Sony - FE 50mm F1.8 Standard Lens (SEL50F18F), Black

I have a confession. I am a bonafide pixel peeper. It’s a problem and I know it. Nothing gets me more excited about photography than to snap a picture and immediately review it, zoom it in 100% and see a sharp, clear image. I wouldn’t call it an obsession but the hunt for equipment that can deliver these type of results has cost me a lot of time and money. People always say to spend more $ on the glass and less $ on the body, well I tried that. I recently bought a Sony A6500 and instead of buying several cheap lenses I bought one really good one. The beloved SEL24F18z. Don’t get me wrong, that lens and body combo is really sweet but after trying it out for a few weeks I ended up returning both. The images were nice but zoomed in at 100% they weren’t $2300 nice. So I did some more research and decided to go in the opposite direction. Expensive body, cheap lens. For the same price of the A6500 and the Zeiss 24mm I got an A7rii (Amazon Warehouse used like new) and this “cheap” lens and I’m telling you the difference is night and day. I’ve never seen images this sharp. Every picture I take with this setup looks professional (which I’m definitely not). I was concerned that the high megapixel sensor would show this lens’ weaknesses but quite the contrary. I will say for optimum sharpness to keep it stopped down to at least f2.8. As with most lenses, wide open is pretty soft. Even the Zeiss 24 was soft at 1.8. Quick Tip: Update your camera body AND the lens As soon as I put this lens on and started using it I noticed some very sporadic focus hunting going on. It wouldn’t lock onto anything at all. The short time I had with the Zeiss 24 kind of got me spoiled with ridiculously fast auto focus. So I knew something was wrong. I plugged the camera into my computer and checked for updates. Both the body and lens were one version behind current. As soon as I updated them it was smooth sailing. Well smooth might be an overstatement. This lens is quirky. In good lightning it works perfectly. A little jerky but locks on. But in low light/low contrast it’s another story. It still hunts and is very hit or miss. For the price and image quality I’m willing to overlook poor low light focusing performance. Bottom Line. If you’re like me and scrounged up your last pennies to get the expensive body and are looking for a budget lens that has image quality over focus performance, this is it.

This is a great starter lens. As a beginner photographer (as I am) this is the perfect lens for me to take portraits with. The background blur and bokeh is really good for such a *cheap* lens. It also does pretty well in low light as seen in the first pic. I use the hood that comes with it almost constantly. I don't really like how the light comes in without it but I think that's just a personal preference. If I had other lenses I would definitely call this an ol' reliable. Even as my camera kit grows and my knowledge continues to expand, I can always see myself coming back to a 50mm 1.8. It just makes sense. An easy, lightweight, affordable lens that has great quality (I'm huge on quality) and blurs out the background to give you that nice crisp portrait effect? Of course, I will buy. Now cons: I will say that the autofocus is a tad bit slow. But, as I'm sure many other reviews have said, you get what you pay for. It's an affordable lens and you're getting pretty great quality. You might have to wait an extra second or two to get that thang focused but honey, once you do? I mean, you see the pics. I don't need to say more. Point is: beware of the shutter speed and the autofocus. If you're not taking your own pictures of yourself (like I am) then manual focus on your subject and you should be fine. Other than that this is a good lens. 10/10 highly recommend. Follow me on the gram for more usage of this lens lol @anaiahlateherr

If you're reading this and you see it for under $250, get this lens! This nifty fifty is light and takes very sharp photos. The bokeh is creamy too for the price you pay. We all know Sony lenses can cost an arm and a leg, so this is a refreshing and relatively inexpensive lens to consider. It's known to be best for portraits, but you can still use it for a number of styles of photography. However, I will admit the autofocus sound is a bit buzzy, so it may not be ideal for video unless you're attaching a microphone to the camera or dubbing over the audio with music. I've had it for weeks now and this 50mm is one of the sharper lenses I've had the chance to use.

This lens delivers sharp, detailed images — especially when you stop down a little (e.g. f/2.8–f/5.6). At wide-open aperture f/1.8, the center performance is solid enough for portraits or casual shooting, and as you narrow the aperture, sharpness improves across much of the frame. Nice background blur (“bokeh”) and subject isolation: The f/1.8 maximum aperture gives a shallow depth of field, so you can isolate subjects from backgrounds effectively — useful for portraits, street photography, and low-light scenes. Many users and reviewers praise the smooth bokeh and natural subject separation that this lens offers. Compact, lightweight, easy to carry: At about 186 g and relatively small dimensions, the lens is easy to mount on full-frame or APS-C Sony E-mount cameras, and is convenient for travel, street photography, everyday shooting. Its small size means you’re far more likely to carry it around with you than a heavy, bulky lens. Affordable and good value for money: Compared with many premium full-frame lenses, this 50 mm f/1.8 offers a lot of flexibility at a modest price. As a “standard prime” it gives you a great introduction to prime-lens benefits — shallow depth of field, better low-light performance, sharper images — without spending much. Versatile everyday lens: The 50 mm focal length is “classic” — on full-frame bodies it gives a natural perspective close to what the human eye sees; on APS-C bodies, it becomes roughly a 75 mm equivalent, often great for portraits, tight framing, or medium-distance subject work. In short: for portraits, street scenes, casual portraits, travel photos, everyday shooting — this lens delivers a compelling mix of good image quality, portability, background blur, and affordability.

