Sony 50mm f/2.8 Macro Lens for Sony Alpha Digital SLR Camera
- Bright f2.8 aperture for low-light shots
- High-contrast, high-resolution image quality
- Focus Range Limiter for faster auto focusing
- Focus Hold button for full creative control
- 35mm focal-length equivalant: 75mm
Get incredibly close to small subjects with the Sony SAL-50M28 macro lens. It allows you to easily capture the most subtle details with spectacular clarity. A compact macro-focus lens that covers the full range from life-size to infinity. “Life size” macro imaging means that the image you capture is the same size as the subject in reality, giving you spectacularly sharp photos of insects, flowers, gemstones, postage stamps and other small nature subjects and collectibles. Mounted on the Sony a (alpha) DSLR-A100 camera, this lens provides a 75mm focal length (35mm equivalent), which means it can also be used as a standard and midrange telephoto lens. You can get closer to your subject to capture low-angle shots of insects, flowers and other natural wonders, and broad depth of field lets you keep backgrounds in focus too. In conjunction with the Super SteadyShot image stabilization system of the Sony a (alpha) DSLR-A100 camera, this lens captures bright, steady images even working wit
List Price: $ 479.00
Price: $ 479.00
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One of the best macro lenses for the Alpha mount.,
The Sony 50mm f/2.8 Macro lens is one of the best lenses you will ever put in your camera’s mount.
I will provide the pros and cons of this lens along with my experience with it.
What most people want to know right now is whether this lens is sharp, it is. You could cut cheese bars with how sharp it is.
The fast aperture of f/2.8 allows you to use aperture to isolate your subject from the background or use it when you work under low light. It closes down to f/32.
This lens gives you a reproduction ratio from 1:4 to 1:1, that 1:1 ratio is the one that will let you take pictures of bugs or tiny things and make them look big enough on the picture with enough detail resolved to let you crop if you need to.
It’s common belief that a macro lens works wonders for macros but not for normal shooting, such as portraits or landscapes. This is not true, you can use macro lenses for both purposes with excellent results. Especially from this lens.
The focal length of 50mm applies to full frame cameras (A900/850), in APS-C cameras (from the A100 up to the A700) it will yield a focal length of 75mm, which it may be an odd length to use since it borderlines on telephoto. It’s not really a problem when shoooting up close but if you shoot portraits or landscapes, you may need to take a few steps back to compose, depending on what you want to display in the image.
This lens has a metal mount, a DOF scale which let’s you determine how much of the subject in front of you will be in focus depending on the subject’s distance and the aperture used. Something to keep in mind here: 1: The scale is tuned for Full Frame, not APS-C, and the scale is set to show in focus subjects at f/16 and f/32. Unless you shoot frequently at these apertures going for maximum depth of field, I don’t think you’ll find this scale useful. The best thing you could do is to look at your optical or electronical view finders (for all those new A33/55 users out there) and engage the DOF preview button (if your camera has the option) to check how much of the image will be in focus at the selected aperture. For those of you with no DOF preview option, my advice is to shoot at different apertures and get familiar with how much in focus things get when using small apertures or how less things in focus you have at wide apertures.
At f/2.8 the lens has a shallow DOF, however, wherever you set the focus point, it will be real sharp, the rest of the image will be fuzzy if you look at detail at 100% magnification (a.k.a pixel peeping) but this is normal, shallow DOF yields few things in focus. Closing down the lens makes things sharp all over the plane. The best sharpness can be obtained at around f/5.6 and f/8, beyond that things won’t change too much.
A handy feature this lens has is a focus limiter switch. The switch lets you use the whole focusing range of the lens or limit it at a range you chose so it won’t go beyond that while trying to focus. If you’re shooting landscapes or portraits, you don’t need to go beyond 1:4 magnification and if you are shooting macros at 1:1 or 1:2, the last thing you need is the lens to go at 1:4. This speeds things up when focusing, either manually or automatically.
The lens has a focus hold button, which helps you to retain focus where you set it if you’re using AF instead of having the camera look for focus again. In the A100/700/850/900 you can set this button to work as DOF preview instead of using the camera’s button. For some, this will be more comfortable ,so it’s a handy option as well. I don’t know for sure, but I assume this will also work with the new A33/55/560/580 since those have DOF preview buttons too.
The lens is mostly build of plastic, but it doesn’t have a cheap feel. It’s solidly built. I would just advice to be careful with the filter threads, because those are plastic too, and if you use filters or special add-ons for macro lenses, you could wear them off with frequent use. Maybe a step-up or step-down ring will be a good idea to attach to the lens and use the threads of the ring to mount filters or other things. The thread size is 55mm.
This lens doesn’t have a hood, but it doesn’t need it. By design, the front element is deeply recessed into the lens, be it completely drawn in or completely extended, so there is no need for a hood. If you need one, use your hand to block light rays.
The focusing ring is wide and has a good grip, unfortunately it carries the same ribbed grip that all Sony lenses carry which is a dirt magnet and hard to clean. I wish Sony dropped this and used the smooth rubbery grips Minolta used to have or the Tamron ones.
The lens focuses real fast thanks to the wide aperture it possesses. However, be careful. When using the lens for portraits or landscapes, focusing won’t be a problem, the AF mechanism…
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|SHARP, SHARP, SHARP!,
This is a MUST HAVE glass for your Alpha system! I shoot this on an A700 and a KM 5D. Beside the 1.5x factor (which really makes this lens more like a 75mm) it is TACK SHARP. Whether you shoot macro or for general shooting for portraits. This glass is going to give you the sharpness you need, the color you wish for, and the depth in your subject. The only reservation i have for this glass is that it’s a plastic body with a rubber focus ring, which the rubber will tend to get “old” as it ages. But don’t get me wrong, it’s a good build and never feels “cheap” in your hands. The focus on this is bearable but not super fast when you’re in macro mode. Use the focus limiter button and it will surprise you how fast it can keep up even on the KM 5D. It’s a prime glass piece! Pay for the price but you won’t regret it!!!
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|Sony Lens Review,
Rather than “reviewing” this lens, I will instead point out features which I feel will be important to a potential buyer.
* Lens made in Japan – not Chinese junk.
* Razor sharp images.
* Very crisp and bright for an F2.8 lens – it “feels” like an F1.4 lens.
* Absolutely no vignetting in the corners – full coverage.
* Focus range limiter – either infinity to close, or close to macro. Can be turned on or off. The focus range limiter is a very important feature – it prevents the camera from needlessly swinging the lens all the way from infinity to macro when it re-focuses.
* Uses 55 mm filter rings.
* Macro focus works a LOT closer than advertised. You can photograph a flea on a fly if you want.
* On-lens focus hold button – temporarily turns off auto focus if you need to. This is very useful for getting the *exact* spot in focus that you want (especially in macro mode).
* The Focus Hold button can be programmed in the camera to do focus hold OR depth of field preview.
* Iris leaves are nice and symmetrical – another sign of quality.
* Iris has 7 leafs – and they are slightly curved so that the aperture is almost a perfect circle at any F-stop.
* Lens is smooth and tight – nothing rattles like “cheap” lenses do.
If you buy this lens, you will not be disappointed.
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