18.6.2015

Overall this is the best E-mount zoom lens that I have tried - and I have tried quite a few. As well as the 50mm and 35mm Sony primes I have owned the 16-50 kit lens, the original 18-200mm Sony lens, the 18-200 power zoom lens and the 18-105 G lens.After buying the excellent Sony A6000 camera I was so taken with it that wanted to find the ideal lens for me to use with it.I went on a lens buying spree and ended up trying out most of the Sony E-mount zoom line up.Compared to the other Sony zooms that I tried, this lens has the following positive points:(1) Handling - the size of this lens is perfect for my A6000 and balances well. Like most of the Sony zooms that I tried it feels sturdy and well built and is easy to use.This is one area where it really excels compared to the 16-50 kit lens. The kit lens is very compact but is a bit awkward to actually use. I personally found the 18-105G lens to be physically too big (though not that heavy) for a NEX camera. I actually preferred the 18-200mm for how it felt on the A6000 although it is probably heavier. The 18-200 power zoom lens is really meant for video cameras and I would not recommend it for an A6000 at all.(2) Centre Sharpness - this is the sharpest zoom lens that I have used and compares pretty well to the Sony 50mm prime - which is probably the sharpest E-mount lens available. However, you wont feel the same way if you look at the corners - especially when using the widest f4 aperture. Stopping down to f5.6 really helps but the corners still are not great. One point to note is that I bought 2 copies of this lens and they varied significantly in centre sharpness. Both had similar poor corner sharpness (although not the same corners at the same focal lengths) but one had much better centre sharpness.(3) Range - I had originally thought that 70mm would not be long enough for me as previously the lens that I had used most was my 18-200. However, in practice the 70mm seems to be just about enough for the photos I like to take. I quite often hit the 50mm limit on the kit lens but don't do this anywhere near as much on this lens even though it "only" has 20mm more. Maybe it is because for portraits 50mm isn't quite long enough whereas 70mm seems to cover portrait photography pretty well. One area where it beats all the other zoom lenses, other than the kit lens, is that it is 16mm at the wide end compared to 18mm. It may not sound much but it really makes a big difference for landscape shots. Comparing this to the 18-105G I missed the 16mm more when using the 18-105G than I missed the extra 35mm on the long end when using the 16-70z. Of course if you really are after zoom you will be better off with one of the 18-200 lenses.(4) Price (when I bought it from Amazon) - for a while Amazon were selling this lens for a great price of £400. That put it around the same price as the 18-105G. At that price it is a great buy and justifies its premium over the 16-50 kit lens. However, I really couldn't justify much more than £400 for this lens personally.The following is so-so for this lens:(1) Aperture - it is not very fast. A constant f4 is only 1 stop faster than the other zooms at its long end and actually at the wide end it is slightly slower than the f3.5 of the other lenses.(2) Focussing speed - I only mention this because one of the other reviewers states that the focus speed is really poor. For me I have not found a great difference between this lens and the kit lens and the other Sony zooms. It certainly has never felt slow to me and I have not had problems with taking pictures of my children as they move around. It is not as fast as some of the Panasonic micro 4/3 lenses that I have tried that are really quick.Negatives -(1) Corner sharpness (especially at f4) - as I said above I have tried two copies of this lens and both had really poor corner sharpness. Some reviews also mention this so it seems to be a characteristic of this lens. This seems especially bad when shooting at f4. This is really not what you would expect for such a premium lens.(2) Price - I could not justify buying this lens at £700+

7.7.2014

This is a difficult lens to characterise, at least in part as a result of it's price.I've previously used Sony full frame SLR cameras, and other mirror-less crop format cameras, so I have an idea what to expect from zoom lenses. At every focal length, the centre performance of this lens is excellent, though the edges of the image on the "long" side tend to trail it a little at full aperture. Focal lengths at the side end of it's range are probably stronger than at the long end of it's range. Stopped down, the resolution is more even across the frame, though the edges never quite reach the same level as the centre (which is generally excellent). The corners are generally ok, again better when shopped down,

