Sony E 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 OSS PZ
Содержание
Sony E PZ 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 OSS Introduction
The Sony E 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 OSS is the smallest zoom lens available for Sony NEX system cameras. By employing a collapsible-barrel design and a power zoom mechanism, the designers have been able to considerably reduce the size of the lens compared to more traditional designs, while still offering a very useful 24-75mm equivalent focal range. With an optical formula comprising 9 lens elements in 8 groups – including 4 aspherical and one extra-low-distortion element –, an Optical Stabilisation System plus a seven-bladed iris diaphragm; the Sony E 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 OSS lens weighs in at only 116 grams and measures a mere 29.9mm x 64.7mm when retracted. Currently offered in a bundle with the brand new Sony NEX-6 camera (read review), the lens will shortly be available as a separate product at an expected price of £310 / $350.
Ease of Use
The Sony E PZ 18-105mm f/4G OSS lens measures 11cm deep and weighs 427g, making it much bigger and heavier than many compatible camera bodies, such as the new Sony A5100 that we tested it with. Build quality is very decent for a (relatively) low-cost constant aperture zoom.
The Sony E PZ 18-105mm f/4G OSS lens mounted on a Sony A5100 camera body
The Sony E PZ 18-105mm f/4G OSS lens mounted on a Sony A5100 camera body
The Sony E PZ 18-105mm f/4G OSS lens mounted on a Sony A5100 camera body
The Sony E PZ 18-105mm f/4G OSS lens mounted on a Sony A5100 camera body
The Sony E PZ 18-105mm f/4G OSS lens has a power zoom control on the left side of the barrel (when viewed from the rear). This allows for a very smooth and even zoom action, perfect for video. In front of this control, one finds a more traditional focus ring, which can also be used for zooming when the camera is in auto focus mode.
Front of the Sony E PZ 18-105mm f/4G OSS lens
Front of the Sony E PZ 18-105mm f/4G OSS lens
The Sony E PZ 18-105mm f/4G OSS lens has quite a wide focus ring. There are no hard stops at both ends of the range, making it a little more difficult to set focus at infinity. Polariser users should be pleased that the 72mm filter thread doesn’t rotate on focus.
Front of the Sony E PZ 18-105mm f/4G OSS lens
Rear of the Sony E PZ 18-105mm f/4G OSS lens
When it comes to auto-focusing, the Sony E PZ 18-105mm f/4G OSS zoom is a quick performer, taking about 0.2 seconds to lock onto the subject when mounted on the Sony A5100 that we tested it with.
We didn’t experience much «hunting», either in good or bad light, with the lens accurately focusing almost all of the time, and it’s also a quiet performer thanks to its in-lens motor, ideal for HD movie shooting.
Side of the Sony E PZ 18-105mm f/4G OSS lens
Side of the Sony E PZ 18-105mm f/4G OSS lens
The Sony E PZ 18-105mm f/4G OSS lens in-hand
The Sony E PZ 18-105mm f/4G OSS lens takes large 72mm filters. The filter thread does not rotate on focus, making the use of polarisers and graduated neutral density filters that much easier.
The Sony E PZ 18-105mm f/4G OSS lens with the supplied lens hood fitted
The Sony E PZ 18-105mm f/4G OSS lens with the supplied lens hood fitted
While the Sony E PZ 18-105mm f/4G OSS has a plastic barrel, the lens mount is, thankfully, made of metal. Note that Sony does not claim any degree of weather sealing for this lens. A large plastic petal-shaped lens hood is supplied in the box.
Focal Range
At the 18mm end, the Sony E PZ 18-105mm f/4G OSS power zoom lens offers an angle of view of 76 degrees, which is comparable to that of a 27mm lens on a 35mm film camera.
Field of view at 18mm
At the 105mm setting, the angle of view tightens to 15°, which is equivalent to a 157.5mm lens on a 35mm full-frame body.