Everyone needs a Nifty Fifty! Especially those new to photography who are yearning for that creamy beautiful background blur and beautiful soft bokeh. This lens will provide that and more and it's cheap compared to other lenses that are a step up. It's also a camera lens that should be in everyone's camera bag. Looking for your first lens that's not the kit lens? Look no more. Is it Perfect? No, if you really want perfect you're gonna need to spend a lot more money! This lens does have some issues with chromatic aberration but it's easily fixed in Photoshop and in my opinion worth dealing with from time to time to make beautiful pictures on a budget. Before this I was shooting on a bridge camera with a zoom lens. While I do miss the zoom the picture quality is much better now on my new Sony camera with this lens. ( like 1,000 times better. ) If you are new to photography and are shopping for a new camera as well here are some factors to think about. Look for a camera with a good sensor size, they capture more light and make better pictures especially where low light is concerned. Full frame cameras will deliver better quality photos. If you do need to get a crop sensor camera this lens will show less of the picture you might see in a full frame camera. You may also consider looking for something with focus peaking as it makes focusing a lot easier as well and will show you color filled areas where your focus is sharpest. If you aren't sure what these terms mean just google it up, it's worth doing so you don't spend money on some camera that the manufacturers site tells you is awesome. Do your research.

I’m am just learning photography and someone recommended this lens to me. I was previously using the kit lens on the a6100 and it was fun, but wow! I am blown away and so excited to use this lens from now on. I got this lens used but like new. It came well wrapped/protected and in its original box with the hood and lens cap. I’m very happy with how clean the lens was! Not a single trace of dust. So glad I got this “Nifty Fifty!” Some people mentioned that it is pretty noisy. I recorded a video of it on my phone so you can hear it focusing. I also took a video on my camera and played it so you can hear the sound my camera picks up of it focusing as well. It was no problem for me while I was outside, but it might be a little annoying for others if you are somewhere quiet. Since I’m a beginner, I’m also not sure how well this ranks as far as speed, but I went to a live photoshoot and I was able to keep up without losing any shots because of focus! The quality is pretty great for being so lightweight and compact. I don’t feel that is cheaply made, especially for the price. Big thanks to my husband for getting this for me. I love youuu 💗

I am not a professional photographer so my comments are for persons just getting into photography and wanting an honest review on this lens. BUY IT! Trust me, I own a Sony A7rii and I started out with a Sigma 30mm F1.4 Contemporary DC DN Lens for SONY E Mount Cameras, that lens gave me no ends of trouble with autofocusing, bokeh, and capturing all I needed in a photo & I especially hated my edges, pictures were ok though with editing and cropping & it wasn't that bad for video, but I literally thought it was my camera that was terrible. Eventually the lens had some huge problem so i got a refund and I decided I HAD to get a kit lens to truly see the potential of camera. With a budget under US$300, the internet said this was my best choice, and it truly was. Yes, the autofocus is not good (I just use manual focus which I much prefer anyway, & focus has worked fine for interview videoing), yes its very noisy, BUT these are the best photos I have ever taken, I love everything about this lens, the colors look better, the bokeh is still great, and I honestly don't think there is a better 1st lens choice for a Sony camera! Go ahead try it out and SAVE those coins for when you are ready for a true beast lens.

This is an absolutely fantastic lens for the price. If you're looking for a wide open aperture on a prime 50 mm lens, but it's not your go-to lens, look no further. This lens produces high quality photos that are great for portraits/low action shots. Haven't gotten the chance to get out and give any night shots a try, but between my 12mm fisheye, kit lens, and this one, this one stays on my camera the most. The autofocus is what people say. It's not amazingly quick, but it's fast enough for me. The price is the biggest selling point for this lens. at $200, you won't find quality like this anywhere. It's definitely not a video lens, but that's all right, I don't take videos. If you do use it for videos, I'm sure if you had an auxiliary mic, you'd be fine. The motors for the autofocus are pretty loud, but for photography, it kinda sounds pleasant. I haven't gotten to play much with higher end lenses, but I can imagine this gets pretty close to the picture quality of some other higher dollar lenses with similar specs.