Product Reviews

Bought the 50mm f1.4 some time back, to use with an Alpha A77. Pleased with it's performance as a fast prime, in combo with the 77. I have now switched to an A7Rll (fantastic camera) and traded most of my old lenses for EF's, but kept the 50mm F1.4 to use with a LA-EA4 adaptor, an glad that I did. It has proven remarkably sharp, with the bokeh that I have always craved since changing to digital cameras. It produces a slightly soft image at F1.4, but by F2 and higher the image is great. Of course, at the larger apertures, accurate focus is critical, due to the narrow depth of field. A first rate lens, capable of producing very pleasing shots.

If you're wondering and looking for your second lens to accompany your Sony DSLR then it has to be this one. Razor sharp at 2.2 and above and more than acceptable right down to 1.4. You really can't go wrong.

Small, light, great image quality, and 1.4 aperture. A brilliant prime that encourages discipline in framing and composition.

Color, crispness, clarity are all great, even in low light settings. Lots of flexibility when playing with the focal plane. The autofocus is fast enough and pretty accurate. For the price, this lens is a bargain.

I bought is lens in 2012 with my a850 and have some wonderful photographs ideal for evening and low light work and crystal clear, if I have any problems it's the fact the lens hood does not fit that well.

Value for Money

I'm still amateur and have yet to put this lens to a full capability test, but I'm quite impressed already. To get a good lens doing 1.4 for this price is just amazing. I have no complaints.

I go out of my way to use this lens. The 1.4 aperture is a lot of fun and gets great shots with beautiful bokeh. I've shot a couple weddings and this lens is indispensable in low light settings. I haven't really had any problems with focus or aberration. I'll switch to this lens from my zoom and run around to compensate because the quality of pictures I get is so superior in color, sharpness, and versatility compared to my other lenses.

The pictures look amazing in most cases.

Have bought this lens specifically for low light situations like in a aquarium etc. where the subject is not always holding still and fast shutter speed is required. The lens is very sharp. I use it on the A850 with excellent results. Can only recommend.

JUST BOUGHT THE 50MM 1.4 TO GO WITH MY A77. GREAT FOR LOW LIGHT ,GOOD COLOR , LIGHT WEIGHT, GOOD BOKEH. A GREAT LITTLE LENS FOR ANY CAMERA BAG.

Out of the box, this lens was amazingly sharp with very accurate auto-focus. After about two months & 300 shots, the calibration on the auto-focus started to degrade. It now focuses about three inches further away at f/5.6 at eight feet than what you are actually focusing on. It's not the camera (an A33), which is still quite accurate with all my other Sony lenses. I sent it to Sony, but they were evidently unable to recalibrate it, as the performance was unimproved when they returned it to me. The good news is that it's still incredibly sharp when focusing manually...

50mm is not too far or too close. In fact, 50mm is actually the most similar with human eye's sight (consider how much you can actually pay attention on or focus on) with f/1.4 it gives you very artistic feel of photos. Usually, lens has lower performance in the extreme fx of its own. however this 50F1.4 does not. Its image is almost perfect in f/1.4. and the price is so reasonable that you have to buy one, just in case to want to take some picture with it. (dark environment, flowers, close shot, etc)

It just came to my house today. It took one day to ship! Even though they said 5-7. I alms ordered expedited too. I don't know why I didn't order these lens earlier when it was on sale! It's so perfect. I just got it and I'm 100% loving it an satisfied. Sure it's a bit costly, but in my opinion, well worth the money.

I love the colors this lens gives. Other, more expensive, lenses don't even come close. I use this lens instead of a the more expensive zoom I have because I can crop photos taken with the lens and they are still sharper and have much more dynamic range.

I wanted to get good pictures with a very narrow focal plane. All I can say is the pictures are great and the price is amazing! The only drawback (which others have noted) is that f1.4 is VERY hard to focus. The focus is slightly off and hard to do with a moving target (like my godson in my pictures). I am now using it a f1.7, and seems to be much easier. But when you do get it right, the pictures are amazing.

