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Sony's new lenses are looking good (pictures)

The 50mm and 70-300mm f3.5-5.6 have modern builds and designs.

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Lori Grunin
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1 of 10 Josh Miller/CNET

Sony FE 70-300mm f3.5-5.6

The new telephoto zoom has the same build quality of the rest of Sony's G lenses, which occupy the midrange between consumer and its pro-focused G Master line.

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Switches

In addition to the manual-focus and optical stabilizer toggles, there's a two-position focus limiter and Sony's programmable focus-lock button.

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Focus and zoom rings

It's got a nice large zoom ring.

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It gets bigger

One of the differences between pro and consumer telephoto zooms is whether the zoom happens internally or whether the lens extends. That and maximum aperture, of course.

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Mount

This is the longest zoom thus far for the Sony full-frame FE mount, though it will also work on an APS-C camera likethe A6300.

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50mm f1.8

The new full-frame version of the 50mm f1.8 is as inexpensive as the older version, with a slightly better build quality and new optics.

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Designed for full frame

Though it's designed to pair with an A7 series camera, the new lens will work fine on an APS-C model, providing an effective angle of view equivalent to 75mm.

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Features

The updated lens has a metal mount, but it punts the optical stabilization of its older sibling.

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Aperture

The maximum aperture of f1.8 is popular because increasing it to f1.4 raises the cost of a lens substantially.

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Closest focus

The lens has the same minimum focus distance as the older one, 1.5 ft/0.5 m.

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