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Review Summary
2025-04-08T20:00:00
Good price for a sharp lens. Small for carrying around. It can even be used on full-frame Sony body after taking off the back plate, though with a little bit of dark corners.
Ray2939
2023-07-28T20:00:00
The Sony E 16mm f/2.8 is a good, tiny lens that makes an extremely good job once you have learned how to use it for its best qualities. The quality at the centre of the image is awesome and becomes (quite fastly) softer towards the edges. The lens has some pleasant vignetting which I personally appreciate - yet you can correct it on camera. The only point you have to be aware of is that the lens has quite a noticeable amount of Chromatic Aberrations in specific lighting and framing circumstances. Overall, the quality is excellent for casual photography. I would probably not use this lens on professional assignments unless I knew it well. The build quality is flawless and I do really appreciate the extremely thin form factor.
Rpalandri
2023-03-17T01:48:05
Loved the lens. It gives us another option in our toolbox and provided a very sharp image.
ACCOUNTS P.
2021-08-09T08:12:44
I love this lens. The small form factor makes it super easy to pack on my bike and take everywhere. I haven?t swapped the lens in ages even though I have plenty to choose from. Only thing that is weird is it feels a lot tighter than my other lenses when attaching it to the body.
Bryan J.
2019-10-06T20:00:00
The lens has an ugly glow around any lights that hits directly the lens. It's anoying for a wide angle lens.
rafarolimr
2019-03-28T20:00:00
Purchased the pancake lens for use on the Sony A6400.So I can use it for street photography. First time out not disappointed.excellent results on the camera.
johnsphoto
2019-02-26T21:56:53
Very nice small camera lens. Im not a professional, have bought this one based on descriptions i have found as one of the best options for landscape pictures. Cant wait ti try it out and compare.
de P.
2018-12-04T19:00:00
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.
scg95
2018-05-07T20:00:00
I bought used in good condition.All sony lenses have medium quality, not high end.I have a selp 18105G and i’m not satisfied with the sharpness...
foxxy
2018-05-07T20:00:00
I bought used in good condition.All sony lenses have medium quality, not high end.I have a selp 18105G and i’m not satisfied with the sharpness...
borscsabaimre
2017-12-01T19:00:00
Truly quality lens, bought this to complement my full frame camera which gives 180 degree perspective for stunning photographs.
Sam786
2017-06-03T20:00:00
Got this lens to use on a gimbal. It's smaller than the kit lens with a wider aperture.
Philcam
2017-06-03T20:00:00
Got this lens to use on a gimbal. It's smaller than the kit lens with a wider aperture.
Philcam777
2017-03-14T09:03:23
I bought this primarily as a slow-motion lens for the A7Sii. At high frame rates, that body crops in to 2.2, so you need to start with a very wide lens in order to maintain a reasonable field of view for whatever action you're trying to capture. This lens does this, becoming effectively a 35mm lens in HFR mode. So, y'know, it checks that box. But it doesn't give an especially good looking image. You need to stop it down to get anything like sharp focus, which negates the point of it having a fast aperture in the first place. Also, in APS-C mode, there's some pretty significant distortion around the edges and the problem only get worse if you back out further than that (you can go to about 1.3 crop before vignetting becomes a serious concern, even without modding the lens. On the flip side: it's cheap. So. Not a fantastic lens, but a reasonable value.
Andrew S.
2016-11-29T09:21:53
I don't know much about camera equipment and purchased this lens (along with a 50mm lens) per the recommendation of a Youtuber that I admire. She said that this lens would be a great starter lens, considering what I wanted to do. Even though I haven't had a chance to use the lens just yet, I will say that Adorama has some amazing customer service. I've received ALL of my products very quickly and wrapped nicely so that it doesn't get damaged. A friend suggested I use them as opposed to Amazon, as you can oftentimes find the exact same product but with added extras and she was right. Thank you, Adorama!
Brandy M.
2015-06-01T21:00:00
Creative views and great depth of field on full frame camera. Lens is light weight and will always be with me in my travels. Great colors.
