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For Sony DT 50mm f/1.8 SAM (SAL-50F18), 114 customer reviews collected from 2 e-commerce sites, and the average score is 4.7.

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22.7.2013

Sony have produced a surprisingly good range of cameras and lenses with the Alpha-SLT system. I'm a regular Nikon user, but I've been very agreeably surprised by the still and video picture quality from my Sony Alpha-55, and I was keen to see how a fast aperture prime lens would perform. I've already got the SAM F2.8 30mm Macro prime lens, which works very well indeed, but I wanted to experiment with the shallower depth of field which the F1.8 aperture has to offer, plus a lot more low-light capability than either my existing F2.8 Macro lens, or the F3.5 zoom lens as supplied with the camera kit . The first compromise is that a 50mm lens is not exactly a "standard" focal length with the alpha 55's APS-sized sensor,in fact it's equivalent to a 75mm portrait lens on 35mm film. Sony do offer a prime 35mm F1.8 lens in the same 'budget' range (this corresponds to approx. 52mm 'standard' lens on 35mm film cameras), but it's quite a bit more expensive than the 50mm F1.8 under review here, and I wanted to get the shallow depth of field look without spending too much. So, if you aren't planning to shoot too many room interiors or landscapes which need wide coverage, the 50mm F1.8 looks like the affordable choice. Sony also make a 50mm F1.4 lens, which is 'faster' due to offering a larger maximum aperture, and it offers even less depth of field than the 50mm F1.8. But this is a much more expensive lens (it's from an older Sony range which offers nice features like a solid metal rear lens mount) and more importantly the F1.4 lens doesn't have the SAM built-in auto-focus motor for lightning fast autofocus even in low light. The final other alternative fast prime lens for this camera would be a second-hand Minolta AF 50mm F1.7 lens which, like the Sony F1.4 lens, offers the more durable metal rear mount, but also doesn't not offer the built-in autofocus motor.So having finally bought the Sony 50mm F1.8 SAM lens, what does it have to offer?The SAM auto-focus motor gives very fast responding auto-focus action, and in conjunction with the selectable focus zones offered by my Alpha-55 it is able to find focus quickly on those parts of the image you want to focus on. When you switch to manual focus mode, the front mounted rubber focus ring gives smooth and accurate (if slightly noisy) adjustment of focus. All of my Sony Alpha lenses suffer from a noticeable mechanical whine when you turn the focus ring in manual mode, and this noise gets picked up by the on-camera microphone when shooting video. By contrast, my compact system camera is a Sony NEX-C3, and the e-fitting lenses for this little camera are silent in focusing.The other disadvantage of this range is the use of plastic overall in the construction. The front filter thread is plastic, so you need to take care not to cross-thread when screwing filters into place. Worse still, the rear mounting flange on the lens is plastic, while most other lens ranges offer solid metal mount flanges. So check these areas out before buying a well-used example.Finally, in use on my camera, it's a total win. Picture quality is excellent across the aperture range, with very good detail reproduction even into the image corners. The lens coating does a very good job of supressing flare, but you may need to use a lens hood when shooting into the light. Out-of focus areas blur very sweetly at wide apertures, giving the professional portrait 'look' I was after, and video focus pulls are easy to do. A great budget buyRead full review...
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23.1.2013

For the asking price (around £90 odd at the time of this review) this is quite a decent little lens.In many way similar to the Canon 50mm f1.8 the lens is pricey cheaply with a few downsides but nothing that is too scary at this price point.I'll kick off with the bullet list of pros and cons, I've used about 3 copies of this lens over various time periods and did not notice any significant differences between the lenses.Pro's:+ Well priced, for under £90 you get a fast prime for low light work/depth of field control+ Optics are good, decent performance wide open (ie usable at f1.8)+ Distortion is minimal and unlikely to cause a problem+ Nice out of focus redering mostly pleasing (subjectivebut that's my take)+ Some vignetting but not that bad really better than average for an APS-C lensCon's:- It is cheap but the build quality isn't anything to get excited about, plastic mount and casing are expected but I think the feel of the lens could be better (ie more density to the plastics) Not a deal breaker, nor would I be overly concerned about durability if you look after your lenses.- CA can be an issue it does improve a bit stopping down but it's seen esp on out of focus areas. Not unusual for a fast prime lens just something to note- SAM in lens motor has no real advantage over screw drive though the AF accuracy seems fine here. It's a little quieter than screw drive lenses but not silent. Focus ring is very small and a basic painted distance scale.- You cannot use DMF (if your camera supports it) with the SAM lens motor- APS-C only. Strange move by Sony on this as most makers have their f1.8 50mm primes as full frame lenses. Not likely to bother most, just bear it in mind if you sometimes use a full frame camera.- No hood. I doubt many will use it but it would have been nice to have oneOverall hard to complain for the asking price which is very decent. It's good Sony have an affordable prime lens for users to get started with. I would have liked better build, a full frame lens and a metal mount (and I'd happily pay more for that) It might be worth looking at the 35mm f1.8 budget prime for general use (50mm works quite well for portraits)The other alternative is the Minolta 50mm f1.7 which has a metal mount, is full frame and far superior build, built in hood and is screw driven. Optics wise they are fairly close though again copies of the Minolta can vary too.At a sub £100 price point the Sony lens is well worth investigating but don't pay more than that for one.
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11.7.2012

