Sony 55mm f1 8. Sony 55mm f1 8

In Memory Of Sony A7S Sony Sonnar T FE 55mm f1.8 ZA

To fund another buy I had to sell my existing camera. Sony A7S. And because I didn’t have any other Sony cameras. the Sony Sonnar T FE 55mm f1.8 ZA lens ( what a lovely name ) also had to go.

Even though I didn’t use this camera ( and lens ) much for the last year (.s ) I had it. it needs a proper send off. precisely. a post send off as it’s already sold. After all, I’ve had this camera ( and lens ) for 6 or 7 years because I got it when it was released ( insane ). It has been with me on many trips. Big and small. It captured time around my daughter’s ( first child ) birth. It was always there. ready to be used to capture moments. It deserves some words of love ( and dislike ).

Step 1: Spend, Spend, Spend

So why was I crazy ( and stupid ) enough to buy this camera pretty much at launch? I’m not sure anymore. At the time I wasn’t taking photos too much. At least compared to now. My main camera was Pentax K-x. an APS-C dSLR. I also had a Fujifilm X100. Pentax K-x has long been sold. X100 I still have but it’s not used much if at all. It’s a nice camera so I’ll likely keep it forever. I also didn’t shoot as much film then.

I don’t remember how I came across Sony cameras in particular. I had always wanted a full frame digital camera. Lenses always seemed to render better on 35mm film than APS-C cameras. At the time Sony were the main, if not only, mirrorless camera with a full frame sensor. Why did it have to be mirrorless?

sony, 55mm
  • To adapt older lenses. I had ( and still have ) quite a few K-Mount lenses from the lifelong usage of Pentax stuff. I also had ( and still have ) some old soviet lenses. Adapting on mirrorless cameras is way easier than on SLRs. Thanks shorter flange distance!
  • Mirrorless cameras are smaller.
  • Mirrorless cameras seemed to be the future.

That’s why Sony was the only real choice. On why A7S and not A7. A7S seemed more interesting. Sure it had less megapixels ( 12 vs 24 on A7 ) but I was never into megapixels. Pentax K-x and Fuji X100 were 12 megapixel cameras and I never felt limited by that. If anything less megapixels was a positive because it takes up less space and is faster to edit. A7S had another feature that seemed super interesting to me. high ISO capabilities. Pentax and Fuji were not low light machines. They were not terrible but ISO 3200 was the likely useful limit. Sony could go to tens of thousands of ISOs if not hundred thousand. That seemed insane. I didn’t have a use case for it but maybe I would find one.

All the movie / filming oriented stuff on A7S was of no interest.

The lens purchase wasn’t fully planned. I had K-Mount lenses I could adapt. I also wanted at least one native glass so that I can autofocus and experience what modern lenses can do. The shop had a decent deal if you bought the A7S together with a lens so I went with the 55mm f1.8. I didn’t know anything about the lens when I bought it. It seemed like the nifty fifty. And everyone needs a nifty fifty.

There you go. money spent. I had some surplus money at the time. I wouldn’t be able to spend that insane amount of money on camera gear now. And I wouldn’t want to.

Step 2: Shoot, Shoot, Shoot

With the new system in my hands it was time to take photos. Which I did. When I sold the camera it had taken just below 6000 photos. That may seem like a small number but I started photography with film. I don’t take burst photos. And I’m quite picky about what I shoot in the first place. You would think that it improves my image quality. but you could be wrong. I don’t have more good photos. Just less bad ones.

For 4 or more years it was pretty much the only camera I shot. And the 55mm f1.8 was the pretty much only lens I shot. When I felt the need to please the Pentax gods I put on some K-Mount glass. That didn’t happen too often.

And I was happy. When I shot. But as time went on I shot less and less.

Step 3: Sell, Sell, Sell

You can blame Yashica Lynx-14 as the reason why the Sony family was sold. I don’t remember where I got the Yashica. But I shot a roll of film through it ( it took several years to finish this roll I must add ). And I liked the results. And I liked the rangefinder experience. So I got a Canon Model 7 as a better rangefinder ( Yashica has a poor rangefinder patch ). Everything escalated and now I have no Sony. I am swimming in film photography gear. And I’m sleeping on a Leica pillow. One of these might not be 100% correct.

I didn’t hate Sony at the end. But it didn’t fill me with joy which is why I took photos less often.

