SONY SELP1650 E PZ 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 OSS

[Zoom] Wide-zoom | Standard-zoom | Tele-zoom | High-zoom  
[Fixed-focal] Wide angle | Standard | Telephoto | Macro

Surprisingly, SONY makes seven kinds of standard zoom lenses for APS-C cameras (according to their website). From the ones with "ZEISS" and "G" badges to the high-zoom covering up to 300mm, they have different characteristics and focal lengths. This one, the E PZ 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 OSS doesn't have the flashy badge and the focal range of 24-75mm sounds modest. But, it has something special. You may already know this because it comes with the body as a kit lens, but it's incomparably small (30mm long) and light (116g). Yet, it features a built-in image stabilizer to assist shooting in lowlight conditions and a power zoom to support video recording. And, the image quality is something you don't expect from a kit lens.

( Photography : A.Inden & T.Nakanishi / Text : 4beats )

The afternoon light shines the dark kitchen from the window. I expected the tone would be modest, but it realized the contrast faithfully to express the relaxed atmosphere after the family went out.

The minimum focus distance is 0.25m to 0.3m, which is very close. Bokeh is pleasingly smooth. The color reproduction of the colorful markers and pencils is just right being neither too calm nor too vivid.

The rendition is handsome, I would say. It captured the metal and wood texture faithfully, and this is a kit lens!

Tele-end, wide open. It becomes softer and this means you can enjoy the change of rendition by aperture.

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Resolution increases dramatically by stopping down. Distortion is noticeable depending on the focal length, but you can always fix it within the camera.

Image stabilizer assists shooting in lowlight conditions. Don't be afraid of camera shaking. Just shoot first.

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Rendition is incredibly great for a kit lens, isn't it? But, it makes sense because it has 3 aspherical lenses and one ED glass in the tiny barrel that contains 9 elements in 8 groups. Rendition becomes softer depending on the aperture and the focal length, but this change of rendition enhances the variety of expressions. The power zoom mechanism supports video recording by zooming at a constant speed. And, when you need to zoom faster for still photography, you can always turn the zoom ring manually. Additionally, the optical image stabilizer is of a great assistance even though it's built in a small barrel. I guess many people already have gotten this lens as a kit lens, but I strongly recommend it to those who got the body only to use their lens resources because, for everyday purposes, this lens has the perfect size and weight.

( 26.11.2015 )