Sony FE 50mm f1.8

Here’s an odd thing. The Olympus 17mm f1.8 was my favorite lens for the m4/3 bodies, but the Sony FE 50mm f1.8 is easily my most oft-used prime lens in first month of using the Sony A73. The very first lens I owned during my Nikon SLR days – 33 years ago wow – was also a 50mm too. The 50mm was one of the only two lenses I owned for the system for a good 15 years, the other being the Nikkor 70-210mm f4-f5.6.

Like the 35mm, there are options in the ‘Nifty Fifty’ focal length. They include the Sony Planar T* FE 50mm F1.4 ZA, Samyang 50mm f1.4, Zeiss Loxia 50mm f2.0 Planar T*, Sony 50mm f2.8 Macro, Sony Sonnar T* FE 55mm F1.8 ZA, and what I settled for as one of my two starter lenses: the Sony FE 50mm f1.8. This lens is easily the cheapest of the six options listed here, but also receiving decidedly very mixed reviews for it: with many owners and reviewers noting that aside from price as its largest advantage, is also basically ‘so-so’ in AF, build-quality and center sharpness. It’s, optically and mechanically, a step-down from the m4/3 equivalent I have – the Panasonic Leica 25mm f1.4 – but at the low price-point I paid as a price-with-purchase with the A73, I can’t complain too much!

The Sony FE 50mm f1.8 with the A73. Nicely balanced with the camera, and also a very light lens too. It weighs 186g vs the Panasonic-Leica 25mm f1.4’s 200g.

Pictures!

1/60s, f1.8, ISO500, flash-fired. One of the first pictures I took with the new camera a month ago.
1/60s, f1.8, ISO500, flash-fired. On the same first evening of quick pictures to make sure I had a working A73!
1/125s, f1.8, ISO640 @ Popular Bookstore Nex. H was figuring out how to spend the first bit of her Edusave Award money – and took my suggestion: a Boggle set!
1/80s, f2.8, ISO1600, flash-fired. I posted this shot picture earlier to show how crazy good Eye AF is.
1.60s, f1.8, ISO400, flash-fired. When set to face-priority, the camera will do a better job not getting deceived by non-human foreground items. This shot was taken using AF-C and Eye-AF: practically no chance to fool the Sony A73!
1/60s, f1.8, ISO200, flash-fired. Another 10cm or so and Peter’s foot would have kissed the front lens element! Another example of how good AF discernment is.
1/60s, f5, ISO1600, flash-fired.

Looking forward though, this is one focal length I’ll definitely upgrade from at some point. The family studio shoot we did last month was using a 50mm f1.4 lens, so that was one I’ve been quite interested in investing when I move to full-frame. But the Sonnar T* FE 55mm F1.8 ZA is currently widely considered to be one of the two sharpest lenses in the FE system at good price-points (the other being the Sony FE 85mm f1.8). And there are plenty of owners of the lens here on the island, which makes it fairly easy to get one from the pre-loved market.

The posts in this series:

Samyang 35mm f2.8 FE

Sony FE 50mm f1.8

Sony FE 24-105mm f4.0

Sony FE 16-35mm f4.0

Sony FE 85mm f1.8

Tamron 70-200mm f2.8