14.12.2017

My taste in photography is wide and after ditching my life-long camera manufacturer in favour of Sony, I needed a lens for my new a6500 which would give me options for Landscape, Street, and above all, Portrait photography. One of my big asks was for a lens which isn’t too big as on holiday I want to carry it around all day in a coat pocket or small bag. I also needed a lens which can focus quickly and accurately in order to take great pictures of my grandchildren, particularly as my current compact camera (not Sony) fails miserably as it is so slow - by the time I have pressed the shutter the children are out the door!I've only had the a6500 and this lens for less than a couple of weeks but I've already taken hundreds of pictures,

30.3.2016

This is my second purchase of this lens.I bought it in early 2014. I didn't notice right away but realised that in some situations the right hand side was a bit blurred - even though everything else was acceptable.At first I thought it was just depth of field. But I noticed blurring in photos where depth of focus should not have been an issue.I then searched Google and discovered this lens has dubious quality control - a lot of decentered lenses out there with the same issue I had.Thing is its the perfect size, weight and zoom range for my standard everyday zoom. And often it takes very good, sharp images.The issue seemed to mostly be 50mm and above - all apertures.

11.9.2015

I decided to move from a Canon 450d over to the Sony mirrorless system. Getting an A6000 for less than £400 with kit lens. One of my gripes with the canon had been the image quality as I only ever got the kit lens. So i decided to treat myself to the Zeiss 16-70mm f4 OSS. And WOW is it sharp! But it in XAVC-S mode with the A6000 and its jaw droppingly clear. The background blur is soft and nice, and the autofocus is fast! In fact, i thought it was faulty as i couldnt get it to focus properly, but this was due to using centre spot single shot focussing with moving targets. Stick it on 1/1000 and burst shot on some cyclists and most of the shots come out clear! So the lesson learnt was that it was the photographer at fault,

1.8.2014

Being a NEX user our top end interchangeable lens cost the earth, however this is a really excellent lens if about £100 overpriced. I had the 16-50 Kit previously as my only zoom and this destroys it in every way, it is also nearly 7 times more expensive, so destroy is the least I expect.Very nice feel to the lens, solid as a rock however it is pretty heavy compared to other lens, to the point it made me invest in a better shoulder strap than the one that comes with the camera (the kit strap is pretty naff anyway). Focus ring has a much nicer feel than my other lens, and fine tuning and full manual focus is a more enjoyable experience.For me this covers a decent zoom range without crossing the size barrier which makes having a CSC seem almost pointless.

17.6.2014

Being a NEX user our top end interchangeable lens cost the earth, however this is a really excellent lens if about £100 overpriced. I had the 16-50 Kit previously as my only zoom and this destroys it in every way, it is also nearly 7 times more expensive, so destroy is the least I expect.Very nice feel to the lens, solid as a rock however it is pretty heavy compared to other lens, to the point it made me invest in a better shoulder strap than the one that comes with the camera (the kit strap is pretty naff anyway). Focus ring has a much nicer feel than my other lens, and fine tuning and full manual focus is a more enjoyable experience.For me this covers a decent zoom range without crossing the size barrier which makes having a CSC seem almost pointless.

3.11.2016

I bought this with a A6300 to replace a large DSLR that didn't shoot video. Since I was intending to use it more for video than stills the smoothness of the zoom was important but I found it was pretty graunchy, also the lens suffered from shocking chromatic aberration, and this from a lens with Zeiss glass? Surely not! After a couple of weeks I thought this simply can't be right and took it back to the dealer - who swapped it out immediately and cheerfully. The replacement has a silky smooth zoom and I have seen no aberration since, though I haven't been forensic about it yet! The fact that f4.0 is available throughout the zoom range is great for video,

