SonySEL30M35 30mm f/3.5 e-mount Macro Fixed Lens

The Sony macro 30mm/ 3.5 is well made and durable. Feels light and comfortable. This lens takes shape photos but you might have to get up and close to your subject or object. Works well and get the job done. Came well packaged. It’s a great product for the money.

I have owned at one time or another pretty much every SEL-series lens between 16mm and 210mm, and this is the only one I refuse to let out of my sight. My two main walking around lenses are the Sigma 19 and 30, and I prefer to do portraits with a Carl Zeiss 1.4/50 for Contax/Yashica that I got about 50% under market. But for macro work? Only the SEL30M35. I have had a ton of fun with this lens, and it always earns me lots of praise. I use it with a NEEWER® Macro Ring LED Light - Works with Canon/Sony/Nikon/Sigma lenses which also acts as a stand when shooting flat items like currency, etc.Hint: go to the dollar store and grab a couple glass photo frames, use them to flatten the specime and just let the camera stand on top of the ring light. I have done this with the NEX-C3, NEX-7 and ILCE-6000, neither of these three bodies plus the SEL30M35 are too heavy so sit on top of the Neewer, and it will make sure that the focal plane is perfectly parallel. And due to the way in which the ring light is designed, even if the light is flush with the sample, it will light towards the center of the image.I have also used the SEL30M35 to do focus stacking, just shot a few frames, dumped them into PS Elements and used a couple of actions I downloaded. Instant focus stacked.The tutorial I used is at : http://www.elementsvillage.com/forums/showthread.php?t=77567 (it includes the PS Elements actions needed to align the layers and blend them into the stack).Pros: fantastic lens, simple to use and very affordable.Cons: none. I used to be annoyed at it being f/3.5, so I stopped walking around with it, but that's a matter of education and experience. Now I wouldn't hesitate to take it with me if I need something even sharper than my two Sigmas.Sadly there's no way to caption the images:1. Bee: this is focus stacked as I described above.2. Pen: handheld, the pen is held by SE MZ101B Helping Hand Magnifier3. NEX-7, SEL30M35, Neewer Macro Ring Light sitting on top of a $1 photo frame, which was used to take photos 5 and 6 bellow.4. US Quarter, focus staked.5, 6. US Dollar note.Update: somehow Amazon deleted the images from my review, and there's no way can see to re-insert them so here are the URLs:1. https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-rmZ3v4zzD_U/Ul72_j3-8eI/AAAAAAAD59g/xn4F3KE15pI/w1428-h952-no/bee.jpg2. https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-X6vghUee4IY/UOUS6AEinpI/AAAAAAABxdo/pVGLIZH1t2k/w1428-h952-no/DSC02234_Snapseed.jpg3. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4zIKtJ1prAI/UPGWD1ZVmVI/AAAAAAABybU/DNNZsEJFDpI/s1600/DSC04005_DxO.jpg4. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-89KTrkAs6oc/UN551_RNdfI/AAAAAAABvOk/HsW4EpawzHA/w1428-h952-no/DSC01714_Snapseed.jpg5. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-JlNzQmroepw/UN554HVStuI/AAAAAAABvPU/M4nbz3fdQzo/w1428-h952-no/DSC01728_Snapseed.jpg6. https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-D7yVm8U_98k/UN553eIKsFI/AAAAAAABvPE/v4GQ-q9jYbw/w1428-h952-no/DSC01727_Snapseed.jpg

Like all items, judging whether this lens meets your needs depends on what your needs are. As for me, it met mine with flying colors. Great compliment to my prized new micro four-thirds Sony Nex.Ok so, here's the story. I'm a newbie in the better-than-point-and-shoot world, so I believe this review may be of help to others who are just learning, like me. Veterans will surely find this old hat.I'm delighted with my Sony Alpha Nex C3, so I thought I'd take the next step and find a macro lens. I'm happy I bought the SEL30M35 Macro and use it with pleasure often, even for other than macro shooting.My thought process went like this: being new, I didn't think it was right to spend a bundle on a top of the line lens, at least not yet. I then considered an older lens, such as an old Canon FD macro using an FD-to-E-Mount adapter, as some reviews have suggested. Was very tempted by the comments on a good, old lens' superior optics, but ultimately had enough to learn without plunging into the many manual settings this apparently requires. So I took a shot and bought this, the best-reviewed, but less-expensive Sony E-mount lens that fit my needs. With a 1:1 magnification it seemed to offer excellent specs, and I understand that 30mm becomes a much more macro-like 45mm, when you account for the camera's crop factor.Now, even 45mm is not, as I understand it, considered ideal for macro shooting because it does position you very close to your subject. For example, the camera's own shadow may in this case reduce the light on your subject, and if you are interested in little insect critters, they won't be happy with you intruding on their space so rudely. That said, for my needs, the lens has worked out terrifically. I don't photograph insects and I make sure my room is well lit with ambient light. Still, to be objective, I removed one star for this reason.Pros -- Inexpensive, but excellent performer- Macro photos far better than produced by the kit lens- An e-mount lens, allowing use of all the Nex C3's high quality and fun features. (e.g. setting peak color to a yellow for macro shooting is a dream).- Looks sleek and beautiful, matches camera's styleCons- Optics certainly (if subjectively) not at the sharpness and richness of upscale macro lenses. (of course, these can be five times the price)- Photographer might need to move rather close to subject in macro scenarioOverall, I am proud of having a great starter macro lens in my bag. Great product.

I read pretty much all the existing reviews and decided to take a chance, especially since I found one gently used from Amazon Warehouse at a substantial discount. I love the lens. It arrived a day earlier than expected and in perfect condition. I instantly set about testing it with a small dry leaf I'd been shooting with ordinary zooms and extension tubes. The lens' flat field and wire sharpness has the edge over lenses not formulated for close work. It's not a huge difference, but it's visible and as a confirmed "sharp freak" I am extremely pleased.The lens also nicely doubles as an equivalent 45mm "normal" all the way out to infinity. I'm a confirmed zoom guy but having a very sharp close-focusing prime is going to be handy. I have added some pictures made with it at ranges any normal lens would focus. The sharpness is awesome, and the lens performs equally sharply at all apertures, unlike many zooms that start to degrade at the smaller apertures. The little product shot of the sensor cleaning supplies was made at f/22. Any of my zooms lose critical sharpness stopped much past f/11 and are noticeably degraded at f/22.A tip: if you find your subject is too close to the front element, add a 10mm extension tube. It lets you get the same degree of magnification from slightly further away and does not comprise sharpness in the slightest. It's how the extreme closeup of the leaf was made.

more user directions would be useful

More than just a macro lens...much sharper than the kit lens and nice colours I can see the difference...can shoot from very close as described....it's an amazing 30mm prime lens allover and can be used for potrait, landscape etc..... it doesn't have image stabilization but I am not having any problems with handheld shots in 1/30 shutter speed...... it's a bit slower in autofocus than new sony lenses but manageable, use flexible spot and for macro we use manual focus for fine tune anyway. Made the right choice buying this.

Good for macro

I bought this lens for macro photos, but as it turns out I use it for photos of trees and bridges (First pic). It works almost like a fisheye lens without the fisheye effect. The lens is quite slow, so when taking a macro shot I highly recommend using a tripod as any vibration, such as your pulse rate, will blur the subject you are focussing on. It is most definitely a fun lens to play with, especially when there is plenty of light. I use it on a Sony cx6000.

Gr8