Most camera marques now have an inexpensive 50mm lens in their ranges. These are often described as "nifty fifties" or "plastic fantastics", the implication being that they are cheap and cheerful, but often superb performers as well.

Excellent central sharpness; Low central CA; Very easy to use effectively; Direct manual focus feature; No flare issues

AF slow; Visible edge CA; Fairly soft edges

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.

This is not the correct picture or model presented here. Just returning the received package. They delivered me - FE 50mm F1.8(SEL50F18F) instead of this one as shown in picture - E 50 mm F1.8 OSS (SEL50F18) [...] FE50 mm stands no where close to E50 mm in terms of performance.

Non in particular

Most camera marques now have an inexpensive 50mm lens in their ranges. These are often described as "nifty fifties" or "plastic fantastics", the implication being that they are cheap and cheerful, but often superb performers as well.

The new lens features the traditional double-Gauss design with 6 elements in 5 groups. With a minimum focus distance of 1.48’ (0.45m), however, it also features an aspherical element, which is unusual at this level. As you might expect, there are some concessions compared with the high-end models.

It's no secret that the Alpha 7 series of full-frame compact system cameras (CSC) has been a runaway success for Sony. By providing excellent image quality in a package that's smaller and more portable than any comparable full-frame DSLR, it has become one of the most popular of the new breed of...

This is much better then the kit lens in sharpness and details. I would buy it again.

The f1.8 lets in a lot of light; That makes the lens very fast to focus in normal light; Great for portraits and flower shoots with tight depth of field; Very sharp lens; In manual focus on the a6000 it is unbelievable focus control on Zoom

It is prices; Fixed focal length

It's no secret that the Alpha 7 series of full-frame compact system cameras (CSC) has been a runaway success for Sony. By providing excellent image quality in a package that's smaller and more portable than any comparable full-frame DSLR, it has become one of the most popular of the new breed of...

Excellent image quality; Low price

Slow focussing speed

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