Review on 📸 Optimize your Sony Alpha Digital SLR Camera with the Sony 50mm f/2.8 Macro Lens by Gerson Lagerquist

The Sony 50mm f/2.8 macro lens is one of the best lenses you will ever mount in a camera mount. I will talk about the pros and cons of this lens as well as my experiences with it. That. Most people now want to know if that lens is sharp. With its sharpness, you can cut cheese bars. The fast f/2.8 aperture allows you to use the aperture to isolate the subject from the background or use it when working in low light. It closes to f/32. This lens gives you a reproduction ratio of 1:4 to 1:1. This 1:1 ratio allows you to photograph bugs or small things and make them big enough. an image with enough detail to crop if necessary. It's widely believed that a macro lens will do wonders for macro photography, but not for general photography like portraits or landscapes. This is not true, you can use macro lenses for both purposes with great results. Especially from this lens. The 50mm focal length refers to full frame cameras (A900/850), with APS-C cameras (A100 to A700) this results in a focal length of 75mm, which can be strange. length to use as it borders on telephoto. This isn't a problem with close-ups, but if you're shooting portraits or landscapes you might have to go back a few steps to create the composition, depending on what you want to show in the frame. This lens has a metal mount, a depth of field scale that lets you determine how much of the subject in front of you will be in focus based on the distance to the subject and the aperture used. Here are a few things to note: 1. The scale is set to full frame, not APS-C, and the scale is set to show subjects sharp at f16 and f/32. Unless you often shoot at these maximum depth of field apertures, I don't think you will find this scale useful. The best you can do is look into your optical or electronic viewfinder (for all new A33/55 users) and press the depth of field preview button (if your camera has this feature) to check how much of the image is in focus at the chosen aperture. For those of you who don't have a depth of field preview, I recommend shooting at different apertures and finding out how many objects are in focus using small apertures, or how many fewer objects are in focus using large apertures. At f/2.8 the lens has a shallow depth of field, but wherever you put the focus point it will be very sharp, the rest of the image will be blurry when looking at detail at 100% zoom (otherwise pixelated peeking), but this OK , shallow depth of field brings a few things into focus. Closing the lens makes sharpness across the entire plane. The best sharpness is achieved at f/5.6 and f/8, then not much changes. A handy feature of this lens is the focus limit switch. The switch allows you to use the entire focus range of the lens or limit it to an area of your choice so that it is not exceeded when focusing. If you're shooting landscapes or portraits, you don't need to go beyond 1:4 magnification, and if you're shooting macro photography at 1:1 or 1:2, the last thing you need is a 1:4 zoom lens. . This speeds up the focusing process, both manual and automatic. There's a focus hold button on the lens that allows you to hold the focus where you set it when using autofocus, rather than having the camera try to find focus again. On the A100/700/850/900 you can set this button to preview the depth of field instead of using the camera button. It will be more convenient for someone, so this is also a convenient option. I don't know for sure but I assume this will also work with the new A33/55/560/580 as they also have depth of field preview buttons. The lens is mostly made of plastic, but it doesn't look cheap. . It's solidly built. My only advice would be to be careful with the filter threads as they are also plastic and if you use filters or special macro lens attachments they can wear out with frequent use. It may be a good idea to attach a step-up or step-down ring to the lens and use the ring's threads to attach filters or other items. Thread size 55mm. This lens doesn't have a lens hood, but it doesn't need one either. By design, the front element is deeply recessed into the lens, whether fully retracted or fully extended, eliminating the need for a lens hood. If necessary, use your hand to block the light rays. The focus ring is wide and easy to grip, unfortunately it has the same knurled grip found on all Sony lenses, which attracts dirt and is difficult to clean. I wish Sony would ditch that and go with the smooth rubber grips that Minolta or Tamron used to have. Thanks to the large aperture, the lens focuses very quickly. However, be careful. If you use a lens for portraits or landscapes, focusing is not a problem, the autofocus mechanism does it quickly and quickly. This can be annoying when you use it for macro photography and close-ups. The axiom of focusing you should know and always keep in mind when shooting macro or close-up is that the closer you are to the subject, the more careful you have to be with it. Distance, in some cases you lose focus completely if you move even 1mm. If you think this is overkill, try shooting flowers or something very small with manual focus and breathing. You will see that as you breathe in, the subject moves from sharpness to blurring. So don't expect this lens and camera to know exactly what you want to focus on when you're shooting very close, because there's no way they will. You can autofocus at 1:1 magnification, but in most cases the lens is forced to seek focus and move throughout the focus range. Also remember that the closer you are, the more focus points the camera has to pick, so you can use that to turn the autofocus nuts. The best way to use this lens for macro photography is with manual focus. This ensures you focus exactly where you want without having to wait for the camera to determine where you want to focus. As said, you can use autofocus with it, but the lens tends to seek focus a lot. THIS IS NOT A DEFECTIVE LENS OR CAMERA. It's just the laws of optics and photography. If you really insist on using autofocus with this lens, I suggest you use point focus and select a focus sensor so the camera only focuses on it. I suggest using the middle sensor. One thing to determine when considering this lens is whether you're going to be shooting close and static, or objects that let you get close, or if you need to be shooting from a distance and can't get close. If you go for the first option then this lens is for you, if you go for the second then I suggest you check out the Sony 100mm f/2.8 macro lens or 3rd party options like look at the Sigma 105 mm macro or the Tamron 90 mm. f/2.8 lenses for macro photography. Why am I talking about this? Because if you're shooting from a distance, this lens won't give you enough coverage. I've been through this before when I wanted to photograph things I can't get at like dragonflies, but I can't get them the way I want because the lens just isn't long enough for it. There are several macro lens alpha mount options that give you access to distant subjects, but if you really don't need them, go for this option. If I remember correctly, this lens is a bit sharper and has a higher contrast than its 100mm brother. The colors and contrast of this lens are superb, images have that pop of color that Canon and Nikon users want but can't achieve. your system. Aside from the possible short range of this lens, the other downside I can think of is the noise it makes when focusing, although not as loud as a zoom it does make a kind of loud, low-pitched noise when focusing. In situations where it needs to be quiet, it is better to focus manually. But to be honest, it's finicky. This lens will open up worlds you never knew existed and exist at distances you can only dream of with a kit lens. There's a difference between being close and being close. If there's a lens that won't disappoint and is versatile for macro, close-up, portrait, landscape and anything else you can think of (besides long-distance photography), then it's a lens. I highly recommend reading Kurt Munger's review of this lens for more technical information that I may have forgotten to mention. It might be a bit pricey, but it's worth every penny. If you really don't need range, consider the other options I mentioned. However, note that the price can increase from this price. Otherwise, take the plunge now and treat yourself to a wonderful lens.