00:00now if you happen to be buying your
00:01first full-frame sony prime lens then
00:03you've probably come across these two
00:04options the sony 35 millimeter f 1.8 and
00:08the sony 50 millimeter f 1.8 so if
00:10you're tearing your hair out and can't
00:11decide which one to go for then stick
00:13with me because we're going to be going
00:14through everything there is to know
00:15about these two lenses and testing them
00:17head to head to find out which one is
00:18the best one for you
00:53so featherweight would be a bit of an
00:55understatement when describing either of
00:56these two lenses but this is especially
00:58true for the 50 millimeter to help put
01:00some context into just how lightweight
01:02this thing is it weighs roughly the same
01:04as about four cinnamon pop-tarts or
01:07around two adult hamsters or even the
01:09same weight as around 15 human testicles
01:11you know like the ones i've got stored
01:12in my basement did i actually just
01:14say that out loud okay um just play it
01:16cool tom i don't think anyone's notified
01:19so whilst i'm waiting for my inevitable
01:21incarceration i might as well talk about
01:23the features on these two lenses
01:25starting with the 35 millimeter the
01:26metal lens body includes an mf to af
01:28switch a customizable af lock button as
01:31well as a dust and moisture resistant
01:33design to give it some protection from
01:34the elements the 50mm on the other hand
01:36is well essentially a plastic tube with
01:38some glass inside it luckily though this
01:40lack of features is reflected in the
01:41price in fact the 50ml is the cheapest
01:43sony lens currently available coming in
01:45around 159 pounds or 248 on amazon now
01:49although the 35 millimeter is still
01:51widely regarded as an affordable option
01:53in comparison to the 50 mil it is
01:55considerably more expensive priced at
01:56530 pounds or 748 dollars so when it
02:00comes to scoring obviously the 50mm is
02:01going to grab a very easy point for
02:03price when it comes to build and
02:04handling the 35 millimeter is going to
02:06pick up both points from me as it's far
02:08superior in terms of construction and
02:10also offers a better range of features
02:12that said i am willing to give the 50
02:14millimeter half a point for handling
02:15mainly due to the fact that it is just
02:17so lightweight and small when it comes
02:19to autofocus in good lighting conditions
02:21both lenses are quick and accurate to
02:22focus with no signs of hunting in low
02:24light conditions although both lenses
02:26did slow slightly the 35 millimeter was
02:28noticeably quicker to focus than the
02:3050mm the good news though is that
02:32neither lens displayed any signs of
02:33hunting even in the super low light
02:35conditions when shooting a moving target
02:37at f 1.8 in continuous burst mode the
02:39overwhelming majority of the photos we
02:41captured were sharp and in focus which
02:43was a handful that was slightly
02:44mis-focused mainly as george got closer
02:46to the camera so with performances that
02:48are just too close to call an overall
02:49winner both lenses gain a point of peace
02:51in this round when shooting a moving
02:53target in video mode at f 1.8 the 35
02:55millimeter managed to keep locked onto
02:57george as he walked towards the camera
02:58at a regular pace the 50mm did an okay
03:01job too but i did notice that the af
03:02would slightly lag behind george as he
03:04got closer to the camera almost as if it
03:06couldn't move fast enough to keep up
03:07with the pace when repeating the test
03:09but at a faster pace my theory was
03:11confirmed as this time the 50mm really
03:13struggled to keep up with george as he
03:14walked towards the camera whilst the 35
03:16millimeter had no issues at all
03:19as for af noise the 35 millimeter is
03:26whilst the 50 millimeter made some
03:28purring and clicking noises that did
03:30happen to be picked up by a camera's
03:37when focusing manually with these lenses
03:39both offer a smooth rotation with a nice
03:41amount of resistance and responsive
03:42control which is ideal for focus pulls
03:44when it comes to focus breathing the 50
03:46millimeter is the worst offender here
03:47which might be yet another turn off for
03:49videographers whilst the 35 millimeter
03:51on the other hand has very little focus
03:53breathing to worry about so at the end
03:54of this round of testing is pretty clear
03:56that for videographers 35 millimeter is
03:58the better option to go for and so it
04:00picks up a point in this round in our
04:01pokeballs test both lenses produce nice
04:03round orbs at the center that turn into
04:05cat size shapes towards the edges of the
04:07frame however i should point out that
04:08the orbs on the 50 millimeter are
04:10noticeably more jagged at the center due
04:12to only having seven aperture blades
04:14whilst in comparison the 35 millimeter
04:15has a total of nine aperture blades and
04:17therefore creates more rounded orbs when
04:19we zoom into these images you can see
04:21that the bokeh created by the 50
04:22millimeter is far softer than the 35
04:25millimeter which appears much more
04:26textured and messy in comparison so when
04:28scoring for boca things do get a little
04:30bit more complicated here because
04:31technically the 35 millimeter offers the