As for the reasons why I now dislike super modern cameras and prefer rangefinders and film? I’ve written about that already:

Read those to get the full insight but in short:

  • I like simplicity. On Sony I didn’t use at least 80% of features and that annoyed me.
  • The camera is not a joy to use. It feels like a tool. Which is good in some circumstances. But not when you’re an enthusiast photographer.
  • Rangefinders fit my photography well.

It was never about the results. I maintain that you can get amazing results with any camera. But a camera that you love to use will give you more amazing results than a camera that you don’t enjoy as much. The results from Sony with the 55mm f1.8 were sometimes bind blowing. But what good is it if it’s only shot once every three months.

The Short Review

I’ve used the camera and lens for many years. Let’s see if I can write some sort of a quick review of the camera and lens.

Of Sony A7S

This is a difficult one. It’s easy to use every feature that mechanical film cameras provide. With A7S I only used about 10. 20% of what the camera could do. Here’s what I used:

  • Single shot mode ( no burst ). Sometimes with a timer.
  • Non-continuous autofocus. half press the shutter and it focusses. The FOCUS point was in the middle 85% of the time. Rest of the time I would move it elsewhere like when shooting cycling competitions.
  • Aperture priority 80% of the time. Remaining 20% split between shutter priority and manual.
  • Only RAW. Never even seen a “straight from camera JPG” from A7S.
  • Auto ISO 90% of the time. 10% was reserved for some insane ISOs.
  • Menu was only used to format the SD card.
  • Focus peaking with magnification for adapted manual lenses.

It did these things well for me. Autofocus was as fast as I needed it. Definitely faster and more precise than Fujifilm X100. The chosen exposure settings always seemed pretty spot on. Although I had the exposure compensation between.1/3 and.1 most of the time. Just because digital handles under-exposure better than over-exposure. RAW files were easy to work with and I could always pull out loads of stuff from shadows. Even highlights were recoverable with good results. I liked how highlights were handled in general with the A7S sensor.

ISO handling was insane. You never had to think that a scene is too dark. Bump the ISO and go. 12800 is a normal ISO to use. After that you get to see some noise but it’s usable. 102400 was the limit for me. Anything higher was not usable even for my low standards. But to think that it’s possible to get usable results from ISO 102400 is insane to me. I should’ve used the feature more.

Focussing with older manual lenses was acceptable but I’m not the biggest fan of manually focussing like this. You can definitely get super precise FOCUS with peaking and magnification but it’s sooo slooow. Especially when compared with a rangefinder focussing where it feels instant.

Camera was built well. It didn’t fall apart although the LCD seemed somewhat used / scarred. It felt solid but nowhere near as nice as an old mechanical film camera does to my hands. The grip made it easy to hold it and ergonomics were good. The issue is that I didn’t feel enjoyment when using it.

Of Sony Sonnar T FE 55mm f1.8 ZA

Let’s start with a negative. you would have to be insane to enjoy focussing this lens manually. Focus by wire is terrible and might as well not exist. Luckily the camera auto focussed well so it’s not the largest loss that the world has ever seen. There is also no way to control aperture from the lens itself. When electronics on the lens break. you have a glass brick.

A brick that’s well made. Metal and glass all the way. Apart from the lens cap which is a plastic piece of crap that broke on me. There’s no unwanted movement and no rattles to be found. There’s no need to actually touch the lens so. it might as well have been completely solid.

Image quality is insane. if you like modern lens rendering. It’s sharp from f1.8. everywhere. If there’s distortion then it’s tiny and easily fixable. Contrast and colors are very poppy and in your face. Even with everything popping. it doesn’t destroy highlights. Light is kept at bay. There can be a slight chromatic aberration in high contrast situations but only when shooting wide open. Close it down to f2.8 or more and forget that it exists. Or forget all together as it’s easy to fix in post. for the most part.

sony, 55mm

Subject separation has what Zeiss-kids call 3D pop. Subjects pop out almost as they are on a different layer. It’s not as nice as on medium format but for 35mm it’s very cool. Bokeh is also surprisingly nice. Very corrected lenses can have busy bokeh but this lens doesn’t suffer from that. Bokeh is smooth and not distracting. It’s also not too exciting.

And that’s the biggest issue with this lens. It’s so perfect that it can be boring. After initial amazement of the perfection it never surprises. Never delivers something unique. Everything is sharp and very poppy. If that’s your thing. it’s the perfect lens for you. I liked it. But as it was with the camera. I got bored of it.

