Sony Sonnar T* FE 55mm f/1.8 ZA Lens
UPC's:
MPN's:
Tack Sharp Lens with Carl Zeiss Perfection!
Portraits, action, street photography. This lens does it all. And with finesse. This is probably the best lens I have ever purchased, as a hobbyist photographer. It has metal mounts and body, and is solid construction with quiet operation. I was wowed by its tack sharpness and fast auto focus. The bokeh is nice and creamy. Not much else to be said! Fantastic lens by storied Carl Zeiss optics. Buy it and see for yourself!
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
Stellar Image Quality, Perfect Size
I 'm very much into street photography and originally the FE 35 1.4 was my go to lens, but it just got to be too large and heavy to be a practical carry around. So I got this lens which is the perfect small size for street photography and compliments the a7Rii nicely. I am in love with the build of the lens and its image quality. This lens appears, to me, much sharper wide open than the 35 which is amazing for its size.
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
Good 50mm lens for Sony A7
Excellent 50mm lens for Sony A7/R, sharp across the frame, beautiful bokeh. However, in dim light situation, the lens keep hunting and very slow to lock on focus and I ended up missing alot opportunity. I prefer to use my Zeiss 50mm f/2 Makro Planar ZE mount in low light. The manual focus ring is not as nice as my Zeiss Makro Planar. It doesn't have the distance scale, maybe the lens is mean for AF.
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
No Stabilization. But awesome.
For me the lack of stabilization is a non-starter as we use this for hand held video and have become addicted. Maybe with the A7II we'll look at this again but it gave me the excuse to buy the 16-30. I don't feel badly.For stills the lens is awesome. But most of the stuff we shoot with the A7s looks awesome. I wish it would get in a little closer but it's so sharp you can crop with out losing much.
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
Very good and expensive lens
The optical qualities of this lens are well known, and I can confirm as very good to excellent. I am not sure that its price level is completely justified though. Considering that the lens is relatively small and light, is native Sony, has fast and silent autofocus in photo and video modes, there is really no alternative. There are better (and much heavier) options like Sigma Art for studio work.
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
Love this focal length and lens with the a7iii!
I've had a 50mm before on my canon, but this 55mm is so beautiful! Can't go wrong with this focal length, it's the best all around!! My husband and I both use it for video and photography, the portraits are stunning and so is the video capabilities and for product photography. It's a cute and compact lens also for gimbal use and hand held walking around! Love the zeiss / sony combo!!
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
WhattaSharpie!
I havent had the lens very long, but Im seriously impressed with its ability to image detail makes me think of graphic arts lenses I used 40 years ago. Contrast is high. Color rendition appears to me to be spot-on. These Zeiss inspired lenses are making me want to throw away all the Nikons & Canons in my gadget bag(s). Wake up Japan! Your competitors are eating your (market) lunch.
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
Just not a real lens
If you are goignto roll auto focus all the time, maybe this is nice for you. Me, i'm a video guy, and when i take photos, i roll in full manual. SO this lens is impossible to use. The electronic focus ring doesn't make sense to me as it doesn't have gears. It is touch sensitive, essentially; the faster you move it the farther it goes. anyway, i hate this thing ...respectfully :)
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
Excellent on the A7r
This is one great lens. Having used some Leica MF lenses on the A7r, and loving the results on static items, it is great to have a Zeiss lens with autofocus! While the MF lenses work well with an adapter, the absence of autofocus is huge when shooting moving subjects like ballroom dancers!This lens has great contrast, color saturation, and speed. Autofocus is FAST on the A7r.
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
Suitable for automatic uses
Shooting on the a7rii in automatic modes, this 55mm lens is a good prosumer product and visual quality is an improvement over Sony's cheaper lenses of this kind and its light weight makes it useful for many day-to-day uses. But when one needs to work manually, the lens is limited, and for those working in video who wish to pull focus and such, there are much better options.
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
Gem
This little lens delivers image quality I have only seen in medium format until now. Initially, I though it was a bit over prized, especially compared to a 50mm f1.8 for a Nikon or Canon DSLR. You really should rather be comparing this beast of a lens to the new Zeiss Otus monster. I consider this lens to be a must have, it will unlock the full potential of the Sony A7R.
