Review, Songraw, Sony E-mount

Review: Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit

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Introduction

songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit on Sony A7rII

Many of the new manufacturers from China decided to start with all manual lenses and often of moderate specifications. With this Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit the story is different: a complex autofocus 50mm lens with a maximum aperture of f/1.2, only Sony and Sigma released a lens with these specifications for the E-mount yet. But can a lens as ambitious as this from an unknown manufacturer actually be any good? Let’s find out in this review. 

Sample Images

Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/2.0

songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2 | HDR from 2 exposures
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2

Most of the sample images in this review can be found in full resolution here.

Specifications

The E-mount version of the Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit has the following specifications:

  • Diameter: 90 mm
  • Length: 125 mm
  • Weight: 887g (without hood[70g], without caps)
  • Field of view: 47.85° (diagonally)
  • Filter Diameter: 72 mm
  • Number of Aperture Blades: 13 (rounded)
  • Elements/Groups: 15/10
  • Close Focusing Distance: 0.52 m
  • Maximum Magnification: 1:7.3 (measured)
  • Mount: Sony E, Nikon Z

buy from Amazon.com | ebay.com | ebay.de (affiliate links) for $999

Disclosure

I asked Songraw to send me a sample of this lens for a review but they weren’t really interested in doing that. As I was still interested in this lens – and knowing some of you are too – I went on to buy a used copy on eBay. When I received the lens I noticed that there are some cosmetic oddities (lens hood marking and lens hood not aligning properly) so I asked Songraw if this is typical for their lenses. It turned out that the lens I bought on eBay was a UK reviewer’s early production review copy, which sadly wasn’t disclosed in the listing. According to Songraw the later final production copies do not have issues with unaligned markings anymore.

Handling / Build Quality

songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit

In terms of mechanical design the Songraw 50mm 1.2 follows the Sony GM lenses which I consider a very good idea. These days, the Sony GM and G lenses, Sigma’s Art and Contemporary lenses as well as the Viltrox Pro lenses all handle the same, which makes it easy to switch between them.

The focus ring has decent damping but sadly the coupling is non-linear. When you turn the focus ring fast it takes about 360° from the minimum focus distance (0.52 m) to infinity, when you turn it slow around 720°.
When you turn your camera off, the lens will remember the last focus position and will still be there when you turn the camera on again.

The aperture ring has 1/3 of a stop click stops and you can also set the ring to “A”(utomatic) and let the camera choose the aperture value or use the camera dial to change it.

The outer casing seems to be made from a high quality polycarbonate and all markings are engraved and filled with paint.

songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
lens button and AF/MF switch

On the left side of the lens there is a programmable lens button (with Songraw logo) and the AF-MF switch.

songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
de-click switch and USB socket

On the right side we can find the declick switch for the aperture ring and a USB-C socket for firmware updates with a small rubber cover.

songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit with hood attached

The lens comes with a lens hood that features a rubber bumper at the front.

songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | Sony FE 50mm 1.2 GM

The Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit has the same diameter as the Sony FE 50mm 1.2 GM but is about 100g heavier and a little longer. 

AF performance

I am not shooting sports or fast moving animals/humans so if you want to know if the lens is fast enough for this or how it compares to other lenses in this segment you may have to look for a different review with a more detailed assessment of this aspect.

songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/2.0

The AF generally worked fine and I did not encounter any issues. Tracking accuracy and speed are not on the same level as the Sony FE 50mm 1.2 GM though.

songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit via Megadap ETZ21pro on Nikon Zf

I also tried this Songraw lens with various adapters on my Nikon Zf Z-mount camera. With the Megadap ETZ21pro+ and ETZ21pro it worked sporadically but not really reliable. It did not work at all with the Viltrox ETZ adapter. As there will also be a Z-mount version of this lens I recommend getting that one if you are a Z-mount user.

Light Transmission

This lens features a lot of high refractive elements which can be bad news for the light transmission (T-Stop). Now for actually measuring the T-Stop you need rather fancy equipment which we don’t have. We can however try to directly compare lenses to each other. I used the Nikon Z 58mm 0.95 S Noct-Nikkor as benchmark here and we would expect an f/1.2 lens to be about 0.6 EV darker than an f/0.95 lens. In my measurements the difference was 0.85 EV at infinity. A little worse than ideal, but also not a difference big enough to really make a fuss about.

