SEL50F18/S E 50mm F1.8 OSS E-mount Prime Lens

Having gotten used to the kit lens, it was time to branch out and that meant getting a portrait lens for that all-so-important bokeh that everyone looks for! After reviewing several sample images and opinions about what lens to get, I settled on finding a 50mm portrait lens and got myself the SEL50F18. What a great lens! Images are noticeably cleaner than the kit lens, and the f1.8 aperture makes for positively amazing low-light images. The detail in the subject along with the smoothness of the bokeh in the background is so easy to achieve with minimal effort in shot setup. Auto Focus is reasonably quick and in DMF mode, getting bokeh in the foreground and background is easily attained with plenty of adjustment in the manual focus ring. Construction of the lens is good too. Metal, lightweight, a little on the slippery side when new, but otherwise a tidy package. You get a lens cap for either end plus a hood to eliminate glare from the sun. The SEL50F18 is currently available quite cheap from some camera stores compared to RRP, even cheaper than new units from eBay! The only real con is the simple fact that there is no zoom, but that's why they invented legs to move you closer or further away from the subject. Of course no portrait lens has zoom, but when you learn how to position yourself, you'll probably find that you don't need it. If you've never used a portrait lens before, then this is the one to get. Cheap, reliable and produces some seriously tasty images. Highly recommended.

The little nifty fifty really lives up to its name, it has been a very versatile and amzinging little lens, while it does not have stablization built into it...it has a manual focus ring which really allows you to get hands on in manual mode. And if you reverse the lens in front of your camera you actually get a macro lense too....I would not use this feature outdoors as you don't have that tight seal as you would when you attached lens right way, but inside getting those close shots it's a cool feature. But all in all its an amazing lens that captures great portrait style photos and makes you move around and get into your environment and makes you work. And it does amazing black and whites. Thanks sony for a great little prime lense.