danhawk

Upward

Dan Hawk — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:24:14 +0000

Upward | 365 Project | May 19th, 2013 | 35mm, F/4.5, ISO 200, 1/160

Footwork

Dan Hawk — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:24:00 +0000

Footwork | 365 Project | May 18th, 2013 | 50mm, f/2.8, ISO 800, 1/4000

Sony NEX SEL3518 35mm f/1.8 Review

Dan Hawk — Sun, 19 May 2013 00:18:41 +0000

I posted a preview of the Sony SEL3518 35mm f/1.8 E mount lens a couple months ago and it’s time to give you a little more from my day to day use. It has rarely left the body of my NEX 5Nand now the NEX -7 and has proved to be a great all-around lens.

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, my reviews are the type that I hope to read- What is it actually like to use this lens? Others have done a thorough job in showing zoomed in crops from the edges and comparisons from 6 different F stops with a critique of Chromatic Aberration and Bokeh artifacts. I’ll include technical details where I think they make a difference.

Focal Length

35mm on the NEX system has a field of view that is equivalent to a 52mm lens on an old 35mm Film camera or a Full Frame DSLR. For years, SLRs came with a single 50mm lens as a kit. To give some perspective, many folks believe that human vision is about the equivalent of 47-53mm. Sure you can see more to the sides, but that part is out of focus and is what we generally refer to as peripheral vision. Forget the explanation. Here are some photos taken with different focal lengths so you can see.

18mm

50mm

35mm

75mm

205mm

What I like about this length is the ease of composition. What you see on the screen or in the viewfinder when composing is pretty much what you see with your eyes. With wider or narrower focal lengths, there is often a distortion that happens in features, but that doesn’t happen as much with this lens.

Size

Since I bought this camera system, I’ve been hoping for a compact, middle length “regular” lens. At about that same time, the 24mm Zeiss became available, but it’s quite a bit larger and more expensive. I really love the compact nature of the NEX system as it fits easily in a small case that I can take with me daily. Whether I’m stowing it in my bike pannier or slinging it over my shoulder in a compact case, I can always have it with me without a lot of bulk. All of the native lenses for the NEX system are pretty small compared to the larger lenses you typically use with a full size DSLR, but this lens is just the right balance between weight and size. Here is a shot L-R of the Kit zoom 18-55 f/3.5-5.6, the 35mm f/1.8 and the 50mm f/1.8

NEX Lenses

Focusing

Focusing is relatively quick and accurate when stopped down to f/4 up to around f/18. This is pretty normal with fast lenses. Below f.4, the narrow field of focus means that the chances of the exact part of the frame being in focus are smaller. When I’m shooting with these larger aperture settings, I always use the micro adjustment feature to fine tune before clicking the shutter. This is the same technique I use with other large aperture lenses including the Sony 50mm. When you are using a smaller aperture setting, the lower available light can slow down the focus speed.

In my experience, This lens focuses quicker than the 50mm and the 18-55 zoom, but just a little slower than the 16mm prime. I usually leave the focus assist light turned off, but turned it back on for a few days to see how much difference it makes. In low light situations, it makes a big difference, but I don’t think the pluses outweigh the con of a bright orange light shining on your subject and potentially ruining the moment you are trying to capture.

Build quality.

This lens is really light. What that means is that there are metal parts combined with high density plastic pieces. After almost three months of daily use, I’ve seen no scratching or other issues and it seems to be holding up really well. I’m not worried about it at all. The focus ring is of the Focus-by-wire type which means that there aren’t hard stops on the extremes. For those who are used to manual focus rings, this can be a little weird, but the ring does have a nice damping and resistance that feels very linear and tactile.

This lens uses the same bayonet mounting system for the hood and 49mm threads that are used on most all of the E mount lenses. This interchangability is nice if you use either. I recently picked up a Neutral Density Filter and it is nice to know that I can use it on all of my lenses. The two exceptions that I know of, the 18-200 and the 10-18 zooms have a larger 62mm thread size.

Metal Lens Hood

I posted a story a couple weeks ago about a metal lens hood that I picked up to go with this lens. Here are a couple before and after photos.

Sony Plastic Lens Hood

Metal Lens Hood

Image Quality

I'm not gonna talk about it. I'd prefer to just show you some images. This Link will show you every post of mine that I categorized as 35mm. All of these photos are made with this lens. Here are a few images if you don't want to click through.

Conclusion

Basically, this is a great lens. Image quality is fantastic both stopped down and wide open. It's compact, well built and looks great. If you are a NEX owner, you should seriously consider adding this one to your camera bag. In fact, it just might become the center of your kit.

As always, when you make purchases through links on my site, Amazon gives me a small cut for sending you their direction and it doesn't cost you any more. Thanks for the support!

