Yongnuo YN 50mm F1.8S DF DSM Lens for Sony Full Frame Cameras | Is It Good??

Hello, everyone. Welcome to another video. My name is Mario So, and today, we'll be talking about this lens from Yongnuo for Sony full-frame cameras. I hope you had a great Christmas and that you we're able to spend it with all your loved ones. If you're new here, please make sure to subscribe for similar content to this one. In today's video, I want to talk about this new lens that Yongnuo just came up with. But first, a little disclaimer before I get started. This is not a sponsored video, but Yongnuo did send me this lens to test out.

I've had the YONGNUO YN50MM F1.8S DF DSM Lens for Sony for about two weeks, and I've been taking some photos and some videos with it. I have to say that I'm quite impressed with the quality of this lens. This lens is a 50mm F1.8 lens for Sony full-frame cameras, not to be confused with their APSC version of this 50mm lens, also F1.8. This is particularly made for full-frame cameras like the A7 III, A7 IV, A7S III, and so on.

Inside the box, you get the lens cap and you also get a little hood that I rarely use, so that's going to stay in the box. The YONGNUO YN50MM F1.8S DF DSM Lens for Sony is a prime lens, 50mm, and if you're starting out looking to get your first prime lens, the Nifty 50, which is what they call this focal length, is usually the best way to start with.

In terms of price, the YONGNUO YN50MM F1.8S DF DSM Lens for Sony is considered to be a budget 50, a budget Nifty 50, so it's priced around $300 (prices may change) give or take depending where you purchase it. That makes it a little bit more expensive than the Sony equivalent of the 50mm F1.8, which I believe is around $200 to $240 (prices may change), in that range, so it is a little bit more expensive, but there are a few things about this lens that the Sony equivalent doesn't have, and one of them that I noticed right away is the auto and manual focus switch and extra buttons in the body of the lens, which the Sony version doesn't have.

Let's first talk about build quality of the YONGNUO YN50MM F1.8S DF DSM Lens for Sony. The lens is made with aviation aluminum, and it has this sleek matte black look, which makes it very nice. It has a very big font of 50mm printed on the case, so that you know that it's a 50, but I feel like it's a little bit too big in my opinion and aesthetically is not as nice to me. I prefer that if it was a little smaller, but that has nothing to do with the build quality or the quality of the lens itself, mostly aesthetic. The mount at the back is made of metal and because it is an electronic lens, this lens is able to communicate electronically with your Sony camera.

It's also quite compact, and it's not too heavy. It weighs at about 395g. In terms of the body of the lens, we have an auto focus to manual focus switch, which you can easily toggle directly in the body of the lens, which can be quite useful if you're shooting video and you're constantly changing between auto and manual focus. We'll talk about the auto focus capability of the YONGNUO YN50MM F1.8S DF DSM Lens for Sony later on in the video, so stay watching to find that out.

The YONGNUO YN50MM F1.8S DF DSM Lens for Sony also includes two function buttons, which you can program in your camera. You have to have a compatible camera. I believe it is compatible with the newer Sony cameras, like the A7S III and the A7 IV, but I found that I couldn't program these buttons with the A7 III. But, if you have this lens, if you have been able to program these buttons with the A7 III or the A7 II, let me know in the comments here.

The lens also has a rubber gasket, which makes it water-resistant and dust-proof. The lens has a very large aperture. It goes all the way down to F1.8, which makes it really good for super nice bokeh and also for low-light shooting. This is a DSM motor, meaning that it has a digital control stepping motor, which makes it focus with high accuracy. In the test that I conducted, the YONGNUO YN50MM F1.8S DF DSM Lens for Sony actually performed pretty well.

It also has a USB-C interface, and that is for you to update the firmware on the lens. You can easily plug your computer to the lens via the USB-C interface without having to connect it to a camera body, and then plug in the camera to your computer if you were to update the firmware on the lens, and that's pretty useful. The only drawback is that the little rubber thing is really hard to take off, and once you take it off, and it's really small and very easy to lose. It's just a minor inconvenience, but something to keep in mind if you're going to upgrade your firmware on the YONGNUO YN50MM F1.8S DF DSM Lens for Sony.

Let's talk about the sharpness of the YONGNUO YN50MM F1.8S DF DSM Lens for Sony. I think overall, with all the photos and videos that I was able to shoot in the two weeks that I've had this lens, it looks like a very sharp lens. In those photographs, there is a little bit of vignetting when the lens is wide open at F1.8, and the areas in the corners are a little softer than the center when the lens is fully open at F1.8 as well. But, as I start to close down the aperture, say F2.8, F4, and even F8, the overall image gets sharper around the corners as well. This is something that is very common among third-party lenses or lenses around this budget range.

The YONGNUO YN50MM F1.8S DF DSM Lens for Sony actually delivered very sharp images and video when I was using it. In my opinion, it looks quite good. The bokeh that the lens produces is actually quite nice as well, very round circle bouquet in the background. You can tell for yourself whether you like the bokeh that the lens produces or not.

In terms of auto focus, I found that the YONGNUO YN50MM F1.8S DF DSM Lens for Sony performed okay in video mode with the Sony A7 III with face detection turned on, but on the A7 III, I had my auto focus sensitivity set to medium. I found that the lens was quite decent in keeping me in focus. The lens was able to keep me in focus most of the time. Occasionally, it will try to hunt for focus, and sometimes I found that it would take a little bit to find me or focus on me. But overall, for a lens at this budget price, I felt that the auto focus was quite solid. I didn't get a chance to choose fast-moving subjects or sports with this lens yet, so I have to test the auto focus and high-speed bursts a little bit more.

In terms of fringing, the YONGNUO YN50MM F1.8S DF DSM Lens for Sony did produce some of it in some of the high-contrast areas, but again, I have to zoom in quite a lot and pixel-peep in these photographs to be able to see that purple line in that purple fringe. But, the fringing doesn't really stand out, so in my opinion, the photo that I took is more than usable, and the fringing is unnoticeable unless you're pixel-peeping again.

Overall, I think the YONGNUO YN50MM F1.8S DF DSM Lens for Sony is a very great buy. If you're looking for your first prime lens, or if you want a fast lens on a budget, or if you're looking for a portrait lens on a budget as well, or if you're moving from a kit lens and you want to get your first Nifty 50, this is a good one to consider for the price. I'm actually quite surprised at this lens.

YONGNUO doesn't produce too many lenses for Sony full-frame cameras, but I think with this lens, it's sort of telling everybody that they're around and that they not only make lights or flash triggers, they can make high quality lenses for full-frame Sony mirrorless cameras. I'm actually quite surprised, and I think I'll be using it quite often as my Nifty 50. Let me know in the comments here if you have a Nifty 50. If you do, let me know which one you have right now.

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