Field of view at 105mm
Chromatic Aberrations
Chromatic aberrations, typically seen as purple or blue fringes along contrasty edges, are a bit of a problem with the Sony E PZ 18-105mm f/4G OSS, though not more so than with most other zooms of this kind.
Distortion
At the wider end, the Sony E PZ 18-105mm f/4G OSS has some very slight barrel distortion and obvious corner shading, as you can see in the photo below.
Macro
The Sony E PZ 18-105mm f/4G OSS is not a macro lens. Sony quotes a maximum reproduction ratio of 0.11x and the minimum focus distance is 45cm at the 18mm focal length. The following image demonstrates how close you can get to the subject.
Close-up performance
Bokeh
Bokeh is a word used for the out-of-focus areas of a photograph, and is usually described in qualitative terms, such as smooth / creamy / harsh etc. In our opinion, the Sony E PZ 18-105mm f/4G OSS has a fairly pleasing bokeh for a zoom lens – but realising that bokeh evaluation is subjective, we have provided a number of crops for your perusal.
Sharpness
In order to show you how sharp this lens is, we are providing 100% crops on the following pages.
- Ease of Use
- Sharpness: 18mm
-
50mm
-
70mm
-
105mm
- Sample Images
- Lens Specs
- Rating & Conclusion
- Main Rivals
- Review Roundup
- Ease of Use
- Sharpness: 18mm
-
50mm
-
70mm
-
105mm
- Sample Images
- Lens Specs
- Rating & Conclusion
- Main Rivals
- Review Roundup
Ease of Use
The Sony DT 16-50mm F2.8 SSM lens
Weighing in at 577grams, the plastic-bodied Sony DT 16-50mm F2.8 SSM is a substantial A-Mount lens that is a good match for the Sony A77 body that we tested it with, as shown in the photos below.
The Sony DT 16-50mm F2.8 SSM lens mounted on a Sony A77
The Sony DT 16-50mm F2.8 SSM lens mounted on a Sony A77
The Sony DT 16-50mm F2.8 SSM lens mounted on a Sony A77, extended to 50mm
The Sony DT 16-50mm F2.8 SSM lens mounted on a Sony A77, extended to 50mm
Build quality is very good, perhaps to be expected given the relatively high price of the lens. The Sony DT 16-50mm F2.8 SSM has a distance scale in feet and meters, useful when manually focusing, but there’s no depth-of-field scale or infrared index.
Front of the Sony DT 16-50mm F2.8 SSM lens
Front of the Sony DT 16-50mm F2.8 SSM lens, extended to 50mm
The Sony DT 16-50mm F2.8 SSM has a focus and zoom ring, with the latter being the larger of the two at 2cms wide. It takes an 85 degree turn to zoom from 16mm to 50mm, with the lens extending by an extra 4cm when set to 50mm. The focus ring is just over 1cm wide with a smooth action for manual focusing and handy stops at either end of the focus scale.
Front of the Sony DT 16-50mm F2.8 SSM lens
There’s a switch to change between auto and manual focus and another one to lock the lens at 16mm, which is a little redundant as the zooming mechanism doesn’t creep even when the lens is tipped upside down.
Front of the Sony DT 16-50mm F2.8 SSM lens, isometric view
Focusing is usefully internal and the Sony DT 16-50mm F2.8 SSM lens has a metal lens mount and accepts 72mm filters via plastic threads.
Rear of the Sony DT 16-50mm F2.8 SSM lens
The lens is supplied with a petal-shaped hood which attaches via the bayonet mount (reverse fitted for storage).
Rear of the Sony DT 16-50mm F2.8 SSM lens, isometric view
Focal Range
At the 16mm focal length the angle of view is 83 degrees.
Field of view at 16mm
At the 50mm focal length the angle of view is 32 degrees.
Field of view at 50mm
Focusing
The Sony DT 16-50mm F2.8 SSM lens has quite a wide focus ring. There are hard stops at both ends of the range, making it straight forward to set focus at infinity. Polariser users should be pleased that the 72mm filter thread doesn’t rotate on focus.
