Used Sony Vario-Tessar T* 16-70mm F4 ZA OSS, E-Mount Camera Lens

2024-09-23T20:00:00

I've had this lens for a number of years firstly with my a6500 and now with an a6700. It is very good between 24 and 55mm and good outside those focal lengths. Stopping down improves the image quality at the edges of needed. The A6700 seems to get more from the lens, maybe because of the better sensor.

Selt62

Originally posted at

2024-01-11T13:11:20

Best travel lens I've owned. I switched to Sony in 2016, and bought this lens for my A6000. Now, four APS-C and 3 FF bodies later, this is still my travel favorite. On the amazingly compact Sony APS-C bodies, the combo slips easily into a waist pack or photo vest pocket. It is sharp and a perfect range for travel, where the extra mm on the wide side get more use than more on the tele end would bring. After 8 years, it still rocks. A big test came earlier this year with a bucket list photo trip to Galapagos. An FE 100-400 GM stayed on the A7R4, and this trusty lens on the A6100 most of the time, for a combo that won't break my back. It is very hard to tell the difference from this, the GM zoom and the relatively few times I went to my primes even on a 60" screen. Bravo.

Gene V.

2023-08-09T20:00:00

Ideal walk round' lens for every day use. Good range and better quality than expected

Forest F.

Originally posted at

2022-06-20T20:00:00

Having been in the photographic retail trade (now retired) I know of the reputation for quality Zeiss has. I also have a Sony RX10 MKIV which has a Zeiss lens and is super sharp, so I was expecting a lot from the 16-70 Tessar on my newly purchased Sony A6600 and it has lived up to my expectations. Incredibly sharp all all focal lengths edge to edge, great colour reproduction, very light and compact. Highly recommended.

DigDGS

Originally posted at

2022-06-20T20:00:00

Having been in the photographic retail trade (now retired) I know of the reputation for quality Zeiss has. I also have a Sony RX10 MKIV which has a Zeiss lens and is super sharp, so I was expecting a lot from the 16-70 Tessar on my newly purchased Sony A6600 and it has lived up to my expectations. Incredibly sharp all all focal lengths edge to edge, great colour reproduction, very light and compact. Highly recommended.

cam m.

Originally posted at

2021-10-13T20:00:00

I bought this lens to replace the Zeiss A Frame lens and expected it to be the best there is. I wasn't disappointed.

MartinPeter

Originally posted at

2021-10-12T20:00:00

I use this lens on an A6500. Together they provide a lightweight system that is comfortable to carry around all day. The lens focuses quickly and produces edge to edge sharpness at all but extreme settings.Even wide open edge sharpness is only a little softer and perfectly acceptable.

GeofL

Originally posted at

2021-10-12T20:00:00

I use this lens on an A6500. Together they provide a lightweight system that is comfortable to carry around all day. The lens focuses quickly and produces edge to edge sharpness at all but extreme settings.Even wide open edge sharpness is only a little softer and perfectly acceptable.

Goef

Originally posted at

2021-08-09T20:00:00

Having just purchased an Alpha 6400 body I bought this lens using the Welcome to Alpha promotion. I have only used it for a few shots so far. It is a reasonably lightweight and easy to operate lens with very effective OSS - I have obtained acceptably sharp results hand held at 1/5th second exposure. The constant f4 maximum aperture is a nice feature.

Aging a.

Originally posted at

2021-06-15T20:00:00

I bought my A6000 camera a few weeks ago. It came with the 16-50mm kit lens which did not impress me. This lens, however is a different story. It produces very sharp images with great colour rendering, handles well with great build quality. It also benefits from OSS and is an excellent lens for the A6000. I am very happy with it.

Kenny647

Originally posted at

2021-06-15T20:00:00

I bought my A6000 camera a few weeks ago. It came with the 16-50mm kit lens which did not impress me. This lens, however is a different story. It produces very sharp images with great colour rendering, handles well with great build quality. It also benefits from OSS and is an excellent lens for the A6000. I am very happy with it.

KennyM

Originally posted at

2021-01-08T14:04:13

Excellent lens!

GREGORY G.

2020-09-22T20:00:00

Lived up to the great expectations promised by previous reviewers.

Wifey1

Originally posted at

2020-09-18T20:00:00

Love it for street photography and as general lens

Nicky A.

Originally posted at

2020-08-04T18:47:44

ok lens but does not balance on my sony 6300 camera as well as my other lenses,

Brian L.

2020-07-23T13:24:40

The Sony Vario-Tessar lens is sharp, sharp, Sharp

AVE P.

