Sony 50f1.8
Gene Honnette
Sony recently updated its FE line, which now offers 16 full-frame lenses for Sony's E-mount Alpha cameras (not counting 3rd party options like the Zeiss Batis line, or Sony's wide/tele converters). Among the new lens introductions is the FE 50mm F1.8, what you might call Sony's 'nifty fifty'. We spent some time shooting with it in San Francisco this weekend, paired with the unforgiving 42MP of the Alpha 7R II. Click on the image above and see how the lens holds up in our real-world samples gallery, and have a read of some of our initial thoughts, after the break, below.
We were definitely pleased to see a lower cost full-frame FE lens from Sony - particularly a fast one. The Sony/Zeiss FE 55mm F1.8 retails for $998, and although it's incredibly sharp and quick to focus, the cost may put off potential buyers. The new FE 50mm retails for a much more affordable $249.99. The lower price point does mean some tradeoffs, of course. Let's take a look at some of them below.
MTF performance graphs, however, indicate the lens should be sharper than the Canon's 50mm F1.8 II (the MTF curves for the new 50mm STM are, for the most part, almost identical to the Mark II) wide open, particularly in the center. Sharpness and contrast appear very impressive across the entire frame by F8.
Just don't expect Sony/Zeiss FE 55mm F1.8 levels of sharpness, which is able to maintain both contrast and resolution across the frame wide open considerably better than the new FE 50mm (Zeiss chooses to show 20 and 40 lp/mm performance as opposed to 30 lp/mm performance for the FE 55mm, but you can imagine 30 lp/mm as a trace in between the green and blue curves below). Astigmatism is also very well controlled in the FE 55mm.
There are some compromises when it comes to the FE 50mm lens focus-wise. It features a unit focus design with a DC motor, a first for a Sony FE lens, according to Sony engineers. Unfortunately, this does mean slower AF speeds and non-silent performance compared to Sony's linear actuator and Direct Drive SSM lenses (to be fair though, those lenses set a very high bar). On the other hand, Sony assures us that the unit focus design allowed them to achieve higher optical performance than they might have achieved with a smaller focus element - for this price point and size, anyway.
One thing in particular we should call out is that this particular lens does not open up its iris during AF acquisition (on an a7R II, and probably all other bodies), which means that focus speeds get slower and slower the more you stop down. Sometimes at smaller apertures in challenging light, focus can fail altogether, working again if you revert to a wider shooting aperture. This aperture dependence of focus is unfortunate, and somewhat crippling in some scenarios, sometimes forcing you to dial in F1.8, focus, switch to MF, then stop down and shoot. Sony says this is intentional design to avoid the extra time it takes to open and close the aperture during AF acquisition - a valid concern. Focusing at the shooting aperture also avoids any issues due to focus shift. While this makes sense, the slower AF speeds from trying to focus stopped down may be more crippling in some situations: the resultant decreased light levels and increased depth-of-field both serve to decrease focus performance and speed. Furthermore, any focus shift issues (1) become less of an issue the further you stop down due to depth-of-field, and (2) can be mitigated via look-up tables that correct for differences between optimal focus at the focusing vs. shooting aperture.
For its price point and size, the aforementioned trade-offs are certainly understandable, and many will appreciate the availability of a low-cost fast prime for the popular Alpha E-mount series. The lens is incredibly sharp by F4, and wide open performance is still very respectable centrally, and will appear even more so mounted to a more forgiving, lower resolution a7 camera. Sharpness and contrast can suffer peripherally wide open at 42MP (seen as a dreamy haloing of subjects near edges), but things sharpen up quickly as you stop down. And to be fair, 42MP. We do hope, though, that the stopped-down focusing results are improved via firmware changes that at least allow the option of forcing the lens to focus wide open. In fact, we'd prefer if the system simply worked more like a DSLR: keep the aperture open at all times, only stopping down to take the shot. After all, depth-of-field preview can always be used to preview the shooting aperture.
can anyone recommend a good portrait lens for sony a6500. I wont be using it proffessionally or earning money from it. Just for some casual portraits.I know zeiss has 50mm f1.4 and 55mm f1.8 but i think they are costly for casual use so will sony 50mm f1.8 be good?
Looks like it doesn't get special till about 2.8. So basically, it's a kit lens with a few extra stops. At 250.00 I consider it a good deal. Perhaps a 35-45mm would be a more useful 1.8 AF cheapo prime. Whatever Sony's thinking- thanks. You don't often give us affordable lens options.
Going to return it.
I bought it Yesterday from Newtonville Camera. People who work there are very knowledgeable and very nice. They did not have time to close look at this lens yet so I asked them if it is fine for me to buy one and check it out?
Checked it on A7r. It is absolutely slow.
Compared to the AF speed of FOTGA adapter and Canon EF 50mm 1.8 STM lens with A7r, not A7RII. Result been similar in speed! While Canon lens was doing more fine back and forth movements to acquire proper focus, but it was doing so faster and resulting speed was similar.
In any case you can not shoot moving objects with either one. Some would say - "But it is sharp". Well yes, Canon is sharp as well. With Fotga EF adapter it cost me $180 (new lens + adapter) compared to Sony's $249.
Also, if needed, I can do FASTER manual focusing with Canon by utilizing Sony camera's focus peaking feature.
