Sony 16-50mm f/2.8 lens reviewed by Kurtmunger.
We didn’t talk a lot about the new A-mount 16-50mm f/2.8 lens. So let’s take a deep look at the lens by reading the latest review from our friend Kurt Munger (Click here). He tested the lens on the probably last ever made Sony DSRL with optical viewfinder…the A580. He posted many interesting detailed test about the lens. I am not going to disclose here all his findings but in short he writes: “Probably the best quality of this lens is the nice contrast and resolution at F/2.8-4. In fact, there isn’t a reason to stop it down further if sharpness is your main concern, depth of field of course is another matter. Low-light hand-held shooters will love this lens. Other nice optical qualities include low light fall-off, no coma, and manageable distortion at longer focal lengths“.
Good work Sony….we now need more of these kind of new high quality lenses!
While Sony has hard times to ship the A77+16-50mm lens kit it’s a bit easier to find the A77 body and lens in Stock as separate items. The lens is in Stock almost everywhere:
In USA-Canada at Amazon, Sonystore, Adorama, BHphoto, and Sony CA (Click on shop names to visit the lens search page)
In Europe at Amazon DE, Sony DE, Amazon UK, Amazon FR, Sony FR, Sony NL and Sony IT.
In Asia at Digitalrev and Amazon JP.
Of course this is a limited list of stores I check almost daily. Can’t really check every little store of the world 
Feel free to complete the list by adding your links to the comment section!
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Recent comments
Comment from SonyA77: My priorities are different indeed. Tho...
Comment from gnuut: One has to set priorities: You go for a ...- Comment from SonyA77: I have the Tamron 17-50mm and wasn't get...
- Comment from SonyA77: No it isn't. It's a DT. In my opinion ...
zstan
5 months ago |Wondering when will it be sold seperately…
KJW
5 months ago |It already is (in the UK, anyway). I got one for my a65 body. Following on from Kurt’s comment, the camera’s distortion correction works very well.
Rk
5 months ago |Does 16-50mm have lens aperture pin?
I need it for control aperture with novoflex adapter to sony nex.
Henk
5 months ago |Good question. I assumed that all lenses, even the SSM ones, depended on in-body aperture actuation. Is that not the case?
Maximus
5 months ago |all Sony lenses work with an mechanical aperture pin
SonyA77
5 months ago |The 16-50mm is a great lens, highly recommend it. I’d only get the CZ if you needed the extra length, shoot in daylight and aren’t interested in video.
Some people buy the CZ because it’s a CZ though LOL.
lifeispixels
5 months ago |+1 SSM, weather sealing, and constant f2.8 that’s very sharp and perfectly usable outweigh the extra 30mm CZ offers
I have seen more people selling 1680 CZ on a buy/sell forum in Thailand after 16-50 SSM hit the market.
David
5 months ago |Definitely
SSM is great, actual weather sealing is a bonus too, but the constant 2.8 is just so much better. Especially if you are using off camera flash in manual.. variable aperture is a huge pain in the ass
RVN
5 months ago |+1
RVN
5 months ago |people buy CZ because that lens is full frame and i think have a lot quality
but if compare to cz 16-80 u have long FL, cz color and high contrast, but no SSM, weather sealed, and no f2.8
Maximus
5 months ago |no it’s not.
a 16-80mm 3,5-4,5 for fulframe an for 700€?
good joke, it’s a DT lens
SonyA77
5 months ago |No it isn’t. It’s a DT. In my opinion it is only worth it for the extra length, but frankly on the A65/77+16-50mm you could crop a bit to get the same result!
I think sales of the 16-80 are going to die off.
pancanikonpus
5 months ago |last 18months, gh2 is so hard to find, famous camera!
today, sony learnt from panasonic, to make it a famous camera – by make a77kit/nex7 so hard to find
lol…
Breen
5 months ago |I wish to have more cash.. I’d buy this baby with Alpha 65
.
Rey
5 months ago |Highly recommended. Great lens super sharp.
Brian
5 months ago |Got this lens and the a77 as a kit, was $60 more than the CZ 10-70mm on offer. I’ve done a lot of low light shooting with it (Christmas and NYE parties), must say it’s one helluva combo with the low light multiframe mode =)
conny
5 months ago |Bought the A77 solo and tried my existing lenses first. Wasn’t too bad but then i tried the 1650/2.8/SSM and this is a different universe. Sharp, silent, fast and the images are brilliant. OK, i don’t own any G lenses so my comparison is mainly against SIGMA lenses (e.g. Sigma Macro 105/2.8, or Travelzoom 18-200). I was first hesitating since i do (well i should say did now
) like my 18-200 zoom quite a bit and was anxious whether or not the small zoom area is suffiecient. It really is and the image quality is so superior that either with the smart teleconverter or croping i don’t feel the need for the 18-200mm at all. It’s absolutely worth the money, they only thing that i found is that the lens is not 100% fix when mounted. It can be turned a couple of 10ths of mm inside the mount. Anyone else having this symptom ? Maybe that’s within tolerance , at least it does not seem to impact the focus at all. Talking about focus: I had to finetune AF slightly (+4) since the lens had a small frontfocus in combination with my A77 body (bought separately). The lens is a “strong buy” imho. Glad i spent the money.
gnuut
5 months ago |I love Kurt Munger’s reviews. He really gets to the point and offers a very practically evaluation. I bought a lot lenses after is reviews.
But this lens is not worth the high price tag. To me, the wavy barrel distortion and the very bad corner sharpness are a no-go. Both can not be fixed in pre-production. But maybe I’m too much fastidious by my prime lenses. On the other hand, the Tamron AF 17-50mm 2.8 XR Di II LD Asp IF looks much better in terms of corner sharpness and a little better in distortion, although it has more Light fall-off, which can easily be fixed. And the Tamron only costs half or less the price (~260 €) of the Sony lens.
SonyA77
5 months ago |I have the Tamron 17-50mm and wasn’t getting the kit, however my 16-50mm is great even at twice the price. SSM is a MUST on the A65/77, it’s so quiet and weather sealing is icing on the cake. I put the Tamron on the A77 and hated the AF noise after using the SSM.
gnuut
5 months ago |One has to set priorities: You go for a silent focus, I prefer better image quality. Anyway, I neither have the Sony nor the Tamron. I just judge from Kurt Munger reviews. I won’t buy a lens that blurry anyway. But I’m still looking for a sharp and undistorted wide-angle-lens (~20 mm) and haven’t found any good one yet. Sadly, the new, expensive Sony 16-50 doesn’t meet my requirements. That’s what I’m complaining
SonyA77
5 months ago |My priorities are different indeed. Those are huge crops in that review, don’t pixel peep and you’ll be a lot happier with photography.
People fret far too much about corner sharpness and high ISO noise in my opinion, your viewing audience really don’t care, they look at the central portion of the image or the eyes.
In reality there is no real-World difference between the Tamron 17-50mm and Sony 16-50mm. However there is a MASSIVE difference for shooting video and stills quietly, it’s this that people need to know when considering their purchase. HSM on my Sigma and SSM on this Sony make them a joy to use, the screw driven lenses sound clunky in comparison.