I use this on my alpha 850. The lens, like most fast 50mm lenses regardless of brand, has some focus shift (change of focal point when stopping down), which for me only comes into play when shooting very close up (like 2-3feet or so; I either focus manually or use microfocus adjustment of minus 10 to 15). For more distant shots I use a microfocus adjustment of minus 5 and my shots turn out fine. The focus ring rotates when focusing, and sometimes my hand gets near it, so I wish it had SSM instead. However the focusing is very fast. I like the Bokeh the lens provides and I find F1.4 to provide a soft, background swirling effect that I like very much for some shots. F2 - 2.8 provides xlnt bokeh and good sharpness in the center and is useful for a wide variety of shots. Closing the lens down further, say to F5.6 or more provides pinpoint sharpness over the entire image and is great for landscapes for example. I'm pixel peeing at 100% screen mag with a 24mp camera, so this is high praise. This lens is a keeper!

This lens is better than you'd expect. It performs well, especially given the price. Images look great at the widest apertures, and superb at f/2.8. Limited depth of field definitely adds a nice touch to many images. Autofocus is generally accurate and is acceptably quick. The build quality is much better than the f/1.8 50mm. If you're on the fence between this and the cheaper f/1.8 50mm, I'd recommend this one every time. For the extra money you're getting a faster lens, a better built lens, and better image quality. The only bad thing I can say is that the focus ring rotates during autofocus and I tend to have my fingers resting there, which is startling, but that's nothing more than a minor issue.

This thing is fantastic. color rendition is fabulous. sharpness is crazy. I love it. despite that this does not have a SSM motor or anything, it focuses really quickly and with no fuss at all most of the time. You have to try really hard to NOT get the focus you were looking for. Love the colors. Love the sharpness. Love the accuracy. Love everything about it. Well almost....Build quality could be better to be honest. Theres this glue thing around the rim of the lens that keeps pealing away. But it is very minor and I'm sure that this is just an exception. I highly recommend this lens to everybody on earth. This is much better than its rival from Canon. The rival from Nikon is quite good too to be honest but the Sony is sharper and has better colors.

This lens is really quick and sharp, its been used on both A900 and A700 with stellar results. Portrait shooting is very pronounced with the 1.4 capabilities, not to mention the sharp crisp images. Since purchasing this lens I have used it in various photgraphic settings and it continues to deliver great low light shots. Its light weight and crisp characteristics will prove to be an esscential tool in your lens line up for day light and low light shots.

In the traditional sense, this would be classed as a normal lens. Sony has worked up a razor sharp f1.4 gereral photography lens with more uses than I can list. Being a prime lens fan, it is simply a must have for me.

This lens is excellent for portraits. This lens brings out the subject tremendously at an aperature of f1.4. Love it!!!

I have had my Sony A100 SLR for just over a year now and, until recently, had only used the 18-200 lens that came with it. It's a terrific lens and I have taken some wonderful landscape photos - and made some nice photo books, too. But I felt I was ready to "expand my horizons" and purchase a new lens. After much deliberation, I decided on the Sony 50mm / F1.4 lens - and I am absolutely delighted with it. The wide open aperture settings have allowed me to get some outstanding, tack-sharp shots - even when I've hand-held the camera. It will probably be a year before I can take the next step and buy another new lens for even more versatility - but I am really loving THIS one (in conjunction with the 18-200mm) in the meantime! And yes, as far as the camera itself goes, I really wish I had waited a little longer and saved a lot more - how I would LOVE to have the A900! The Nikon and Canon cameras are indeed awesome, but the Sony is a marvelous camera too and doesn't get the kudos it deserves!!!

This is a great lens for low light photography... you will not be disappointed...

Best lens to take some nice outdoor shots day or night, clear and crisp!!! Try it wont be disappointed!!!