SONY | SONY STYLE.COM

Perfect Portrait Lens

Pros: Optically perfect.

Cons: None

This 100mm macro is a very versatile lens. It's ideal for taking portraits of a single person, a couple, or several people in the shot. Simply move farther back to get everyone in the frame. The image quality is amazing. Super sharp, no color cast, no visible distortion, no chromatic aberration, and extremely high contrast. In short-perfect. It has very fast auto focus. The focus distance range can be pre-limited to the intended distance to the subject. For example if you plan to take only macro shots of 0.59 m or closer you set the focus limiter switch to 0.59m or less, so the lens will not try to focus for a distance of more than 0.59m. This speeds up the AF. I have taken fantastic photographs at a wedding, and extreme close-ups of my niece, and can record the "peach fuzz" on a four year old girl's face easily. If it's possible for a lens to be too sharp, this is the one. I also use it to make copies of prints I have and my mother's paintings. The lens is very well made and looks very impressive, inside and out. I hardly ever get into a situation where a zoom lens would be preferable. Highly recommended to any perfectionist.

Flexable Macro

Pros: Razor sharp focus; excellent frame control.

Cons: Hunts focus on rare occasions.

Let's face it, you need a macro lens in your kit. Period. Once I purchased this lens, I found myself shooting more than flora and tiny fauna with it. I use it with the Sony ringlight frequently as well, which provides some unusual still life opportunities and exposure variations. Overall I rate it in the must have column.

Outstanding lens...

Pros: Light, easy to use, reliable

Cons: Takes a moment to focus

I just finished a week of diving in Cozumel and bought this lens a few days before the trip. I anticipated i would use the zoom lens mainly for broad shots and the macro lens sparingly. It turned out to be the opposite. I used the macro lens after the second day and never put it down. The underwater pics I was able to capture with this lens were amazing. The sharks, turtles, angelfish, and barracuda seemed as if they were swimming right beside me!! It does take a minute to focus sometimes, but once I got used to it, it was a minor disruption. I was drift diving when I used the camera, so I was moving as well as trying to shoot a moving target. Needless to say, it was an interesting chase. I am very pleased with the results and would recommend it to anyone who desires clarity in their macro shots.

Sweet

Pros: Sharp images, fast and lightweight

Cons: Price

When considering a macro lens, I visited a local store as part of my research. I brought my camera, attached this lens, and fell completely in love with this lens. But then I decided I hadn't given it a fair test. My real world use did not include store interiors. But it was a cold cold winter day - totally different than my planned use in my garden. Two more times I visited local stores and each time I walked away without this lens because the price was high. But the third time, I had the store order my very own unopened box copy. Then I had to wait 3-4 days to pick it up. I actually had to wait 5 days before it arrived at the store. Just my luck, more cold cold days and strong winds kept me from finding out how wonderful this lens is in real use. I fully tested it for one day and was surprised to find myself using this lens for macros and other shots for several hours at a local zoo. I expected this to be a stay-at-home lens to be used only for garden macros. However, it is truly wonderful and fun with smooth bokeh for people shots and scenery. On cloudy days and indoors it is very fast. Sometimes it will hunt to focus but I love to manual focus with this lens and see my composition pop clearly in the viewfinder. Now I need a bigger bag because I plan to take this lens everywhere to see how versatile it will be as a permanent resident of my gear bag.

Outstanding lens

This lens is tack sharp. By far my my favorite lens for clean sharp closeups.