Hey everyone!
I'm John Sison and today we're taking a look at the Zeiss 50mm F1.4 lens for the Sony E-mount
system.
The 50mm F1.4 is Sony's continued effort to bring wider aperture prime lenses to the Sony
E-mount lens lineup and along with a 35mm F1.4 and 85mm F1.4, they share similar functions
and features for not only photographers but videographers.
In this video, I'm going to be using this lens on the A7S Mark 2 and the A7R Mark 2
to give you an idea about the lens's performance and at the end of the video, I'll let you
know what I personally think of it so stay tuned.
The lens has a combination of a high quality plastic and metal construction.
On the top of the lens you have the focal length and aperture of the lens engraved on
the body.
You also have the Zeiss logo on the side of the lens.
It accepts 72mm filters and comes with a deep petal type lens hood.
There is a ribbed focus ring with an aperture ring just below it which allows you to quickly
change your aperture settings quickly.
You also have the benefit of having a clicking sound or having it silent when you change
your aperture.
On the side of the lens, you also have a focus switch where you can quickly change between
auto and manual focus.
The mount is made out of metal and is also advertised as weather resistant, so you can
shoot with this in various conditions.
Given that the camera also has weather sealing.
Now the lens is quite weighty weighing in at 778 grams and that's with the lens hood
included.
Now when you compare it to a lens like the Zeiss 55mm F1.8, its going to be a lot smaller
and its actually a lot lighter weighing in at only 281 grams.
And that lens is also highly recommended among Sony shooters.
It really begs the question, is it worth it to get a lens like this?
Well it really depends on your shooting preferences.
If you really need an F1.4 aperture and an aperture ring, this is a no brainer.
Comparing it in terms of size to the 35mm F1.4 which basically shares the same design,
the 50mm comes in just a tad shorter.
Autofocusing is quick but not blazingly fast which I somewhat found surprising.
Also, there was a bit of a whirring sound while autofocusing which is similar to the
85mm F1.4 G Master.
The lens uses a fly-by-wire system and the manual focus ring offered little resistance
when in use.
It also doesn't change in physical size when focusing either.
Unfortunately, there is no optical stabilisation built in but because it has an F1.4 aperture,
you can forgive Sony for not including it.
Now before I talk about the actual image quality of the lens, I'm going to make special note
of the 11 bladed circular aperture.
This helps gives you some very smooth and circular out of focus blur and indeed it shows
in the images.
Its nice and smooth which makes the background more appealing, especially if you're shooting
street lights.
Now you get some beautifully rendered images with the 50mm F1.4.
It delivers contrasty colours with extremely minimal distortion and chromatic aberrations.
There is a fair amount of vignetting when shooting wide open with this lens and that's
basically the only downside I can come up with.
Images are very sharp in the centres and shooting with this wide open is great for blurring
out the background from your subject in focus and for low light gathering capabilities when
in low light situations.
Now if you're meticulous about sharpness, it might be best to stop down the lens to
about F2.8.
Now all these photos were shot with the A7R Mark 2 in RAW and then converted to JPEG.
Using it with the A7R Mark 2 for video was decent with quick autofocusing but not as
fast as the A7S Mark 2.
Because of the F1.4 aperture I was able to get some very shallow depth of field and stand
away at a reasonable distance so this may be a good option for some cinematic shots
or possibly interviews.
There was a bit of focus breathing but certainly not as bad as other lenses and of course,
having that aperture ring with declick option, made shooting easy.
The Zeiss 50mm F1.4 delivers superb performance in a high quality build and if you can stomach
the size, price and weight its a lens that I feel delivers very smooth out of focus blur
and extremely sharp images in the centres.
Features like the aperture ring and declick option are also going to be beneficial for
photographers and videographers to make shooting a lot easier.
And while I love the build quality of this lens, it is a bit front heavy and that's with
me using the A72 series cameras.
I also did notice a bit of that whirring sound that occurred in the 85mm F1.4 G Master and
while it is noticeable in very quiet situations, in real world conditions, it really wasn't
a big issue.
Now when it comes down to this lens, its really the price thats going to make it inaccessible
to a few people but luckily there are a few alternatives that you can consider in the
50mm range.
So you've got the 50mm F1.8 budget lens from Sony, the Zeiss 55mm F1.8 which is a lot smaller,
lighter and cheaper and you've also got the Samyang 50mm F1.4 AF lens.
Now those are a few of my options but there's obviously a lot of other alternatives on the
market but if you're looking for a lens that's going to be great for low light conditions
with the build quality to match, I would not hesitate in recommending the Zeiss 50mm F1.4.
Now if you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment below and if you already
own one, let me know what you think of it and remember to like this video if you found
it helpful and subscribe to my channel for more Sony lens reviews and tutorials.
You can also follow me on Facebook and Instagram for more photo updates and sample photos and
don't forget to take a look in the description below for more information about this lens
and purchasing links.
Until then, happy shooting and thanks for watching.
They share the same...
Dammit!
Really?
No way!
You're kidding, right?
That is a lot
schmaller
The lens is quite weighty weighing in at 778 grams and thats with the lens hood included.
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It really.
It really begs the question, is it worth
??
Conditions, it wasn't too much of an issue.
Only I can only only only.
Photographers and videographers to make shooting easy and I
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It gives you very smooth.
Damn.
I feel delivers extremely smooth out of focus blur and very smooth out of focus blur.
So, the good?
Argh!
Im so itchy on that!
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