Sony Zeiss Vario-Tessar T* FE 16-35mm f/4 ZA OSS (SEL1635Z) - Reviews

(4.3)

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For Sony Zeiss Vario-Tessar T* FE 16-35mm f/4 ZA OSS (SEL1635Z), 26 customer reviews collected from 1 e-commerce sites, and the average score is 4.3.

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26.6.2019

Having recently moved to the Alpha system, I quickly found myself wanting something really wide for landscape shots. The G Master lens is appealing, of course, but it's big, heavy, and hugely expensive. I'm at the point where I value portability and ease of use over outright quality, so this lens caught my eye. I'll review it according to the different categories I find useful below:**Build Quality**In short, fantastic. Everything feels really well-made, and machined incredibly tightly. Nothing wobbles or moves, so I have no complaints on the quality of manufacture. The one issue I do have, however, is to do with material choice. The focus and zoom rings are machined metal (rather than rubber)and while this looks great when the lens is new, if anything hard rubs against these rings it will take the paint off the edge of the grooves, which sort of ruins the aesthetic a bit. I get it, it doesn't matter, but it's the little things, right?**Handling**I love how compact this lens is, it makes travelling with it a joy, and doesn't make the camera front-heavy. It sits comfortably in the hands while shooting, and will fit into a coat pocket without problems. I love it!The zoom ring is very, very well dampened. To the point where I'd say it's hard to use just one finger to zoom. There's certainly no zoom creep if you hold the lens at drastic angles. The focus ring is much smoother, by comparison and can be moved with just your pinky. It's an electronic focus system, which I don't personally mind (who even manually focuses these days?) but it's worth noting it behaves the same as every other Sony lens in this regard. The lens hood is smart, clips on easily via the bayonet system, and doesnt obscure the zoom ring while mounted in reverse.The OSS turns this lens into a game-changer. I can get steady shots at 16mm with a 1s exposure, no problem. Incredible! You wouldn't believe this lens is stabilized given how compact it is, but there you go!**Autofocus**Nothing to say except blazing fast, and always accurate.**Sharpness**In the centre, throughout the range, wide-open it's tack sharp. If you stop down to f/5.6 everything, everywhere is as sharp as you want it. I'm happy to shoot at f/4 and not worry about pixel level sharpness, but when I shoot landscapes at around f/7 it's just beyond incredible.--Conclusion--If you want a portable, travel wide-angle. This is the lens to get. I know Tamron just announced their 17-28 but I never hold much stock in their products, and their QA leaves a lot to be desired. Also, 17-28 is far less useful than 16-35 in terms of range. Sure, F/2.8 is nice in theory, but you aren't going to be getting much bokeh with this type of lens anyway, and I'd hazard a guess that at F/5.6 and above they'll be identical anyway. The Tamron will only be better for freezing action in low light compared to the Sony, which is rubbish in comparison.Compared to the G Master, well, I'm not personally convinced that the extra £1,100 is worth it. You lose OSS but gain F/2.8 (good for sports, otherwise not much of a benefit) and it's much bigger, and heavier. Things like CA and distortion are already automatically fixed in the camera, so not much benefit there...I think this is the sweet-spot when it comes to a does-it-all wide-angle lens with great handling and wicked picture quality. The trade-offs compared to stepping up to the G-Master are all in the right places, and you won't go wrong with choosing this instead for everything except freezing motion in low light.

17.12.2019

With the standard pricing of the lens coming in at around £1000+ mark, it's an expensive lens, though with not many options on the wider side of things (from Sony), Sigma have their 14-24mm, though £400 or so more than this and slightly different focal lengths.I'll be honest and I purchased this lens on the Deal of the Day offerings from Amazon which they ridiculously dropped it to £749 (plus £100 cashback from Sony Winter offer) takes it down to a potential £649, it was a no brainer for me, even though it's a slightly odd overlapping focal length for me (I reviewed the Sony 24mm G 1.4)Given the price point I paid for it, I'll try and be as objective as I can.Firstly,build quality is as expected from a lens at this price point, it's very solid in the hand, feels very well built, with it's metal body. It's quite a weighty lens coming in at 518 grams, heavier than my Sony 24mm 1.4 which weighs in at 445 grams. It's actually a similar size to the 24mm as you can imagine given that it's a zoom lens, nonetheless it's extremely nice to hold and balances well enough on my A7iii.It has 7 aperture blades which make decent circular bokeh, though given the max aperture F4, and the fact that it's a more landscape lens, bokeh is probably not high on the list, nor as impressive as a portrait lens, so all this isn't that important.A nice point of this lens is that it's dust and moisture resistant, I've not actually tested this, but I'll take their word for it!It suffers from slightly softer corners at the widest end (16mm) but nothing to really concern you. At 24mm corner sharpness improves and looks pretty good, across all apertures. 32-35mm is probably the best for corner sharpness, though it's marginal between the range. Corner sharpness, even at F4 is very good and again, unless you're pixel peeping, it's very very good.Overall, the image quality produced by this lens across the focal range is superb, the 16-35 2.8 G Master lens is a true beauty of a lens that I've had the pleasure of testing, but at twice the normal price of this lens, I'm not fortunate enough to purchase that! This lens is definitely not half the quality of the G Master though and is a brilliant purchase for anyone requiring a wide zoom lens, even at the normal price point of £1000.Distortion is handled very well with very little, though it's nothing that some slightly post processing can fix on the wider side. The lens also does very well with lens flare, albeit not totally immune to it, it controls any flare well.Filter thread is 72mm for those who want polarisers and such, though do bear in mind that on the wide end you might suffer from slight vignetting if using thick filters, I haven't come across that as yet as I've used low profile filters. so something to consider if you use the large slide in filters etc.Overall, it's a lovely lens to use, it may not be fast enough to use for night shots, but it's still capable with the auto focus being swift and accurate (camera body dependant, my review is based on using it on an a7iii for reference) even during low lights, though it obviously does suffer in very low light. The focal range is my preferred sort of range mainly due to landscape shots.To cut it all short, if you can afford this lens, I would certainly add it to your camera gear as it's a beautiful lens and Sony/Zeiss have created something you'd probably use on your camera 75% of the time (if you do landscapes like me)Hope that helps!

