Review on 📷 Sony SAL30M28 Alpha DSLR Camera by Ashley Owens

I recently bought an A65 and wanted a good fast lens. I was going to get a Sony 50mm f/1.8 but decided on this one instead. The reason is. f/2.8 is still fairly fast, 30mm versus 50mm, but most importantly it has macro capabilities. I have to say I'm not disappointed! Firstly, this lens is very easy to use. I don't do much with manual focus, but it has a decently sized ring and a fairly short barrel. Very convenient to hold and compose shots. It can be fairly quick for those using autofocus, but short enough that you could accidentally get caught on the focus ring. The build quality is good. It's all plastic and very light, but still feels solid. Everything is nice and tight with a reasonably smooth rolling focus. In terms of features and image quality, it is simply great for its price. It is exceptionally sharp with very good color reproduction. I wasn't dissatisfied with any of the photos taken with this lens (at least because of the lens :P). Focusing is accurate, if noisy and cheap at times, but smooth and responsive. And unlike most DSLR lenses, you can easily go from walking around to your subject with the lens almost touching it; The macro capabilities here are amazing for such a cheap lens! The only claim to focus here. Since there is no macro lock, the lens can always search the entire range. This can sometimes lead to rather slow focusing. However, once it's sufficiently engaged, it can go very quickly. Overall I am very happy with this lens. Fast enough for low light shots, good bokeh, good focal length for most situations and excellent macro capabilities. I suspect this will be my main lens from now on! - EDIT - About a month later I noticed some focus issues. I've used this lens exclusively since purchasing it, so I've reverted to the kit lens. Of course everything is fine now. I'm not sure what's going on here, but I've already set up a return/exchange for this lens. So yes, upset, but I still really want another.