When changing your aperture to defocus the background, the light sources appear blurred. This ?bokeh? effect of the blurred background can be enhanced with circular aperture blades used in this lens. Conventional aperture blades have flat sides creating unappealing polygonal shaped defocussed points of light. α lenses overcome this problem through a unique design that keeps the aperture almost perfectly circular from its wide-open setting to when it is closed by 2 stops. Smoother, more natural defocusing can be obtained as a result.

Only the rear groups of the optical system move to focus the lens, which allows for speedy AF operation and a shorter minimum focusing distance. Since the front of the lens does not rotate, operability is improved when shooting with a polarizing filter attached.