Even sadder than that. one day you won’t be able to use this lens. Either electronics will die. Or the last of Sony E-Mount camera will die. I use old “classic” lenses that are almost 100 years old. With very little issues. Will you be able to use this lens in 100 years? Strong doubt. Even if I find this lens a bit boring, it’s very sad that people won’t be able to use this. to them. classic lens. This applies to almost all lenses produced these days.

Still. If you have a Sony full frame camera ( or even APS-C ). I would highly recommend this lens. It’s not too expensive. Especially used. And the output is very good. Even if it’s a bit boring. Boring can be good sometimes.

Many Pictures

Here are some pictures taken with both the A7S and the 55mm f1.8. Not all pictures are taken with the 55mm f1.8 but I’ll try to flag the ones that aren’t. Shown in chronological order.

Memento Mori

Am I sad that I sold this kit? Slightly. If money was no subject I would keep it. The highlights to me are the high ISO capabilities and the lens. I would only shoot it a few times a year. But in those times. it would deliver amazing results.

I am happier with M9. And I shoot a lot more now. both digital and analog. Since selling it I’ve never felt a need to use A7S with the 50mm f1.8. Yet. A soft spot for this kit remains in my heart.

Carl Zeiss Sonnar T FE 55mm F1.8 ZA Review

The Carl Zeiss Sonnar T FE 55mm F1.8 ZA is a standard prime lens for the new Sony A7R/A7 full-frame E-mount compact system cameras. It offers a fixed 55mm focal length and extra-bright F1.8 aperture, features seven elements in five groups, and is dust- and moisture-resistant. The Carl Zeiss Sonnar T FE 55mm F1.8 ZA has a minimum focusing distance of 50cm and a maximum magnification of 0.14x. It has a near-circular 9 blade diaphragm which creates an attractive blur to the out of FOCUS areas of the image. A special Carl Zeiss T coating is applied to the lens elements to help reduce lens flare and surface reflections. The Carl Zeiss Sonnar T FE 55mm F1.8 ZA lens will be available for £849 / 999 in the UK and the US, respectively.

Ease of Use

The Carl Zeiss Sonnar T FE 55mm F1.8 ZA lens mounted on a Sony A7R

Weighing in at 281grams, the alloy-bodied Carl Zeiss Sonnar T FE 55mm F1.8 ZA is a substantial FE E-Mount lens. It complements a full-frame body like the Sony A7R body that we tested it with, as shown in the photos below.

The Carl Zeiss Sonnar T FE 55mm F1.8 ZA lens mounted on a Sony A7R

The Carl Zeiss Sonnar T FE 55mm F1.8 ZA lens mounted on a Sony A7R

Top of the Carl Zeiss Sonnar T FE 55mm F1.8 ZA lens

Bottom of the Carl Zeiss Sonnar T FE 55mm F1.8 ZA lens

Build quality is excellent, but you’d expect that given the high price of the lens. The Carl Zeiss Sonnar T FE 55mm F1.8 ZA has a sealed dust and moisture resistant design and is a natural partner for the A7R and A7 cameras.

Side of the Carl Zeiss Sonnar T FE 55mm F1.8 ZA lens

Side of the Carl Zeiss Sonnar T FE 55mm F1.8 ZA lens

The wide and ridged manual FOCUS ring is the only external control of note. Manual focusing is possible via the generously sized, textured FOCUS ring when set on the specific camera body. The lens utilizes a linear motor to produce quiet and smooth focusing, making it well-suited to shooting video.

Side of the Carl Zeiss Sonnar T FE 55mm F1.8 ZA lens

Front of the Carl Zeiss Sonnar T FE 55mm F1.8 ZA lens

Rear of the Carl Zeiss Sonnar T FE 55mm F1.8 ZA lens

The Carl Zeiss Sonnar T FE 55mm F1.8 ZA lens has a metal lens mount. It accepts 49mm filters via plastic threads.

Side of the Carl Zeiss Sonnar T FE 55mm F1.8 ZA lens

Side of the Carl Zeiss Sonnar T FE 55mm F1.8 ZA lens

The Carl Zeiss Sonnar T FE 55mm F1.8 ZA lens in-hand

The lens doesn’t ship with a case, but it is supplied with an excellent petal-shaped lens hood.

