Sony E 16mm f/2.8 Reviews
unique baby
By Michael
Rated 3 out of 5
Date: 2022-05-23
This lens cannot be described in one word good or bad.
He is unique in his own way.
Tiny, light, very wide-angle but without strong barrel and torsional distortion, with excellent color reproduction and good overall contrast.
The main disadvantage for me personally is its low resolution. It does not capture fine details clearly enough, but do I need absolute sharpness in most of my shots? Not sure.
So, sometimes you just want to take a walk with a light setup and take a snapshot without bothering, but just for fun.
For these purposes, 16/2.8 is a good companion, from f4-5.6 it's pretty capable. Compared to kit 16-50, it has much better color reproduction, but slightly worse (my copies) sharpness.
For snapshots, I don't need an annoying moving out and in lens, it's just drive me nuts). So I'm going with 16/2.8
But for guaranteed good results, I would not recommend it. Only for snapshots. Alas, there is nothing better yet in the 24mm equivalent on Sony apsc in such a small form. There is a magnificent Sigma 16 / 1.4, but its size and weight the ruins are all the joy of a long walk 10-15km, it's better to take my 16-70mm with the same dimensions.
I would be glad to see a sharper but equally form factor lens in the future.
Perfect for your small pack
By Joe
Rated 5 out of 5
Date: 2020-09-01
I use this on all my adventures, whether hanging from a rope, riding a bike, or fly fishing- it's with me in my pack. Perfect on my a6000.
Awful lens
By Paul
Rated 1 out of 5
Date: 2019-12-11
Sony usually is pretty dependable for quality, but this doesn't deserve the Sony name at all. Yes, it's tiny and it does autofocus and might be alright for video, but it's pretty terrible for photos. It's as soft as a newborn kitten. I'd recommend Sony redesign this lens and seek to replace these ones with a trade-in policy. For photos this is unacceptable in quality (and I am not that demanding on my resolution). I've never been so disappointed with a lens.
I'd recommend something else. Sigma's 19mm comes to mind. Good luck.
Not Impressed
By Stephen
Rated 3 out of 5
Date: 2019-11-17
Light weight and f2.8, sure. Image quality is low. Don't expect more than what you would get from most kit lenses. I used it with my a6500 on a Ronin SC at a live event and am not too happy with the results. I will never use it for a paying gig.
Sample:
https://vimeo.com/370718777
Great lens for street photography
By scg95
Rated 3 out of 5
Date: 2018-12-05
I ordered this lens to pair with my a6000 for street shooting, and it serves that purpose very well. It’s incredibly small and discrete which is a huge advantage on the streets if you don’t want to stand out. It’s also pretty amazing that the whole camera can fit in my pocket with this lens, which allows me to bring it with me pretty much everywhere.
As other reviews have mentioned, this is a very soft lens almost all across the frame, with the very center being okay and the corners being horrible at any given f stop. BUT this lens does produce some very nice colors and contrast, which was the only reason I gave the image quality an “fair” score instead of “poor”. I really think Sony dropped the ball a little bit with this lens... for street photography I can live with the softness, but I would never use this lens for my landscape work. It’s really a shame, because 16mm is such a useful focal range on apsc and this tiny lens would be legendary if the sharpness even reached a mediocre level. The AF isn’t great either.
But even with its many cons, I love this lens. It’s a blast to shoot with and its size allows you to bring it almost anywhere — which is why I bought it.
Zero Sharpness
By Danielle
Rated 1 out of 5
Date: 2018-09-26
I was disappointed with this lens in both daytime and low light situations. This lens is not at all sharp and makes video footage look extremely unprofessional. 10/10 Do not recommend. I would go with the 20mm prime instead. Much more sharp.
This lens does a good job for what it is
By Andrew
Rated 4 out of 5
Date: 2022-04-13
makes it easy to carry a camera around all day and does a good job with images too! all of these were taken with my first Sony nex-5n. How it has progressed!!
Perfect
By Julie
Rated 5 out of 5
Date: 2022-02-01
Easy to use and just what I needed for interior room shots.
