The Sony A57 is a fantastic Single Lens Translucent camera. If you do not currently have a lens for your camera or are wanting for another lens, this will talk about the top 6 lenses for your Sony SLT-A57.
Here are the best Sony A57 lenses:
- Standard Lens - Sony 50mm f/1.8 SAM DT
- Portrait Lens - Sony 85mm F1.4 ZA CZ
- Zoom Lens - Sony 28-75mm f/2.8
- Wide Angle Lens - Sony DT 11-18mm f/4.5-5.6
- Fisheye Lens - Sony 16mm f/2.8
- Macro Lens - Sony 100mm f/2.8 Macro
Below are the best Sony lenses split up by focal length. Also mentioned are additional choices varying in price.
Table of Contents
Standard Primes
Sony 50mm f/1.8 SAM DT
An outstanding mix of compact size and lightweight. The built-in autofocus motor is quieter and more accurate than older lenses that rely on the physically coupled autofocus drive system.
Rounded aperture blades allow you to close down to f/4 and still have an almost completely circular aperture. The result is attractive bokeh and more versatility in controlling depth of field. An excellent Sony A57 lens
Minolta Maxxum AF 50mm f/1.7
This is an older design from the launch of the A-mount. On account of how old the lens is, the autofocus is powered by the built-in motor in the A57's camera body.
Physically coupled autofocus can be noisier and slower than other A57 lenses. If that is not a concern for you the picture quality is superb. You'll end up with a detailed classic look to photos and attractive bokeh.
An additional considerable advantage of this lens is the price. It's considerably more affordable when compared with the Sony 50mm f/1.8 and on top of that might be the least expensive lens listed.
Sony 50mm f/1.4
Slightly faster compared to the Minolta or Sony f/1.8, nevertheless, that can definitely make an impact when you are shooting without much light. That naturally comes at an additional cost.
It is still a small and light lens that balances nicely on the A57 and can fit into nearly every camera bag.
A slightly lower priced solution is the Minolta AF 50mm f/1.4. Bear in mind that they can be very difficult to track down in usable condition. It also was designed with coupled autofocus, which is worse than lenses that have built-in motors.
Portrait & Telephoto Lens
Sony 85mm f/1.4 ZA
Sony showed off with this lens. The ZA (Zeiss Alpha) signifies that Zeiss manufactured the lens exclusively for the Sony A-mount vs designs that get used on multiple camera systems.
This is a brilliant lens. Corner-to-corner sharpness with spectacular color that creates amazing portrait photos.
A potential downside is that it's a little bit on the heavy side as a result of being built like a tank and it can feel slow to autofocus. Keep in mind, that you'll find those same problems with any f/1.4 85mm lens.
Rokinon 85mm f/1.4
The Rokinon is a low-cost possibility that is convenient to buy. Cost savings come from the fact that the lens is manual focus.
At f/1.4 manually focusing will need lots of practice. Stopping down to f/2 or f/1.8 will make focusing much easier and you'll still get smooth bokeh.
Minolta Maxxum AF 85mm f/1.4
In terms of price, this lens fits between the others. Finding a used copy in better than acceptable condition can at times be difficult as a result of a small available supply.
The lens does have autofocus, but it uses a mechanical coupler and is driven by an in-camera body motor. This makes it slow to autofocus and fairly loud.
The lens is an older 6 lens element Double-Gauss design. That's not a negative as the lens provides a unique appearance that is not able to be made using a modern-day lens.
Sony A57 Zoom Lenses
Sony 28-75mm f/2.8
If you want to shoot night events, travel, indoor shooting, and family photos, this is an excellent fast zoom for that. It is a well-crafted lens with fairly quiet autofocus.
It often gets compared to the excellent Zeiss 24-70mm, because they are similar in focal length, but it's around half the weight and costs less. Both lenses produce pro results.
Check prices at: eBay, KEH, Adorama
Sony 55-200mm f/4-5.6 SAM DT
While still creating wonderful results, this is a cheaper alternative. It's not a pro lens, so so long as you do not need all the bells and whistles, it is a good lens.
As a mid-range telephoto zoom, it gives you a terrific zoom range for taking images of wildlife, sports, and children outdoors.
Image sharpness is good and the autofocus is fast. It's made out of plastic, which helps cut down on weight.
Check prices at: eBay, KEH, Adorama
Sony 75-300mm f/4.5-5.6
This qualifies as a super-telephoto lens. It's an outstanding inexpensive option among Sony A57 lenses when you want lots of reach.
It's only 2.8 inches (7.1 cm) in diameter, 4.8 inches (12.2 cm) long, and comes in at 1 pound 2 ounces (510g). While not considered light, many professional telephoto zooms are many times heavier.
