Macro lenses provide an exclusive capability to magnify small details to their true-to-life size, or at times even bigger than life. They can disclose details our eyes might not be able to pick up on, letting us see new & interesting subjects. Macro images often portray mesmerizing textures and colors or dramatic sights of small creatures. It can be a challenging genre. However, you can document exclusive perspectives with the best macro lenses.
Sony camera owners have some brilliant glass to select from, and to get you started, we have selected the ten best macro lenses for Sony cameras. Our list of Sony for Photography Lens contains a variety of options, including budget picks & pricier products, but note that each & every Lens can capture unbelievable photo!
What is a macro lens?
A macro lens is a special Lens that lets you take close-up photos. It has a very long focal length, meaning it can focus on objects far away from the camera (like flowers or insects). The problem is that they are generally quite expensive & heavy.
How to choose A Macro Lens?
When it comes to selecting the best macro Lens, it is significant to consider the following factors:
Image Stabilization
Image stabilization is significant in macro photography because the close-up nature of the shots creates it harder to hold the camera stable. A macro lens with image stabilization could help improve the sharpness of your photographs by compensating for any minor movements of the camera. It can be particularly useful while shooting in low light or at slower shutter speeds, which are often essential for macro photography.
Auto focus
Auto focus is vital in macro photography as it lets you rapidly capture sharp images. Look for lenses that offer fast, correct auto focus.
Focal length
Choosing the best focal length is part of selecting a lens according to your requirements.
Short focal lengths (between 35mm and 60mm) will permit you to include more of the atmosphere in your photograph to show a wider perspective. They have a short focusing distance (around 10 to 13cm). Thus you can be as near as possible to your subject, which is perfect when the latter is static.
Standard focal lengths (between 70 and 110mm) are the most useful. The minimum focusing distance is longer (about 15 cm) and consequently offers a greater working distance at 1:1, which decreases some insect escapes. Yet, they do have narrower angles of view, and thus there is less background to include in your image.
Long focal lengths (150mm or longer) are heavy & bulky. You must know how to use these lenses for macro photography, and it is rare to find these telephoto lenses among the best macro lenses.
Construction of the Lens
Look for a lens with good build quality &optical structure, which will increase image quality & durability. Moreover, consider whether the Lens has any distinctive features, such as weather sealing, which could be helpful in certain states.
Reproduction ratio
Also identified as the “magnification ratio”, this denotes the ratio among the size of the subject projected onto your camera’s sensor & its real size. Macro photography usually involves shooting with a magnification ratio of at least 1:1. The subject will appear full-size on the camera sensor.
For instance, if one shoots a 3 cm long bird in a 1:1 ratio, its projection on the sensor will measure 3 cm.
While many lenses have the term “macro” in their name, this term only makes sense if the specifications disclose that they have a maximum magnification ratio of 1:1.
Sony E 16-55mm F2.8
The Sony 16-55mm f/2.8 is a great powerhouse of a lens packed in a very compact size. Sony finally released an f/2.8 mid-range zoom lens for their APS-C cameras.
In terms of focusing, this Lens performed fairly well. It was very fast to grab focus, even when pointed straight toward the setting sun.
Combined with the Sony a6600’s new subject-tracking technology, this Lens did a great job keeping stuff sharp! It worked noiselessly to lock on to the subject even during fast movements.
Another extremely satisfying improvement with the Sony 16-55mm f/2.8 is image quality, and the images appeared very sharp at all focal lengths.
It was a welcome development over some sharpness issues with Sony APS-C zoom lenses.
From landscape to architecture to portrait, the Sony 16-55mm F2.8 is the one Lens to rule them all. The size is compact & light for what you get, and the build quality is top-notch.
Pros
- Compact, pro-grade zoom
- Designed for APS-C
- Dust and splash protection
- Fluorine coating
- Quick, quiet autofocus
Cons
- It relies on profile corrections to remove distortion.
- Not optically stabilized.
Sony E 24mm f/1.8
The Sony E 24mm f/1.8 is one of the best lenses for Sony ZV-E10 if you desire a dedicated wide-angle choice for landscape photography or scenic video.
It offers larger image quality &sharpness because of the unbelievable optical design & Zeiss lens glass. It especially has the T* coating, which removes lens flare, internal reflections, & light scattering. You can expect extremely sharp images from corner to corner without distortion.
This Sony wide-angle lens also profits from seven rounded aperture blades, which let you generate a pleasing bokeh effect while shooting wide open. The f/1.8 maximum aperture means this Lens is also brilliant for astrophotography & low-light photography generally.
Pros
- Zeiss T lens coatings for excellent image quality
- Stylish & compact design
- Circular aperture blades for smooth bokeh
- Wide-angle field of view
- Minimal distortion
Cons
- Does not have an advanced AF motor
Tamron 11-20 mm f2.8
The Tamron 11-20mm F2.8 is a new ultra-wide-angle zoom lens for Sony APS-C cameras.
