Customer Reviews

Sony DT 50mm AF f/1.8 SAM (SAL-50F18)

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I just bought this lens for a friends wedding to take some nice portrait shots. It was a bit of an impulse buy as I bought it the day before the wedding so had no time to practice with it, and as this was my first prime lens I didn't want to splash out too much. Wow. I am so glad I got this lens. The pictures turned out beautifully. The f/1.8 worked brilliantly in the low light conditions at the reception and it remained very fast so there was no motion blur in the portraits; nor in the smoke from the cigars they were smoking!

Some of the other reviews have said about there being too much "Bokeh" ( the nice blur of the photograph out of the main area of focus ) and I disagree, I think there is a pleasing level of it and it makes for some lovely effects, but this is subjective.

I do agree with another reviewer about it feeling plasticky, but it doesn't feel flimsy, but I wouldn't treat it any less carefully than any other lens because of it.

Since purchasing this lens it hasn't been off the camera and I think I will have a great time learning the ins and outs of prime lens photography.

For reference it's fitted to my Sony Alpha 300.

When I bought this lens I was looking at doing some portraits of my other half and her sister. It turned out to be the right choice.

This lens is a prime lens which means the image quality is better than most zooms would be at 50mm focal length. CA, pincushioning, and vignetting are not noticable on my example (on a Alpha 500 body). The autofocus is very quick and accurate and works quite well in low light compared to most other lenses, and the lenses' overall low light performance is pretty good. You do not tend to get the 'hunting' focus problem so much with this lens. The aperture of f1.8 is good at focusing out your background which really helps if the background to your subject is cluttered or distracting. It also tends to soften the subject a tad but in a pleasing way as though you are intending to. This can be cured if it is not desired by moving the aperture to f2 onwards.

On the downside on this lens the manual focus ring is tiny and doesn't lend itself too well to being used for that purpose which is a bit of a pity. Also, this lens has a diameter of 49mm which means if you have a Sony kit lens and you have some filters for it they won't fit unless you buy an adaptor ring as they tend to be 55mm diameter.

This is a good performer for this price and I recommend it if you are planning to start taking portraits.

I've had mine 4 months now and have taken the best pictures ever with this lens. The depth of field / blur you can create is great and it allows you to shoot in lower light than the kit lens (assuming yours starts at f3.5 like mine). Since using it I've moved away from opening it right up at f1.8 (as others have mentioned) because it can be a bit soft but some of the pictures I've taken have got great praise in online forums and my Flickr pages. I think every photographer needs a 50mm prime in their case. If I had the money, maybe I may have bought the f1.4 but I don't think you really need to. The auto-focus seems fast enough, not noticed it being noisy and because it's smaller than a zoom, you can get away with taking pictures in public without sticking out like a sore thumb. I haven't noticed that the build quality feels cheap - just like any of your kit, be careful with it and it will last. I've only taken it off the camera twice this year and put it back on within 10 minutes because it's so much better than my kit lens. Only problem is, once you try a faster lens, you'll want to spend even more on a large aperture zoom and that could hurt your wallet !

I own two lenses (apart from the kit lens that comes with the Sony Alpha 200) - the Sony SAL18250 (18-250 zoom) and this lens.

Between then, I get the best of all worlds - a good outdoor walk-around lens (the 18-250), and a nice portrait/indoor/low light lens (the SAL50F18).

The only downside of this lens (SAL50F18) is that it is a different diameter from most other lenses (including most Sony kit lenses), so if you have any filters, you will either have to buy an adapter ring or invest in another filter.

I've been thinking of getting one of these lens for a long time, so many people rave about the quality of the images through it, my mistake was I didn't get it sooner, since buying the lens it hasn't been off the camera, image quality is superb and the depth of field is amazing with the lens producing some very nice bokeh effects.

I've been using it mostly at the f1.8 end, many reviews say that to get the sharpest images you need to use it around f2.8, I'm happy wiht the images at f1.8 and love the effects you can achieve by focusing on set points on your image, the depth of field is so small at f1.8 that you can achieve so remarkable images with parts nicely blurred.

If you are thinking fo buying this lens, don't think any longer, just get it, you won't be disappointed.

i asked my niece the other day if i could take some snaps of her new born.This visit turned into a shoot if you will and i snapped over 400 odd shots for her.Even her hubby came along.Little did i know they had recently been to get some professional shots taken and were ripped off for four sub par pictures.I used my new sony sal 50mm sam portrait lens and soon became quite the pro myself.On my belly waiting for that perfect shot of Alfie...interacting with his toys with a 2.5 and 2.8 apperture set on continuous shoot.The pictures were breathtaking and i printed a number out and stored the rest on a dongle for my niece to take to a photoshop if she wanted any more.I learnt that this lens is fabulous and well worth the money.I printed out the pics for free and laughed at the 30 pound price tag of the so called pro shots.
This is ideal for portraits and group shoots and really sucks in the light.....highly recommended.

Sony SAL-50F18 SAM 50mm F1.8 Portrait LensVery happy with this lens, exactly what I expected after reading reviews and performance charts and samples. Well worth every penny and while the bokeh is a little wild at 1.8 aperture it is easy to go to 2.8+ to tone it down a little if needed. Portraits are just great and some very interesting (nearly) macro is possible with this lens. Buy one.

I've had this lens for about 3months now. This is a great lens at a rather good price. F1.8 is really fast, and satisfied my desires for a fast lens for low light and portrait shots.

Pictures are crisp and sharp, almost unbelievably so, especially if you've grown used to the kit lens. You'll find that F1.8 gives way too much Bokeh very quickly. I don't go below F2 nowadays, and its still quite fast.

My only qualm about is the build quality. It's quite plasticky, and I'd recommend insurance on this baby. Mine is still great, but I handle it very carefully.

been looking to get a 50mm for my sony a200 for some time and toyed with the idea of getting a second-hand minolta. looked at a good few reviews of this lens though and was convinced that it was great value for money.
at this price certain sacrifices are made with the materials used in construction. as 'S. Achamfuo-Yeboah' mentioned it is rather plasticy. even the bayonet is plastic. it does feel solid though and the lack of metal makes for a very lightweight piece of kit (compared to my sigma 35 - 70mm it weighs virtually nothing). as the a200 isn't a full frame dslr the lens has an equivalent focal length of 75mm.
the autofocus is accurate and quiet (but not silent). it produces images that have excellent quality right across the frame...i've not noticed any falloff at all. photographs suffer from very little distortion, colours are well reproduced and performance in low light is really good.
the wide aperture can produce some excellent depth of field effects but f/1.8 can be a bit excessive...f/2.8 might be a better choice.
very happy with this...it hasn't been off my camera for very long at all since i bought it.

Genuine Sony. Used to take portraits on a A300 and a A550 with in my opinion exellent results. Very impressed with the low light capabilities. have taken some good outdoor/scenic shots also. Does look a bit cheap/plasticy, but all lower price Sony lenses look this way. A good addition to your kit lenses.