SEL-55F18Z

I just want to clear this up that I said "nearly perfect" because it lacks OSS. I would rate this lens as a 4.9 simply because OSS would be great but not necessary.The lens is sharp corner to corner regardless of aperture. The corners soften very slightly only at extreme f stops. But it's definitely very sharp even at f1.8Very little CA and distortion across the range. I shoot mostly 2.8 to 4.0 and pictures come out perfect most of the time. The tiny imperfections here and there that I spot from pixel peeping wasn't even worth correcting.Image Quality is extremely high. It is the sharpest lens I've ever used. It handily beat my 50mm 1.2L on my 5DMK3. I paid $1.6k for the 1.2L and it's hard to believe this lens is only $1k.I don't know how to explain it but the Zeiss lens renders the image a little different. The colors seems to pop more and it just look livelier than my L series lens.AF is better than the stock 28-70mm. It generally will lock in faster with less hunting. It works much better in low light conditions. It seems to be more accurate overall.Focusing ring is smooth. I would say it's above average but nothing to write home about. It works and allows accurate manual focus.Construction is solid.It is a bulky lens compared to how compact my A7 is. However, this is nothing compared to the bulk and weight of Canon body and lens I'm used to. I can actually walk around and shoot all day(if I bring 2 extra batteries) with the Sony system. My only comparison for its compactness is against the 35mm Zeiss. The 35mm really inspires me to make it a walk around set up. It can easily slip inside a small bag or hang on my body without getting in the way. I can't say the same with this 50mm. It's not impossible, just more difficult. But there is no comparison with picture quality. The 50mm is clearly superior in every way.Conclusion: The lens may seem expensive when you only look at its specs. The results are stunning and performance is up their comparable to the legendary Otus lens. At $1k, this is a steal IMHO. A must have lens for anyone using the A7/R bodies.I will try to post some pictures and update my review. You won't find me dig deep into the technicals since there are more reputable and highly qualified people than me. I will only tell you from a user's perspective and satisfaction of the product.

I love this lens! I have it matched with the Sony A7 and even my wife that knows nothing about photography and doesn't care except until I print out the pictures to hang on our walls or until I load them into the digital frame said that even she can tell that the pictures were really nice. I definitely not a pro. I would more call myself a pro-sumer and I'm still learning but this lens along with the A7 is an awesome combo!As far as the lens is concerned, it is a very sharp and fast lens. You don't have to take my word for it. Just do a search and you'll find many reports and reviews that like this lens. It's not cheap but neither is quality. Remember that this is a scaled down version of a dslr full frame lens so it is smaller than an Alpha 99 full frame lens but it is larger than a cropped sensor lens if you compare the equivalent focal length. The size is good. Without the hood, I would almost even say that it's smaller than what I expected. With the hood, it's about where I expected.The focus is fine. Out of hundreds of shots, I missed maybe a few. Again, I'm not a pro as I would consider myself a pro-sumer and I'm sure the missed shots were because of my own doing. I shoot in full manual with the A7 with the focus on one-shot focus and not continuos focus.Unfortunately, there aren't many choices for the A7 series right now but if you have to be stuck with one fast prime, go for this one. This is the only lens I have with my A7 and it works great. Focal length is about how your human eyes perceive the world so if you're comfortable shooting with that kind of frame, you'll be fine. Yes, there are some occasions that I wish I had a wider angle or a longer zoom but then I just work around it.If Sony comes out with a little faster wide angle and a telephoto anywhere between 85mm to 125mm prime, I would get that too. I like the telephoto to be fast with image stabilization thought. Let's all hope this happens.

This is a fantastic lens with sharpness rivaling the 50 mm Sigma Art and the Sony 50 1.4. While it is not a 1.4 lens (and therefore you won't get the utmost in shallow dept-of-field), I have been nothing but impressed with it's sharpness and edge-to-edge resolution (when stopped down a bit, although sharpness wide-open at center is no joke either). Mated to a 42mp sensor I don't feel it is ham-stringing the sensor in anyway. Sharpness is however not everything, and I do love it's Zeiss-esque color rendition (a little more cold clinical than a true Zeiss, though) and it's bokeh is more than adequate for that 3-dimensional pop that is so desired. Being a short and small-statured lens does mean that some minor caveats do exist, those being Color Aberrations and Vignetting. Both are controlled very well but do show their presence especially at large aperture.--This is where I feel these lenses lose a bit to the larger more perfect ART/OTUS/G-Master brethren.Most importantly to me, I am an avid hiker and when I do take pictures of models/subjects I do so at remote locations. Before I moved to a mirrorless full-frame, I was lugging my heavy 50/1.4 and my mirrored full-frame camera for 12(+) miles per hike up and down mountains. That got old and painful quickly and not to mention that the general bulk of what I was carrying was inconvenient for my packs and inconvenient for climbing. I believe this lens is the perfect size for a small mirrorless professional system and has 99% of the image quality needed for all but the very 0.1% of studio shoots or where the extra subject isolation of a F/1.4 (or less) lense is absolutely needed.This lens is a must for any FE-mount Sony Owners out there.