camera story. I had bought a new retail copy of the Canon EF 50 F1.8 STM at another store the day before. I won the second copy of the Sony lens on eBay with claimed damage from a sports drink. I steam cleaned this copy, and it seems to work fine now, though it still smells a bit sweet. Then lens focus locked up again, so I disassembled it down to the helicoil and wiped the tracks off with rubbing alcohol. It now focuses much smoother. "Made in CHINA" This is a simple 6 element 5 group planar double gauss design like most other budget 50 mm primes including the Minolta 50 F1.7 lenses, the Canon EF 50 F1.8 lenses, and the Sony DT 50 F1.8 SAM. Unlike those older lenses the rear element is an aspherical which is a small innovation. Unlike older aspherical lenses it doesn't show much onion ring structure in out-of-focus points. The Canon EF 50 F1.8 STM is sharper wide-open in the center, but the FE 50 F1.8 has better edge and corner performance. Purple fringing is not particularly bad, but there is some axial CA. Be careful using it wide-open outdoors in backlit situations. This lens mostly gives quite smooth out-of-focus blur for both backgrounds and foregrounds. It has less lateral CA stopped down than the 55 F1.8 or the 50 F2.8 Macro. Like most E-mount lenses and the Canon STM lenses it uses focus-by-wire. The DC motor is quieter than the mechanism used in the Canon EF 50mm F1.4 USM or the Sony DT 50mm F1.8 SAM. The hybrid AF hunting can be slow in AF-S. It focuses much better on the A7III than the older cameras. The dull, soft plastic exterior looks cheap and wears poorly. But it is nicer to hold than the aluminum façade that adorns other lenses. The plastic focus grip harkens back to the late cheap film kit zooms, but it is usable. This slow focusing lens supports the 20 FPS tracking mode on the A9 while the older but faster focusing E 50 F1.8 OSS and FE 55 F1.8 Sonnar primes do not. |
| SPcze#40966 date: Nov-13-2017 | |
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sharpness: 4.5 color: 4 build: 3 distortion: 4 flare control: 3 overall: 3.7 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | FE 28/2 Zeiss 24/2 + LA-EA4 Tamron 28-75 + LA-EA4 Tamron 70-200/2.8 Li + LA-EA4 |
| price paid: | 220 |
| positive: | Light Sharp on 1.8 or higher small lens bokeh |
| negative: | AF, AF, AF, AF! for someone plastic feeling (not for me) |
| comment: | Great lens for static subject, but for moving things in lower light (hall ...) is really hard to use. AF is slow and pulsing ... but if it lock AF is really sharp with nice colors and bokeh. But AF speed ... |
| rogermolto.net#40952 date: Oct-24-2017 | |
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sharpness: 5 color: 5 build: 2 distortion: 5 flare control: 5 overall: 4.4 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | missing |
| price paid: | 300 USD (new) |
| positive: | sharpness color |
| negative: | af slow |
| comment: | I think it's a perfect lens to use in a full frame camera, with a very bad autofocus and construction. |
| chrisdaloa#29671 date: Aug-24-2016 | |
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sharpness: 4 color: 4 build: 2 distortion: 5 flare control: 4 overall: 3.8 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Sony SAL 50 F1.4 (+ LA-EA4) is sharper at F2.5 and AF is very fastest than SEL50F18F. |
| price paid: | 300€ |
| positive: | Light and cheap. Great sharp from F2.8 |
| negative: | AF very very slow, too slow. |
| comment: | I prefere my SAL 50 F1.4 + LA-EA4 adapter so I decide to sell the SEL 50 F1.8 FE after ony 10 days. The AF is very very slow to me, In portrait session with childer is useless. |
| Dr. Harout#28613 date: Jun-27-2016 | |
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sharpness: 5 color: 5 build: 3 distortion: 5 flare control: 5 overall: 4.6 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Minolta 50/1.7 FE 28-70 3.5-5.6 SAL2875 |
| price paid: | 248 USD |
| positive: | Very sharp IQ excellent Light |
| negative: | AF very slow and noisy |
| comment: | Sharpness is great, even at 1.8 the center part is extraordinarily sharp which gets better and better all over the frame when stopping down. At F/4 you will get excellent results. Frankly, I did not expect much but to my surprise it turned out to be a gem. |
| 2manycamera#27576 date: May-12-2016 | |
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sharpness: 4 color: 4 build: 4 distortion: 5 flare control: 5 overall: 4.4 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Minolta AF 50/1.4 Sony E 50/1.8 OSS |
| price paid: | 250 USD |
| positive: | Very sharp from F2.8-8, acceptable at 1.8 No discernible distortion Very light, but still feels well made, all metal mount While not a "bargain" when compared to other brands 50/1.8's, it is the least expensive FE lens currently available. One more positive step in expanding the FE lens line-up. |
| negative: | AF speed is less than ideal, pulsing and noisy. Noticeable CR to 2.8, much less 4.0 on on, but never got away completely. Not a big deal, but needs to be mentioned. Would have paid a bit more for a better AF motor. |
| comment: | Overall, there is not much to complain about in this lens, with the exception of the AF motor. This motor is noisy, and definitely slower than the motor used in other E/FE lenses. As an A-mount user, a bit of focusing noise seldom bothers me, but when the camera is in pre-AF, it is constant whirr-whirr, pulsing in and out. Focus speed is on par with the Minolta AF 50/1.4 on the LA-EA4. The motor is the reason for a 3 rating for build. Otherwise, the build is a 4. Optically, it is a surprise, a bit soft wide open to about 2.2, but sharpens up very nicely after that. Sharpness is pretty much across the field on a flat subject. Corners match up nicely to the center. Haven't shot enough to know if that is as true in more 3D situations. No distortions that I can see, and flare is well controlled, though I haven't put it to serious tests as yet, it's been cloudy and rainy since I got the lens. While this is the least expensive FE lens currently available, it is still more expensive than the major competition from Canikon, about the same price as the Panasonic equivalent, and cheaper than the Olympus and Fuji lenses that fit the same roll. So for the mirrorless market, it is by far the best buy because it will work well on APS-C, as well as full frame. Something that none of the competition can claim.Also, I'm sure it will get an instant rebate discount at some point, bringing it down to $200-225. Wasn't enough to make me wait to satisfy my lens lust. So if you have an a7 camera, and do not currently own the Zeiss 55mm, this is well worth considering. I've just updated my review since testing the lens on th a7Rii. Build from 3 to 4. On the a7 the AF was slow and the focus motor drove me nuts. The a7Rii's improved AF makes this a much better experience, definitely faster and doesn't pulse in-out nearly and much. I see myself using this lens more than I ever did on the a7. |
reviews found: 12
rating summary
- total reviews: 12
- sharpness: 4.46
- color: 4.58
- build: 3.50
- distortion: 4.75
- flare control: 4.25
- overall: 4.31
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