It is a weather-sealed lens that offers extra protection to prevent water &dust from getting inside the Lens & camera body under light snow, rain, and wind. To have real protection, you must pair the Tamron 11-20mm F2.8 with a weather-sealed camera body, for example, the Fujifilm X-H2, Fujifilm X-H2S, and Fujifilm X-T5.
It is the perfect Lens for daily use with its full-frame equivalent zoom range of 16.5-30mm. The AF drive is silent, fast, &well-suited for stills & videos. The 11-20mm zoom lens is designed to handle the severities of outdoor use with its Moisture-Resistant Construction &strong Fluorine Coating. Overall, we recommend this Lens for various photography & video applications like landscape, street, travel, and general use.
Two accurately arranged GM (Glass Molded Aspherical) lens elements offer a high resolution across the complete image. Furthermore, the 11-20mm F2.8 has one XLD (eXtra Low Dispersion) & two LD (low dispersion) lens elements that offer sharp images & effective correction of optical aberrations. It moreover features BBAR-G2 (Broad-Band Anti-Reflection Generation 2) coating, which reduces ghosting & flare. Even backlit pictures are characterized by high brilliance & maximum detail reproduction. The combination of features synchronizes perfectly to deliver sharp pictures with natural colours of high intensity.
Pros
- Short minimum focus distance
- Brilliant centre sharpness
- Widest f2.8 zoom for Sony’s crop sensor E-Mount available
- Reasonably priced
- Lots of bendy character
- Weather-sealed
Cons
Obvious edge softness &barrel distortion
No stabilization
Sony 35mm f1.8
The Sony FE 35mm f/1.8 Lens is a great-looking, lightweight, compact lens with a focal length that delivers great utility. This nicely-designed Lens performs very well and provides great image quality. Those factors make the FE 35 f/1.8 a perfect lens option for daily needs.
In line with all the recent lenses released for Sony, auto-focus performance is excellent on the Sony 35mm f/1.8.
Working entirely noiselessly and extremely fast, this Lens will keep your subject tack sharp in almost any situation!
The Sony 35mm f/1.8 image quality is very impressive, considering its size & price point. It outperforms its price point, giving you the quality of a much more expensive lens.
To summarize the image quality, it is: very sharp even at f/1.8, has attractive bokeh (particularly if your subject is close), and has no concerns with distortion.
Pros
- Good image quality
- Programmable button
- Compact
- Bright
- AF/MF switch
Cons
- Corner sharpness at full aperture is not optimum
Sony FE 90mm f/2.8
Sony FE 90mm f/2.8 has everything you need to take fantastic macro photographs instantly. It is compatible with full-frame cameras, and thus you can use it with professional-grade Sony mirrorless cameras besides more compact APS-C options.
This Lens offers a 1:1 magnification ratio, vital for serious macro photography. It will allow you to capture spectacular shots featuring flower centres, insects, intricate jewellery details, & so much more.
If you use the Lens handheld, the in-built image stabilization will make a difference. It’ll prevent blur because of camera shake, which is often a problem at standard macro magnifications. You can also rapidly switch between the Lens’s autofocus & manual focus settings with the sliding focus ring.
The maximum f/2.8 aperture provides great flexibility for capturing macro shots in various lighting scenarios. You should also be capable of getting stunning background separation, & the nine-blade circular aperture means you can create professional bokeh easily. Overall, the blend of handy features, the 90mm focal length, & the build quality of this model create it the best macro Lens for Sony mirrorless cameras on the marketplace today.
For macro shooters, the Sony 90mm macro is an excellent lens. For everybody else, it’s a short telephoto lens that is very hard to beat in terms of sheer resolution & image quality.
Pros
- Outstanding focal length
- Image stabilization for handheld use
- 1:1 magnification ratio
- AF/MF clutch switch
- The strong, rugged feel
Cons
- Not the smallest or lightest Lens
- Costly
Sony 50mm f/1.8
The Sony FE 50mm f/1.8 is a compact, neat, and reasonably priced nifty fifty for Sony E-mount cameras, large & small. For most serious photographers, a fast 50mm is a must-have lens. It is the ideal focal length for a standard viewpoint on a full-frame body perfect for portraiture & more. Naturally, this Sony lens is not as fast as an f/1.4 lens that some prefer, but it is wonderfully lightweight, compact, & affordable and delivers very good image quality.
Sharpness is outstanding across most of the frame at f/2.8 & the extreme edges catch up at f/4. There is a noticeable drop in sharpness wide-open at f/1.8. The DC motor autofocus system is rationally quick & very quiet, though not silent, which can be a problem for movie capture. There is no lack of bite, with very good sharpness & contrast, though sharpness drops off noticeably while shooting wide-open at f/1.8. Vignetting is very visible unless you stop down to f/2.8.
Pros
- Minimal distortion
- Crisp from edge to edge while stopped down
- Light and compact
- Solid construction with included lens hood
- Very affordable
Cons
- Slow focus.