The Carl Zeiss Sonnar T FE 55mm F1.8 ZA lens with the ALC-SH131 lens hood fitted

Focal Range

At the 55mm focal length the angle of view is 43 degrees.

Field of view at 55mm

Focusing

The Carl Zeiss Sonnar T FE 55mm F1.8 ZA lens has quite a wide FOCUS ring. There are no hard stops at either end of the range, making it a little more difficult to set FOCUS at infinity. Polariser users should be pleased that the 49mm filter thread doesn’t rotate on FOCUS.

When it comes to auto-focusing, the Carl Zeiss Sonnar T FE 55mm F1.8 ZA zoom is a quiet and fairly quick performer on the Sony A7R that we tested it with, taking about 0.2 seconds to lock onto the subject.

We didn’t experience much “hunting”, either in good or bad light, with the lens accurately focusing almost all of the time, and it’s also a quiet performer thanks to the linear motor driven internal focusing, making it ideal for movie shooting.

Chromatic Aberrations

Chromatic aberrations, typically seen as purple or blue fringes along contrasty edges, are only notable by their complete absence from our test shots.

Light Fall-off

With the lens set to its maximum aperture, there is some light fall-off in the extreme corners, but it won’t affect your real-world shots.

Light fall-off

Macro

The Carl Zeiss Sonnar T FE 55mm F1.8 ZA isn’t claimed to be a macro lens, offering a minimum focusing distance of 50cm and a maximum magnification of 0.14x. The following example demonstrates how close you can get to your subject, in this case a Compact Flash memory card.

Close-up performance

Bokeh

Bokeh is a word used for the out-of-FOCUS areas of a photograph, and is usually described in qualitative terms, such as smooth / creamy / harsh etc. In the Carl Zeiss Planar T 55mm F1.4 ZA SSM lens, Sony employed an iris diaphragm with nine rounded blades, which has resulted in very appealing bokeh in our view. We do realise, however, that bokeh evaluation is subjective, so we’ve included several 100% crops for your perusal.

Sharpness

In order to show you how sharp this lens is, we are providing 100% crops on the following page.

Sony E-mount interchangeable lens Sonnar T FE 55mm F1.8 ZA SEL55F18Z. International Version

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Sony Sonnar T FE 55mm f/1.8 ZA Lens is ideal for photography enthusiasts and professionals alike because of its Sony’s full-frame E-mount camera compatibility, Bright f/1.8 maximum aperture 55 mm equivalent focal length!

Sony Sonnar T FE 55mm f/1.8 ZA Lens possesses a bright f/1.8 maximum aperture that allows crisp imagery in difficult lighting conditions. Further, it provides improved control over the depth of field that facilitates subject isolation and enables working with selective FOCUS techniques. The rounded nine-blade diaphragm renders astounding bokeh quality.

Our Take on the Sony Sonnar T FE 55mm f/1.8 ZA Lens:

Zeiss TAnti-reflective Coating applied on the lens suppresses flare and ghosting and renders higher contrast and color fidelity in strong lighting conditions and harsh climates. The linear autofocus motor outputs quick and quiet autofocus.

The design comes with three aspherical elements that reduce chromatic and spherical aberrations and limit distortion. Additionally, a constant f/1.8 maximum aperture allows consistent performance even in the full zoom range.

Sony Zeiss 55mm f1.8. Video Autofocus Test (FX3)

The lens is designed for Sony’s full-frame E-mount cameras and provides a 55 mm equivalent focal length. Further, it is also compatible with APS-C models and provides 82.5 mm equivalent focal length. Additionally, the lens comes with a dust and moisture-sealed lens barrel, which helps in difficult weather conditions.

TOP 10 KEY FEATURES:

Build Quality: Dust and moisture-sealed lens barrel
Lens Construction: 7 Elements in 5 Groups
Angle of View: 43°
Number of Diaphragm Blades: 9 Blades (Rounded diaphragm)
Maximum Magnification Shooting: 0.14x
Format Compatibility: Full-Frame
Focal Length: 55 mm
Compatibility: E-mount Cameras APS-C Models
Minimum Focusing Distance: 50 cm / 1.64′
Minimum Aperture: F22

Included in the box:

  • Sony Sonnar T FE 55mm f/1.8 ZA Lens
  • Sony Lens Hood
  • Sony Front Lens Cap
  • Sony Rear Lens Cap
  • Lens Pouch

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Опыт использования �� Carl Zeiss 55 mm f/1.8 (sel55f18z) for Sony E

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Sony Zeiss FE 55mm f/1.8 Sonnar T Astrophotography Review

In this review we take a look at Sony’s Zeiss-branded full-frame 55mm f/1.8. It’s one of the more expensive 50mm-ish primes available for any camera system and is highly regarded for its sharpness. Let’s see how it handles astrophotography.