Hate to return anything to the retailers as I know they bare some costs to process returns, etc...
The EXIF data of the sample gallery's ARW files indicate that the firmware version of the A7R2 used was v3.05. That firmware version is thus older than the v3.10 that's supposedly required for proper AF behaviour with this new 50mm lens.
that is interesting, and it raises the question of how this lens will behave on an older a7 camera, like the a7r, that doesn't even have pdaf... i'm guessing that it probably won't open up the aperture to do the focusing... what about the a7, that has pdaf?
If what you are saying is true (and I hope that it is) I hope @rishisanyal will follow due diligence to test this once the lens is publicly released. Steve Huff in his impressions didn't mention such behavior at all - unfortunately the EXIFs of his JPGs don't display a firmware version. If the 3.10 firmware corrects this behavior it would be unfair for this article to remain unedited as it dissuades prospective buyers (like me!).
Is this behavior for AF-C focusing mode only? Sony handles focusing differently for AF-C and AF-S or DMF. For my A7rII and the SEL24240 lens, only AF-C mode has problems focusing at f9 or more (because the lens is stopped down). Gary Friedman discussed this behavior for Sony mirrorless lenses some time ago: =QlBWL_UVUS8.
the problem with keeping the aperture open all the time is that there can't be any true wysiwyg, because it doesn't show the dof, and the camera is not seeing the actual exposure that's being taken, until you press the shutter button, which doesn't give you any time to tweak the exposure, or see the dof.
with the shutter held open all the time, you'd be using the camera in "setting effect:OFF" mode, which basically sucks for normal usage, that's only helpful in extreme dark conditions, or studio strobe shooting... olympus keeps the aperture open all the time, and there have been multiple complaints about no actual wysiwyg capability, buzzing in the lens from the aperture motor, wrong exposures at both ends of the exposure range, etc., it's not nearly as good as sony true wysiwyg.
well, i suppose that you could enable both true wysiwyg exposure preview and dof preview with a button, but lets not associate it with a dslr! :) you'd still lose the constant true wysiwyg exposure view that we like on sony mirrorless, tho, whenever the aperture was stuck open all the time.
simulated exposure is not true wysiwyg, we don't want olympus-level performance, because it fails:
i agree that it could be implemented, sony already sort of does it with "setting effect:OFF", and there probably are scenarios where it could be useful, if done better than oly does it.
just don't lose the ability to disable exposure simulation completely.
Actually, Settings Effect Off does not fully do this, because the camera stops down the aperture to whatever it feels like if you point it at something bright. Perhaps it's afraid of saturating pixels, but it shouldn't be, b/c if turn Settings Effect to On and then force it to focus wide open in the very situations where the camera automatically stops the lens down when Settings Effect is Off, it focuses just fine...
I never needed to open the aperture in order to focus. Actually I am very satisfied with the autofocus of this lens.
I have bought the cheap sony a7 and the cheapest full frame Sony FE lens. I have also the Sony Zeiss FE 35mm f/2.8 which is super sharp at all aperture. The Sony FE 50mm at f/1.8 just offers shallow depth of field and good bokeh. At f/1.8 it isn't a really sharp lens. At first I though that there was a problem with focus or optics. After reading some reviews and viewing photos of other photographers I reallized that with 300 euros I can't demand the sharpness of my Sony Zeiss 35mm lens at 800 euros. Otherwise I should have bought the similar Sony Zeiss 55mm f/1.8 at 1.000 euros.
In lenses you get what you paid and very very few lens don't follow that rule. Well with 300 euros I can have a bokeh and a shallow depth of field that I can't have with FE lenses below 1.000 euros. That's the only reason for someone to buy the FE 50mmbf/1.8. The lens isn't soft. It is actually very sharp at f/1.8 when it is used for social networks. At f/4 the Sony FE 50mm f/1.8 lens is equally sharp at the edges and center. At f/8 is more sharp but even during daylight the handheld shooting isn't easy at this apperture. Under the bright sun the f/8 give enough light. But if you are in the shadow of a road the f/8 demands a monopod or steadyshot vibration control which this lens doesn't have neither my camera body. Another one reason of the 300 euros price.
The lens isn't heavy and balances by sony a7 perfectly. I was shooting in Vienna for four hours constanly and my hands weren't tired. The feel of the plastic is good. The lense feels very solid and its hood is light and good against flare.
I don't like that during focus the lens extends for two reasons. First the extension and retrieving of lens attracts dust inside and I don't think that this lens is sealed appropriately against dust. The second reason is the focus breathing. The focal length and field of view changes during focusing a lot. That's not good for video shooting.
The sound of autofocus isn't loud in open public areas. In a room it might being annoying. The autofocus is fast enough for me at all apertures with sunlight or poor lighting. The lens is compatible with phase detection autofocus. However I hadn't updated my sony a7 and the firmware didn't allow electronic phase section with this new lens. With contrast detection even during night photography I didn't have problems because I could wait for two seconds for auto focus. Those with sony a7R which doesn't have electronic phase detection at all and who want to shoot sport events or anything which is moving constantly will have problems with this lens and it's better not buy it. When I updated later the firmware of my sony a7, the electronic phase detection appeared and the autofocus was significantly faster.
Despite its big diameter the lens accepts the classic 49mm affordable filters. The front element extends during focus but doesn't rotates. So the use of polarized filters is easy.