04:33best pokeballs however the 50 millimeter
04:35clearly offers superior bokeh quality
04:37however when it comes to scoring for
04:39points i am going to be fairly generous
04:41here and give the edge to the 50
04:42millimeter because for me the difference
04:44between these two images when it comes
04:45to general bokeh quality is just night
04:47and day the 50 millimeter is far
04:49superior in my opinion and i would argue
04:51that for portrait photography in
04:52particular general bokeh quality is far
04:54more important than the shape of the
04:56pokeballs as bokeh is present in all of
04:58your shots whilst pokeballs are largely
05:00situational on a lens flare test the
05:0250mm is the clear winner here as it's
05:04able to deal with ghosting and
05:05artifacting better than the more
05:06expensive 35 millimeter though i should
05:08mention that both of these lenses do
05:10come included with lens hoods in the box
05:11to help you shade the front element in
05:13harsh lighting conditions on a
05:14longitudinal chromatic aberration test
05:16both lenses showed signs of green
05:18fringing at the top of the image and red
05:19fringing below the area of sharp focus
05:21when it comes to shooting with these
05:22lenses out in the real world honestly
05:24both of them are brilliant options to
05:26consider both of them are so small and
05:28lightweight that it honestly makes it so
05:29easy just to chuck them into your camera
05:30bag and just carry them around with you
05:32all of the time just in case you need
05:34them obviously the thing we haven't
05:35spoken about yet and probably one of the
05:37biggest differences between these two
05:38lenses is their focal length so how much
05:40difference is there between a 35
05:42millimeter and a 50 millimeter lens well
05:44quite a noticeable difference as you can
05:46see from these two shots here which i
05:47took from the exact same location
05:49obviously the 35 millimeter is a much
05:51wider focal length and you'll be able to
05:53capture more of the surrounding
05:54environment within your image now in
05:56order to achieve the same kind of
05:57composition with the 50 millimeter you'd
05:59need to step back quite a way which
06:01isn't always possible especially for me
06:02when i was shooting in this small
06:04apartment however the benefit of the 50
06:06millimeter is that you are more zoomed
06:07in so you are able to isolate your
06:09subject a lot more easily than you can
06:11with a 35 millimeter lens even when
06:13shooting wide open at f 1.8 also this
06:16longer focal length of 50 millimeters
06:18means that you get less distortion than
06:19you would with a 35 millimeter which
06:21means that you'll achieve slightly more
06:23attractive results when shooting
06:24portraits especially if you like to
06:26shoot close up now if you want to find
06:27out more about the differences between
06:28these two specific focal lengths and i
06:30suggest you check out this video here
06:31that i made by opening it into a new tab
06:33and watching after this one don't click
06:34away stop it watch it afterwards thank
06:37you ultimately though it is important to
06:39remember that neither one focal length
06:40is better or worse than the other they
06:42both have their own list of pros and
06:44cons and which one you'll end up buying
06:45will largely depend on what you intend
06:47to do with it and your own personal
06:48preference in terms of aesthetics one
06:50criteria we can judge on though is
06:52sharpness though the only problem is
06:54that from a distance it is really hard
06:56to tell which of these lenses produces
06:58the sharpest results however when we
06:59take a look at the lens chart results it
07:01becomes clearer that the 35mm produces
07:03the sharpest results with a higher
07:05amount of contrast when shooting wide
07:06open at f 1.8 at the corners although
07:08the 35 millimeter results are now
07:10slightly softer in comparison to the 50
07:12millimeter it is still the sharpest
07:14option if you'd like to shoot close up
07:15then the 35mm is actually your best
07:17option here as it has a much shorter
07:18minimum focusing distance than the 50
07:20millimeter though in terms of sharpness
07:22when shooting at this distance both
07:23lenses produce equally sharp results at
07:25f 1.8 so despite the 50mm providing a
07:28strong performance in this round the 35
07:30millimeter for me has to gain the final
07:32point here due to it being able to
07:34produce sharper images with more
07:35contrast however i am going to award yet
07:37another half point to the 50mm here
07:39because sharpness aside this lens
07:41doesn't really fall all that far behind
07:43the 50 millimeter when it comes to
07:44overall image quality this means that in
07:46our head-to-head battle the sony 35mm f
07:481.8 is the winner due to it being able
07:50to capture crisper images as well as
07:52having a superior af system with a
07:54better array of features however if
07:56after seen the images i've taken in this
07:57test you now decided that the 50
07:58millimeter focal length is the one for
08:00you then honestly this budget option
08:01from sony is kind of a no-brainer for
08:03150 quid it's a pretty decent choice so
08:05long as you don't use it for video and
08:07it's one that i'd happily recommend to
08:08anyone shopping on a super tight budget
