(Note: This is not a full review. I label these posts as “Impressions” as such since I typically do not perform formal testing on lenses until after I have shot with them in the real-world for a while)
I have owned and shot with the Sony NEX-7 for about 9 months now. Until last week, most of my lenses were old, reliable, and still optically great Nikon AI-s’. The Sony 35mm f/1.8 OSS is the very first autofocus lens I have ever shot with for the native E-mount. As such, expect for near-future impressions on factors such as focus speed, OSS effectiveness, and vignetting to be subjective, since I have no other Sony E-mount lenses to compare with, and my manual focus AI-s Nikkors are designed to cover a full-frame sensor.
Let me address the elephant in the room right away: for a “standard” prime (giving a 52mm field-of-view in 35mm format), the 35mm f/1.8 ($450/€342) seems overpriced compared to Nikon’s DX 35mm f/1.8 ($200/€152) and Canon’s 35mm f/2 ($290/€220). What advantages are immediately apparent to the Sony, though? Well, it’s smaller in every way (the Canon is a bit smaller in diameter, however), it’s lighter by about 3 ounces, has a very nice shiny metal* finish, and has optical stabilization. I wouldn’t think these advantages by themselves would be worth $150 over the Canon or $250 over the Nikon. This probably means one of two things: 1. Sony is ripping off its NEX photographers or 2. Optically, this lens is top-notch compared to the Canikon offerings. Unfortunately, I do not own either of the other 35mm’s, so I’ll never know for certain which reason drives the price of this lens so much higher.
*After some mix-ups with figuring out what exactly the Series-E lenses were made of, I’m not going to give any definitive answer on what this lens is made of for now.Possible pricing issues aside, I have been shooting with this small “standard” for a couple days now. So far, I’m liking what I’m seeing. Wide-open, there’s a bit of softness, but it doesn’t detract from images at normal viewing sizes in any way. Focus seems to be mostly consistent: using flexible spot at the center, focus is usually spot-on. Sometimes, during high contrast scenes, there is unavoidable back-focus. For focus speed, I’d say it’s about twice as fast as the time it takes for me to find focus manually with my Nikkors (on static objects). I do not ever expect the 35mm f/1.8 to find focus on moving objects due to the limitations of CDAF. I may test it out a little bit to see if the lens could focus on moving subjects, but I doubt it’ll deliver.
What I am loving without a doubt on the 35mm f/1.8 is the OSS. Not only does it help give another few stops of shutter speed advantage in low light and make handheld video smooth as silk (which I already knew it would do), but it makes composing photographs surprisingly easier! Framing can be much tighter when using the 35mm f/1.8; small movements which would translate to a jerk in the liveview with a non-OSS lens move the picture around very slowly with this lens. It’s a subtle, but nice touch to keep from needing to crop and rotate a bit in post-processing.
All the following captured with the Sony NEX-7 and this Sony 35mm f/1.8 OSS. A lot of these feature snow, which makes getting accurate white balance even harder (especially for me). Apologies in advance. 🙂
Too Much Ice?
35mm, ISO 100, f/1.8, 1/500
Bulbs
35mm, ISO 100, f/1.8, 1/40
You can see a bit of back-focus in this example, the focus point was the foreground leaves on the bulb, instead it focused about a centimeter back.
Last Little Bit
35mm, ISO 100, f/2.8, 1/60
Flow
35mm, ISO 100, f/11, .8 Seconds
With a brace, sharp images can be taken at unbelievably slow shutter speeds
Bike Rack Leading Lines
35mm, ISO 100, f/1.8, 1/400
Bokeh Sunset
35mm, ISO 100, f/2.8, 1/500
Bokeh Highlights look okay for now, I need to see some other colors to see more possible examples of artifacts
Extra Mane
35mm, ISO 100, f/1.8, 1/1250
Snowy Vento
35mm, ISO 100, f/1.8, 1/2500
Hazy Atmosphere
35mm, ISO 100, f/4, 1/320
That’s all for these first impressions guys and gals, thanks for dropping by! The winter break is coming to a close very soon for me, I’m afraid. What exactly this pertains to my website I’m not sure yet, but I hope to still at least get the full review of this lens up by next weekend. 🙂
And hey! This is my 100th post on the website! Woo!
Matthew Durr Photography 
great shots as always,..happy new year and looking forward for your next hundreds of post… 🙂
Thank you Angela and to you too! I will always love your tropical (the flowers, of course) photo walks as well!
I’m not sure why you are comparing this lens to the Nikon DX 35mm f/1.8 and Canon’s 35mm f/2 in terms of pricing. This lens is designed for a mirrorless system. It should be compared to the Panasonic 25/1.4 and Fujifilm 35/1.4. The Sony is around the same price as them.
That’s actually a very good point, thank you for bringing that up. If anything, the Sony is the “best deal” of the three mirrorless 50mm equivalents we’re talking about here: $50 cheaper than the Panasonic, and $150 cheaper than the Fuji. I’ll address comparable mirrorless lenses more-so than SLR offerings in the main review.
