The best for the NEX series

With this lens, the NEX series its promise really:
Image quality that can compete well with really good DSLR and lenses.
I use it at the NEX5N and so have a jacket pocket suitable equipment, which leaves a little to be desired:

With f1.8 lens is bright enough for most occasions, while also openly still very sharp.
The image has enough resolution reserves that you can buy a part of the image as a 35mm (ie ~ 50mm small format equivalent) trim afterwards. The remaining pixels rich still loose for A4 prints. Especially compared to the 18-55mm standard zoom, the image quality is better even after subsequent enlarge.

However, it is fundamentally wrong to reduce the Zeiss to its high luminous intensity. Especially with enough light, the image quality really stands out from the other NEX lenses from:
- Landscapes are mapped until well into the corners sharp, flares have to provoke and contrasts arrive at the image, almost as seen with the eye.
- Distortion is practically nonexistent.
- In the portraits backgrounds are pleasant evenly represented soft, even if you can not conjure up any extreme blur effects here due to the focal length.

The operation leaves a good impression: manual focusing succeeds beautifully, that it is "by wire", you do not notice. Autofocus is speedy for NEX ratios and the lens hood can be, as it should be, upside attach to transport. The workmanship is good and the lens acts robust, the combination of Zeiss and NEX is unobtrusive (with only small Zeiss Logo thankfully), not added quite easily, but is still well in hand.

Clearly, there are also a few less beautiful sides:

- The lens shows at full aperture, in poor lighting situations (such as branches against a bright sky) quite extensive purple fringing (purple fringing) which can be reduced by software correction, but not entirely removed. But this problem, almost all high-intensity lenses, but from Aperture 5.6 it disappears.

- The lack of image stabilization you get no lens that for still images is perfect at night. If I make more pictures, I can out of my hand about 1/15 hold still quiet enough to hang sometimes 0.3 seconds. Here then helps only ISO or a tripod - or possibly the new 35 / 1.8 Sony, when the focal length like. (Technically: The difference in the amount of light compared to the kit lens are approximately 2 stops - the image stabilizer but may bring more than 3 stops, if it's all about keeping quiet.)

- The NEX-autofocus is not super fast, does not change this lens.

Overall, however, a strong buy recommendation: Always with you, very good to superior picture quality, beautiful to look at and well made.

UPDATE after nearly a year use:
Unless I absolutely need a real wide-angle or telephoto, the lens is always on my 5N. The picture quality is amazing and the size ensures that I almost always have the combination here. Nobody asks permanently "Ui, SLR ..." and you can easily take pictures at rest - is indeed nothing special ... if they knew :)

As hoped, the lens is the king of indoor shots: In combination with the 5N you get so in Aperture 1.8 and ISO 1600 very low-noise images without flash. Aperture 1.8 may strike some as a little now appear (for the price), but there is little situations where I really still want a narrower focus level. Man wants but then mostly all heads have sharply and not only the noses or eyes.

I initially underestimated the macro capabilities of the lens: I have some really good images managed by large grasshoppers and various flowers could also be well mapped. These things represent the reasonable lower limit for the size of a few pixels will then but for smaller objects left.

I would recommend the lens after about 2500 images so only emphatically recommend! A nearly perfect all-rounder ...