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The Best Portrait Lenses for Sony E Mount Cameras We Love

Chris Gampat
No Comments
05/10/2022
3 Mins read
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Tamron 35-150mm f2-2.8 review product images 1.81-250s400

Of course, some photographers would rather reach for zoom lenses than prime lenses. We get that! So, if you’re a professional photographer using Sony cameras, you’re in the right place. Looking for the best portrait lenses for Sony E Mount? We’ve tested these lenses and found them to be exceptional in a variety of tests. But more importantly, they’re also innovative in many ways. Take a look!

Pro Tips on Using Portrait Lenses for Sony E Mount Cameras

If you’re curious about some of the best portrait lenses for Sony E Mount, see how we test our lenses:

  • All the images in this roundup were shot by us. Further, all the testing was done by us, too. You can click on our full reviews in each section to learn more.
  • This roundup of the best portrait lenses for Sony E Mount focuses on the fact that some professional photographers want zoom lenses instead of primes. In that case, these truly are remarkable. 
  • Some Sony cameras focus faster and better than others. We’ve seen this across the board in our camera tests.
  • The key with Sony is using the AF-C mode along with face/eye detection. And you’ll get the fastest and most accurate autofocus if you turn off the Live View Setting Effect. Instead, set up your camera to give an End Result Preview when pressing a button.
  • One of these lenses is an Editor’s Choice Award winner. Another one was incredibly close to getting it.

Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 Di III VXD G2

Pro Tip

Use this lens at the tele-end for portraits where you want a lot of bokeh. It works great on the wider end too, for dramatic environmental portraits. Combine this with face and eye detection. We’ve used it on both current and older cameras. and the autofocus did a great job on both. So, no matter what Sony camera you’re using, this lens should do an excellent job.

How’s the Autofocus?

In our review, we state:

“…it focused perfectly fine on both cameras providing that the autofocus was set to the correct subject type. This worked both with moving and stagnant subjects. More importantly, it also worked very well in low-light.”

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Tamron 35-150mm f2-2.8 Di III VXD

Pro Tip

The Tamron 35-150mm f2-2.8 Di III VXD is one of the most innovative lenses to come out in the past few years. It provides an advantageous focal range for photographers of all types. At the longer end, it will act sort of like a 70-200mm lens. On the wider end, it will seem more like a prime lens with its wide aperture. Use this lens in conjunction with face and eye detection. And for an even better effect, use the AF-C setting on your Sony camera.

How’s the Autofocus?

In our review, we state:

“I can’t complain about the autofocus here. It’s pretty much as good as a Sony lens. And you can trust us on that statement; we’ve reviewed the most lenses for Sony FE-mount of any photography-specialized outlet.”

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Tamron 70-180mm f2.8 Di III VXD

Pro Tip

Think of the Tamron 70-180mm f2.8 Di III VXD as being more compact and lighter than a 70-200mm lens, giving you excellent mobility when shooting all day. With your Sony camera, you’ll rely on its image stabilization. The VXD autofocus motor will keep up with most subjects, provided you’ve got the right camera.

How’s the Autofocus?

In our review, we state:

“…both Face Detection AF and Eye Detection AF worked reasonably well on the Tamron.”

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This piece is presented in partnership with TAMRON. We’ve independently and ethically reviewed all the products in this post already without sponsorship. And we worked with them to recommend a few key gems to you.

The Phoblographer’s various product round-up features are done in-house. Our philosophy is simple: you wouldn’t get a Wagyu beef steak review from a lifelong vegetarian. And you wouldn’t get photography advice from someone who doesn’t touch the product. We only recommend gear we’ve fully reviewed. If you’re wondering why your favorite product didn’t make the cut, there’s a chance it’s on another list. If we haven’t reviewed it, we won’t recommend it. This method keeps our lists packed with industry-leading knowledge. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

autofocus best portrait lenses for Sony E Mount eye detection face detection portraiture tamron Tamron 28-75mm Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 Di III VXD G2 tamron 35-150mm Tamron 35-150mm F2-2.8 Di III VXD Tamron 70-180mm Tamron 70-180mm f2.8 Di III VXD
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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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