William C.
2015-05-27T20:00:00
Sony SEL 16F28 and SELP1650 The design of the lens is such that if you put the Camera with lens down the focus ring on the end of the lens actually touches the surface. put it down a little hard and the focus ring bends and flattens, and the lens is not usable any more. so far I have had 3 of the SELP1650 lens all with the same focus ring squash problem, this is not a camera and lens you can put on your shoulder and use every day. excellent photo quality , not a very usable package, could not recommend it. probably best to buy a different Sony product
sonyfan_sometimes
2013-08-13T21:00:00
I bought the Sony 10-18mm e-mount lens to replace this lens with it's companion wide & fisheye adapters. Though the 10-18mm is great it's not as fast as this one, so if you upgrade to the 10-18mm be sure to keep this one on hand for low light situations.
Dan
2013-08-06T20:00:00
This lens is only good for shooting in bright light, or on a tripod, or for landscape photography. In all other conditions, images are never sharp enough, or outright ruined. Images taken with SEL1855 are ALWAYS sharper. So I rarely use this lens now, and consider money spent on it wasted.
aggregate
2013-07-13T20:00:00
This 16mm was the first lens I purchased together with my NEX-5 about 14 months ago and was always a disappointment, a great focal length that fails to deliver on sharpness. The optimum aperture for sharpness turns out to be 6.3 or 7.1 and is still not great, which is a shame because Sony has created a great camera and an outstanding sensor in the NEX series. Otherwise settle for sharpness in the center but blurry or soft detail at the edge of the frame. And even at those apertures it's barely acceptable. Lots of chromatic aberration and color fringing that, yes, can be cleaned up in Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw. I wound up getting the 18-55mm which I’ve used for about 9 months and turns in a much better performance at f8, both at center and edge of the frame. If you are into wide-angle lenses you may want to look into the Sony E 10-18mm.
Roc889
2013-06-17T21:00:00
This lens come in handy whenever I dont feel like dragging along a huge backpack full of heavy equipment. There's a lot of bad reviews about this lens, but I think those reviewers are forgeting that this is a $250 lens that is small, compact and elegant looking. Theres a lot of sharper lens out there, even the kit lens sel1855 is sharper but again its cheap, small, compact and elegant looking. If you want a scary sharp lens, sell your car and spend more. Check out Flickr, see how good this lens is when used by someone who knows what he is doing.
ae l.
2013-04-22T21:00:00
Great wide for the cost
Michael M.
2013-02-04T19:00:00
It is great. I find that it cannot be rolled/adjusted
Mandy
2013-01-28T19:00:00
Super clear shots, you will need to buy other lenses for zooming though.
gc
2013-01-28T19:00:00
love how functional the lens is. so easy to set up
GIANCARLO C.
2012-12-17T19:00:00
In my old Minolta MC/MD days, I had the Minolta incarnation of this lens and loved it. Granted in many ways it's a creative toy sort of lens, but I still find myself using it even at inappropriate times ("Hang on. Just let me grab a quick shot of this with the 16."). Every exposure has the potential to be a visual adventure waiting to happen and bring a smile to someones face.
SLUF1354
2012-11-26T19:00:00
Overall a bargain and my default lens while traveling. Fine for exterior architecture, and good for interiors when paired with the Ultra Wide Converter (VCL-ECU1). This is the lens I used the most during a three week tour in England this summer.
LEK2
2012-10-20T20:00:00
I use this lens on my FS100 Super 35mm. It is very sharp, with no CA and no noticeable distortion. The auto-focus is super quick, and low-light performance is excellent. I have also used this lens with macro diopter converter lenses with excellent results using manual focus. Works absolutely brillinantly with the VCL-ECU1 wide angle conversion lens as well.
CTPro
2012-03-15T20:00:00
I love my new NEX7 camera - it is the best I have ever had. I like the zoom lens that comes with the camera but it is big and often I just don't need the zoom. So I got this smaller lens and really like it. I think it takes great pictures. I also love the fact that the camera has a viewfinder and that it automatically switches around to macro, regular, backlit, etc., etc. - my other latest Sony camera has such features but you have to manually switch them around. So far I have not had any distortion that others have mentioned with this smaller lens.
