The Best Portrait Lenses for Sony a6500 in 2024 (reviews)
Ready to start taking incredible portrait photos with your Sony a6500?
A new lens can definitely help you with that!
I’ve put to the test for you dozen of lenses, to find the very best portrait lens for Sony 6500. You’ll find below the winners of the test, complete with reviews, technicals specs, and pros & cons.
No Time to Waste? Here’s My #1 Favorite!
- Fast f/1.4 aperture
- Excellent sharpness
- Great bokeh for portraits
The Best Portrait Lens for Sony a6500 – Comparison Table
When I need more options than just the best pick, I usually like to look at the luxury pick, and the budget option.
See how these 3 great portrait lenses for Sony a6500 compare on main key features with this comparison table:
The Best Portrait Lens for a6500 – Product Reviews
You can actually shoot great portraits with any kind of lens. But for best results, portrait photographers often use prime lenses, with focal length between 35mm and 85mm.
With that being said, there are dozen of lenses that could be a good fit.
Don’t worry, I’ve done all the heavy lifting for you. If you want the best portrait lens for Sony a6500, you can’t go wrong with any of the 4 lenses listed below.
🥇 Overall Best: Sigma 56mm f/1.4 DC DN
💎 Luxury Lens: Sony Sonnar FE 55mm f/1.8
💰 Budget Pick: Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DC DN
🔍 Telephoto Portrait: Sony FE 85mm f/1.8
Whichever you end up picking will depend on personal preferences and shooting style.
Let’s see the reviews!
The BEST Sony a6500 Portrait Lens: Sigma 56mm f/1.4 DC DN
- Featuring compact design, Light weight and outstanding image quality offered in sigma’s...
- N addition, this lens is characterized by smooth and quiet autofocus ideal for video shooting....
- By using the face recognition or eye AF functions of the camera, focus Will continuously be on the...
Focal length: 56mm
Aperture range: f/1.4 to f/16
Weight: 280g (0.62 lbs)
Size (Ø x L): 67x59mm (2.62×2.34″)
Filter size: 55mm
Format: crop
Autofocus: yes
Image stabilization: no
The Sigma 56mm f/1.4 DC DN is the best portrait lens for Sony a6500, hands down.
Let’s start with the obvious: it’s an incredibly fast lens. With a max aperture of f/1.4, it’s one of the only 3 lenses for Sony E-mount that open this wide. It will help you always get tack sharp portraits, and it’s great to shoot low-light portraits.
Speaking about sharpness, this Sigma lens has excellent sharpness; acceptable at f/1.4, but downright excellent from f/2.
My favorite thing about this lens is the wonderful bokeh it produces, thanks to its 9-blade design: smooth and creamy.
Any weak points? Well, it’s not weather-sealed, so plan an umbrella if you want to shoot portraits under the rain!
Fast f/1.4 aperture
Excellent sharpness
Great bokeh
Fast & quiet autofocus
No weather sealing
👉 See price + reviews on Amazon or on B&H Photo
Check out this video to see live examples of portraits shot with the Sigma 56mm mounted on the Sony a6500:
The Best Luxury Portrait Lens for a6500: Sony Sonnar FE 55mm f/1.8
- Diaphragm Blades 9, Rounded. Lens Groups / Elements is 5/7
- Focal Length: 55mm, Filter Diameter: 49mm
- Minimum Focus Distance: 19-11/16 inches (.50m)
Focal length: 55mm
Aperture range: f/1.8 to f/22
Weight: 281g (0.62 lbs)
Size (Ø x L): 65x71mm (2.54×2.78″)
Filter size: 49mm
Format: full frame
Autofocus: yes
Image stabilization: no
Won’t settle for anything less than best in class? Then the Sony Sonnar FE 55mm f/1.8 is your new portrait lens!
It has been rated as #7 best lens of all time by Dxomark, which is pretty much everything you need to know to understand it’s the best portrait lens you could get for your Sony a6500.
Image quality is nothing short of exceptional, the autofocus is fast and reliable, there are limited distortion & vignetting, and it’s weather-sealed. It’s also a full-frame lens, which means you won’t need to replace it if you switch to a full-frame Sony camera.
Exceptional sharpness
Fast & reliable autofocus
Almost no distortion/vignetting
Weather-sealed
Chromatic aberration at high apertures
👉 See price + reviews on Amazon or on B&H Photo
The Best a6500 Budget Portrait Lens: Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DC DN
- SONY E-mount
- With nine rounded aperture blades, a stepping ring motor, and compact design
- Perfect paring of high performance and pricing, Contemporary compactness, Art line Image Quality
Focal length: 30mm
Aperture range: f/1.4 to f/16
Weight: 265g (0.58 lbs)
Size (Ø x L): 65x73mm (2.55×2.89″)
Filter size: 52mm
Format: crop
Autofocus: yes
Image stabilization: no
After seeing the expensive Sonnar lens, time to check out the best budget option for a Sony a6500 portrait lens.
The Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DC DN is the same series as our #1 pick (the Sigma 56mm f/1.4 DC DN), but it comes at almost half the price!
It’s an incredibly fast lens, with a max aperture of f/1.4, scoring great all-around on all features. It’s a 30mm, which is close to a 50mm equivalent when mounted on the a6500. This is a shorter focal length than all other lenses in this review, but closest to the human eye.
The low price point comes with a few cons, namely the lack of weather-sealing. These are definitely not major flaws, and all in all the Sigma 30mm is an impressive lens that could undoubtedly be priced much higher.
Incredible value for money
Fast f/1.4 aperture
Great sharpness
Not weather-sealed
👉 See price + reviews on Amazon or on B&H Photo
The Best Telephoto Portrait Lens for a6500: Sony FE 85mm f/1.8
- Fast telephoto lens
- ED glass compensates for aberrations
- Circular aperture with nine blades for beautiful blur effects, minimum focus distance 0.8 m
Focal length: 85mm
Aperture range: f/1.8 to f/22
Weight: 371g (0.82 lbs)
Size (Ø x L): 78x82mm (3.07×3.23″)
Filter size: 67mm
Format: full frame
Autofocus: yes
Image stabilization: no
And finally, the last best portrait lens Sony a6500 users should consider picking up: the Sony FE 85mm f/1.8.
If you’re happy with a 50mm or 85mm focal length, the lenses above are better choices. But if you’re looking for a longer lens, this is my suggestion.
Mounted on the Sony a6500, it’s a 127mm equivalent, going in telephoto range. It will create portraits with more compression, and can also be a great choice if you’re shooting portraits from a distance, in weddings for example.
Overall a great lens, with even a neat additional feature: a physical focus-hold button on the lens.
Great sharpness
Fast & quiet autofocus
Focus-hold button
Heaviest/biggest of the bunch
👉 See price + reviews on Amazon or on B&H Photo
Final Thoughts
So there you have them all, the best portrait lenses for Sony a6500!
I’ve put to the test many lenses, and the results made me rank the Sigma 56mm f/1.4 DC DN as the #1 best portrait lens for a6500.
It’s a very fast lens opening up to f/1.4, creating beautiful bokeh in portrait shots, with a fast & reliable autofocus.
Hey, nice unbiased reviews there “Sigma Boy”.
What is “Best Luxury Lens?” What does that even mean? If you drive a Rolls and live on the beach in Malibu, you absolutely must to have that lens?