When it comes to auto-focusing, the Sony DT 16-50mm F2.8 SSM zoom is a quick performer, taking about 0.15 seconds to lock onto the subject when mounted on the Sony A77 that we tested it with.
We didn’t experience much «hunting», either in good or bad light, with the lens accurately focusing almost all of the time, and it’s also a pretty quiet performer.
Chromatic Aberrations
Chromatic aberrations, typically seen as purple or blue fringes along contrasty edges, are only notable by their complete absence from our test shots with the A77 body.
Light Fall-off
With the lens set to its maximum aperture and widest focal length of 16mm, there is a little bit of light fall-off in the extreme corners, but it won’t affect your real-world shots.
Light fall-off at 16mm
Light fall-off at 50mm
Macro
The Sony DT 16-50mm F2.8 SSM isn’t claimed to be a macro lens, and it certainly lives up to that billing. It has a minimum focusing distance of 1m and a maximum magnification of 0.2x. The following example demonstrates how close you can get to your subject, in this case a Compact Flash memory card.
Close-up performance
Bokeh
Bokeh is a word used for the out-of-focus areas of a photograph, and is usually described in qualitative terms, such as smooth / creamy / harsh etc. In the Sony DT 16-50mm F2.8 SSM lens, Sony employed an iris diaphragm with seven rounded blades, which has resulted in very appealing bokeh in our view. We do realise, however, that bokeh evaluation is subjective, so we’ve included several 100% crops for your perusal.
Sharpness
In order to show you how sharp this lens is, we are providing 100% crops on the following pages.
- Ease of Use
- Sharpness: 1
-
Cont… 2
-
Cont… 3
-
Cont… 4
- Sample Images
- Lens Specs
- Rating & Conclusion
- Main Rivals
- Review Roundup
- Ease of Use
- Sharpness: 1
-
Cont… 2
-
Cont… 3
-
Cont… 4
- Sample Images
- Lens Specs
- Rating & Conclusion
- Main Rivals
- Review Roundup
Sony DT 16-50mm F2.8 SSM Introduction
The Sony DT 16-50mm F2.8 SSM is a high-performance standard zoom lens for Sony A-Mount SLT/SLR cameras. It offers the equivalent angle of view as a 24-75mm lens on a 35mm camera and features a circular 7 blade diaphragm which creates an attractive blur to the out of focus areas of the image. It has a minimum focusing distance of 1m and a maximum magnification of 0.2x. The internal SSM (Super Sonic wave Motor) drive promises fast and quiet auto-focusing with full-time manual override available. The Sony DT 16-50mm F2.8 SSM lens is currently available for £550 / $700 in the UK and the US, respectively.
Sony E PZ 18-110mm f4 G OSS Introduction
The Sony E PZ 18-110mm f/4 G OSS is primarily designed for videographers, typically those that like to work with a single lens setup. It covers a range of 18-110mm, and you can use it with either Sony’s full-frame A7 and A9 range of cameras, or with APS-C sensor cameras, such as the A6500. Because of the crop factor, if you use it with such a camera, you get an effective focal length of 27-165mm. The second of Sony’s cameras to use an SMO (Smooth Motion Optics) design, using this lens when recording video helps to prevent problems such as focus breathing, focus shifts and axial image shifts when zooming. The lens has a design of 18 elements in 15 groups. Six of the elements are aspheric, and three are ED (Extra Low Dispersion). Along with this design, there’s also other aspects of the lens which are likely to be appealing to videographers, including a Power Zoom, an aperture ring which can have its clicks turned off, and a manual focusing ring. It is also dust and moisture resistant, making it a good lens to use in a variety of different shooting conditions, especially outdoors. You can use the Sony E PZ 18-110mm f/4 G OSS to shoot stills with, if you like, but there are arguably better suited lenses for stills photography which cover this focal length range. The Sony E PZ 18-110mm f/4 G OSS costs £3500 / $3500.
