LensSony71% by Neofiliac Team76% by External Reviewers

Sony Vario-Tessar T* FE 16-35mm F4 ZA OSS

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Product Overview

Sony Vario-Tessar T* FE 16-35mm F4 ZA OSS is a wide-angle zoom lens for Sony E-mount. It covers the full-frame image circle. Introduced by Sony in 2014, it has 12 elements in 10 groups.
Like most zoom lenses, the Sony Vario-Tessar T* FE 16-35mm F4 ZA OSS is externally-zooming. For incremental weathers, Sony is kind enough to include weather sealing.
As a wide-angle lens, this zoom can be prove quite versatile, even though it is not really bright. The built-in image stabilization can be useful for some handheld video work and for low-light stills.

Ratings

What we found

Neofiliac score 71%
Pros
  • Sharp towards the wider end
  • Weather-sealed
  • Optically stabilized
Cons
  • External zoom without zoom lock
  • Metal exterior with plastic interior
  • Zeiss tax
  • Worse than Sigma 14-24mm F2.8 DG DN

What external reviewers found

External score 76%
Pros
  • Excellent image quality at 35mm f/4
  • Good image stabilizer
  • Very good sharpness at f/8
  • Excellent sharpness in the center from f/4 at any focal lengths
  • Lightweight and compact
  • Compact design
Cons
  • No built-in stabilization
  • Bokeh is on nervous side
  • Flare resistance
  • Larger body than f/2.8

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Specifications

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External Reviews

digitalpicture[1]

Reviewer score 78% (normalized by Neofiliac)
Reviewers from digitalpicture have found:
At 35mm f/4, the f/2.8 lens turns in a far better performance. At 20mm, differences are hard to detect aside from the Sony continuing to have more lateral CA. At 24mm and 28mm, I like the Canon centers slightly better and the Sony's corners slightly better.
Pros
  • Excellent image quality at 35mm f/4
  • Lightweight and compact
  • Compact design
Cons
  • No built-in stabilization
  • Larger body than f/2.8

phillipreeve[2]

Reviewer score 75% (normalized by Neofiliac)
Reviewers from phillipreeve have found:
The SEL1635z shows a noticeable amount of barrel distortion at 16mm, whichis nearly gone by 20mm. The amount of background blur you can get out of theFE 4/16-35 is of course limited by it's moderate speed and short focal length. The bokeh is on the nervous side and I found it to be some times detrimental to the image. Flare resistance is no contest: The Canon is pretty bad and the Sony quite good.
Pros
  • Excellent sharpness in the center from f/4 at any focal lengths
  • Good image stabilizer
  • Very good sharpness at f/8
Cons
  • Bokeh is on nervous side
  • Flare resistance

Also Check

Product ComparisonProducts in LensProducts by SonyKeyword autofocusKeyword e-mountKeyword external-zoomKeyword full-frameKeyword mirrorlessKeyword stabilizedKeyword wide-angleKeyword zoom-lens

References

  1. ^ Sony FE 16-35mm F4 ZA OSS Lens Review. [digitalpicture].
  2. ^ Long-Term Review: Sony FE 16-35mm f4 ZA OSS T*. [phillipreeve].

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