Sony SEL30M35 30mm f/3.5 e-mount Macro Fixed Lens

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I have owned at one time or another pretty much every SEL-series lens between 16mm and 210mm, and this is the only one I refuse to let out of my sight. My two main walking around lenses are the Sigma 19 and 30, and I prefer to do portraits with a Carl Zeiss 1.4/50 for Contax/Yashica that I got about 50% under market. But for macro work? Only the SEL30M35. I have had a ton of fun with this lens, and it always earns me lots of praise. I use it with a NEEWER® Macro Ring LED Light - Works with Canon/Sony/Nikon/Sigma lenses which also acts as a stand when shooting flat items like currency, etc. Hint: go to the dollar store and grab a couple glass photo frames, use them to flatten the specime and just let the camera stand on top of the ring light. I have done this with the NEX-C3, NEX-7 and ILCE-6000, neither of these three bodies plus the SEL30M35 are too heavy so sit on top of the Neewer, and it will make sure that the focal plane is perfectly parallel. And due to the way in which the ring light is designed, even if the light is flush with the sample, it will light towards the center of the image. I have also used the SEL30M35 to do focus stacking, just shot a few frames, dumped them into PS Elements and used a couple of actions I downloaded. Instant focus stacked. The tutorial I used is at : http://www.elementsvillage.com/forums/showthread.php?t=77567 (it includes the PS Elements actions needed to align the layers and blend them into the stack). Pros: fantastic lens, simple to use and very affordable. Cons: none. I used to be annoyed at it being f/3.5, so I stopped walking around with it, but thats a matter of education and experience. Now I wouldnt hesitate to take it with me if I need something even sharper than my two Sigmas. Sadly theres no way to caption the images: 1. Bee: this is focus stacked as I described above. 2. Pen: handheld, the pen is held by SE MZ101B Helping Hand Magnifier 3. NEX-7, SEL30M35, Neewer Macro Ring Light sitting on top of a $1 photo frame, which was used to take photos 5 and 6 bellow. 4. US Quarter, focus staked. 5, 6. US Dollar note. Update: somehow Amazon deleted the images from my review, and theres no way can see to re-insert them so here are the URLs: 1. https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-rmZ3v4zzD_U/Ul72_j3-8eI/AAAAAAAD59g/xn4F3KE15pI/w1428-h952-no/bee.jpg 2. https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-X6vghUee4IY/UOUS6AEinpI/AAAAAAABxdo/pVGLIZH1t2k/w1428-h952-no/DSC02234_Snapseed.jpg 3. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4zIKtJ1prAI/UPGWD1ZVmVI/AAAAAAABybU/DNNZsEJFDpI/s1600/DSC04005_DxO.jpg 4. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-89KTrkAs6oc/UN551_RNdfI/AAAAAAABvOk/HsW4EpawzHA/w1428-h952-no/DSC01714_Snapseed.jpg 5. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-JlNzQmroepw/UN554HVStuI/AAAAAAABvPU/M4nbz3fdQzo/w1428-h952-no/DSC01728_Snapseed.jpg 6. https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-D7yVm8U_98k/UN553eIKsFI/AAAAAAABvPE/v4GQ-q9jYbw/w1428-h952-no/DSC01727_Snapseed.jpg

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I read pretty much all the existing reviews and decided to take a chance, especially since I found one gently used from Amazon Warehouse at a substantial discount. I love the lens. It arrived a day earlier than expected and in perfect condition. I instantly set about testing it with a small dry leaf Id been shooting with ordinary zooms and extension tubes. The lens flat field and wire sharpness has the edge over lenses not formulated for close work. Its not a huge difference, but its visible and as a confirmed "sharp freak" I am extremely pleased. The lens also nicely doubles as an equivalent 45mm "normal" all the way out to infinity. Im a confirmed zoom guy but having a very sharp close-focusing prime is going to be handy. I have added some pictures made with it at ranges any normal lens would focus. The sharpness is awesome, and the lens performs equally sharply at all apertures, unlike many zooms that start to degrade at the smaller apertures. The little product shot of the sensor cleaning supplies was made at f/22. Any of my zooms lose critical sharpness stopped much past f/11 and are noticeably degraded at f/22. A tip: if you find your subject is too close to the front element, add a 10mm extension tube. It lets you get the same degree of magnification from slightly further away and does not comprise sharpness in the slightest. Its how the extreme closeup of the leaf was made.

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I have been using a old cult classic Vivitar Series One 100 mm F2.8 lens along with a K&F PK to NEX adapter as a macro lens on a Sony A6000. It works but the combination is big, bulky and weighs in at 745 grams. The Sony Macro weighs in at 150 grams and is a true FLAT FIELD lens ... huge difference. The shorter focal length also gives a much better depth of field. The Auto Focus is slow but it actually works although I usually revert back to manual focus for Macros. My eyes are old weak and require bifocals. I cheat and use a 10 inch HDMI screen for close focusing along with a set LED lights. My one complaint is that ugly silver color. Why oh why has Sony failed to release an update of this Lens in black with the image stabilization enabled for the Sony Alpha mirrorless cameras? Reference: cocopar 10.1 Inch 1080P HDMI Screen 1280800 Portable HD Display VGA Monitor for Raspberry Pi 3/PS3/PS4/XBOXONE/WINDOWS 7 8 10 (19201080) SUNTHIN (4 Panels) Daylight Dimmable LED Under Cabinet Lighting, Wireless RF Dimmer and Controller Included, Milk Cover LimoStudio 2 Sets Photography Continuous LED Portable Light Lamp for Table Top Studio with Color Filters, Photography Photo Studio, AGG1501

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Very sharp lens. 30mm is a nice focal length for normal human scale photos, almost exactly what you see outside the camera is what you get in the photo. I can focus very very close for macro shots. So far Ive only photographed flowers with a lot of natural light. You can get very close, but with 30mm you need to get very close. I estimate that I was as close as 1" from some flowers. This a photo of a very small early season Iris shot with the 30mm lens on my A6300. The flower is about 2" high. This lens will get even closer than this photo.