- Noticeable chromatic aberration
Sony 85mm f/1.8
Sony introduces the FE 85mm f/1.8 lens, a lower-cost option for the full-frame FE series. This new Lens is suitable for the A7 series of full-frame mirrorless cameras and, of course, can also be employed on the APS-C models, where it gives a “35mm format” equivalent of 127.5mm.
The Sony FE 85mm f/1.8 is a chunky lens but fairly light at 371g. A round bayonet lens hood fits precisely, surrounding a 67mm filter thread. The electronic focusing ring lies immediately behind and is silky smooth in operation. Focusing is down to 0.8m, or 2.63 feet. It gives a maximum magnification of 0.13x, sufficiently close for a good close portrait. It is important as 85mm is the classic portrait focal length. As the Lens features DMF (Direct Manual Focus), the AF can be tweaked using the manual focusing ring at any time.
Focusing is accurate, swift and silent, thanks to the double linear motor system, a silent direct drive that eliminates the need for gearing.
Closer to the camera body is the AF/MF switch and a button holding focus when using AF. And that’s it; there are no further adornments or controls, which means there is no focusing scale or depth of field scale.
Sharpness is amazing and well up to anything we could expect from a classy 85mm lens. At the center, results are already excellent and wide open at f/1.8. Also excellent at f/2.8, the Lens pushes into being outstanding from f/4 to f/8. It is still excellent at f/11 and f/16, reducing slightly, but very good at f/22.
Pros
- Bright f/1.8 aperture
- Extremely sharp
- Dust and moisture-resistant
- Short telephoto focal length
- Virtually perfect drawing
Cons
- Omits image stabilization
- Strong vignette at wider f-stops
Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3
When you are shooting birds, wildlife, aircraft or sporting action & you cannot get as close as you might like, this Lens truly covers the distance.
The FE-200-600mm provides powerful telephoto reach at the long-end of its zoom range, and, if that is still not enough, it is also compatible with Sony’s 1.4x & 2.0x tele converters.
Sharpness and contrast are outstanding and extraordinarily consistent, all through the complete zoom range. Considering the comparatively slow aperture rating & long focal lengths, sharpness & contrast need to be good while shooting wide-open, and the Lens truly excels in this respect. Bokeh (the pictorial quality of defocused areas) is very good.
Pros
- Outstanding build & image quality
- Effective triple-mode optical stabilizer
- Long telephoto reach.
- Fast focus
- Internal zoom design.
- Dust & splash resistance
- Teleconverter compatibility
Cons
- Big & weighty
- The aperture narrows to f/6.3 at the long end
- Big 95mm filter thread
Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8
As part of the Art line in Sigma’s Global Vision series, the Lens is designed to accomplish truly notable optical performance & is perfectly suited for creative &n artistic applications. It features a constant f/2.8 maximum aperture compatible with working in accessible light conditions and offers higher control over the depth of field while using the shallow depth of field technique.
The integrated stepping motor provides quick & silent autofocus, and complemented by an optimized AF algorithm to create a smoother focusing performance.
Six F Low Dispersion (FLD) & two Special Low Dispersion (SLD) elements noticeably decrease chromatic aberrations & color fringing all through the zoom range for improved precision & color accuracy.
Rubber seals are included in the mount’s design to render it dust- & splash-resistant, making it set to generate images even on location in harsh environments.
Pros
- Affordable price
- Premium build quality
- Self-releasing zoom lock & customizable AF Lock button
- Swift, silent autofocus
- Very little focus breathing
- Very attractive bokeh in most respects
- Future-proof features
Cons:
- Not fully weather sealed
Sony 10-18mm f/4
Take on ultra-wide landscapes or tight interiors with your APS-C-format E-mount camera using the E 10-18mm f/4 Lens from Sony. Giving a super wide 15-27mm equivalent zoom range, & offering a constant f/4 aperture, this Lens could produce high-quality images in a range of difficult scenarios. Implementing one Super ED & three aspherical elements guarantees image quality by minimizing aberrations all through the range. It aims to boost sharpness and reduce color fringing.
Appealing features contain a constant f/4 aperture rating & an OSS (Optical SteadyShot) stabilizer with 3-stop performance. The Lens is equipped with Optical SteadyShot image stabilization for dropping the effects of camera shake.
Centre-sharpness is outstanding all through the zoom range, but corner-sharpness is comparatively lacklustre at 10mm, even while stopping down the aperture. Other facets of performance & image quality are very good, though the outright zoom range is comparatively limited compared with diverse competing lenses for other camera makes.
Pros
- Ultra-Wide Angle of View
- Fast Autofocus
- Optical Stabilization
- Light and Compact
- Constant f/4 aperture
- Optical SteadyShot
Cons
- Not as Sharp
- Slow Aperture
- Pricey
Conclusion
Macro lenses will allow you to generate some wow-worthy dramatic images. And though macro lenses are specialized gear, several can also be versatile, helping for portraits or exclusive landscapes. Although Sony doesn’t offer dozens of macro lenses, there is something for everybody regardless of skill level or budget, & our recommendations all feature amazing quality & will allow you to create sublime macro shots. You can always get the best photo-editing assistance from a reputable company like Clipping Path Mania