Introduction

The Sony Zeiss FE 55mm f/1.8 Sonnar T was one of the first prime lenses introduced for the full frame Sony E mount lineup. Its design strays a bit from the standard 50mm prime that we’re used to seeing. The lens body is narrow, sporting a 49mm front filter thread and it’s longer than you would expect for a 50mm-ish standard prime lens. It also has a concave front element, something you don’t usually see on a typical 50.

It features a round 9-bladed aperture design, internal focusing, moisture and dust resistance, and an included petal-style lens hood. Its 7 element design has 3 aspherical lens elements, more than the typical 50mm-ish prime lens. It’s a fairly light lens at just under 10 ounces (281 g). At the time of writing, the lens sells for about 900-1000. This isn’t your typical affordable standard prime.

First Impressions

On any of the Sony a7 cameras, the 55mm f/1.8 is a well-balanced lens. It feels just the right size on my a7S. The body of the lens is a satin-black anodized aluminum alloy. It’s not the most resilient outer finish. Over time, my 55mm/1.8 has gotten a few dings and scrapes that have removed some finish on the edges of the lens. The included lens hood is very deep. It’s nearly half as long as the lens alone and so it really increases the length of the lens when installed. The hood also shares the same satin metal finish as the lens body, although the tips of the hood petals are a durable plastic.

The focusing ring is similar to most of the other native lenses for the E mount system. It has a smooth, finely ridged surface that’s flush with the rest of the lens. It’s not the best feeling focusing ring in my opinion. I would much prefer the rubberized, gnurled or well scalloped focusing rings that can be found on most other lenses.

Autofocus is super fast and quiet on the 55mm/1.8. It’s one of the quietest lenses that I’ve ever used, typical of the current offering of the Sony E mount system. Even on the more basic contrast detect autofocus system of my a7S, focusing is fast and accurate. On my a7II, which features a phase detection system, it’s even better. Not a primary consideration for astrophotography, but it’s nice nonetheless.

Manual focusing is a little strange, but good. It’s a FOCUS-by-wire system and it’s highly non-linear. Turn the ring slowly and the FOCUS will move very finely, quickly and it will move very coarsely. That means that one position of the focusing ring does not correspond to a specific FOCUS position. It takes some getting used to and is not very well suited to things like FOCUS pulling during movie recording.

The focusing system does, however, allow for extremely fine FOCUS adjustments, significantly more so than what I’ve experienced on other FOCUS-by-wire systems like the one offered on current Fujifilm XF lenses. This feature is a good thing for slower, more methodical shooting situations like landscape and astrophotography. It makes it possible to really tune the FOCUS to perfection, epecially helpful when using a precision focusing mask like my SharpStar2. (Which I highly recommend for pairing with this lens.)

Image Quality and Aberrations

The Sony Zeiss FE 55mm f/1.8 Sonnar T has already earned a positive reputation among the photography community. It’s simply a very sharp lens. Astrophotography can be a little tougher on lenses. When shooting astrophotography, I like to judge a lens based on how well it renders pin-point highlights (like stars) on the edge of the lens. Many lenses, especially fast primes, can show deformed looking stars in the corner of the image. Aberrations like coma and astigmatism can become distracting elements to an astrophoto.

I ran the FE 55mm f/1.8 through my aberration test chart to try to characterize its aberration performance. In general, the 4 dots in each sample of the chart should look like pinpoints. Any deviation from a pinpoint is an indication of aberration. In my test, aberration sizes are measured in pixels relative to the frame height and expressed as a percentage of the frame height. In general 1.5% is poor, 1.0% is average, 0.5% is very good and

You can read more about my aberration test in my practical guide to lens aberrations. Here’s how the FE 55mm f/1.8 does wide-open:

Right from f/1.8, the the Sony Zeiss FE 55mm f/1.8 Sonnar T shows promising performance. There is slight indication of sagittal astigmatism in the corner, which is what we would expect by inspecting the published lens MTF chart, but the aberration level seems very small, already delivering very good to nearly excellent performance in the corner of the image. Stopped down, it’s even better:

When the 55mm f/1.8 is stopped to f/2.8, nearly all signs of distracting aberrations are completely eliminated and stars appear like perfect pinpoints. At this setting, the lens seems nearly flawless.