2020-06-03T10:12:11

Great walk around zoom. Small and light enough to carry around for street photography. Pretty fast at F4 across the range. I use this a lot. For me, the weight is very important. If my camera and lens are too heavy I tend to leave it at home. This one is with me all the time. It's not as crisp as my Sony 35mm f1.8 prime but it's a zoom. Can't really compare. It's sharp enough, though, especially when I stop down a bit. I really like it.

DAVID A.

2020-03-21T20:00:00

Liked size and range of focal length. Must be very careful using in high Humidity and dusty environments. Very expensive - paying for ZEISS design...Must use Capture One Software to get full photo clarity and color repro. Needed a macro capability like Sony FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro G OSS Lens. Wish I would have bought this lens for my APS-C camera.. More Bang for Buck with a much sharper lens....

MOV_maker

Originally posted at

2020-02-02T19:00:00

Bought this to upgrade on my current lenses. Although I have not used it that much since purchase, the limited amount of pics I have taken have been fantastic - I am still getting used to the lens, but feel confident in saying for an amateur like myself it has increased my pic taking capabilities.

Bob2Sheds

Originally posted at

2020-01-12T19:00:00

I bought this lens according to the reviews I've read on the internet. Although those reviews aren't excellent, they are generally above average. I thought it's worth a try. The lens is well constrected. Unfortunately, the good part of the lens stops there. To my disappointment, the quality of the pictures I get from this lens is less then average. The colors are very washed out. I use this lens with the A6300 that's been converted to infrared. The hot spot is very strong. The focus is good, though not excellent, in the center area, but very poor at the corner where the fringing and distortion is very strong. All and all, I am very disappointed. I can't recommend this lens to anyone.

368Ton

Originally posted at

2020-01-06T19:00:00

This product gives great functionality for an everyday walk around lens! This is the only lens I own and I am not looking to purchase another lens any time soon! The focal range gives you a lot of options for different styles of photography.

matharvey23

Originally posted at

2020-01-03T08:51:01

It is a well designed lens with excellent range for general photography. I really wanted this lens but tried 3 copies of this lens, none of which was acceptable due to decentering problems, resulting in one side being sharp but not the other, some being very soft at certain focal lengths. After trying 3 of these lenses I gave up trying more. It is a shame that and excellent lens design with poor assembly and lack of quality control is a total disappointment for me.

Julius K.

2019-10-11T09:36:27

Did my research and rented this lens before purchasing. It’s not small but it is a great lens.

JEREMY K.

2019-09-06T20:00:00

This lens isn't known for its sharpness, and often gets bad reviews by those who are slaves to fashion and tests that have no real world relevance. It's not soft; it's just not razor sharp. People focus on razor sharpness because it's unnatural...we don't notice such details with our own eyes, day to day, and so it gives us a sense of the exotic. But if you're focusing on skin pores, you're not really looking at the picture are you? Pictures from this lens draw your eye to the subject instead, and the luxury of light and colour surrounding it. The micro-contrast and smooth colour gradients give a wonderful sense of depth. Its representation of light and colour is natural in a way that other zoom lenses for APS-C E-Mount can't match, and can render a scene more real than razor sharpness ever will.

Buddhamakessense

Originally posted at

2019-07-02T08:56:22

I was a little concerned about traveling with an ƒ4 lens but the Sony 6500 made up for it. While it was a little larger than what I had hoped for in a travel lens, it was all I needed in focal length range and the Zeiss quality did not disappoint me.

CARMINE P.

2019-03-24T08:33:32

excellent lens, happy customer!

angelo m.

2019-03-03T19:00:00

I bought this lens over a month ago to replace the kit lens supplied with my Sony a6300. Am absolutely thrilled with it as photos are much sharper and the zoom gives me greater versatility for taking pictures. It was very expensive but I can't see any need for another lens in the 16-70mm range.

Rae58

Originally posted at

2018-11-09T19:00:00

Starting with positives, build quality is superb, the look and feel of using this lens is fantastic. The zeiss colour is great too. However the optics on this are very poor. Edge sharpness is very bad wide open and barely passable stopped down. It is actually outperformed by the kit lens in a number of situations. For the price this is a very disappointing lens which I don’t expect to be keeping for long

David_newcastle

Originally posted at

2018-09-06T07:56:35

I just liked the feature of image stabilization. My experience with this technology came from the old Nikon lenses which I paid much more.

Victor C.

2018-08-29T08:42:46

just right.

Victor C.