Sony 55mm F/1.8 Real world images:
Sony 55mm f/1.8 lens review:
The Sony Zeiss 55mm F/1.8 was introduced in October 2013 as one of the first lenses for the Sony full frame mirrorless system. This was the lens meant to show off the image quality potential of the new system.
This review may be around four years later, but it is my goal to eventually review every lens available for the Sony system. So now that the Sony system has grown to over 20 full frame lenses, let’s see how the Sony Zeiss 55mm F/1.8 holds up.
50(ish) mm lenses are ubiquitous in every camera system. By my count, I’ve owned no less than 6 such lenses, including macro, 1.4 and 1.8 varietals. Every system has a 50mm F/1.8 lens that is priced between $100 and $200. Such lenses are almost always a huge step up from kit zooms and are great values but they are typically not the most exceptional of primes. With a regular price of $998, the Sony Zeiss 55mm F/1.8 is significantly more expensive than any other 50ish 1.8 lens. Let’s see if it’s worth it.
Body and Handling
The lens feels like a metal construction and generally feels well built. It has no switches or buttons. It is lightweight at 281 grams. The barrel is very smooth. Its focus ring is grooved with manual focus by wire.
Paired with a camera like the Sony A7riii, it really makes for a wonderful compact system. I am spoiled by a focus hold button on most of my Sony lenses though, which I use for eye-AF.
Autofocus is smooth and quick but I have sometimes noticed some rattling when changing aperture.
The lens lacks optical stabilization but benefits from Sony’s internal stabilization system in cameras like the A7riii. There are very few stabilized primes for other systems so this immediately gives an advantage of shooting compared with most other system combinations. (Note that I will be reviewing the Tamron 45mm F/1.8 which is stabilized).
The capability of the IBIS system paired with
the lens will depend on each individual’s technique. For me, I get a high percentage of keepers down to about 1/13th of a second as demonstrated here:
At 1/6th of a second, I still get quite a few usable images but a much lower keeper rate, often with some minor blur.
I’ll note one IBIS hiccup. Compared to other lenses I have used, the IBIS seems to take longer to “settle down” on the Sony A7riii/55mm combination. Even at reasonable shutter speeds, I often get motion blur if I press the shutter too quickly. As a result, I strongly recommend giving the IBIS a second or two to settle down before snapping the image or turning IBIS off. Here is an example at 1/50th of a second where the shutter was pressed as soon as focus was locked:
As you can see, the image has lost a bit of sharpness compared to some of the even slower shutter speeds.
Image Quality
It seems to me that this lens was built to showcase two attributes of the original Sony A7r, specifically great resolution in a tiny size. Generally speaking, the Sony Zeiss 55mm F/1.8 meets that goal. Before looking at resolution, let’s look at other aspects of image quality.
On the Sony A7riii, you cannot disable distortion correction. As I’m therefore assuming distortion correction gets “baked in” to raw files, I’m not going to look at it. Needless to say, any distortion is negligible once the raw files are imported into lightroom.
Vignetting
Vignetting is rather severe at F1.8, but that is true of most such lenses. Even when applying Lightroom lens profiles, the vignette is quite noticeable:
The good news is that once you stop down to F2.8, the vignetting is mild and easily correctable as in this corrected image:
Flare
Flare is a mixed bag. Based on other reviews I read, I expected the Sony Zeiss 55mm F/1.8 to be quite resistant to flare. Contrary to this expectation, I experienced quite a bit of flaring depending on the position of the light as in these examples, all of which were taken with the lens hood attached:
While the flaring is present, the Sony Zeiss 55mm F/1.8 lens does a very good job of maintaining good contrast even with harsh back lighting.
Chromatic Aberration / Purple fringing
In high contrast wide aperture scenes, purple fringing is definitely evident on the Sony Zeiss 55mm F/1.8. It gradually lessens as you stop down the aperture. It is typically correctable in lightroom. In the below F4 image (click for large), you will see the purplish haze engulfing the trees in the top left, but it is mostly corrected in the image on the right. With aperture smaller than F4, you don’t really see any more fringing.
Bokeh
I don’t evaluate bokeh on every lens but as many will use this lens for narrow depth of field portraits, it is appropriate to look at the bokeh. Here are a couple bokeh crops from the off-center to corner parts of the frame:
You get a very nicely rounded shape towards the center of the frame. Not unexpectedly, you get cat’s eyes at the edge of the frame. If you’re a bokeh snob, you will notice the “onion” rings in the center of the bokeh circles, resulting from the complexity of the lens. While this is a textbook bokeh negative, it won’t be noticeable to most people in most situations.
Sharpness
Overall, the sharpness of the Sony Zeiss 55mm F/1.8 is very good. Certainly better than the typically $100-$200 50mm lenses available in other systems.
Starting with center crops (click for large):
Center crops from closer distance:
The center performance leaves nothing to complain about. At the widest aperture, F1.8, it is already acceptable and completely tack sharp at F2.8. The results are the same off center:
Turning to the more extreme corners:
At F1.8, the Sony Zeiss 55mm F/1.8 corners are a bit soft. They gradually sharpen as you stop down. By F4, the lens is tack sharp across the frame.
Overall:
I’m torn with how to rate the Sony Zeiss 55mm F/1.8 overall. It is perfectly usable wide open though you may be affected by vignetting and purple fringing. Between F2.8 and F4, the lens becomes exceptional. Flare control isn’t the best but it’s also not the worst I have ever seen. The lens size pairs very well Sony mirrorless bodies. Even with harsh back lighting, the Sony Zeiss 55mm/F1.8 produces very nice contrast.
But the Sony Zeiss 55mm/F1.8 is priced nearly $1,000. That is more expensive than most 50mm F1.4 lenses yet it is only a 1.8 lens. In scoring a lens, I heavily weight the value of the lens compared to other lenses within the Sony system as well as how the value fares against competing systems. Where most 50mm 1.8 lenses are priced between $100 and $200, I would want a $1,000 1.8 lens to be absolute perfect. While the Sony Zeiss 55mm F/1.8 is a fantastic performer, I can’t say it is perfect.
I’m currently working on a review of the Tamron 45mm F/1.8. At $399, less than half the price of the Sony Zeiss 55mm F/1.8, I find it to be equally good.
If the Sony Zeiss 55mm/F1.8 was priced at $500 or less, I would probably recommend that nearly every Sony photographer put it in their bag. While I’m keeping my copy because I’m happy with the weight and image quality, I feel many amateurs would find better value in the Sony FE 50mm F/1.8, while may pros may wish to spend a little more for the Sony Zeiss 50mm F/1.4.
Thus, taking into account the hefty price for a 1.8 lens:
Rating (1-10): Score: 8
(About my scoring: 9-10 is a superb lens which could have a place in the bag of almost every photographer. 6-8: recommended with caveats. 3-5: A compromised lens that may still be suitable for some shooters and situations. 1-2: Just stick to your phone camera)
As of February 2018, the lens is on sale for $100 off. If you’re interested in purchasing this lens from Amazon.com, please consider using this link to help support this site:
The lens uses 49mm filters. I use the B+W UV filter to protect the glass.