9.4.2014

I bought this lens a couple of months ago primarily for a trip to Australia & New Zealand. I have a Canon 5d Mk3 and a bag full of lenses, but did not want to carry too much stuff around.I already had the Sony Nex 7 and a couple of lenses to go with that including the Zeiss 24mm. I thought that this lens would be a good compliment to go with tis kit, and despite a couple of not very favourable reviews and a general lack of information on the internet I decided to take a ( Quite Expensive ! ) chance with this lens.Well I'm glad I did, it was on the camera for almost the whole trip and I've been delighted with the results.The images as sharp,

5.11.2015

I got this lens for my A6000, i was a little bit hesitant about buying this lens after reading many mixed reviews but seeing it drop to £400, i took the risk and ordered it, after using the lens extensively for awhile i can say that the 16-70mm zeiss is a really great lens, well worth the money especially if you can get it for around the £400 mark, it looks and feels like quality glass, very well balanced with the A6000, for me 16mm to 70mm is the perfect focal range, the images it gets are great, sharp in the centre, i can easily compared the 16-70mm zeiss to the sigma 30mm prime i have which is also very sharp, the copy i have the corners are also really good, nice zeiss colours that pop and fast AF,

10.2.2016

Lovely build quality but the Internet is awash with stories if this ken's being software one edge. I got one from Amazon Warehouse in a deal and it was promptly delivered. I wasn't totally happy do started a return but then realised I'd made a mistake in testing it. By then I'd bought a new one off Amazon. i cancelled the return of the discounted lens and tried to cancel the new one. I ended up with 2 an I was unable to cancel the new one. So. I decided to test them and simply keep the best.I returned the new one.it was ever so slightly softer than the Amazon Warehouse deals Obe, which looked like it was a return before I got it.The quality was lovely,

7.9.2019

This lens isn't known for its sharpness, and often gets bad reviews by those who are slaves to fashion and tests that have no real world relevance. It's not soft; it's just not razor sharp. People focus on razor sharpness because it's unnatural...we don't notice such details with our own eyes, day to day, and so it gives us a sense of the exotic. But if you're focusing on skin pores, you're not really looking at the picture are you? Pictures from this lens draw your eye to the subject instead, and the luxury of light and colour surrounding it.The micro-contrast and smooth colour gradients give a wonderful sense of depth. Its representation of light and colour is natural in a way that other zoom lenses for APS-C E-Mount can't match,

8.12.2015

I begin by saying, this is now my primary lens. I have always dislike the kit lens on my A6000 because of the powerzoom feature. I have used prime lens because they are sharper (SEL20F28). I got this second hand (£380) so I'm quite happy with my purchase. Previously, I was contemplating getting SEL18105G but saw one review that convince me otherwise (Most of his shot fall under 16-18 than 70-105).This lens may not be as sharp as SEL35F18 but for a zoom lens, its just beautiful. The size is a bit long and bulky but it's not too bad. The only downside of this lens is the price. At £500-700, it just seems like a scam. My advise is if you are on a budget, SEl18105G might be a better option but if you have that extra money to spend,

4.1.2020

I have not long had the lens which was on offer from Amazon and have to take more pictures in different lighting conditions. The lens fits and works well with the camera but seems a little slower than the standard kit lens in focussing but this may be due to the low light conditions I have been using the lens under. The images look sharp but I have to study them properly and take more photographs before giving a verdict. The lens has a large price difference to the kit lens and the case is a little disappointing in that it is a very soft case which seems to offer very limited protection. I will update once I have had more time to look at the differences and to reach a verdict if it is worth

9.8.2019

I was slightly reticent adding this to my collection of lenses given the mixed reviews, but I am pleased I did so. I am using it with a Sony A6400 and found that it produces great images, combining fast, accurate focus with a good finished image. I have not had any problems with the images whatsoever, so problems reported by many have been fixed or are a matter of luck of the draw. For me, the only downside has been the fact it needs manual extension when I have become used to motorised lenses; it takes a bit of getting used to and renders it unsuitable for most movie use, unless you shoot at a fixed zoom.I like the lens and am glad I purchased despite the previous mixed reviews.

Sony Vario-Tessar T* E 16-70mm f/4 ZA OSS (SEL-1670Z) - Reviews

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