This is a superb portrait, landscape, and close-in lens, But this is also a very technical lens, and as such it does require practice and education so that you are playing to its strengths. Sony calls it "smooth transition focus", but this is marketing-speak and doesn't actually convey what it can really do. The lens uses an apodizing element to nearly eliminate the inevitable signals interference due to diffraction and spectrum shift. This lens tames the zones of confusion (commonly but erroneously called "bokeh balls") and eliminates airy discs, onion ring effects, and other out of focus noise.What this means practically is that in images, as objects move away from the zone of focus, they do not blur or smear out, have green or violet shifts, or (common to ... MoreThis is a superb portrait, landscape, and close-in lens, But this is also a very technical lens, and as such it does require practice and education so that you are playing to its strengths. Sony calls it "smooth transition focus", but this is marketing-speak and doesn't actually convey what it can really do. The lens uses an apodizing element to nearly eliminate the inevitable signals interference due to diffraction and spectrum shift. This lens tames the zones of confusion (commonly but erroneously called "bokeh balls") and eliminates airy discs, onion ring effects, and other out of focus noise.What this means practically is that in images, as objects move away from the zone of focus, they do not blur or smear out, have green or violet shifts, or (common to point-sources of light) go to bokeh balls, onion rings, or other shapes less pleasing, but rather gently retain their forms.This make this lens ideal for situations where you want a sharp subject, but also want the background to retain something of a recognizable and non-distracting form, and where you want things slightly away from the focal plane to not become immediately and noticeably blurry. This makes it superb for shooting flower and faces alike, or any scene where you want the subject dead-sharp, but the scene itself still present. Comparisons to fast 85mm or 135mm lenses miss the point of what this can do.The big tradeoff is that the apodizing element does cut your light in half. While the lens is an f/2.8, it will show up in-camera reading "f/5.6", and this can be confusing until you understand that this is for metering purposes.Again, this is a technical lens, so it best rewards those who use it with a full understanding of what it does. Properly handled, this lens is a gem and will reward a photographer with fantastic images.

The image quality is world class. Needs a bit of light to get the best results, but, any well lit scene works brilliantly. If you are concerned about needed to use higher ISO with this lens, try out DxO Photolab 4 and Deep PRIME noise reduction. sorts out noise and keeps details. This is a great portrait lens, but, the very fast focus also makes is a great car photography lens. It is like having a built in ND filter letting you get slower shutter speeds for those motion blur shots while still having the aperture open and that signature STF soft bokeh.

I shoot both Sony a9's and Nikon D's. I wanted to see how this compares to my Nikon 105 1.4. Of course at 5.6 the bokeh is about the same. Maybe a bit smoother in the Sony and the edges softer. I then shot the same shot with my 105 at 2.2, 1.8, then 1.4 and the separation and blur was not even in the same playing field. Maybe a GMaster 85 1.4 is a better comparison. I know this lens gives great round bokeh balls but for what it cost and the limitation of 5.6 vs a complete blowout bokeh at 1.4 I had to return it. If you don't own the 105 1.4 noikon I highly recommend it. If you are only a Sony shooter this lens has its place in a camera bag for sure but since I have the best of both worlds I have to stick with Nikon. The Gmaster 16-35 has replaced my Nikon 14-24 for ... MoreI shoot both Sony a9's and Nikon D's. I wanted to see how this compares to my Nikon 105 1.4. Of course at 5.6 the bokeh is about the same. Maybe a bit smoother in the Sony and the edges softer. I then shot the same shot with my 105 at 2.2, 1.8, then 1.4 and the separation and blur was not even in the same playing field. Maybe a GMaster 85 1.4 is a better comparison. I know this lens gives great round bokeh balls but for what it cost and the limitation of 5.6 vs a complete blowout bokeh at 1.4 I had to return it. If you don't own the 105 1.4 noikon I highly recommend it. If you are only a Sony shooter this lens has its place in a camera bag for sure but since I have the best of both worlds I have to stick with Nikon. The Gmaster 16-35 has replaced my Nikon 14-24 for sharpness. Hope this helped.