AnnabellaS
2012-01-23T19:00:00
I use this lens with my A900 and it works perfectly. Fantastic shots possilbe. Rapid focus. Decent corner quality. Very hard not to get your fingers and feet into the picture. Hilareous close ups. Once you've run the image through curvature correction you'll see how great it is to have. Makes interiors look huge, would be great for real estate sales. Perfect lens for when you can't get far enough away, like in a car or small room. Also very lightweight, easy to carry in your bag. I recommend it if you can afford it.
Bootstrap
Sony
None
Black
Wide Angle
Sony E (APS-C)
APS-C
Auto Focus
9.45" / 24 cm
16mm
83
24mm
f/2.8
f/22
0.078x
49mm
5 Elements / 5 Groups
7, Rounded
2.44 x 0.89" (62 x 22.5 mm)
2.36 oz / 67 g
None
027242785540
The right gear for specific types of photography,With its combination of small size and weight and powerful features and high-quality imaging abilities, the Sony Alpha 6000 has the potential to handle a diverse range of assignments. Let us help you accessorize it to meet your needs.
* If using a APS-C Lens on a Full Frame Camera OR Full-Frame Lens on a APS-C Camera then Image sensor will be narrowed down to APS-C size.
For any questions about compatibility with this product, call us at 800-223-2500 or you can email us any time.
Sony's Fisheye
By lvoldschoolnewbie2
This is a super high quality lens. But unless you have one of Sony's high end DSLR camera"s you won't get the true fisheye look that you want. It will only be a 110 degree picture. Not the full 180 that a fisheye should be. I looked on line at the Sony style page and it said that this lens would work properly for my A2oo. I even called Sony and talked to a couple of different reps before I spent almost 900.00 bucks for this lens. They all said that this lens would work for my camera. But when...
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Love This Lens
By AnnabellaS
I love my new NEX7 camera - it is the best I have ever had. I like the zoom lens that comes with the camera but it is big and often I just don't need the zoom. So I got this smaller lens and really like it. I think it takes great pictures. I also love the fact that the camera has a viewfinder and that it automatically switches around to macro, regular, backlit, etc., etc. - my other latest Sony camera has such features but you have to manually switch them around. So far I have not had any dis...
View full Review
Under the banner of Sony's innovative lens technology, the E 16mm f/2.8 Lens for Sony E emerges as a game-changer for wide-angle photography. This ultra-compact, pancake-style lens, with a slim profile of just 0.89", is a perfect fit for the on-the-go photographer, whether you're capturing the grandeur of natural landscapes or the vibrant energy of urban streetscapes.
Optimized for APS-C format E-mount cameras, this lens offers a 35mm equivalent focal length of 24mm, making it an ideal choice for capturing expansive vistas or bustling city scenes. The bright f/2.8 aperture not only excels in low light conditions but also contributes to the lens's streamlined design.
The E 16mm f/2.8 Lens for Sony E is not just about wide-angle views; it's about versatility. With compatible optical wide-angle and fisheye conversion lenses, you can transform this lens into an 18mm or even a 15mm lens, expanding your creative horizons.
The lens's superior optical performance is underpinned by the inclusion of an aspherical element in its design. This effectively minimizes various optical aberrations, ensuring your photos are sharp and clear from edge to edge. The internal focusing mechanism offers faster autofocus performance, enabling you to capture fleeting moments with ease. With a minimum focus distance of just 9.4", you can achieve detail-rich close-ups effortlessly.
The seven-blade diaphragm design ensures a soft and aesthetically pleasing bokeh, adding a dreamy quality to your selective focus shots. The Sony E 16mm f/2.8 Lens is more than just a lens; it's a compact, powerful tool designed to help you capture the world in all its wide-angle wonder.
https://www.sony.com/electronics
800-942-7669
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