SEL-1670Z

You always read the question "Is it sharper than the kit lens?". Because for 8 times the money, you certainly can expect some superior optical performance over the cheap kit lens. And fortunately, this is exactly what you get - superior optical performance in the areas of contrast, color rendition, vignetting, and distortion. And although sharpness is not a real distinguishing factor in lens design these days anymore (the factors mentioned before are way more important and much costlier to achieve at a high level), much like the pixel count on the camera, rest assured that this lens is very sharp and provides extremely detailed pictures that are utterly crisp and have absolute stunning colors and contrast. I use this lens mostly for indoor shooting at concerts, sports events and the like and yes, sometimes I wish it was a little faster than f4, but generally it works real fine even at the necessary high ISO settings for those subjects. The constant aperture of f4 is very useful, and in my experience you need to step down the aperture to get the best results. The mechanical quality of the lens is also a cut above the rest, the zoom ring is smooth and responsive, and the whole look and feel of the lens oozes professionalism. Some reviewers commented that the lens was constantly "pecking and hunting". I know what they mean, my Zeiss Touit 12mm/2.8 does this, too - but not this lens. I must have gotten a real good specimen. Since the lens is about double as long as the kit 18-55mm lens, and quite a bit heavier, I prefer to use it on my NEX-6, for added stability when pressing the camera against my forehead when using the viewfinder. But it also works on my NEX-5T, although it takes some practice to aim it and then hold it steady with two arms stretched out. That leads me to my last point I wanted to make here - the optical steady shot (OSS) lens stabilization. I own some quite expensive Nikon lenses with stabilization, and they are notoriously good at that, providing at least 4 stops of margin. This lens here I regularly use at 1/10s with most of the shots sharp, and at 1/8s with about half of the shots sharp. None of my Nikon lenses can be used hand held at those shutter speeds and generate a comparable rate of good results. So, in summary, is this lens worth the hefty price tag? In my opinion, it is worth every penny of it. I own virtually every E-mount lens there is (with the exception of the 18-200mm), and this is the best, both in regards to its useful zoom range and constant aperture, and also in regards of the superior picture quality it generates.

This is a well-constructed mid-zoom lens for the Sony e-mount crop sensor camera - used on a6500. Equivalent 35mm zoom range is 24-105mm. The optical quality of my copy was fine, albeit without running laborious pixel-peeping tests to indicate any degree of "de-centering", as has been the predominant complaint. Color rendering and contrast are good, and I haven't noticed any excessive color fringing or softness on the edges. Generally speaking, this is a solid lens, deserving of the Zeiss name. Pros: - Lightweight and compact - f4 through zoom range - good build quality Negs: - A bit limiting if you desire shallower depth of field and wider field of view - Not quite as pleasing IQ as faster primes, e.g. Sigma 30/1.4 - A little pricey Overall solid choice for minimal compromise mid zoom for a6xxx series.

I rarely take the time to write reviews but with all the mixed reviews and information surrounding this lens I thought I might share my experiences. Firstly, what everyone says about the quality control is 100% accurate. YOU MUST TEST YOUR COPY OF THIS LENS FOR DECENTERING! I purchased two copies of this lens from Amazon (from Murphy, fulfilled by Amazon) and a used/tested copy from eBay ($635). Both copies from Amazon were decentered and were returned (probably should of just paid taxes and got one direct from Amazon). However, the one from eBay was flawlessly sharp edge to edge at both 16mm and 70mm. The superb performance of this lens (when you get a good copy) is the reason for the high review rating. It is hands down far and away the best performing zoom lens available for the Sony NEX/a6XXX series. Additionally, I purchased a Sony G 18-105mm for comparison and for those that are debating between the 18-105mm and the 16-70mm take my advice and spend the extra coin and spring for the Zeiss (save some coin and find a used one on eBay that has been tested to be a good copy). The G 18-105mm is a decent lens if and only if you plan to shoot mostly video due to it's power zoom, however, it's not at all much of an upgrade over the 16-50mm kit lens. The barrel distortion is out of control, it's heavy AF and it's presence with the 72mm front element makes it a full frame sized lens on a camera body that was designed to be compact. IMHO the size and weight of the G 18-105mm defeats the purpose of the Sony a6XXX camera system. The color rendition, contrast, sharpness, size and weight of the Zeiss makes it the hands down winner as an everyday kit lens replacement. How to test your copy for decentering: 1. Download a test chart. 2. Print out 4 copies and tape them in the corners (see pictures). 3. Use a tripod and position your camera/lens so that at 16mm the test chart reaches each corner of the viewfinder. 4. Shoot in RAW at the highest quality. 5. Turn off steady shot! 5. Set your camera to manual and set your aperture to f4, ISO 100 and shutter speed to whatever you need given your lighting situation to get your EV value (exposure comp) to 0.0 6. Use a remote or shutter timer to avoid and hand shake. 7. Snap your photos and use Capture One to evaluate the corners of your photo to verify that there is no blur (you'll be able to see if it is decentered). The first picture is an example of a bad decentered copy taken at 16mm f4 and the second one is an example of a good copy from eBay. Not sure how much you'll be able to see with any real detail on Amazon but if you were to zoom into the corners on the first photo the upper and lower right hand corners the numbers are blurred. The third photo is just a final test shot to illustrate the lenses abilities although slightly under exposed I think it is a decent representation (23mm, f4, 0.5s, ISO100, Tripod mounted, no edits just straight export from RAW to JPEG). I did comparison shots between the 16-70mm and the Zeiss 24mm prime of this picture at f4 and I looked everywhere for loss of color and detail and the 24mm prime at f4 barely edged out the 16-70mm with ever so slightly better corner detail.

Really nice lens. Work fantastic on an alpha 6500.

Thumbs up!