I recently got interested in photography and I wanted another lens to experiment with. I particularly wanted to be able to produce shallow depth of field or 'bokeh' and the kit lens I have with my sony nex-c3 could only just about pull this off in certain circumstances. I also wanted a lens with a large aperture so that I could take shots indoors without having to use the flash. This is the only lens I could justify at my current level of expertise, and let me say right away I was utterly blown away by the results.Yes the lens is cheap, and its fully plastic, even the mount. The focus ring is loose and gives absolutely no resistance.The only thing it has going for it without looking at its optical capability is that is looks reasonably ok.The magic happens in the shots this lens allows you to take. At f1.8 it is a little soft but I like it, and it adds something if used well. It is razor sharp if you close the aperture down. I can take shots indoors now without using a flash which is a major benefit and it simply allows me to do more with the settings on my camera. The 'bokeh' you get with this little lens is unbelievable and I have taken so many great portraits and macro shot using it. It never gets old.The Sony Nex-c3 that I have will only allow me to mount this lens using and adapter (La-ea1), thus whilst I have contrast phase detection autofocus available, its really crappy because it takes many seconds to lock focus. Apparently this is not a problem if you use the newer version of the adapter for nex cameras - La-ea2, or if you mount on a full sized sony alpha dlsr, where focus is sufficiently fast.When I have tried autofocus, I can say that the lens certainly makes a sound, but it is far from what I would call loud. I use it as a manual focus lens, and whilst it feels cheap when you move the light weight focus ring, it does the job adequately.There are so many potential down sides but in my opinion, the shots I have taken with this lens negate these utterly. There are lenses that are better performing and prettier lenses but nothing that is not multiple times the price of this little gem. At the end of the day, its the shots that matter and this lens delivers. Well done Sony for making a lens that is both exceptional and affordable for the masses.
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16.1.2012

For the past couple of years I've been using zoom lenses on my A200 as I didn't think that a prime lens would offer any real advantages. Well, I was wrong.The lens is very light (i.e. high plastic content) but I find that a bonus. It's easier to lug my camera around than with my zoom lens. As with all my lenses I fitted a UV filter to protect the lens but I don't think you really need it with this one as the optics are so well recessed. However I sometimes use a polarising filter so I needed a hood of some sort to prevent glare. Thankfully I managed to pick up a cheap rubber hood for a couple of quid and it works perfectly.On the side of the lens is a manual/automatic focus switch with focusing being as noisy and as fast/slow as any other lens.I thought that it would be quieter and faster but it isn't. In manual mode there is a bit of slop in the focus ring but it doesn't cause any problems. With a maximum F stop of 1.8 bokeh is impressive. The only thing you need to watch out for is that depth of field is very limited at F1.8 and can catch you out if you're not careful. Not a problem but just something to be aware of.Sharpness is excellent, CA is non-existent and the minimal distortion is an absolute God send when it comes to editing images. With my old lens I would spend hours removing CA and lens distortion. Now I have so little editing to do that it almost feels like cheating.The only real downside to a prime lens is there are times where a zoom lens or at least a lens with a different focal length is required. I was in London last week and found it quite frustrating not being able to get far enough back from or close enough to the subject. As I was determined not to resort to a zoom I only had the 50mm with me so I was stuck.Overall though this is a brilliant lens. Quality images and low price make it an absolute must for the enthusiast. Just take another lens with you for those tricky shots.
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28.5.2012

I purchased this lens for my Sony Alpha A300 for which I already have the standard 18-70mm Sony lens and a 75-300mm Sony lens which I purchased separately. I had read a little about Prime lenses and decided to try one out. Given that this is an official Sony lens, as are both of my zoom lenses, i was quite impressed with the price, and thanks to Sony's summer of love promotion I can claim back £30 of the £135 I paid for this lens which makes it a real bargain. Some people have complained about the lens being made of plastic and being of poor quality, I completely disagree with this as though it is made of plastic the build quality is of Sony's usual high standard.Both of my Sony zoom lenses are made of plastic too and this has no impact on the quality of the job these lenses do. In my opinion these lenses are more than adequate for an amateur like myself, and at the current price points these lenses sit at they truly represent good value for money. Sure there are most likely better lenses on the market but I don't fancy paying in excess of £500 for a lens when I can get an official Sony product that does the job as well as this lens does for slightly over £100.The pictures this lens takes are fantastic quality, and this lens makes a great addition to any amateur photographers kit.It is worth noting that although the lens body is made of plastic, the attachment ring is metal and being a Sony product it integrates perfectly with the camera with all functions working smoothly and accurately.as the title of this review states this is quite simply a great little lens at a fantastic price.
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25.10.2012