Vignetting

Light falloff

songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon

f/1.23.1 EV
f/1.42.8 EV
f/2.02.0 EV
f/2.81.5 EV
f/4.01.2 EV
f/5.6-f/161.1 EV

While this is a big lens (bigger than the 50mm 1.2 competitors from Sony and Sigma) the glass elements are surprisingly small and in this category that takes its toll. At f/1.2 and f/1.4 the vignetting is about 0.5 EV higher compared to the Sony FE 50mm 1.2 GM. Then at f/2.0 the tables have turned and this Songraw lens shows about 0.5 EV less vignetting. Stopped down further they are the same within the margin of error. The Nikon Z 50mm 1.2 S – the biggest and heaviest of the modern 50mm 1.2 lenses – shows the same vignetting figures as the Sony FE 50mm 1.2 GM at f/1.2 and the lowest of all these lenses stopped down.

songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit

It is recommended to have a look at this article first to get an idea how this brightness graph works.

Optical vignetting

Fast lenses usually show a noticeable amount of optical vignetting, especially so the compact ones. Without going too much into technical details optical vignetting leads to the truncation of light circles towards the borders of the frame.
In the center of the frame almost every lens will render a perfect circle, but only lenses with very low optical vignetting will keep this shape in the corners.
So in the following comparison we move from the center (left) to the extreme corner (right) and see how the shape of the light circle changes.

  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
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  • sony fe 50mm 1.2 gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait
Sony A7rII | focus distance 0.9 m

While the Songraw 50mm 1.2 is undoubtedly a big lens the front element doesn’t look particularly big. Still I am happy to report that the amount of optical vignetting is actually reaonable and a bit better than what I have seen from the Sony FE 50mm 1.2 GM. The shape of the out of focus highlights also still looks natural in the corners.

This lens’ design incorporates two aspherical elements that can lead to minor onion ring structures in out of focus highlights.

Sharpness

Focus shift

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  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
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  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
50% crops, A7rII

Being a modern AF lens that usually focuses at working aperture, focus shift would not really be an issue anyway. When looking for it we can see a little amount of it though. Not enough for your subject to drop out of the focal plane, so not really something to worry about.

Infinity (42mp Sony A7rII)

songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon

songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7rII | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/11

The performance in this category looks actually surprisingly good and similar to the Sony FE 50mm 1.2 GM with center and midframe looking very good from f/1.2 and the corners benefitting from stopping down a bit.

Portrait 1.5 m (42mp Sony A7rII)

Let’s see what the performance is like at a typical portrait distance for a 50mm lens of ~1.5 m.

positions of crops in the frame

f/1.2 <—> f/2.0

  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7rII | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | 100% crops

At f/1.2 this lens shows a good but not an amazing performance. Interestingly it is also a bit softer in the inner midrame than the outer midframe, but this actually fits the wavy MTF graphs.

Compared to the Sony FE 50mm 1.2 GM it is clearly softer at f/1.2 – the GM simply showed an exceptional performance here. From f/2.0 they look just the same with Moiré everywhere in the frame.

Close 0.52 m, 1:7.3 (42mp Sony A7rII)

  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
100% crops from center, A7rII

The minimum focus distance of 0.52 m coupled with the 1:7.3 maximum magnification puts this lens at a bit of a disadvantage compared to the Sony FE 50mm 1.2 GM, Sigma 50mm 1.2 DG DN Art and also the Sony FE 50mm 1.4 GM.

The performance is good though: it is a little softer at f/1.2 and f/1.4 but not really something to worry about. Much better than a unit focussing lens like the Voigtländer 50mm 1.2 Nokton E. 

Flare resistance

songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Nikon Zf | Megadap ETZ21pro+ | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2

As always evaluating flare is a complex matter since you can get any lens to look bad if you push it hard enough and a slight change of scenario can affect results a lot.

  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
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  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2

At the maximum aperture this lens performs pretty well actually. We can only see some minor artefacts but not something that actually has the potential to completely ruin your pictures.

  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/11

Now stopped down this is a whole different story. With a strong point light source close to the center of the frame this lens creates massive ring flares and when a bit farther away from the center rainbow artefacts and other smaller ghosts can appear. I think this is the first time I encountered a lens which creates worse ring flares stopped down compared to being shot wide open.