7.9.2016

I currently collection of FE lenses for my A7R MK2 inlcudes:SEL2870 FE 28-70mm My General Use Lens, lightish and great quality for the priceSEL24240 F3.5-6.3 My travel use lens, very heavy great quality for the priceSony SEL55F18Z.AE 55mm f/1.8 ZA Not just the best portrait lens for Sony FE its also the best portrait lens I've used on any platformSEL1635Z 16-35mm F/4 Read below:Summary:Great lens in most regards, 8/10 only knock 2 for the high price, it would have been nice to have additional custom buttons on body and would like an F2.8.The details if your interested:My primary use for this lens is video work (broadcasting webinars and telepresence video from large rooms)

9.5.2016

I currently have three FE lenses to use with my newly accuired Sony A7II):SEL2870 FE 28-70mm F/3.5-5.6,SEL50F18F FE 50mm F/1.8 and of course this lens (SEL1635Z 16-35mm F/4).I do use the 50mm a lot however I found that when going out, I tend to choose the 16-35mm due to the amazing wide angle capability, not to mention the shear quality this lens has to offer.This lens at its widest angle doesn't suffer from any vignetting, however if you're planning on attaching a filter (Ø72), it's advised to for the slimmer variants to avoid your images suffering from vignetting. For an expensive lens as this, I would advise everyone to get a UV filter for protection.

12.10.2015

There is a reassuring heft to this full-frame ultra wide-angle zoom lens. Weighing in at just 518g and taking 72mm filters it really is most compact in size for a 16-35mm lens with built-in OSS or Optical SteadyShot lens stabilization as Sony likes to call it.With a maximum aperture of f4 throughout the zoom I've been more than pleased with the results of landscapes and Northern lights photos taken here in Iceland. Yes an f2.8 would have been amazing, but with the good higher ISO capabilities of the Alpha ? models there is no problem taking hand-held shots in less than optimal light conditions either. The lens is listed as dust and water resistant, and has worked in a high volcanic dust environment for me.

16.1.2019

I find the sharpness exceptional even on the 36MP sensor in the A7R! The colours really pop and the contrast is nicely controlled.I was worried reading previous reviews but I honestly have no concerns whatsoever, in fact, I am getting some of the sharpest images I have gotten from my camera with this lens. The image stabilisation has allowed me to shoot handheld as low as 1/15 so the F4 aperture is not a problem in my opinion.When stopped down, the edge to edge sharpness has proven unbeatable and that is at both 16mm and 35mm. It really is that good.I only dropped a star on durability because it did get a little scratch on the hood, too easily,

1.2.2015

Using this on a Sony A7R and the results are excellent. There is a little softness on edges, but nothing of note. Distortion and vignetting are well controlled, haven't noticed any chromatic aberation.Zoom and focus rings are very well damped, firm with no lens creep. The construction quality is excellent, it really does feel like a nice solid and well built piece of equipment.As this is currently the only choice for a Sony wide angle lens for the full frame A7 series, I was hoping the lens would be up to the task, and it is.I have attached a quick image of inside a local pre-Doomsday Book church, St Huberts at Idsworth, taken at 16mm for you to judge for yourself.Have to knock a star off the review as it is rather pricey.

7.12.2016

Absolutely stunning. Crisp images from 16 to 30mm (I would avoid the end, as on most lenses). I use it now as my "default" lens. All terrain and very versatile. The stabilisation helps a lot. Even at 1/80 images are very good.The only con: F4 makes it a very dark lens. You'll need good light conditions to use it. I added a HOYA 72mm polarised filter which adds 3-4 stops and it's difficult to use it in interiors with artificial light. (I know, I know, but for me ISOs over 1600 are not acceptable), so most of the times I just use an anti-scratches UV Hoya filter.

27.12.2017

I absolutely love this lens. This is such a versatile lens that you can use for so many things. I am a content creator on YouTube and Instagram and it is great for vlogging and also taking pictures. No issues with low light. This is a must for any Sony camera bag.

8.2.2020

Was not happy but looked up the model on a YouTube tutorial and learned how to make my exposures so much better. A fantastic lens and not as expensive as g or gm lenses for Sony cameras full frame and very sharp pictures on an A7mk3 24mp camera whats not to like.

26.11.2015

This lens is ground braking. It's incredible for videos with superb,quiet, quick autofocus. Photos are sharp and the lens at full frame, 16mm is so wide, like, its ridiculous. Obviously this lens comes with a price tag, but, its SO worth it. well built aswell.