Sony 55mm F1.8 Sonnar T FE ZA Full Frame Prime Lens - Fixed

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The Sony 55mm f/1.8 Zeiss lens is an excellent choice for any full-frame e-mount Sony interchangeable-lens camera system. You’ll be hard-pressed to find an expert who will complain about the image quality. In fact, DxOMark ranks this lens as the ninth sharpest lenses they have ever tested, of approximately ten thousand tested lenses, with an overall score ranking it as the 7th best lens ever reviewed. What is even more impressive is this is acheived at a price of less than $1,000, when some inferior lenses cost as much as 13 times that. The build-quality is sublime, as expected from a Zeiss-branded lens. Focusing movements are precise and smooth. The f/1.8 is bright, and provides bokeh often described as “creamy.” Given the small-ish size, the lens sits well on the A7R iii camera body. It also feels well-balanced on the smaller and lighter a6500; however using this lens on a crop-senor camera like the a6xxx series you will have a 35mm equivalent focal length of about 78mm, which is more appropriate for portraitures than using it as a standard 55mm lens (which is pretty close to what our eye sees). The quality is great either way, just be mindfull this is an FE mount and therefore optimized for Sony’s Full-frame line of cameras. One noticible omission is a lack of optical image stabilization (OSS) built into the lens. Not an issue per-say as Sony’s A7 and A9 series have built-in 5-axis stabilization, which is what this lens was built for, thus negating the need for additional in-lens OSS. Even the a6500 has built-in stabilization, but if one intends to use this on an a6000 or a6300 for portraits you may be disappointed by the omitted OSS. Attached image: A7R iii 1/80 second, f/8.0, 12,800 ISO. Original JPEG straight from the camera with the other being a 100% crop. Please note, the high HSO of the image will soften the image to a degree. Most people will not shoot at 12,800 ISO.

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Awesome lens, UNBELIEVABLY SHARP, SUPER FAST AF, GREAT COLOR RENDITION, ALLLLMOST worth the price tag lol Sure its not a 1.2/1.4 but I dont shoot at those apertures much anymore. I tend to shoot around 2.2-2.5 so I have enough texture in the skin for retouching. Just my style :) But at 1.8 the bokeh is beautiful, and after owning wider aperture lenses you cant tell the difference really and on top of that you dont really wanna shoot wide open lol. Instagram: LudwigRose.photo

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This is a fantastic lens with sharpness rivaling the 50 mm Sigma Art and the Sony 50 1.4. While it is not a 1.4 lens (and therefore you wont get the utmost in shallow dept-of-field), I have been nothing but impressed with its sharpness and edge-to-edge resolution (when stopped down a bit, although sharpness wide-open at center is no joke either). Mated to a 42mp sensor I dont feel it is ham-stringing the sensor in anyway. Sharpness is however not everything, and I do love its Zeiss-esque color rendition (a little more cold clinical than a true Zeiss, though) and its bokeh is more than adequate for that 3-dimensional pop that is so desired. Being a short and small-statured lens does mean that some minor caveats do exist, those being Color Aberrations and Vignetting. Both are controlled very well but do show their presence especially at large aperture.--This is where I feel these lenses lose a bit to the larger more perfect ART/OTUS/G-Master brethren. Most importantly to me, I am an avid hiker and when I do take pictures of models/subjects I do so at remote locations. Before I moved to a mirrorless full-frame, I was lugging my heavy 50/1.4 and my mirrored full-frame camera for 12(+) miles per hike up and down mountains. That got old and painful quickly and not to mention that the general bulk of what I was carrying was inconvenient for my packs and inconvenient for climbing. I believe this lens is the perfect size for a small mirrorless professional system and has 99% of the image quality needed for all but the very 0.1% of studio shoots or where the extra subject isolation of a F/1.4 (or less) lense is absolutely needed. This lens is a must for any FE-mount Sony Owners out there.

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This is probably my favorite prime lens currently (used with the a7RII). In the past, the prime lenses I used the most were the Canon EF 50mm f/1.4, and the Olympus 45mm f/1.8 (which is actually 90mm and the depth-of-field is actually about f/3.6 in 35mm equivalent). What I love about using the 55mm f/1.8 with the a7RII, is that besides the great performance of the optics (image quality, accurate/speedy autofocus), I can also put the a7RII in Super 35 mode and use the lens as a 82.5mm f/2.6, which doubles the usefulness of this already wonderful lens. I dont even feel like I need to get the Zeiss Batis 85mm f/1.8 anymore, since that will add another lens I need to carry around, not to mention the extra cost. Of course, shooting in Super 35 mode will get you only about 18 MP, but thats plenty enough for most peoples needs.

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One of my biggest regrets was selling this lens to buy the Sony 90 mm macro. The Sony/Zeiss 55 mm F1.8 is literally the sharpest lens Ive ever owned (with the Sony/Zeiss 35 mm F2.8 coming in at a close 2nd). It produces some of the most outstanding image quality Ive ever seen. That and its quality construction justifies the price. If youre on the fence between this one and the Sony 50 mm F1.8 and you have money to burn, the 55 mm is a no-brainer. Remember, you get what you pay for.

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This lens is incredibly sharp. Combined with the Sony a7III, its allowed me to take wonderful photos of my children. The fast focusing and sharpness have resulted in a large number of "keepers". Daytime outdoor photos are extremely sharp. Indoors, I can shoot without flash for more pleasing photos that capture the ambience. I previously used Canon with the 35mm Art lens which was also very sharp. But the slow autofocusing resulted in fewer keeper shots. This lens is expensive, but I think its worth it to capture the precious moments that I want to cherish and remember forever for my young children.

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What a great lens! I only shoot for fun but have tried a few primes in the last few years. This is almost or close to as sharp as the Sigma 50mm 1.4. The DOF is a lot more shallow than I expected at 1.8 but Im coming from a crop canon so thats to be expected. This lens on the Sony a7 ii is just awesome. Does very well inside and does phenomenally well in good lighting. I was tempted on the Sony 35mm 1.4 lens but the whole reason I went over to the a7ii was for its smaller size, so going with the much larger lens (and higher price) didnt make much sense. This lens is a beauty. Its a very solid lens but not too big. Its the only lens I have right now and probably the only one Ill need for awhile!

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Not one flaw about this lens. Best lens Ive ever used. I can clearly tell this lens was made to maximize the Sony A7 sensor IQ. Totally worth every penny. the FE lens allows you to use all the new AF technology the camera is packed with. I cant wait to shoot my next wedding with it. I feel like I can shoot the whole wedding with this lens. Theres no other lens in my bad that can match the image quality of this lens lens. Every time I remove it from my camera I feel like Im missing out on the technology and quality this lens enables

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This lens produces sharp images. It does what it says it can do.

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I am a newbie and still trying to make best use of my newly bought camera (SONY A7II) and this lens. I uploaded one photo which I shot with F1.8, but I have not been able to calculate the right shutter speed and ISO based on the light, so this photo is pretty much of whatever the automatic setting had with the SONY at Aperture priority and the lens itself. I also tested with my wife using black and white setting, and she was pretty happy about it and uploaded one of the photos to her social media. I will certainly come back and update my post with more photos (when the dreary NJ weather turns bearable). My point as a newbie is I am happy, but still trying to make a sense of this $1000 investment.

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