Monday, December 3, 2012

Sony E-Mount 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 Lens - A Dud?

I am very close to buying a new camera, as I have sold Dillon's Canon T2i and few pieces of photo gear to raise money for this purchase.  He is now the owner of my NEX-5N, so I need a camera for myself. Scouting the web for reviews on the new 16-50mm power zoom lens, I found one review which gave the lens very low points.  I handled this lens briefly in the Sony store and liked it quite a bit, but of course I could only see the jpeg version of the file from the camera.

Basically, if you shoot RAW, this lens is not very good with vignetting and distortion, and sharpness in the corners are not great either.  This reminds me of the 18-55mm kit lens that came with the NEX-5/5N.  Horrible distortion and similar soft corners.  But, I think as a kit lens, the faults of the 16-50mm lens is bearable.  It does offer a much wider angle than the 18-55mm at similar prices.  When bought as a package with the camera, this lens is only $150, less than half the price of buying by itself.

It is disappointing that the 16-50mm lens is not better.  Sony relies on software correction for the design flaws but this does not do any good for RAW shooters like me.  But, I will probably buy it with the camera anyway, if I decide to buy the NEX-6.

Pink Tulip - Canon 1D Mark III & EF 100mm f2.8L IS. click for larger.

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5 comments:

  1. lucindaleDecember 3, 2012 at 10:50 PM

    Yu Lin - Read this review
    http://www.ephotozine.com/article/sony-e-16-50mm-f-3-5-5-6-oss-lens-review-20667

    I'd buy it with a NEX 6 in a heart beat

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    1. Lens BubbleDecember 3, 2012 at 10:57 PM

      James, the review did not say how the test was done. Was with jpeg or RAW? From the sample pictures, it looks like it was shot with jpeg. But you are right, this lens' small size and wider angle at 24mm is a huge selling point and coupled with a relatively low price, it's hard to resist.

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    2. lucindaleDecember 4, 2012 at 1:24 PM

      I'd guess jpeg too. You're absolutely right - size and wide angle make this a winner.

      Delete
  2. AnonymousDecember 5, 2012 at 10:19 AM

    I bought a NEX-6 simply because I was looking for a smaller, high-quality camera that I would actually carry with me 99% of the time. That said, I'm happy with the camera and the lens for that reason. I can deal with any issues that might come up with the lens (but haven't really seen anything major yet).

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    Replies
    1. Lens BubbleDecember 5, 2012 at 10:25 AM

      Thanks for the update with your experience. real actual user experience is more important brief reviews.

      Delete

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