SEL 50mm f/1.8 - thoughts?

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Birma
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SEL 50mm f/1.8 - thoughts?

Unread post by Birma »

I am very interested in this lens for my Nex 6 and would be interested to get the thoughts of anybody who has used the lens, or indeed, anybody else's thoughts as well :)

I have owned the Minolta AF 50/1.7 which I found ok, but it never really blew me a away (perhaps I didn't have a great copy), and I still have the Minolta MD 50/1.4 which is one of my favourite lens. I am hoping that the SEL 50/1.8 will be somewhere in-between the two. The AF and OSS will be handy when trying to catch candid people shots.

I am assuming that the difference between the silver and the black models is purely cosmetic?
Nex 5, Nex 6 (IR), A7M2, A99 and a bunch of lenses.
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Re: SEL 50mm f/1.8 - thoughts?

Unread post by classiccameras »

I have a Minolta 45-mm F/2 MD Rokkor X lens which I use on my old XD-7.
I'm thinking of trying it out with adaptor on my 57. Yes, the 50-mm F/1.7 is an excellent lens but are you talking early or late model. The early model had a larger body and had Rokkor printed on the bezel and no green lock button although don't confuse this with the even earlier MC lenses. The later F/1.7 has a smaller body and did not have Rokkor printed on it but had the green lock button. Many Minolta fans rated the earlier model optically superior.
A far more revealing web site for all things Minolta is the Rokkor Files.
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Birma
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Re: SEL 50mm f/1.8 - thoughts?

Unread post by Birma »

Hi Classiccameras - sorry for the confusion. The 50/1.7 that I had was an Alpha mount, Minolta autofocus, not a MD manual focus. The 50/1.4 that I have is a manual focus, MD type lens. I think it is a fairly late model.

To use the older manual MD lenses on an Alpha mount like the A57 I think the adapter has to have a further lens in it - this has always put me off - but I guess you can get better adapters where this doesn't make such a difference. If you have a nice MD collection I would have thought a blow out price Nex 6 would be an ideal partner :) .
Nex 5, Nex 6 (IR), A7M2, A99 and a bunch of lenses.
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Re: SEL 50mm f/1.8 - thoughts?

Unread post by classiccameras »

Thanks birma, I should have realised you were talking Minolta Auto focus.
I think I will give the MD lens on the 57 a miss after what you say.
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Re: SEL 50mm f/1.8 - thoughts?

Unread post by Greg Beetham »

It seems to be a decent lens with OSS, this review http://www.slrgear.com/reviews/showprod ... oduct/1451 checks it out, they found some complex CA but overall seems pretty good for the price.
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Birma
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Re: SEL 50mm f/1.8 - thoughts?

Unread post by Birma »

Thanks for the review link, Greg. It gets a good write up there. Kurt Munger also seems impressed. http://kurtmunger.com/sony_nex_50mm_f_1_8id320.html. Definitely a nifty-fifty :)
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Re: SEL 50mm f/1.8 - thoughts?

Unread post by Marcell Nikolausz »

It's a wonderful lens. Not my favourite focal length but very unique with the OSS for static low light situations. When I use I'm always happy with the results.
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Re: SEL 50mm f/1.8 - thoughts?

Unread post by pakodominguez »

FYI
http://www.dxomark.com/Reviews/Best-len ... est-lenses
Yes, it is Uber-sharp.
Since I'm building my system around the A7R, I can sell you mine :-p
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Re: SEL 50mm f/1.8 - thoughts?

Unread post by pakodominguez »

pakodominguez wrote:FYI
http://www.dxomark.com/Reviews/Best-len ... est-lenses
Yes, it is Uber-sharp.
Since I'm building my system around the A7R, I can sell you mine :-p
more recent side by side with newer designs:
http://www.dxomark.com/Reviews/Best-len ... lpha-A3000
Pako
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Birma
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Re: SEL 50mm f/1.8 - thoughts?

Unread post by Birma »

Thanks for the recommendation, Marcell :)

Thanks for the links Pako - Dxomark seem to like it. Thanks as well for the offer, but I think the postage and import would make it more expensive :) . Hope you're settled
in to your new place?
Nex 5, Nex 6 (IR), A7M2, A99 and a bunch of lenses.
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Re: SEL 50mm f/1.8 - thoughts?

Unread post by pakodominguez »

Birma wrote:Thanks for the links Pako - Dxomark seem to like it. Thanks as well for the offer, but I think the postage and import would make it more expensive :) .
Postage prices can be decent. Problem will be if you must pay taxes in the UK...
Birma wrote:Hope you're settled in to your new place?
ah! two moves at the same time: first we move to a new apartment, in the area where the wife was dreaming about live for a while (Long Island City, is a neighborhood in Queens, by the river, facing Manhattan by 42nd St -UN Headquarters) 14 floor, beautiful view, but we hadn't have time to unpack everything yet. we were supposed to work on it this weekend, but yesterday we both had last minute work to do, so the boxes will still be in the living room for a little longer.

Then, The photo lab moved also, from Manhattan (we were on 17th st, behind the Store) to south Park Slope (Windsor terraces I believe is the name of the neighborhood) to a much bigger location, but the installation is taking longer than expected (actually, my boos wasn't realistic about the timing...) We are producing but at 40% of capacity. In other hand, we have new machines for producing our photobook faster (same quality) and we'll be adding new products during the summer.

So, no settled yet, but the first half of the year looks really exciting ;-)
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Birma
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Re: SEL 50mm f/1.8 - thoughts?

Unread post by Birma »

Well Pako, with moving both your home and work places you will have lots of new ground to explore, and new places to photograph we hope :)
Nex 5, Nex 6 (IR), A7M2, A99 and a bunch of lenses.
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Re: SEL 50mm f/1.8 - thoughts?

Unread post by pakodominguez »

Birma wrote:Well Pako, with moving both your home and work places you will have lots of new ground to explore, and new places to photograph we hope :)
To explore? I'm still trying to find a place where to have a decent lunch...
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