Customer reviews from sony.com
Sony - 18-55MM F3.5-5.6 OSS E Lens for Nex Cameras
Average customer rating
3.7
(16 Reviews)
Rating breakdown 16 reviews
5 Stars
5
4 Stars
5
3 Stars
4
2 Stars
0
1 Star
2
80%of customers recommend this product.
(
12 out of
15)
Customer Reviews for Sony - 18-55MM F3.5-5.6 OSS E Lens for Nex Cameras
Customer Rating
4
Excellent normal lens
on December 30, 2012
Posted by: Piranesi
I use the lens with the NEX-5N. In the normal range, around 24 to 40 mm, this lens competes well with prime lens I have from other excellent manufacturers. Typical of zoom lenses, the extremes are not quite as good, but fine for non-critical use. At the wide end, barrel distortion is normal for the focal length; the corners are softer than I would like; but the lens is still excellent pretty far out from the center. Toward 55mm there is too much pincushion distortion and the corners are too soft; the excellent portion in the center does not extend as far out as at 18mm. For JPEG images, the camera body does a good job of correcting both barrel and pincushion distortion. For raw images you need to use an editing program. I assigned 4 instead of 5 stars because the lens could be better at 55mm. When I mention softness, I am viewing the image at pixel size. For normal viewing I don't notice it. Similarly, when I mention distortion, I am referring to architecture. For subjects without straight lines, it isn't a factor. For general purpose photography, where you don't need specialized lenses, this lens is an excellent choice. The body and lens make a really good, compact, lightweight kit for general photography and travel.
What's great about it: lightweight, precisely machined, sharp, good contrast
What's not so great: too much pincushion at 55mm
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting sony.com
Customer Rating
3
Not Bad
on December 4, 2012
Posted by: Asiafish
For a kit lens this one is far better than average. This lens came bundled with my NEX5n and I have used it to create some some very nice images. That said, it does not excel for the types of photography I tend to favor, which are portraiture and travel.
For travel, its decent, provided there is adequate light. Daylite street and landscapes are outstanding as this lens appears to be optimized for sharpness for F8. F5.6 is good at the wide end, but soft at the long end. Stopping down to F11 introduced diffraction, though not too badly at the long end.
For portraits, however, the lens just doesn't have a fast enough maximum aperture. Even wide open at 55mm background elements don't fully defocus, though the out of focus areas are very pleasantly rendered (bokeh). I would say that the bokeh is very nice, but can only be achieved with fairly close subject distances and distant backgrounds.
Of course, every kit lens for every camera system has these same limitations. Optical quality of this lens appears better than most such zooms, and is noticeably better than the SAL 18-55 I had briefly.
If you don't print large and don't do much low-light handheld photography, this lens is fine, and may be all that many casual photographers need. Critical comments aside, this is a MUCH better lens than what you get on the usual point-and-shoot camera.
What's great about it: Useful zoom range, stabilized, excellent at F5.6-8
What's not so great: Soft at wide apertures, slow
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting sony.com
Customer Rating
4
Lightweight and takes advantage of cam features
on January 29, 2018
Posted by: LeeDroid
Gender:Male
Verified Purchase:Yes
It couples my Sony a5100 mirrorless camera very well.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting sony.com
Customer Rating
3
Decent Lens
on April 27, 2012
Posted by: Captmatt
A much aligned lens, but in daily use does the job you expect of it. Assuming your not a pro, using this as your only lens, but rather the family memory keeper or amateur photographer, the vast majority of us, it provides reasonable sharpness, nice color and ok bokeh. The build quality is top notch, it handles well and is perfectly sized for the Nex 7. Looking at the whole package I would say one of the better 18-55mm lenses on market. Yes I can tell the difference between this and the 24mm Zeiss, but that lens costs 5 times this one. Use a good editing program like Lightroom 3 or 4 to get the best out of this lens. I would have voted 3.5 if I had the option.
What's great about it: Sharp at mid apertures, well built, stabilized
What's not so great: Soft wide open at long end
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting sony.com
Customer Rating
5
Great All Purpose Lens
on August 11, 2012
Posted by: Drewman247
I've had this lens for a couple weeks now. It came in a bundle along with my a65 camera. It focus very fast and there isn't much distortion at full zoom even though it has aspherical elements. I would definitely recommend this lens to someone.
What's great about it: Sharp, Fast Focus, Very Little Distortion for an aspherical Lens
What's not so great: None So Far
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting sony.com
Customer Rating
3
Poor Sharpness
on April 7, 2012
Posted by: F1BA
I use this lenses with my NEX 5N camera and have been somewhat disappointed with it's performance. Most of the photos with this lens lack clarity and sharpness throughout the photo. I do a lot of landscape and cityscape so many of my photos are at infinity focal length. This seems to be where the lens performs at it's worst. The resulting photos are very dull focus throughout, even with an aperture above f22.
The barrel distortion is excessive on this lens which is expected at 18mm but the distortion continues throughout almost the whole zoom range.
I wish Sony would offer a wider range of Zeiss prime options or even some G series lenses in E mount as it makes my camera very limiting unless I choose to use the A mount adapter which kind of negates the whole reason I bought this camera (compact size).
The barrel distortion is excessive on this lens which is expected at 18mm but the distortion continues throughout almost the whole zoom range.
I wish Sony would offer a wider range of Zeiss prime options or even some G series lenses in E mount as it makes my camera very limiting unless I choose to use the A mount adapter which kind of negates the whole reason I bought this camera (compact size).
What's great about it: Small & light weight
What's not so great: poor sharpness & barrel distortion
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
Written by a customer while visiting sony.com
Customer Rating
5
Fantastic kit lens
on December 11, 2011
Posted by: BillWill
This is a wonderful kit lens capable of producing excellent images of professional quality.
Now I'm not comparing this lens to the Carl Zeiss $1,000 lens (I can't compare since I don't own one and don't plan on buying such an expensive one since I'm happy with the kit lens), but considering the cost of this lens ($100 with the kit or $300 retail) you can't do much better.
Machining, fit, and feel are excellent as well.
What's great about it: Graet images, image stabilization & feel
What's not so great: Some distortion at wide angles
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting sony.com
Customer Rating
4
on December 14, 2010
Posted by: shutterbugnexy
Overall, I like this lens. It is well built with a nice, machined type feel to it's metal surface. It zooms in and out smoothly and accurately. Seems to take nice photos with sharp, accurate colors.
What's great about it: Machined Alloy Feel. Well Built
What's not so great: Plenty of barrel distortion and pincushioning at each end of lens
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting sony.com