FE 50mm f/1.8 Prime Lens for Sony Alpha E-mount Cameras - Black

I got this lens probably for the same reason you're looking into it.. its the cheapest lens sony makes. It takes beautiful pictures and is a great beginer lens. The auto focus isn't the fastest, but the quality of picture if youre patient with it is still suburp.

I wanted an inconspicuous lens to mount on my Sony a73. The G master lenses are very large and draw too much attention and situations where you need to use caution. I recently traveled to a Third World country. I did not feel secure walking freely with a large set up. I bought this lens. The size of the lens and weight allowed me to move freely and capture what I intended without unwanted attention. In a world of dizzying sharpness and fascination with ultra clear images, This lens is not it. However, there is a very likable personality with this 50 mm. This has become my go to street lens.

This is a great lens with excellent build quality for the price when compared to the Zeiss, which takes sharper pictures but it does cost a lot more. I added a picture I took with this lens using my A7II.

If you've done your research, you'll probably know that this lens comes with it's fair share of issues, mainly the autofocus. I decided to purchase this along side my A7 III as I am new to the Sony world. I think it works pretty well most of the time. It occasionally hunts, but nothing that is deal breaking. The pictures are considerably sharp, but there is some vignetting wide open. The wide aperture is very nice though. Note that it can be just a smidge noisy at times. Also not a deal breaker to me.

The optical performance of this lens is very good for the price. I own many Sony A-mount lenses which I have adapted for use on my A7 E mount body. The sensor in the camera performs admirably but the size of the adapted lenses have always seemed large. The great news about this lens is that it's size is much more in proportion to the camera body. The sharpness and bokeh of this lens is impressive. The other choices for 50mm range native E mount lenses are the $1500 Planar, the $1000 Sonnar and $950 Loxia. The performance may not be that of the Zeiss-badged offerings, I bet that the differences would only be noticeable at near-open apertures under great magnification. The only small negative about this lens is that it doesn't auto focus with the lightning quick speed my A-mount SSM lenses do. The update to the latest lens firmware and focusing at a wider aperture helped the auto focus speed noticeably. The 50mm F1.8 will not be beat for the price.