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First, this is a terrific lens in its class: normal focal length macro lens, for the crop-sensor E-mount Sony cameras (e.g. A6000 and cousins). Exc image quality. The focusing is internal, meaning the outside of the lens doesnt move, a great convenience. Design is clean. Light weight. Will serve well as a general purpose normal lens, too. Normal focus length macro lens is perfect for objects a few inches or larger in size, say a flower or even a wrist watch or a large coin. Youll be shooting with the lens a few inches from the subject. Trying to fill the image with a US Postage stamp or any object around 1" in size is a different story. To fill the image, youll be up very close to the subject, hard to get even light on the subject. Shoot from further away and crop, or use a longer focal length, for 1" objects.

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In my opinion, this is the best way to spend your hard-earned money on an NEX system lens. Sure the Sony Zeiss 24mm f1.8 is optically superior making this only the 2nd best lens in the current E-mount lineup (as of December 2011), but the Zeiss is $1000 and this is a steal at $250, AND it can do macro at 1:1 magnification with minimum focus distance of only about an inch. While not ideal focusing distance for many macro shooters, its still a very nice capability to have and quite fun to play with on my NEX-5N. Its labeled and marketed as a macro lens but like the heavier and more expensive Zeiss 24mm 1.8, its actually a very versatile "do-it-all" lens as well. Youll be able to take nice portraits (though defocus bokeh will be limited by the 3.5 maximum aperture opening) as well as landscapes, "street" photography, and of course macro. The focal length is a very useable 45mm equivalent taking into account the NEX sensors 1.5x crop factor. This is an impressively sharp lens, and is only bested by the Zeiss 24mm in the current E- mount lineup. I have yet to try the 50mm 1.8 OSS though, so I cant compare it to that. Ive also been spoiled by the best Leica and Nikon optics which is why Im even more amazed by what Sony has brought to the table and made very affordable in this fine piece. Although some have commented that it feels cheap because its light, I dont necessarily think being light means that its poorly built. In order to sell it at this low price point, plastics had to be used in lieu of metal (unlike the all-metal Zeiss) but at least Sony has given it a metallic-like finish to look the business. The focus ring turns smoothly and quietly, and after several weeks of heavy use, removals, and remounting on the camera body, Im so far convinced that its a well-built product. A quality piece given the low price. If you already have the Zeiss 24mm 1.8 (or planning to buy one) then theres no need to get this lens unless you actually need the 1:1 macro capability. The focal length is similar enough that they fill the same void in most peoples everyday shooting needs. If you dont own the Zeiss (or dont think youd ever spend that much on a prime lens) then by all means buy this 30mm 3.5 macro lens! It is the 2nd best lens in the current E-mount lineup. And considering how well cameras like the NEX-5N and NEX-7 can shoot at high ISO, the maximum aperture opening of f/3.5 is actually good enough for most low-light situations. Perhaps built-in optical image stabilization wouldve been nice to have, but I guess thats asking too much for a $250 lens. Its still by far the best bang for the buck you can get for your NEX camera. If you could only have one lens to have for your NEX, its either this or the Zeiss. In my opinion, they are the only two E-mount lenses that do the new Sony sensors justice. UPDATE 2/25/13: with the addition of a few very good new lenses in the NEX line-up, like the 35 f/1.8 and the 10-18 f/4, and since this review, the 50 f/1.8 from last year, this lens has been bumped all the way down to be only the 5th best Sony lens in the NEX line-up. Its still one of the best values in NEX lenses, not counting the Sigma E-mount lenses, but at least in my camera bag, its been relegated to the shelf at home. I seldom use it anymore as the trio of the 24mm Zeiss, the 35 f/1.8, and the 50 f/1.8 have become my do-it-all kit of primes. Thus I have reduced my star rating to 4 as NEX shooters can now benefit from a greater selection of excellent E-mount lenses.

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This is the first macro lens Ive ever owned and I like it. Using it with a Sony a6300. It produces excellent image quality at ranges from 1 - 3", whether tripoded or handheld. Anything closer than 1" gets pretty blurry and anything outside of 3" is pinpoint focus on a single subject with intense bokeh behind. Of course, your mileage may vary based on your camera and configuration. Ive really enjoyed using it for a wide variety of small subjects and I recommend that you give it a try.

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I have very high expectations about this lens since it has been recommend and review by a famous wedding photographer. I havent had the chance to play with it yet extensively but soon I will. My first 5 shots were great. It was indoor at about 4pm Pacific time. A piece of my wifes jewelry and the results were impressive so I give this product a 5 star. I know I will still be blown away by more photos I will take in the near future.

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This is a very light lens and the construction looks so fragile but underneath the hood it is very pleasing. I would have gone for the Zeiss but the cost is way beyond this baby. After a few initial test shots I was pleased with the results and even if I did not get the perfect shot (Mainly due to my inexperience in Macro photography, which I am now getting used to after lot of shots of every darn little thing LOL)... I did manage to correct the imperfections it in post processing. The sharpness is excellent and the colors are purely Sony. I love it.

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This is one amazingly versatile lens. When not in macro mode, this is a simple 35mm lens. It is like getting two lens in one! Of course, most people buy this for the macro ability and if that is purpose, you won’t be disappointed. Just use a tripod for thos macro shots! Then take it to the street for some nice street photography. Enjoy!

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