Sony Alpha SAL35F18 35mm f/1.8 A-mount Wide Angle Lens (Black)

My title above is, of course, is an attempt at humor, but when you see just how sharp your photos will come out with this little guy, you'll understand what I mean! In all seriousness, this lens is really superb, and when you look at its cost, weight, and performance, it is hard to beat. Sony released the lens after Nikon had a huge hit with a similarly specified lens for the Nikon mount (Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras), and Sony made the correct decision to keep this thing affordable when doing so.Weighing just 170g, just pop this thing on your Sony alpha camera, and you'll be thinking you forgot to mount a lens. When you consider it costs only some $190, you might also be tempted to think it will produce mediocre images. But try it out and see if you agree with everyone who has used it. It's an amazing performer for such a low cost.Images are richly saturated, and extremely sharp. To use it is to remind yourself of the compromises that are made with all zoom lenses. It will certainly hold its own against the Nikon variant.There are a couple of minor quibbles with this lens. No pouch or case is provided (simply the two lens caps). The unit is made of rather plasticky design (but doesn't feel like junk; it's just not like a $2,000 Zeiss lens in construction). Autofocus is very fast, but a bit noisy, due to it's old-fashioned screw design. The unit is built in China.But don't let any of these things deter you. It feels like a lens that should last if taken care of. And the thing just pumps out some seriously good images. It's inexpensive and lightweight. Pretty amazing all around. Thanks, Sony! We need more lenses like this for the alpha line. Five stars.Update: March, 2013Having recently returned with my wife from our last trip to Paris, I was extremely pleased with the performance of this lens when used in the museum setting. Although, sadly, some museums are moving to barring of photo-taking (the Musée d'Orsay recently adopted such a policy), I can say that this little prime lens with its huge aperture and fixed zoom length really knocks off some gorgeous photos even in these trying environments. With many museums careful to keep the lights down to protect artwork and other pieces, the F1.8 aperture here allows you to keep the ISO way down even in these semi-lit environs. The catch: the wide aperture also has a depth of field associated with it that keeps only very specific distances in focus. This means you have to watch what you are focusing on while shooting to ensure you have the desired object fully in focus. You can stop down the lens to any smaller F-stop, but then that defeats the purpose of having the wide aperture! For the Sony alpha mount system, it's going to be hard to beat the image quality of these shots with other lenses. You also have to be willing, however, to be the "zoom" yourself, stepping back and forth to get the proper "zoom" level before taking the shot. When you add in the lens weighs almost nothing, it can make for a satisfying museum photographic experience.Notes:This lens is part of a series of inexpensive Sony lenses that have been dubbed the "plastic fantastic" series (but note the word "fantastic": that's where your attention should be). Some of the others include:Sony Alpha SAL85F28 A-mount Standard & Medium Telephoto Lens (Black)Sony SAL30M28 30mm f/2.8 Lens for Alpha Digital SLR Cameras

Right up front I'll say that I'm giving this lens five stars based on the way it performs at its price point. I have a few lenses that each cost four to five times as much as the SAL35F18 and, of course, I think they're better lenses. But, they didn't cost $200 and aren't light, compact, and easy to carry. Overall, this is a nice little lens for all-around use. I have carried it in the field where I would normally carry my 105mm macro, and it performed admirably, letting me get landscape shots, close-ups, as well as a series of shots that effortlessly stitched together for a pano. It has also done well for general purpose whatever-have-you photography. I haven't had a "normal" prime lens in years, and I'm having fun learning to shoot that way again, rather than being able to rack focal length on a zoom lens. People have commented on the weight, or lack thereof. Comparing it with my old, retired 18-55 Sony kit lens, the SAL35F18 seems heavier, and produces much better quality than the kit lens, for which my copy could best be described as "crappy" (YMMV). My experience with this lens at f/1.8 is that it requires a lot of care. For me (shooting an A55) I've found the auto focus to be unreliable at that aperture. I also think the lens is a bit soft at that aperture, so perhaps that is the cause. I get better results, or at least more consistent results, with manual focus at f/1.8 and f/2. Also, when wide open I have experienced purple fringing in high contrast situations. Of course, Lightroom takes care of that quite nicely. One comment about macro shots -- I quickly learned the difference between a 35mm macro and a 105mm macro when shooting handheld: a couple of mm of movement of the photographer or the subject amounts to a significant percentage of the subject to sensor distance for the shorter lens, not so much so for the longer lens. Thus, taking macro shots handheld with this lens is more challenging for me than with my 105mm. I had not considered that before, but it makes sense to me. Overall, a good lens and a lot of capability for the price.

Pretty decent lens for the price point