Sony FE 55mm F/1.8 ZA Sonnar

The Sony FE 55mm f/1.8 ZA Sonnar is a full-frame E-mount lens designed for the Sony E-mount cameras. Key features include:

• Excellent for landscape, street, and portrait photography

• Internal focusing system with non-rotating front element

• Nine-blade curved aperture

• High-quality build

Full Frame E-mount. As a part of the FE line of lenses, the 55mm f/1.8 is designed to cover the full-frame sensors on Sony E-mount cameras. Since it’s an E-mount lens, it’s also fully compatible with APS-C NEX cameras.

Normal Range. When used on a full-frame camera, this lens provides a moderately wide focal length that’s great for landscape, street, and portrait photography. With an APS-C sensor camera, you’ll have a short telephoto length of about 83mm—perfect for portraiture. The fast f/1.8 aperture is great for low-light shooting and subject-background isolation.

Internal Focusing. The lens remains the same size while it’s focusing. Its non-rotating front element allows for improved filter use.

Advanced Optics. The FE 55mm f/1.8 uses three aspherical elements to reduce spherical aberrations and produce sharp, clear images. The Carl Zeiss T* anti-reflective coating eliminates lens flare and ghosting while providing the famous high micro-contrast Zeiss look. The lens’s curved nine-blade aperture diaphragm gives images smooth out-of-focus areas when you desire a shallow depth of field.

High Build Quality. Like the Sony a7-series cameras, the FE 55mm offers dust- and moisture-resistant sealing for use in less-than-ideal conditions. The all-metal barrel and smooth, responsive manual-focus ring give this lens a solid feel.

Brennan – Photo Tech
Experience: Weekend rentals.
Take: This was one of Sony’s first lenses for the a7 mirrorless line and it still holds up well today. It’s nice and compact, and balances perfect …

Brennan – Photo Tech
Experience: Weekend rentals.
Take: This was one of Sony’s first lenses for the a7 mirrorless line and it still holds up well today. It’s nice and compact, and balances perfect with the size of the current Sony mirrorless options. Image quality is some of the best you’ll see for the size and price too. It’s sharp all through the aperture range and doesn’t show any distortion.

Simon – Photo Tech
Experience: Sony’s BeAlpha event.
Take: The Sony FE 55mm f/1.8 ZA Sonnar is a fantastic lens and a great standard prime lens for the Sony system. It’s extremely sharp and could be comparable to the best 50mm wide-aperture lenses on the market. Overall, it is a well-made lens with a compact build and sleek design. This lens won’t disappoint!