Sony SAL-50F18 SAM 50mm F1.8 Portrait Lens
- Sony’s SAL-50F18 50mm f/1.8 is a great-value, lightweight lens, which lets you make the move from standard zooms to the world of portrait photography. The SAL-50F18 50mm f/1.8 is designed for SLR cameras featuring APS-C-type sensors, and it boasts a 35mm-equivalent focal length of 75mm – ideal for taking portraits and superb shots of sweeping landscapes. The f/1.8 aperture produces circular, defocused effects that bring out details on faces, while the wide viewing angle means you get a fascinat
- ing perspective on cities, landscapes, crowds and special events. Plus, thanks to the SAL-50F18 50mm f/1.8′s built-in smooth autofocus motor (SAM), you’re guaranteed quiet, quick and precise performances when focusing with the automatic mode.
Express yourself more freely and increase the range of your Kodak digital camera with the P20 Zoom flash. The adjustable angle head allows you to create a more natural light for your photos and the automatic zoom considerably increases the range: at 100 ISO to 30 feet (9.1m) with a wide angle and to 33 feet (10m) with a telephoto lens, at 200ISO the flash range can double!The P20 Zoom’s intelligent flash system automatically adjusts its output to suit the settings of the camera on which it is mounted.With fully charged batteries, the flash charges in about 10 seconds …. more >>
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(out of 9 reviews)
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Review by C. Reilly for Sony SAL-50F18 SAM 50mm F1.8 Portrait Lens
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been looking to get a 50mm for my sony a200 for some time and toyed with the idea of getting a second-hand minolta. looked at a good few reviews of this lens though and was convinced that it was great value for money.
at this price certain sacrifices are made with the materials used in construction. as ‘S. Achamfuo-Yeboah’ mentioned it is rather plasticy. even the bayonet is plastic. it does feel solid though and the lack of metal makes for a very lightweight piece of kit (compared to my sigma 35 – 70mm it weighs virtually nothing). as the a200 isn’t a full frame dslr the lens has an equivalent focal length of 75mm.
the autofocus is accurate and quiet (but not silent). it produces images that have excellent quality right across the frame…i’ve not noticed any falloff at all. photographs suffer from very little distortion, colours are well reproduced and performance in low light is really good.
the wide aperture can produce some excellent depth of field effects but f/1.8 can be a bit excessive…f/2.8 might be a better choice.
very happy with this…it hasn’t been off my camera for very long at all since i bought it.
Review by S. Achamfuo-Yeboah for Sony SAL-50F18 SAM 50mm F1.8 Portrait Lens
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I’ve had this lens for about 3months now. This is a great lens at a rather good price. F1.8 is really fast, and satisfied my desires for a fast lens for low light and portrait shots.
Pictures are crisp and sharp, almost unbelievably so, especially if you’ve grown used to the kit lens. You’ll find that F1.8 gives way too much Bokeh very quickly. I don’t go below F2 nowadays, and its still quite fast.
My only qualm about is the build quality. It’s quite plasticky, and I’d recommend insurance on this baby. Mine is still great, but I handle it very carefully.
Review by T. Crinson for Sony SAL-50F18 SAM 50mm F1.8 Portrait Lens
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I just bought this lens for a friends wedding to take some nice portrait shots. It was a bit of an impulse buy as I bought it the day before the wedding so had no time to practice with it, and as this was my first prime lens I didn’t want to splash out too much. Wow. I am so glad I got this lens. The pictures turned out beautifully. The f/1.8 worked brilliantly in the low light conditions at the reception and it remained very fast so there was no motion blur in the portraits; nor in the smoke from the cigars they were smoking!
Some of the other reviews have said about there being too much “Bokeh” ( the nice blur of the photograph out of the main area of focus ) and I disagree, I think there is a pleasing level of it and it makes for some lovely effects, but this is subjective.
I do agree with another reviewer about it feeling plasticky, but it doesn’t feel flimsy, but I wouldn’t treat it any less carefully than any other lens because of it.
Since purchasing this lens it hasn’t been off the camera and I think I will have a great time learning the ins and outs of prime lens photography.
For reference it’s fitted to my Sony Alpha 300.
Review by R. L. Walker for Sony SAL-50F18 SAM 50mm F1.8 Portrait Lens
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Very clear and detailed images of subject with background soft focussed for portraits with impact.
Works perfectly with the Sony Alpha camera.
Review by Mr. P. J. Holbrook for Sony SAL-50F18 SAM 50mm F1.8 Portrait Lens
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Sony SAL-50F18 SAM 50mm F1.8 Portrait LensVery happy with this lens, exactly what I expected after reading reviews and performance charts and samples. Well worth every penny and while the bokeh is a little wild at 1.8 aperture it is easy to go to 2.8+ to tone it down a little if needed. Portraits are just great and some very interesting (nearly) macro is possible with this lens. Buy one.