First Impressions: Sony 35mm f1.8 OSS (NEX E-Mount)

One of the major complaints about the Sony NEX camera system was that there weren’t enough good lenses. While that has been true for a while, the system now enjoys a very good 24mm f1.8, 50mm f1.8, 30mm f3.5 Macro and the brand spankin’ new 35mm f1.8 OSS. This is the company’s ~~first~~ second prime lens to feature their optical stabilization system, and on the APS-C sized sensor, it renders a 52mm field of view.

We’ve been using it with the NEX 5r for a little while–the successor to the very good 5n. So does it stay up to par with its sisters?

Gear Used

So far, we’ve been using Sony’s 35mm f1.8 OSS with the Sony NEX 5r.

Tech Specs

Specs pulled from the Adorama listing.

Lens Mount Type	Sony E-mount
Aperture (Max.)	f/1.8
Aperture (Min.)	f/22
Focal Length (35mm equivalent)	52.5 mm
Filter Diameter	49mm
Lens Construction	6 Groups / 8 Elements
Minimum Focus Distance	11.88″ (0.3 m)
Angle of View	44° (APS-C)
Aperture Blade	7 blades (Circular aperture)
Image Stabilization	Optical SteadyShot
Diameter x Length	2.4 x 1.8″ (62.2 x 45mm)
Weight	5.5 oz (155g)

Ergonomics

The Sony 35mm f1.8 OSS is not a Zeiss branded lens, but it ought to be–at least in terms of looks. A slippery smooth black exterior covers this lens with very little to it at all. Most of the lens’s small body is dominated by a large manual focus ring.

The lens has a 49mm filter thread and not a large front element at all. The hood for it is petal shaped and only makes the lens look like a monster about to eat your subject’s face.

Otherwise, the lens doesn’t have very much else to it. Like Sony’s other NEX primes, it is very simplistic.

Build Quality

The 35mm f1.8 OSS is quite solidly built. If the lens didn’t have OSS motors inside, I wonder how much smaller it could have been made or if they could have made the aperture open to f1.4 instead.

For most people looking for a 50mm field of view, you’ll appreciate this lens’s feel in your hands. However, I personally feel that it should best be paired with one of the NEX cameras that includes a viewfinder.

Autofocus

I’ve so far tested this lens on a friend’s Sony NEX F3 and the 5r. In bright light (outdoors) we found the autofocus to be just as speedy as any other NEX lens (which is still not as instantaneous as Olympus.) As soon as I headed indoors, though, I experienced mixed results. In my bedroom and on my dining table (where many of my product photos are shot), the focus can hunt quite a bit.

All products have the latest firmware.

In conjunction with the NEX 5r, I used the touchscreen to try to nail focus on passers by as they went past the lens’s field of view. And how did the two perform? All photos below were the sequence that happened as I tapped on the moving subject on the Sony NEX 5r’s screen.

To be fair, after talking with Sony’s PR reps, I believe I may have a bit of a faulty unit in terms of screen performance. I’ve seen the screen be much snappier than this when I first played with the camera during the pre-production phase. However, the lens closely nailed some of the photos.

Ease of Use

As with all NEX lenses, there is very little for the user to fuss about and the design was made very straightforward. Point, shoot, and look at your images in awe–that’s the NEX philosophy.

Want to manually focus? Then enjoy using Sony’s focus peaking system. This is a feature they’ve brought from their video cameras and transferred into the NEX and Alpha SLT line of cameras. It makes manually focusing positively wonderful and photography becomes fun again with modern technology.

Image Samples

These photos are not edited in any way except for resizing for the web. The excellent feature is that this lens’s OSS system lets me shoot at slower shutter speeds and still achieve sharper images due to the stabilization.