Sony FE 50mm F1.8: the light first prime for Sony full-frame and APS-C

A 50mm f/1.8 is the first prime most people buy, and this is Sony's own. Announced on March 29, 2016, the FE 50mm F1.8 (SEL50F18F) is a full-frame E-mount lens that weighs 186 g and measures 68.6 × 59.5 mm, small enough to leave on the camera all day. On a full-frame body such as the a7 IV it's a natural-looking standard lens; on an APS-C body such as the a6400 it frames like a 75mm short portrait lens.

The design is simple. Sony uses six elements in five groups in a double-Gauss layout with one aspherical element, and a seven-blade circular aperture for rounded out-of-focus highlights. At f/1.8 it gathers far more light than a slow kit zoom, which helps indoors and at night and makes it easy to blur a background. It focuses to 0.45 m (0.14x), takes 49 mm filters, has a metal mount and comes with a round bayonet hood.

The catch is autofocus. Focus is driven by a DC motor, and The-Digital-Picture's review calls it "slow, moderately audible". The front of the lens extends as it focuses, there are no switches on the barrel, and there's no optical stabilization, so on a body without IBIS like the a6400 you rely on shutter speed. For portraits, street, travel and low-light stills it's an easy addition. For fast action, or video with the camera's own microphone, a 50mm with quieter, faster AF is the better fit.

Sony Electronics introduced the FE 50mm F1.8 alongside the FE 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 G OSS on March 29, 2016, describing it as "extremely compact, lightweight and affordably priced", for May availability at $250 (Sony Electronics).

It's still in Sony's lineup, now sold as model SEL50F18F/2, and Sony's US store lists an MSRP of $249.99 (Sony Electronics).

Six photos taken with the FE 50mm F1.8 by independent photographers: five on Sony full-frame bodies and one on an APS-C a6000, where it frames like a 75mm lens. Shared under Creative Commons licenses or marked public domain. Select a photo to enlarge it. More samples from Sony