Now stopped down this is obviously not a good performance, but the interesting thing is that this lens actually performed better in actual shooting at f/1.2 than most other fast 50mm lenses. I took a lot of pictures with this lens during the blue hour with strong street lamps around and here I did not encounter any issues at all, which is very rare. 

Coma

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100% crops from extreme corner, focused at center, A7rII

We see slight Coma from f/1.2 to f/1.4, already at f/2.0 the lens is almost free from it though – a very similar performance as what we have seen from the Sony FE 50mm 1.2 GM. Another lens I would not mind taking pictures with during blue hour at f/1.2 without a tripod if needed.

Distortion

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  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/2.0

This Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit shows a low amount of non-uniform pincushion distortion. A profile is needed to fully correct its distortion, but Lightroom currently does not features a correction profile. However, after trying the profiles of several other 50mm lenses I found the one for the Sigma 50mm 1.2 DG DN Art when set to 80% to work very well for this lens, as can be seen from this comparison.

Bokeh

songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Nikon Zf | Megadap ETZ21pro+ | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2

For me personally, this is the most important category for a lens like this. The older super fast AF lenses still designed for (D)SLRs (Canon EF 50mm 1.2L USM and Canon EF 50mm 1.0L USM) didn’t really knock it ouf of the park here for me. The Sony FE 50mm 1.2 GM looked a lot better to my eyes, but apparently being optimized for crazy resolution figures from f/1.2, it had a tendency to creating busier bokeh with complex backgrounds than I personally like.

As we have already seen that this Songraw 50mm 1.2 is a bit softer at f/1.2 than the GM, will that lead to smoother background bokeh? Let’s find out.

Close distance

songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Nikon Zf | Megadap ETZ21pro+ | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2

I have said it many times before: for creating the illusion of depth in a two dimensional picture not only how the out of focus areas are rendered is important, but also the contrast and resolution within the plane which is in focus. In that regard this Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit shows a performance similar to other modern high performance f/1.2 lenses like the Viltrox AF 35mm 1.2 LAB or the Sony FE 50mm 1.2 GM.

The amount of cat’s eye shapes towards the corners is typical for a lens with these parameters, there are no issues with outlining around the out of focus highlights and I cannot see any onion ring structures even in these huge defocused points of light. I also don’t see the tendency towards double edged structures that I have seen with the Sony FE 50mm 1.2 GM.

Mid distance

songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Nikon Zf | Megadap ETZ21pro+ | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2

At mid distances this lens creates a bokeh that hardly leaves something to be desired – except for less cat’s eyes, that would always be nice. I prefer the transition from in-focus to out-of-focus and the smooth backgrounds this Songraw lens creates to what I have seen from the Sony FE 50mm 1.2 GM.

Long distance

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Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Nikon Zf | Megadap ETZ21pro+ | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2

Also at longer focus distances – were many lenses with similar specifications struggle – this Songraw looks really good: no issues with field curvature (like the Laowa 45mm 0.95 has), no issues with lack of sharpless (like the Samyang 50mm 1.2 XP) and no weird triangle bokeh in the corners (like the Canon EF 50mm 1.2 L USM or Canon EF 50mm 1.0L USM).

I really like what Songraw did here with their first lens. Personally I like the undistracting background bokeh I get from this lens more than what I got from the Sony FE 50mm 1.2 GM. But if you think that the GM’s record breaking resolution and contrast figures are more important for your portraits you may come to a different conclusion. 

Sunstars

  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7rII | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | slight crops

Making use of 13 rounded aperture blades I did not expect to see nice sunstars from this lens, but lo and behold: they actually look tidy and appealing from f/8.0 to f/16. I really don’t understand how a new manufacturer is able to source a diaphragm like this when manufacturers that are in the business so much longer (especially looking at Samyang here)  keep releasing lenses with unevenly aligned aperture blades that create absolutely awful sunstars.
If you want to know more about sunstars have a look at this article.

Chromatic aberration

lateral

  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7rII | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/11 | 100% crops from corner

The Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit (at least the firmware version I tested) does not feature a built-in lens correction profile for lateral CA. We can see a low amount which can easily be corrected in any decent raw converter.

longitudinal

  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7rII | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | 100% crops

Another category with a surprisingly good performance. You can find some minor bokeh fringing when you look for it, but in none of the pictures I took with this lens it was bothersome let alone something that could ruin the picture.