For a little bit better capabilities take a look at the Sony 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 SSM ED G-Series, but expect to pay nearly twice the price.
Wide Angle Lens
Sony DT 11-18mm f/4.5-5.6
Incredible value for the money if you want to take great wide-angle images that a kit zoom cannot capture. Distortion, especially of vertical lines is small or non-apparent unless you are trying to get a distorted perspective.
As well as being outstanding at shooting gorgeous landscapes, it is also a terrific lens to travel with. The angle of view is wide enough so that when you come across something you'll be able to get everything you see into the Sony A57's frame.
Sony 20mm f/2.8
A well-corrected lens that does a great job of minimizing lens distortion. Additionally, a great deal of effort has been put into minimizing flare and internal reflections.
The result is a terrific lens that is well suited for architecture, astrophotography, and landscape photography. The lens has a rear focusing system which means the front doesn't rotate meaning you won't have any problems using a circular polarizer or different filter.
Tokina AT-X 11-16mm f/2.8 DX II
It does not have very fast autofocus, but the focus clutch means it's an excellent selection for manual focusing. A pull or push of the focus ring will switch the lens from auto to manual focus.
The Tokina is faster when compared to the Sony 11-18mm, which is definitely not a huge deal for architecture or landscape photos. Where you'll notice an improvement is with astrophotography. That's a situation where you would want to take advantage of the 1-to-2 stop advantage the Tokina supplies.
Fisheye
Sony 16mm f/2.8 Fisheye
Having built-in filters is a good addition because the lens has a fixed petal-style hood which prevents a lens filter from being put on the front of the lens.
- 056 - Accented contrast for black and white photos.
- B12 - Correct color by eliminating red tones.
- A12 - Correct color by eliminating blue tones.
This lens has everything you could desire from a fisheye lens. You can achieve the exaggerated distortion, but the image will be tack sharp from corner-to-corner without vignetting.
Check prices at: eBay, KEH, Adorama
Rokinon 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye
The lens has a round front element which means filters can not be used. It comes with a removable petal-shaped hood that you'll want to make sure that it is included if you opt for a pre-owned lens.
Build quality can be hit or miss as a result of the very low price of the lens. The majority of owners are very happy with the results they get. You'll still want to thoroughly test out the lens when you obtain it to be certain that the lens is not a dud.
Check prices at: eBay, KEH, Adorama
Macro Lens
Sony 100mm f/2.8 Macro
A perfect balance of cost, size, and working distance for the Sony A57. The autofocus can be a little noisy, but for shooting macro images, manual focus is the way to go.
For the highest quality photos at 1:1 magnification, the lens should be stopped down. By stopping down you will have a larger depth of field, which is important for macro.
Check prices at: eBay, KEH, Adorama
Sony 50mm f/2.8 Macro
A 50mm isn't the best for 1:1 magnification because of the short working distance. At that level of magnification, the front of the lens will need to be around 2 inches (5 cm) away from the subject.
This compared to other macro A57 lenses, it does well at close-up, copy work, and tabletop photography.
The lens gives you the option to get closer to a subject than a standard 50mm, and that is great for nature photography if you want to fill the frame with a smaller sized subject, for instance, a flower.
Check prices at: eBay, KEH, Adorama
Tamron AF 90mm f/2.8 Di SP A/M 1:1 Macro
In addition to having autofocus, the focus ring feels great when manually focusing. Closed down two or more stops and you will get tack sharp photos.
In addition, be cautious when getting this lens as it's manufactured in a variety of camera mounts.
Used A-Mount Camera Lens Prices
Prices are constantly changing. During the past handful of years, interest in film shooting has been expanding. Seeing as there are 35mm Minolta film cameras that use the A-mount, some additional demand is placed on the price of lenses.
The Sony A-mount also doesn't have a sizeable share of the market. Due to this fact, there are fewer third party choices and the lenses made by Sony are routinely on backorder.
To find the best price on what you want to buy, look at several sites. For pre-owned lenses, be prepared to pay for when you see a bargain as they tend not to be available for long.
What Lens Mount Does the A57 Use?
The Sony A57 uses the Sony A-mount. It's also identical to the Minolta A-mount. This is due to the fact that Sony acquired Konica Minolta's imaging division in 2006.
Minolta developed the A-mount for the intro of interchangeable lens cameras with autofocus in 1985. It's still Supported by Sony.
Standard Lens Cap Size
Generally 55mm, but honestly, the sizes are all over the place. Earlier Minolta lenses mostly feature 49mm filter threads.
You will also find quite a few lenses that have much larger filter threads than 55mm. It isn't rare to see 77m or 72mm filter threads. It would've been good if Sony stuck to only 2 or 3 different filter thread sizes.
