Sony - E 50mm F1.8 OSS Portrait Lens (SEL50F18/B), Black

It has a relatively fast aperture to take pictures at lower ISO at night. The 30mm is a ~50mm FF equivalent, so the focal distance is pretty similar to the human eye, which means it feels pretty natural to use it. The blades are shaped outward instead of inward, but this is an irrelevant aesthetic choice: bokeh is smooth; not class-leading but you won't find much better out-of-focus performance at this price - or even higher, judging from reviews I saw online before purchasing this Sigma.Doesn't weight much and is compact. The lens is very sharp starting from f/2.8. By F/4 it is super sharp, so much so that I've set mine to f/4 and never change it when using it during the day. If you want greater subject/background separation, then use f/2.8, while not as sharp you will be happy about the results, it's already much sharper than any kit-lens. Going to f/5.6 yields no benefit in sharpness and by f/8 it starts getting softer.If you want to use f/2.8, f/4 or f/5.6, this Sigma will make you happy. I'm adding a couple pictures: my dog at f/2.8 and a wine glass at the same aperture at night with heavy bokeh (muddiness of the picture is due to post-process noise reduction, as my 5N is old and created lots of noise in this hand-held picture. A newer mirrorless would yield much better results on this Sigma.

I took a vacation and used this lens almost exclusively while I was there, it took amazing photos and I was amazed, as was everyone else who saw the pictures, at how they turned out.

A far superior lens compared to the stock Sony 16-50mm. One should note that this lens is capable for auto focusing on the A6000. However it is marginally slower than the stock lens at auto-focusing. You will have to manually adjust the focus, shutter speed, and ISO to get the best results for Macro photography. The aperture is caps out at f2.8. The colors and sharpness is phenomenal for a $200 prime lens. I would recommend this lens over the stock Sony lens if you're starting out because the images come out much better IMHO. Here's a sample photo that was shot in RAW, and adjusted to my liking in CS6. I'm pretty new to photography so one can get accustomed to this type of lens quite quickly.

It kind of boggles the mind as to how Sigma managed such a great lens for the price it sells for.Good:- Crazy sharp even at f2.8. Corners are pin sharp at f5.6.- Outstanding flare control in direct sunlight. Lens hood is probably not needed at all.- Small and lightweight for such great optics.- Amazing colors and 3D "pop" due to coatings and simple optical design.- Very little vignetting at around 0.75 stops, which is amazing for any lens, let alone a little cheapo thing like the Sigma 30.- Fast AF, and perfectly accurate in AF-S mode.- Takes the same filter size and lens hood from the other two f2.8 DN Art lenses. No need to carry extra lens hoods, filters, or filter adapters.- Doesn't seem to drain the camera battery like the 19mm and 60mm models.Not so good:- AF elements in lens will rattle when turned off. Normal, but annoying and unsettling.- Manual focus ring is precise when working slow, but terrible for quick movements.- Sunstars at f22 in the direct center of the frame will produce bad sensor reflections, but the problem doesn't exist with the sun away from the center of the frame.- Purple fringing especially at f2.8 on high-contrast edges.- Lens is so sharp that it out-resolves the 24MP sensor and can create color aliasing artifacts along with provoking artifacts in the RAW file lossy compression algorithm.

A good beginner lens for the price. I use a Sony a6000, and this lens acts as my 50mm equivalent. A good choice for keeping your camera compact, but unfortunately not silent. There is a distinct rattle that resonates from the inside of the lens (I think due to the electromagnetic focusing portion not being powered). If your camera is powered on it's quiet, but you will hear it walking around with the camera off. I don't find it particularly annoying, but it's a downside regardless. Since I purchased this lens, I have also run into a few occasions where the lens would not focus. It would "stick" at one focus until the camera was turned off and on again. It's only happened two times in 6 months and it could be my camera rather than the lens, but I am not sure at this point as both are new.To summarize, as a beginning photographer, I have found this lens to be a good value for a compact prime. The only downsides are the audible rattle and vary rare camera restarts.

Great on Sony a6000 when setting at APC-S (autofocus at the center only). The autofocus works well at the center. Even though the lens does not focus as the native lens when you set the camera at continuous autofocus, I still think this is a great lens. The photos I've taken with it on a6000 are really sharp. It doesn't have OSS like the native lens so I do use a tripod in windy conditions. The beach photo taken below is with a tripod and I'm pleased with the image quality for a lens at this price. The second photo shows how the lens performs in low light/handheld condition and it wasn't that great but this is expected.

Originally purchased the Sony SEL50F18/B 50mm f/1.8 which is $100+ more than this lens, will probably return that in favor of this lens. It's small and compact, and the photos are sharp and have beautiful color. One thing I did notice (and consist with some of the other reviews) is the feeling of moving parts inside the lens when it is off. Nevertheless, the lens works perfectly.

Bought this lens for my A6000, the 35mm F1.8 lens from Sony was $450, since i'm not a professional photographer i was not looking to spend so much, at more than half the price of the Sony lens this was great value for money. It came highly recommended by other friends who are professional photographers.

The lens is pretty fine, not very good for very low light since it lacks OSS. I did proper research before purchasing and it is good for the price (it is not cheap, do not get confused by the wording).However, my lens arrived *with* *dust* inside the front glass. I know it will not appear on the final pictures most likely but since they are brand new, it is not nice to get a sophisticated piece of glass with dust inside (probably from Factory or bad sealing) that cannot be removed.Overall good lenses, but the quality of it is arguable. Perhaps just a bad item, but read other comments out there with similar issues.

This is an excellent lens, with a wide aperture of f2.8. Generally the image quality is very good, however the auto focusing on the lens is a little sluggish on my NEX 3N, especially in poor light when the lens / camera combination will "hunt" for a focus point. I tend to use the camera in Aperture Priority, and leave the focusing settings on the camera to "AF - Flexible Spot" then adjust the focus point manually, this results in faster, more accurate focusing.Just upgraded my camera to the Sony a5100, and the focusing is much improved, I can now use the "touch-screen" to focus very accurately. The lens is a great "Prime" lens for e-mount, with excellent clarity, just look at the detailed fur on the bear. An absolute bargain, with a decent lens pouch as well. The lens will rattle when the camera is switched off, so don't be alarmed this is quite normal, with the power on the lens is virtually silent in operation.

Great product on my Lumix GM1. Super quality images compared to stock lens. Looks good too with the silver on my black machine. Impressed with the build, the packaging (little pouch supplied) and the price. It's too big for the micro system to now fit in the pocket but it's worth it. Useful for both portrait and street + not bad for close up shots of the flowers etc...

No big review only to say can't fault this budget lens, tack sharp photos if that's the look you want, fast focus. The lens is easily a match for the Nikon 50 mm prime on my D7100 used on an Nex 5...EDIT NOTE: almost 2 years later this lens has risen in price between 30-50 pounds depending where you buy it, ludicrous,manufacturers and retailers taking advantage of the increased popularity of CSC's. I still stand by it being a decent lens but it's not worth 150 quid+....

I purchased this lens to fit my Sony a6000 camera. Having read some great reviews on this lens, I was not surprised that it performed well. I was surprised to find it performed much better than I expected though. The contrast and sharpness of this lens is at better than I thought it would be for the price. It's my go to street photography lens. With this lens you get sharp images at a very fair price.