Product ReviewsSony SEL 35mm F/1.8 OSS Lens

Simply AMAZING!

This lens is small in size, but performs in a big way! I photograph anything from cityscapes to portraits, and this focal length is ideal for my style of photography. To find me on Instagram, search @josewphotography. The autofocus is silent and lightening fast!! Just for reference, I own fully manual focus lenses for my SONY α6000 (by choice) from Rokinon and MINOLTA. My Rokinon collection includes the 12mm f2, the 85mm f1.4 and the 135mm f2. My MINOLTA lens is the AMAZING 50mm f1.4. Adding the SONY 35mm f1.8 is a big relief since I photograph events where people are moving non-stop. I've mastered manual focus since I've done it for so long, but the accurate autofocus that this 35mm provides helps a lot. I decided to get it when I reminisced on how I used to love my Nikon 35mm f1.8 on the D3300 that I used to own (before switching to SONY). I am so glad to have this lens and will put it good use. It was worth every penny ($355)Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: danielmac7

Excellent for new born baby hospital & home photos

I bought this lens just before the birth of my 1st daughter, for use with a Sony A6000 (APC-C, 1.5X crop) body.
Good bokeh, great with OSS and love the pictures it lets me take in low light conditions.
Focal length worked excellent to take pictures in hospital of new born, mother & 1-2 family members.

Was considering SEL50F18 due to cheaper price - so glad I finally went 35mm instead.
50mm would have been far too tight or distant (interaction) on many occasions in both hospital as well as home.

With this experience my next lens will definately be a Sony 28mm f/2.0 rather than 50mm f/1.8.
I definitely enjoy closer interaction and 28mm will allow for some wider context photos when baby grows older.

Should also note I own kit lenses 16-50mm and 55-210mm, none of which I felt the need nor desire to use over the 35mm this first week with our new born.Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: nleguy

Pretty sharp, but not the right lens for family photography

Performance - This lens produces sharp images. The focus motor is quiet, iso is kept low with the wide aperture.

Ergonomics - This lens is lightweight, so it does not throw the camera out of balance or cause hand fatigue. The focus ring is wide, smooth, and easy to turn.

Value - Mediocre; 30mm 2.8 other brand lens could be had for half the price, and would produce decent images. I see no real reason to own both 50mm and 35mm lenses, as they are both portrait lenses. I prefer the 35mm, but it's not worth double the price in my opinion.

Buy again? - I would never pay full price for this lens. If Sony ever comes out with a wider low light OSS lens at a reasonable price (not zeiss price), I'd buy that one in a heartbeat.Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: jbaselice

Great little lens for low-light and autofocus speed, blur and sharpness.

I got this lens for my Sony A6000 to have a good option for low light photography and get some nice background blur. Often I am using the lens for spontaneous moments of my children, indoors and outdoors as well. Autofocus speed is great - this is difficult to compare, because it depends on camera setup and lighting conditions - with the A6000 it cooperates with PDAF focusing. For video, continuous focusing also works like a charm. In low light, and when I need the 35mm standard angle of view, I am better off with this lens then with the Zeiss 16-70mm. The very compact size of this lens is also appealing!

What is less-than-perfect about this lens? Well, build quality is okay, but rather thin metal on the outside, and two different shades of black - actually, I don't care about this. Manual focusing is "by wire" i.e. coupled electronically - no mechanical contact between your hand and the focusing mechanism.

Picture quality: I think this lens delivers very nice images, sharp, good contrast, little distortion, little flare, little aberration. Aperture f1.8 is very usable, except for macro. The lens looks strange with the concave, and rather small front element, does not look similar to a large aperture DSLR lens, but the picture quality is in the same league as DSLR lenses with similar focal lens, aperture, and price range. Bokeh is sometimes strange: usually soft, creamy bokeh as one expects from this kind of a lens, but occasionally, the aspherical lens element causes the bokeh to have that "onion ring" look (search for aspherical lens bokeh images to see what I mean). I can live with that - the aspherical lens element is there for a good reason...

Overall, I am impressed by this lens, and I am using it very often, due to its size, low light, autofocus, and picture quality capabilities.Read full review...

Super sharp

Great lens (maybe the only one you'll need) for the Sony a6000. Very sharp, clear, definition is superb, excellent contrast and color saturation. Surprised I could do some macro photos with this lens as well. Perfect focal length matches what I am seeing with my eye. Doesn't do landscapes well for that pick up the 24mm. This lens will work for everything else.Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: hotdigital-inte...

Fabulous lens

Great lens for e-mount cameras. Perfect walk around lens for a6x00 series. Images are sharp, even wide open. Focus is fast and smooth. OSS helps with video taking, and low-light shooting hand held. It's become my favorite lens and it almost never leaves my camera!Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: best_buy

Great lens

Small and compact. Great focal length for pictures. Sony did a good job. Very lightweight, so you will need a stabilzer/steadycam/small pod for video. Autofocus is fast

Sigma 30mm f/1.4 is heavier and more stable for videoRead full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: new | Sold by: 6ave

I love this lens!

This lens is great for an older set of eyes, the autofocus feature insures a sharp image every time. I normally use old Leica lenses with adapters on my Sony, but for catching an image on the fly, this is the ticket. I have absolutely nothing bad to say about this product, the lens image quality is wonderful.Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: hugequadcork

35 mm prime

What a great lens! Portraits are great looking. Picture come out sharp! Looks like a professional took them ! Lens worth the money for sure. Wish I got it sooner!

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: qVU3ey3ZSrC@Del...

Great portrait and travel lens

Very good portrait and travel photography lens. Nice bokeh, small size and generally well built. A bit hard to shoot indoors but other than that it's a very good all-round lens. Produces sharp images (though you probablt don't wanna go as low as f1.8 - I usually shoot portraits at f2.8 and it works well). I think it focuses slightly better than the 50mm in dark environments, though it is still a bit slow and sometimes misses the target and has to focus-defocus all the way to finally lock in. Other than that I am happy with it and will definitely use it a lot.Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: h8tow8ck