Sony NEX 50mm f/1.8 OSS Lens Review

Sony NEX 50mm f/1.8 OSS Handling and features

The lens barrel is constructed from high quality plastics with a chrome finish applied to the out surfaces and the lens mount is metal. Weighing only 202g, this isn't a heavy lens, which makes it a perfect partner for the Sony NEX-5R used for testing.



Auto focus is very fast and accurate, which helps to inspire confidence when using the lens at fast apertures, even in low light conditions.  The manual focus ring is smooth to operate and is well damped, which makes applying manual focus adjustments a pleasure. Minimum focus is 39cm from the sensor plane, which is fairly typical for a lens of this focal length.

The 49mm filter ring does not rotate or extend as focusing is performed internally, which makes this lens ideal for use with graduated an polarising filters. A deep circular hood is supplied as standard with the lens, which does an excellent job of shading the lens.



This 50mm lens is currently the fastest lens on any system to include optical stabilisation. With care, allowing time for the optical stabilisation to kick in properly, sharp hand held images can be taken around half the time with shutter speeds as low as 1/10sec. This is around three stops slower than the usual rule of thumb for taking sharp hand held images would dictate possible.

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