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How good is the new E-mount 16-50 zoom?

jfirneno

Member
I was interested in a very compact package of the NEX 6 and this collapsible zoom as a take anywhere. Is the lens at least good? Doesn't have to be perfect but not mediocre. Any thoughts?

Thanks,
John
 
V

Vivek

Guest
It lasted exactly 24hrs with me. I prefer the 18-55 to it which is a MUCH better zoom, IMO.
 

mazor

New member
It lasted exactly 24hrs with me. I prefer the 18-55 to it which is a MUCH better zoom, IMO.
Vivek, do tell of your experiences with th 16-50, I heard it is meant to be quite a good lens. Also with 16mm on the wide side, can be handy for landscapes.
 

pegelli

Well-known member
I find the lens a mixed blessing, and for sure I'll keep my kit 18-55 zoom in addition.

- slow to wake up when switching on
- no hood, very uncommon filter size (40.5 mm)
- no physical distance scale/zoom scale
- extreme distortion
- serious vignetting (probably an understatement, let's call it very dark corners)

+ good sharpness, including corners after correcting for the extreme distortion
+ very small when off/retracted
+ no flare/internal reflections when shooting straight into the sun

+/- AF speed, nothing special, but also not a real negative

Would I buy one if I allready had the 18-55: no
Would I include it in the kit with the NEX 6 if I allready had the 18-55, in case the body only option is not available/sold-out: yes (that's what I did)
 

4season

Well-known member
I haven't had much time to play with my SELP1650, but initial feeling is that it's got a nice, crispy look (not something I could say about the older 18-55 kit zoom!), generous amounts of barrel distortion, and IMO, is much more useful as a pocketable, walk-around lens than the SEL16F28 ever was.

40.5mm may sound like an odd size what with the fractional millimeter, but it's really not. I use a screw-in metal lens shade designed for wide angle lenses, and it seems to work well.

I am really liking the newer style of lens barrels which make the focus ring much easier to distinguish by feel, and cleverly, the ring can also be used to zoom.
 

pegelli

Well-known member
@jfirneno, the distortion becomes less as you move from 16 to 50. At 24 it's still very noticable. Around 40 you need to look closely to see it.
I got some shots from an appartment we're building (so these are shots to record progress there, and not distortion test shots). The corrected versions were with a lens profile by Andreas Hinterleiter that I found via the Adobe Lensprofile Downloader. Must say I'm very happy with that profile. However for these comparisons I turned the vignetting correction off.

First at 16 mm (I don't have to say which one is with and which one is without correction :ROTFL: :


And now at 24 mm (clearly less, but still very visible):




Btw, the profile also does a very good job of correcting the little CA the lens shows in the corners.
Without the profile it almost looks like a poor man's fisheye, can give some creative options in case you're looking for it :toocool:

Hope this helps
 

pegelli

Well-known member
@Lonnie Utah, thanks for that link. :thumbup: I looked for firmware updates last weekend and via googling only found it for the 18-55 and 55-210 lenses. Via the link you posted (which led to a different Sony Website) I now also loaded 1.01 on the body as well as another updated lensprofile for the 30/3.5.
 
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