Sony - E 50mm F1.8 OSS Portrait Lens (SEL50F18/B)

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Bought for portraits on my a6000. I like the focal length for portraits. Where this lens really shines is outdoor and low light. Some will say its not sharp enough wide open, but Ive found it more than adequate at f1.8. It blows the kit lenses out of the water. Very sharp and very useful. The only negative reviews Ive read say that it doesnt zoom. LOL. Its a prime lens. You zoom with your feet. Great bokeh. Very sharp. Affordable. Unless youre a pixel peeper, youll find it to be a very good lens.

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I. Love. This. Lens. This is my first lens purchase for this camera, and I couldn’t be more thrilled. I did a portrait shoot tonight and the photos turned out better than I thought they would have for my first ever portrait shoot. Highly, highly recommend this lens. You will not be disappointed.

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I purchased this lens to compliment my Zeiss 24mm 1.8 which Ive been using mainly, but decided to get a standard lens for other uses. I was a bit skeptical at first but then convinced that this purchase was well worth it. Yes, it does not perform as good as the Zeiss but definitely not far off, in terms of the clarity and contrast goes. See the pictures I attached and you will agree to what Im saying. :) I give it a 5 star for great price for good value.

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I am an amateur photographer. If you are also an amateur photographer, or even a pro, this lens is a must have for portraits on all Sony eMount cameras. It takes excellent, crisp pictures with creamy bokeh in the background, leaving you with a stunning photograph. Details pop — the aperture of 1.8 gives the photographer an amazing photograph. Don’t wait too long to buy this one.

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At first this was the absolute best lens but I know nothing about cameras. After a while I began to demand more and I noticed that finding focus was slow....slow for my expectations...and that I know nothing about cameras. If you are taking adults out for pictures this is great lens. If your taking a kid...well good luck.

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Overall I am OK with this lens, though if I could go back I would have bought the competing sigma 60 mm lens instead. The photos are acceptable, but if I compare to my Sigma 30 mm lens, this lens is no where near as sharp, though granted, it has a wider aperture and OSS, and is sharp, just not as sharp as the sigma. The reason I chose this over the Sigma was for the OSS, which to my mind with my A6000 would give me a larger number of usable shots. Overall, it is not a bad choice, however, if I had the A6500 with IBIS, I definitely would have gone with the Sigma instead, otherwise it is a toss up, if you want the OSS.

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When I saw the difference in quality this lens had over my kit lens when shooting portraits, I became a prime lens believer. Its simply unbelievable when I shoot a portrait from 10 ft and can zoom in to count the pores on the tip of the subjects nose. But its not just the outstanding detail and bokeh this lens provides - because of its aperture, focusing speed and OSS, I can get a lot of lazily one-handed burst shots (which I do ALOT) come out great than with the kit lens. 1.8-3.5 doesnt sound like much, but its over TWICE as much light - its a huge difference. But heres the deal-sealer: its a steal at this price and you arent going to get a better prime lens (much less with OSS and advanced/quiet autofocus for video) at this price or close to it. Downsides - its much bigger and heavier than the kit lens, or Sonys other (terrible) 50mm 1.8, and I had to get it in silver because trying to find the black in stock is nearly impossible. Also, since the a6300 is aps-c, the effective focal length in 35mm is ~75mm, which makes this lens of extremely limited use indoors. Today I brought my kids to their first day of school, and since we would be inside, I used the kit zoom for wide-angle, and immediately regretted it. I cant even look at pictures shot with the kit lens unless they were taken outside on a sunny day. This lens has made me less careful with controls, so I wind up screwing up shots with the kit lens. While it would be a challenge in an apartment with small rooms, I could have easily made this lens work in a larger schoolroom and would have been much happier with the results. Stop tabbing back and forth between the other lenses and get this one.

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As a noob, I was very impressed with the image quality of the kit lenses that came with my a5100. As a noob, I had no idea prime lenses would look any better than the kit lens zoomed into 50mm, at least in good light. All I can say is WOW. It has been an epiphany for me realizing how much of a difference a lens can make - such sharp, crystal clear focus, the shallow depth of field look, Despite its lack of versatility compared to the 16-50mm or 55-210mm that came with the camera, I find myself never wanting to use the other two because the images are noticeably better in ways I cant really articulate but you know it when you see it. More experienced photographers already know this Im sure, but any noobs who dont like the idea of fixed lens should really try one like this to understand the benefits. Update: Nearly 3 years later and this remains my favorite lens and the best Ive ever used. I love it for low iso 1/1250+ close up action shots like shorebirds, wet dogs running, skiing action portraits, usually with aperture nowhere near wide open. Also fun as a pseudo macro lens when paired with an extender tube. 6 stars

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This is an amazing lens not only for the affordability but for the quality of photos it produces. Nice clear sharp images with nice smooth bokeh and when paired with the Sony a6000 you will have the Dynamic Duo. Love this lens and recommend it especially if your going to use it on the a6000.

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This is the cheapest (best value) autofocus lens I could find for my Sony A5100. I wish it had an easier time focusing. If something is too far away or too close - it tries, but fails to focus which is really annoying. Seems like its "overthinking" and goes right past it being in focus to blurriness and locks in the blur. I took it out in sunset and night time to see how well it worked in low light and it could not focus on my subject for the life of me and I ended up using manual focus. I tried to get photos of my dog in the daylight also and still it takes too long to focus to take a good shot of a moving target. I already have a manual focus lens that I use for artsy stills and close ups. Was hoping this lens would be better. On a positive note though, if you are directing people and having a baby shoot or portrait or family photos, it does a great job of isolating the subject and capturing the good light with its low Fstop.

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