Permalink

Pointing Up

Dan Hawk — Sat, 18 May 2013 15:17:00 +0000

Pointing Up | 365 Project | May 17th, 2013 | 35mm, f/4, ISO 100, 1/1600

Popsicle

Dan Hawk — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:00:00 +0000

Popsicle | 365 Project | May 16th, 2013 | 35mm, f/1.8, ISO 400, 1/6, NEX- 7

Mt Tabor Road

Dan Hawk — Wed, 15 May 2013 05:50:00 +0000

Mt Tabor Road | 365 Project | May 14th, 2013 | 35mm, f/4, ISO 100, 1/25, Sony NEX 7

Wrapping Up the Day

Dan Hawk — Wed, 15 May 2013 05:46:35 +0000

Wrapping Up the Day | 365 Project | May 13th, 2013 | 35mm, f/8, ISO 100, 1/40

Rain is Not Over

Dan Hawk — Wed, 15 May 2013 05:43:51 +0000

Rain is Not Over | 365 Project | May 12th, 2103

Uneven

Dan Hawk — Wed, 15 May 2013 05:37:30 +0000

Uneven | 365 Project | May 11th, 2013 | 55mm, f/5.6, ISO 250, 1/2000

Apple Stack

Dan Hawk — Tue, 14 May 2013 03:45:30 +0000

Apple Stack | 365 Project | May 10th, 2013 | 35mm, f/2, ISO 400, 1/125

Two Old Chairs

Dan Hawk — Mon, 13 May 2013 20:39:56 +0000

Two Old Chairs | 365 Project | May 9th, 2013 | 35mm, f/2.5, ISO 100, 1/1000, composed in B&W, converted from RAW in Lightroom

Cones

Dan Hawk — Mon, 13 May 2013 20:37:58 +0000

Cones | 365 Project | May 8th, 2013 | 35mm, f/1.8, ISO 100, 1/1000

Ex-House

Dan Hawk — Sat, 11 May 2013 15:31:31 +0000

This is what happens when you call the sign that says, "Cash for Houses".

Ex-House | 365 Project | May 7th, 2013 | 35mm, f/3.2, ISO 100, 1/1600

Green and Blue

Dan Hawk — Sat, 11 May 2013 15:18:58 +0000

Green and Blue | 365 Project | May 6th, 2013 | 35mm, f/1.8, ISO 100, 1/4000

Silhouette

Dan Hawk — Tue, 07 May 2013 04:24:00 +0000

Silhouette | 365 Project | May 5th, 2013 | 35mm, f/2.5, ISO 100, 1/15

Brothers

Dan Hawk — Tue, 07 May 2013 03:47:09 +0000

Brothers | 365 Project | May 4th, 2013 | 35mm, f/1.8, ISO 100, 1/2000

Flex | 35mm, f/1.8, ISO 100, 1/2000

Staged | 35mm, f/2.5, ISO 100, 1/800

As usual, I shot these in RAW and converted to B + W in Lightroom. Not being very old school when it comes to photography, I haven't done much composing in Black and White. Might have to try that.

Gelato

Dan Hawk — Sat, 04 May 2013 21:40:10 +0000

Emily and I stopped by Staccato Gelato on our date night. Pistachio is my favorite.

Gelato | 365 Project | May 3rd, 2013 | 35mm, f/2.5, ISO 100, 1/10

Artificial Color

Dan Hawk — Sat, 04 May 2013 21:29:18 +0000

Artificial Color | 365 Project | May 2nd, 2013 | 35mm, f/4, ISO 100, 1/800

Traffic

Dan Hawk — Sat, 04 May 2013 20:49:32 +0000

Traffic | 365 Project | May 1st , 2013 | 35mm, f/1.8, ISO 100, 1/2500

This is why I ride a bike to work.

Metal Lens Hood for Sony NEX

Dan Hawk — Sat, 04 May 2013 19:06:45 +0000

Metal Lens Hood

Sony Plastic Lens Hood

This week I ordered and received a metal thread mount lens hood from EZPhoto. I kept seeing photos of the Sony RX-1 and Fujifilm cameras with these classy, and short metal lens hoods and thought it seemed like a better idea than the fairly long, plastic hood included with the lens.

A lot of folks seem to snatching these up to use with their cameras as the official version from each manufacturer is pretty overpriced. There are some 3rd party optionsthat use the built in bayonet system, but even they are overpriced.

There are two advantages I've seen so far. First, this new hood is shorter, which makes it less obtrusive from a visual sense. Secondly, it's narrower which means that it does a better job of keeping objects and stray light away from the glass.

The one disadvantage I've seen thus far is that it mounts via filter threads which makes it a tiny bit more of a hassle to remove and prevents you from using a lens cap. I don't use a lens cap on the lens currently mounted to my camera, so no big deal.

Edit- Small warning- This hood causes a bit of Vignette on anything wider than 24mm. Stick with the Sony Stock hood on your kit lens.

As always, when you make purchases through links on my site, Amazon gives me a small cut for sending you their direction and it doesn't cost you any more. Thanks for the support!