When I switched to the Sony 35mm F2.8 ZA lens after adding the Sigma 90mm F2.8 to my kit, I was left with a noticeable gap in the focal ranges that would be perfect for a small and lightweight landscape photography kit.

I ended up purchasing the compact Sony 50mm F2.5 G lens (SEL50F25G) as this falls in-between the semi-wide 35mm and telephoto 90mm focal lenths. As it is part of the G lens suite that Sony offers, it is almost identical in size, weight and optical quality of the 40mm F2.5 G lens which I used to own. Perfect for hiking!

I took the lens out to my local Mount Coot-tha here in Brisbane to shoot some test shots of natural subjects and find out how it performs, but first here’s the details.

Specifications

Dimensions (length x diameter): 45mm x 68mm / 1.77” x 2.68”
Weight: 174g / 6.2oz
Aperture Blades: 7
Aperture Ring: Yes
Optical Design: 9 elements in 9 groups
Autofocus: Smooth stepping motor
Closest Focus: 35cm (AF) / 31cm (MF)
Filter Size: 49mm
Lens Hood: Included plastic lens hood with lens cap.

Sharpness

On the Sony A7CR, the lens is very sharp and resolves well on the 61 megapixel Exmor R sensor even at f2.5 in the corners! For an inexpensive lens, this is really impressive. The series of compact G prime lenses have thoroughly impressed me given their sub-200 gram weight and small size. See below for 1500x1000 pixel crops (click to enlarge).

Sony 50mm G @ f/2.5 on Sony A7CR (61mp) at ISO 100

1500×1000 pixel crop in the corner @ f/2.5 at ISO 100.

Diffraction

At f/11 at far focal distances, the lens is the sharpest it can be. At f/16, you can notice minor diffraction and at f/22, the pixel level detail is no longer sharp.

f/11

f/16

f/22

Distortion

The lens does have some pincushion distortion at closer focus distances as you can see below. The slightly larger overlay is the corrected image. For the price though, this can be corrected in Lightroom or your photo editing suite.

At far focus distances however, the pincushion distortion seems to mostly disappear.

Vignetting

At f/2.5, the lens does suffer from vignetting as demonstrated below. The bottom left quadrant is the corrected vignetting, but it’s not too heavy and once again can be corrected if desired. For some photographs it can actually offer a natural vignette to help draw the eye to the center of the frame if that is your goal.

At f/11, almost all vignetting is gone although you can notice an improvement with lens corrections turned on in Lightroom.

Chromatic Aberration

Chromatic aberration is actually fairly well controlled, though you may find some here and there on high contrast edges and backlit shiny surfaces. At a decent viewing distance, it’s not easy to notice and correcting it in your software is easy.

Uncorrected

Corrected

Bokeh

The out of focus background bokeh is pleasant and soft, though you can sometimes see subtle rings on high contrast, busy areas as seen below. I don’t find it to be a problem myself. Otherwise, the bokeh is great for the price and size of the optics as you can see. I’m impressed!

Further below you can see the chromatic aberration up close on a high contrast water droplet refracting the bright light behind it.

1500×1000 pixel crop (click to enlarge). Notice the minor chromatic aberration up close (almost unnoticeable at full resolution viewing).

Conclusion

Buy this lens! Well, buy it if you don’t have need f/2.0 or wider apertures, nor are you seeking absolute perfect optics.

For most other uses, this is an impressively sharp yet lightweight and compact 50mm lenses for Sony A7 cameras in my opinion. It’s the perfect 50mm lens for landscape photographers who have weight constraints when backpacking.

For reference, I purchased mine on sale for $650 AUD (~$413 USD) new in November 2024. RRP is around $600 USD / $950 AUD at the time of writing.