  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
  • songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7rII | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | 100% crops

Songraw claims in their marketing material that this lens features an Apo correction and looking at what happens in the focal plane I wouldn’t argue with that. In this category it performs just as well as the Sony FE 50mm 1.2 GM which means exemplary.

Conclusion

good

  • very nice bokeh
  • high contrast and resolution from f/1.2 at all distances
  • CA correction
  • Coma correction
  • nice sunstars
  • build quality/handling
 average

  • vignetting
  • distortion 
 not good

  • flare resistance (stopped down)
  • minimum focus distance slightly worse than competitor’s
  • size/weight

Let me be honest with you here: I did not expect much from this lens. But this is also why I love to review lenses from new or unknown manufacturers: sometimes you get positively surprised and this was surely the case here.

Let me first give you some facts here though: resolution and contrast are not as ridiculously high as what I have seen from the Sony FE 50mm 1.2 GM and the AF is also not on the same level. That wasn’t much of a surprise. When it comes to flare resistance this lens is also a bit weird, as it is worse stopped down with the potential to create awful ring flares.

Now what actually surprised me: while not on the same level as the Sony FE 50mm 1.2 GM, contrast and resolution are really good from f/1.2 and they are so across the whole frame at all distances. Coma and CA correction are also really good, easily on the same level as lenses like the Sony FE 50mm 1.2 GM or Viltrox 35mm 1.2 LAB. Despite using as many as 13 aperture blades this lens even manages to create nice sunstars.

I saved the most important aspect for last: I think this lens creates great bokeh with smoother transitions and backgrounds than the Sony FE 50mm 1.2 GM (and probably also the Sigma 50mm 1.2 DG DN Art I still have to review). 

Personally, I think solely focusing on increasing resolution and contrast in fast lenses is a bit of a fool’s errand and I am glad we can find new lenses with a bit of residual spherical aberration that in my opinion often have the ability create more appealing pictures. This is one of those lenses.

buy from Amazon.com | ebay.com | ebay.de (affiliate links) for $999

Alternatives

You can find many alternatives in our Guide to the best 50mm fullframe E-mount lenses. I will only mention the two other 50mm 1.2 lenses with autofocus in more detail here.

Sony FE 50mm 1.2 GM:
If you need the highest resolution, highest contrast and best AF the Sony FE 50mm 1.2 GM is your lens. If you can make some (minor, really) compromises in these categories and you care about appealing bokeh I recommend to also have a closer look at this Songraw 50mm 1.2 lens.
buy from Amazon.com | B&H | ebay.com (affiliate links) for $1898

Sigma 50mm 1.2 DG DN Art:
I haven’t used this lens personally yet. It is the lightest of these three lenses but it also seems to be the one with the highest vignetting and strongest cat’s eye bokeh. Also doesn’t seem to have the crazy high resolution and contrast or the amazing AF of the Sony lens.
buy from amazon.com | amazon.de | ebay.com | ebay.de | B&H (affiliate link) for $1399

Sample Images

songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/2.0
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/2.0
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Sony A7III | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2 | HDR from 2 exposures
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Nikon Zf | Megadap ETZ21pro+ | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Nikon Zf | Megadap ETZ21pro+ | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Nikon Zf | Megadap ETZ21pro+ | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Nikon Zf | Megadap ETZ21pro+ | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Nikon Zf | Megadap ETZ21pro+ | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2
songraw 50mm 1.2 moonlit sony fe gm fullframe fastest lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z6iii nikon
Nikon Zf | Megadap ETZ21pro+ | Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit | f/1.2

Most of the sample images in this review can be found in full resolution here.

Further Reading

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BastianK

My name is Bastian and I am your expert here when it comes to ultra wide angle lenses, super fast portrait lenses (ranging from a 50mm f/0.95 to a 200mm f/1.8) and I also have reviewed way too many 35mm lenses. Don't ask me anything about macro or wildlife shooting though.

One thought on “Review: Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit”

  1. Thanks for this review! Very interesting. It’s a real shame that the Songraw is even bigger and heavier than the GM (and considerably heavier in my opinion), because I also prefer its rendering to the Sony’s. But with these specifications, it’s completely out of the question for me, no matter how cheap and good it might be. Everything has its limits.

    Reply

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