Product Reviews

Very pleased with the sharpness and colour rendition of the lens. Beautiful DoF and very sharp if used as a Manual focus lens. The autofocus is very slow, it hunts a lot unless the light is really good, however ,when it locks on the focus is spot on, not too concerned as this is common on Macro lenses. Used as a 100mm prime, it is superb.

I have had this lens about a month, have had great results in Macro.

Nice lens, good contrast , but quite a bit of focus hunting in my lens! Light weight lens and feels cheep but I am very satisfied results with the resulting images.

I used it for weddings, shooting detail photos is the perfect companion for my A99. Love it.

I absolutely love this lens!!! It's a perfect addition to my collection. I have been taking photos of flowers for a long time, but I never had a decent macro lens that would allow me to get those extra details. This lens produces some high quality images. Colors seem to come alive and with great detail. If you're trying to decide which macro lens to add to your collection, this is the one to choose. The lens can also provide that nice depth of field focus that adds that extra touch to your photography. Thanks to this lens, I am discovering a whole new facet of spring that I have not really explored.

The advantage of this lens over Sony's other macro offerings is the much greater working distance (6.2" vs 1.9" for the 50mm or 3/4" for the 30mm). This makes lighting the subject much easier, as well as closeups of live, moving subjects that might run away with a massive camera millimeters from their heads. The longer the focal length, the greater the working distance for 1:1 magnification, but beware the changes in perspective for different focal lengths. Also on the plus side, the 100mm focal length is good for portraits, and this lens is very workable in that function, so perhaps easier to justify than Sony's other Macros based on its dual purpose. The bokeh is smooth and pleasing. The downside, and I'm nitpicking, is the slight decrease in sharpness I observe wider than about f/4. There's also a bit of chromatic aberration, but that too clears up with smaller apertures.

This is my favorite lens. It produces the most amazing close-up photographs. I have used it on flowers and bugs, and even as a portrait lens, and the results are amazing every time. The clarity and sharp focus are astounding, even using larger apertures in low light conditions. The quality of this lens is very well matched to the performance capability of the A900. The only real complaint is the unreliable auto-focus capability: the lens jogs back and forth, several times, and often fails to lock the focus automatically--I have not figured out when or why it will do this, and when it might succeed. I still love this lens, however, and I am attaching a picture of the head of a dragonfly that I captured using manual focus.

I am a macro fan so it goes without saying that I ADORE this thing. It does what it was designed to do brilliantly. I do not see it as expensive. I think that its worth its price. I just love what it can do. The colors are excellent too. Especially when you know what ur doing in terms of lighting and all that. However, that being said, this really is not an easy lens to use. this is actually one of the hardest lenses to hand hold with low shutter speeds and at f2.8. Simply because at f2.8 the depth of field is sooooooo narrow that just breathing in and out, even gently, just throws your focus out of whack. But of course that is expected out of a f2.8 at this focal length in a macro. Anyway, all in all it is a great lens. The only thing I do NOT like at all about this lens, is the focusing speed and accuracy and sound. It simply refuses to see in low light. And when it DOES see, it takes forever to focus. its painfully slow and noisy. I really wish Sony would add a SSM motor to this thing. It really could use it. I know that usually you don't need fast and silent focusing with a Macro, but just how lovely would it be if you did. Sometimes there are fast moving insects that you try to capture and you miss soooo many times its frustrating. But other than that, this thing is lovely in terms of quality and it is an absolute workhorse.

I've had this lens for a little more than a year and I cannot find a serious flaw with it. The design is solid, witha nice wide focusing ring for critical manual focus. The weight is well balanced throughout the lens. It's fast and sharp, even at 2.8. The 100mm lets you stay back from subjects that might be skittish - bugs, bees etc... If you are interested in macro photography then this is a MUST have buy.

This 100mm macro is a very versatile lens. It's ideal for taking portraits of a single person, a couple, or several people in the shot. Simply move farther back to get everyone in the frame. The image quality is amazing. Super sharp, no color cast, no visible distortion, no chromatic aberration, and extremely high contrast. In short-perfect. It has very fast auto focus. The focus distance range can be pre-limited to the intended distance to the subject. For example if you plan to take only macro shots of 0.59 m or closer you set the focus limiter switch to 0.59m or less, so the lens will not try to focus for a distance of more than 0.59m. This speeds up the AF. I have taken fantastic photographs at a wedding, and extreme close-ups of my niece, and can record the "peach fuzz" on a four year old girl's face easily. If it's possible for a lens to be too sharp, this is the one. I also use it to make copies of prints I have and my mother's paintings. The lens is very well made and looks very impressive, inside and out. I hardly ever get into a situation where a zoom lens would be preferable. Highly recommended to any perfectionist.

Let's face it, you need a macro lens in your kit. Period. Once I purchased this lens, I found myself shooting more than flora and tiny fauna with it. I use it with the Sony ringlight frequently as well, which provides some unusual still life opportunities and exposure variations. Overall I rate it in the must have column.

I just finished a week of diving in Cozumel and bought this lens a few days before the trip. I anticipated i would use the zoom lens mainly for broad shots and the macro lens sparingly. It turned out to be the opposite. I used the macro lens after the second day and never put it down. The underwater pics I was able to capture with this lens were amazing. The sharks, turtles, angelfish, and barracuda seemed as if they were swimming right beside me!! It does take a minute to focus sometimes, but once I got used to it, it was a minor disruption. I was drift diving when I used the camera, so I was moving as well as trying to shoot a moving target. Needless to say, it was an interesting chase. I am very pleased with the results and would recommend it to anyone who desires clarity in their macro shots.

When considering a macro lens, I visited a local store as part of my research. I brought my camera, attached this lens, and fell completely in love with this lens. But then I decided I hadn't given it a fair test. My real world use did not include store interiors. But it was a cold cold winter day - totally different than my planned use in my garden. Two more times I visited local stores and each time I walked away without this lens because the price was high. But the third time, I had the store order my very own unopened box copy. Then I had to wait 3-4 days to pick it up. I actually had to wait 5 days before it arrived at the store. Just my luck, more cold cold days and strong winds kept me from finding out how wonderful this lens is in real use. I fully tested it for one day and was surprised to find myself using this lens for macros and other shots for several hours at a local zoo. I expected this to be a stay-at-home lens to be used only for garden macros. However, it is truly wonderful and fun with smooth bokeh for people shots and scenery. On cloudy days and indoors it is very fast. Sometimes it will hunt to focus but I love to manual focus with this lens and see my composition pop clearly in the viewfinder. Now I need a bigger bag because I plan to take this lens everywhere to see how versatile it will be as a permanent resident of my gear bag.

This lens is tack sharp. By far my my favorite lens for clean sharp closeups.