Brilliant portrait lens, beautiful Bokeh, lovely in low light for picture quality, focus ring while lovely to spin is a little insensitive for my liking (feels like you have to turn it 5 times around to go from long to short.

Compact; Build quality

Complicated

The AF performance is very good for a contrast detection system (albeit highly dependent on the base camera). AF operations are basically noiseless. Manual focusing works "by wire" so the focus ring is not directly coupled to the focus gears but to the AF motor.

After frustration from the kit lens in achieving those creamy bokeh portrait images, I figured I needed this lens. Best decision ever. For this reduced price you're getting some quality glass that has sharp focus, super crisp images, is incredible in low light, and gets those creamy bokeh shots for...

As an economical way to get a "nifty fifty", the average Sony user probably won't complain about the Sony FE 50mm ƒ/1.8: at $250, it's one of Sony's least expensive lenses, though compared to other manufacturers, there is still a premium price.

Affordable, sharp, well-built, and stabilized—can you really ask for more?...

If you turn a blind eye to the build quality, the Sony FE 50 mm f/1.8 might be a very attractive alternative for the more expensive Zeiss Sonnar T* 55 mm f/1.8 FE. The cheaper lens is weaker at the maximum relative aperture, that’s true, but on stopping down it provides even higher MTFs while...

Very good image quality in the frame centre,; Good image quality on the edge of the APS-C sensor,; Low longitudinal chromatic aberration,; Imperceptible lateral chromatic aberration,; Lack of spherical aberration problems,; Negligible distortion,; Slight astigmatism,; Low vignetting on the APS-C...

Image quality near the maximum relative aperture on the edge of the frame could have been a bit better,; Huge coma,; Significant vignetting on full frame,; Slow autofocus.

For the price, the Sony FE 50mm f/1.8 lens is a must have for anyone that owns an E-mount camera. While it focuses slow and produces some vignetting, it also creates nice bokeh and handles low-light well . Read more in our Full Conclusion .

Lightweight and compact so it's easy to carry in your bag or on an adventure; Maximum f/1.8 aperture is great for low-light shooting; Great Bokeh for defocused backgrounds; Very Affordable at $200

Slight Vignetting; No Optical Image Stabilization; Slow Autofocus

The new Sony FE 50mm F1.4 ZA is impressive. Our friend Roger Cicala over at LensRentals notes its central sharpness performance to exceed even the venerable Zeiss Otus , as well as the Sigma 50mm Art. He even found it to out-perform the 55/1.8 centrally, but fall behind it peripherally.

The Sony 50mm FE retails for $250 and can regularly be found with Sony rebates for $200. The plastic build is about what you would expect at this price point, but the optics and image quality has shown me that this lens can punch above it’s weight when called upon.

The Sony FE 50mm f/1.8 is the fifth standard lens for the full-frame Sony E-mount (excluding the 50mm f/2.8 macro) and it is also one of the least expensive at just shy of $250. Since there currently aren’t many affordable lenses for the system, it is certain to appeal to beginners or those who want...