Just for comparison to a significantly cheaper, legacy 50mm lens design, check out the same test performed on the affordable Canon 50mm f/1.8 STM below. Wide open, stars on the Canon lens appear stretched into little winged shapes.

Seeing the amount of aberration on the cheaper Canon lens puts into perspective just how good the Sony Zeiss FE 55mm f1/.8 is at producing low aberration images. At f/1.8, the Sony Zeiss FE 55mm is even better than the Canon at f/2.8. Impressive, but what else would we expect for this price?

Something that isn’t as perfect on the FE 55mm is its vignetting or light falloff performance. At f/1.8, the difference in brightness from the center of the frame to the coner is quite dramatic. For single frame compositions, vignetting is not usually a huge problem, but it can be particularly problematic for making panorama stitches.

Making a panorama with a 50mm-ish lens is one of my favorite methods for creating very high resolution images at night. Vignetting will usually make the seams of a panorama stitch visible. In order to reduce the effect enough to be acceptable for panoramas, the FE 55mm/1.8 needs to be stopped to f/2.8.

Using the Sony Zeiss FE 55mm f/1.8 for Astrophotography

Ok, I could stare at test charts all day, but how does the FE 55mm f/1.8 really perform in real life? I’ve had the lens available to me for astrophotography for the last two years. Here are some recent sample images and some more thoughts on its use:

Like I mentioned before, I really prefer to use my standard prime lenses to make small, usually 10-12 frame two-row panoramas. In this regard, the FE 55mm f/1.8 has worked to create some of my favorite, extremely high resolution photos of the night sky. Above is a multi-frame panorama from Trona Pinnacles, California, the site of our first ever Lonely Speck meetup.

Trona Pinnacles isn’t the darkest spot but it usually offers clear skies and its bizzare landscape makes for fun compositions.

I’ve also used the 55mm f/1.8 to capture some narrower crops of the Milky Way. Below is a single frame composition shot from the Adirondacks in New York.

The 55mm f/1.8 was the lens I used to shoot the constellation Orion for my LRGB tutorial. It took many exposures at f/1.8 and a lot of processing to capture the faint detail in Orion but I love the result.

recently, I used the 55mm f/1.8 to shoot some detailed crops of the constellation Cygnus from Trona Pinnacles. In the photo below, the North American Nebula is visible on the left, near the bright blue star of Deneb and the Veil Nebula is even barely visible, centered at the bottom edge of the frame.

And also from Trona Pinnacles is this shot of the sky near the Milky Way galactic center, featuring my favorite part of the night sky: the Rho Ophiuchi region around the star Antares. Saturn is visible in the center as the bright white star while Mars is the brightest, orange-reddish star to the right above the colorful region around the yellow star Antares.

Conclusions and Verdict

So what do I think? It’s almost perfect. The Sony Zeiss 55mm f/1.8 is extremely sharp and shows very good aberration peformance wide open at f/1.8. Stopped down to f/2.8, it’s simply excellent.

Vignetting performance wide open is a little bit disappointing and that’s the one characteristic that keeps the 55mm/1.8 from being perfect. Note that light falloff is common on most fast standard prime lenses; I just would have liked the relatively expensive FE 55mm f/1.8 to be an exception. The solution for panoramas is to shoot stopped down to f/2.8 in order to mitigate the effects of light falloff. In this regard, the lens can be used to produce some very highly detailed, absolutely aberration free panoramas of the night sky.

It’s the best standard prime I’ve ever used and I’ll likely keep it in my kit for the forseeable future. Highly Recommended.

Sony Zeiss FE 55mm f/1.8 Pros:

  • Sharp wide-open at f/1.8, very low levels of aberration
  • Basically aberration free by f/2.8
  • Very fine manual focusing capability
  • Fast silent autofocus

Sony Zeiss FE 55mm f/1.8 Cons:

  • Lots of vignetting at f/1.8, stop to f/2.8 to reduce light falloff
  • Expensive for a standard prime

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