Welcome to the club… 😉
I find myself using the 50mm/1.8 almost more often than my beloved Nikkor 50mm/1.2 on the Nex-7.
If there are two things I am not so happy about, firstly the lens is not as tough as my AIS lenses, which for the price is not surprising and, secondly I find the focusing when focusing manually, a weak point. I tend to find focus with the 50mm Nikkor faster, than with the Sony lens.
Upps… I’m not awake yet…. I misread 35mm as 50mm… 😦
The concept still applies. 🙂
The few times so far I’ve tried manually focusing the 35mm always frustrates me. It’s just painfully slow. DMF is an acceptable compromise.
I see some purple axial color fringing on the bike’s tank. A stop or two down may help to eliminate this.
Slightly magenta lateral color fringing along side the image also occurs.
I have seen that as well, mostly in high-contrast areas. I did not try to edit out that nor the magenta fringing. Good eye though Gubs. 🙂
You must see the price for new Canon 35/2 IS 😉
Until just now, I did not know that lens existed. Granted, it’s a full-frame designed lens, so it isn’t exactly in the same class (though, I think the old version also could cover a full frame sensor). Thanks for the tip bas!
Yes, it is not the same class. Yes, the old version also cover the FF sensor. My point is the difference in price between IS and non IS. You can see the same difference for 24/2.8 IS and 28/2.8 IS, 50mm IS is on the way and also in the same price range. So Sony is not on the first place in such a difference.
I guess optical stabilization warrants such an upcharge if the other guys are doing it, then!
Hey matthew,
Nice first impressions, it compliments my review. If you like check out my personal review on my site, so maybe it can inspire you a bite for writing your full review! Can’t wait to read it! Enjoy the 35, it’s such a nice addition by sony.
Hey Alphabart! Apologies for not responding sooner, for some reason your comment got caught by WordPress’ spam filter. 😦 I liked your nice little real-world review as well, especially the close-up of the dog for your Christmas card. 🙂 Thanks for dropping by!
Matthew, first time visitor via Sony Alpha Rumors. I’ve been waiting to see some real photos and thoughts on the new 35mm lens. Thanks for posting this. I think you just pushed me over the edge and I’ll be picking one up shortly. I have the 50mm 1.8 which I love, but it is just a little too long as a daily walking around lens. From your photos, it seems like the character is very similar. Also, I love the last image, Hazy Atmosphere. Beautiful!
Some other photographers I’ve been watching that have gotten this lens say the same about the similarities between this and the 50mm for E-mount. Though I am more of a telephoto guy (at the same time used to more shallow depth-of-field), this focal length has its own place for anything from landscapes to (very) short portraits. They call it a “standard” for a reason. 🙂
And thank you! Hope you like yours when you get it!
incredible pictures, undoubtedly I have been waiting for this lens, the 50mm f1.8 is a very good, but I need something shorter and faster, I’m a street shooter, so this would be ideal, thanks for the review about this lens, is excellent.
all photos are incredible. Greetings and Happy New Year Matthew
Glad you liked them Freddytto, I hope you can snap a copy and a Happy New Year to you as well!
New visitor from Sony Alpha Rumours too. Great post about the lens. I still only have the 18-55 kit lens for my NEX5 – I wish I could justify spending more on the prime lenses! Would love to own the SEL-24 1.8 Zeiss. Have you tried it?
Justifying the money spent on prime lenses can be a hard thing to do, especially if one is coming from any form of a zoom (whether it be kit or superzoom). What you may want to try before deciding to try out a prime is to force yourself to only shoot at one focal length on your 18-55. Give 24mm, 35mm, and 55mm (close enough to 50mm) a chance for a few days for each to see which you may or may not prefer.
After doing that, let’s say you liked the 50mm (55mm) focal length the most, a popular choice even for APS-C photographers. But even then, $300 is still a good chunk of money for the Sony 50mm f/1.8 OSS. You still have a couple options: 1. Rent it at a place like this: https://www.lensrentals.com/rent/sony/sony-nex/lenses/sony-50mm-f1.8-oss or 2. Get a cheap “legacy” fast 50, such as the Nikon 50mm f/1.8 E via an adapter.
These two options could then confirm or deny your feelings on if a fast prime is right for you.
Per the Zeiss 24mm, I have not ever shot (or will ever shoot) that lens, merely because $1100 is too much for any lens, let alone one that only gives a 36mm f/2.8 field of view. For me, I love being able to control shallow depth of field. On APS-C, that limits me to slightly longer lenses. I’m pushing it with the Sony 35mm f/1.8 OSS. On down the road when Sony releases a full-frame NEX-9, a 35mm f/1.4 would definitely be tempting. For an APS-C sensor to give that same field of view, I would need a 24mm f/1 (which will probably never exist). 😉