First things first. I am an amateur with a budget low end DSLR (Sony a230). Therefore my expectations are probably relatively low too.It is a full plastic lens. It does feel slightly lightweight. But there is nothing hanging off it and if looked after (like every lens should be) then it should last the duration. If you want something sturdy go spend 4 or 5 times more.It can be slightly soft at f1.8 when you are working in close (40-50cm). This starts to improve when you punch it up to f2.2 and above. However this wasn't designed to be a macro lens.If you move from the kit lens or any other cheapish zoom lens to this you will be flabbergasted at what you can do.The light floods in and the depth of field control is fantastic. I was taking shots at 40cm on f2.2 in very bad light conditions. I used a tripod and a shutter speed of 1/10th and the results were like a bright sunny day. With good lighting you can achieve much more.When to use it. Portraits and still lifes are perfect. You can isolate your subject with whatever depth of field you want. Bear in mind that it is a 35 mm equivalent of a 75mm lens on a crop ccd it is not massively wide angle. If this is your first foray in to prime (fixed focal length) lenses then be prepared to zoom with your feet.Buy this lens if you want to start playing with the settings on your camera. To really do it justice you have to start dipping in to the manual settings and moving away from auto.Definitely buy it. At £100 it is a steal.
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9.10.2010

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.
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29.3.2010

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 !
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12.4.2010

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.
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17.6.2013

My new main lens, I imagine I must take 90% of my shots with this lens. Initially I thought the lack of zoom would be a problem, but actually it just forces you to be more creative. The extra range of the aperture comes in handy in a multitude of situations, allowing you to take good shots, even in low light without a flash. The large aperture also allows you to reduce the depth of field down to surprisingly shallow depths, which can be great to give some artistic effects.Being a prime lens, the pictures are very sharp, even with the aperture wide open, but for best effect, I find it best to use the lens from about f/3 and up.Some people have complained that the lens is plastic,but because it is quite small (much smaller than the standard Sony kit lens) this doesn't seem to be an issue and mine still looks perfect, despite all the use it's had. Obviously, being plastic makes it a bit lighter as well. The best bit though it the price, an absolute steal at under £100. If you only ever buy one lens for your Sony SLT or SLR it should be this one (unless you own a very expensive full frame camera e.g. the A99, then it won't work).
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2.1.2010

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.
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25.9.2013

While this is certainly not the most versatile of lens thanks to its set focal length, any photographer will tell you of the benefits of owning a good fast Prime lens. at 50mm it is ideal for portraits, though in confined spaces it can be an issue.The fantastic F1.8 produces a wonderfully shallow depth of field with a pin point clarity that is truly exceptional for the price. Compared to the standard kit lens, the difference is astounding. Put the two images side by side, and you can instantly see the difference in quality between the two lens (of course, the 18-55mm kit lens is a lot more flexible).the SAM motor is also exceptionally fast and almost completely Silent (shaming my uber-zooms noisey motor).I held off picking up a prime lens due to the aparant lack of flexibility regarding the focal length, and now wish i hadn't. While it certainly has it draw backs, it now spends most of its time on the camera, and the quality of my Portraits is night and day.Highly recommends for any photographer as the first addition you buy your new SLR, i cant recommend this lens enough.
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15.11.2013

I use the Sony A77 camera and I have the kit lens plus a couple of lenses from my old a100 and a 100mm macro lens. I wanted a lens that I could use to start experimenting with for portraits and this one fit the bill.Other reviews will tell you of its plasticky feel and, yes, it does feel incredibly light and not particularly durable. However, if looked after, am sure it could last for many years.I started doing wedding photography and for getting started it is great. It should be mentioned it is a DT lens so is only compatible with APS size sensors and not full-frame cameras.I am likely to be upgrading to a full frame camera in the next year or so and know that this lens will not be compatible.However, for a second camera it is light and can take some beautiful and sharp images.FOr the price it is a pretty good purchase and I would definitely recommend it as it will allow you to get right down to f1.8 to allow shallow depth of field and use in relatively low light.
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14.12.2015

I got this lens to replace the one that came as standard with my Sony Alpha series DSLR. For the price paid I cannot fault at all. The lens is so much better in lower light conditions and gives a more impressive depth of field to photographs - it has given my camera a new lease of life.As it is intended as a portrait lens the zoom is fixed, however I haven't missed this feature at all and happily trade it for overall better performance. The auto focus and manual focus both work well, and despite criticism from others I have not found the focus ring size to be a problem; although I was initially confused as there is an AF/MF selector on the lens as well as the camera body (you just leave the camera set to AF and can toggle using the lens).It came with a Sony Alpha cap and standard cover to protect it when not in use which also fit the stock lens. It's also about half the length of the original so makes the camera a little easier to carry/store.
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7.8.2010

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 isfabulous 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.
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