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
Excellant lens
Like everyone else, I considered this lens and the (slightly) faster Sony 1.4. But decided to get this one because of size. The 1.4 was just too big for the Sony A7 that I have and seemed to miss the point of having smaller gear to do walk around shooting with. I am NOT disappointed. It is a beautiful lens, well made and very sharp and accurate in its autofocus.
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
Equal to a medium format lens
I've been shooting with this lens on an A7R II for a month now (just converted from Nikon.) The images are at the level in every respect to a medium format lens with this lens/camera combination. Stunning resolution and micro-contrast, fantastic colors, fantastic pop and contrast with only default processing of uncompressed RAW files in Capture One 10. Amazing.
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
A True Diamond
Got it as a first lens with my a7RII. This lens is super sharp and can't really find any softness or CA even when pixel peeping the corners. I recently got the zeiss 35mm 2.8 and it seemed soft compared to this lens. I thought there was something wrong with the 35 but it's just that this 55 lens is razor sharp. Really satisfied. Focuses fast and accurately too.
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
Top Drawer
This is one of the finest lenses I have ever owned in 40 years of photography. Unless you are making larger prints you may not get the full benefit but even so, the excellent aesthetic of this lens with either APSC or full frame is undeniable. I have several very good lenses in this focal length but when I want the highest image quality this is the go to optic.
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
Sharp! Sharp! Sharp!
When fitted to my A7Rii at 42MP this 55mm lens allows me to crop in to sections of the frame as if they were the whole original frame size. Color, contrast and auto focus speed are also very good. it's not an inexpensive "normal" lens, and sometimes I wish it were a 50mm or even a 45mm instead of 55mm, but I'm very pleased and impressed with the image quality.
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
Small, light, perfect
This lens is small, light, quick to focus, sharp as all get-out, and just kind of perfect. I bought the 50mm f/1.4 originally but a bunch of friends more familiar with Sony said I really had to try this lens out, so I did. One of the reasons I switched to Sony from Nikon is for the smaller, lighter gear and the 55mm f/1.8 was so fantastic I returned the 1.4.
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
Sharp, good build, nice size, great for video also
My first lens for my a7R III, just moved from Canon. It is as sharp as any lens I have used, size is reasonable on the mirrorless body, same quality as a Canon L lens. The price was good for what you get. No issues with video the AF motor is silent. The only issue is the lens is not compatible with Pre-AF which is disappointing since it is a native lens.
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
After six months of heavy use...
...I can easily recommend this lens with no reservations. If you have the $, you won't be disappointed. A perfect size/weight match for my A7ii, this is my most used lens. This is the only Sony FE lens that everybody raves about all the time. Seriously, look around the internet, top reviews everywhere. If you can only have one FE lens, this should be it.
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
Ridiculously good lens!
Everything about the performance of this lens is disgustingly good. Sure you do pay for it considering most 50ish FL are 1/4 of the price. But if you want a stunning performer in this focal range, you will not be disappointed. The rendering of images is beautiful especially with portraits. There is this unquantifiable quality to the photos it delivers.
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
Great optics, a little on the long side
The lens is very sharp and seems optically superior. Materials are of high quality and well crafted. I only wish it was a 50mm and not the awkward 55mm. I almost would have preferred a compact F2, more like the 35 FE. Given the shortage of lens choices in the Sony FE lineup this one is a no brainer. Probably the best optics available on the A7/R
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
A very good lens to own
I have only owned this lens for a short time but thus far very pleased to have it. It's very light weight and the 55mm is a good overall lens for capturing most images. The separation for close objects wide open is very impressive. I'm looking forward to taking advantage of the speed of the lens in low light when the situation presents itself.
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
Fantastic IQ and Build quality.
I purchased this lens alongside the A7mk2 kit and couldn't be happier. At the moment it's probably the best lens I've owned thus far in terms of IQ and build quality. Brilliant color,sharp images and fast accurate focus is what this lens brings to the plate. If the focal length suits your needs I highly recommend this lens as part of your kit.
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
The best reasonably sized normal lens ever?
Of the nearly 20 normal lenses from many makers I've owned, I have to say this is the best all rounder, ever. Great at all apertures, accurate autofocus, small and light. Faster 50s may suck in more light but unless you really want that nostalgic glow, smeared corners and heavy vignette, none can touch this lens wide open. I am astonished.
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
