The black Sony E 50mm f/1.8 OSS Lens is a prime portrait-length lens featuring a bright f/1.8 maximum aperture and a 35mm-equivalent focal length of 75mm. The lens has a lightweight and compact design with an aluminum alloy lens barrel and engraved focusing ring to provide greater handling as well as an aesthetic appearance. Greatly benefitting handheld usage with this lens is Optical SteadyShot image stabilization, which works to minimize the appearance of camera shake by up to four shutter speed steps to support use in low-light conditions.

A linear autofocus motor is incorporated into the lens design to provide smooth, quiet performance and a stepping motor is employed to deliver quiet aperture actuation that is well-suited to video applications. For refined control over focus, Direct Manual Focus (DMF) is supported, which enables manual fine-tuning of focus when in AF mode to enhance working with selective focus imagery. Also contributing to shallow depth of field applications is a seven-blade circular aperture that provides a smooth quality to out-of-focus backgrounds.