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.

I've read a lot of mixed reviews about the lens and was expecting very ordinary images. But I've been very pleased with the results I've had. Expect that autofocus is slow and the barrel is plasticky. It's a low cost lens after all. But the image quality is quite good for a day to day amateur photographer - i.e. 95% of photographers.