Sony E 16mm f/2.8 was one of the three lenses that Sony officially announced with the release of its new NEX system. Along with Sony E 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6, it was also offered as one of the kit lens options for the original Sony NEX-3, NEX-5 and later NEX-C3 and NEX-5n.

The size of the lens make a NEX camera system almost pocketable. If you like the idea of a wide prime for your NEX camera, right now there's simply nothing else available. It's an interesting little lens, but its price point and its performance are perhaps limiting it to strictly consumer...

The Sony E 16mm f/2.8 is a controversial lens. Upon first contact you're probably positively surprised - it's stylish, dwarfish, very well built and the AF performance is also pretty good. It doesn't even cost a fortune. Unfortunately that's where most of the glory ends.

The Sony E 16mm f/2.8 may be a controversial lens on lower resolution NEX cameras. However, it seems rather pointless to use it on the NEX 7 - 24 megapixel are way beyond the capabilities of this tiny lens. The center quality is certainly fine but the outer image region is extremely soft at max.

”Pancake” lenses seem to play a very important role in mirrorless systems. A kit lens is mainly the standard device for amateur photographers, who perceive it as a “better compact camera” or a “smaller reflex camera”.

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  small dimensions and weight,, very good resolution in the frame centre on slight stopping down,, decent resolution on the edge of the frame for f/5.6-f/11 aperture range,, low distortion,, well-controlled coma,, accurate and problem-free autofocus.

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  resolution by f/2.8 under the decency level,, average or weak resolution on the edge of the frame,, high lateral chromatic aberration in the whole aperture range,, noticeable vignetting in the whole aperture range.

Put this on my A6500 and I am very pleased so far. Fast, sharp and AF has worked pretty well so far. Does not seem to want to sync up with the touch screen focus....but that may just be my set up. I will need to look into that more. The whole set up is almost pocket size and is very unassuming.

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.

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  compact, light

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  blurry images, color fringing, no stabilization

Really not bad at all. The 5N does very nice with this one, even with the WA attached. The NEX 6 does even better. Not the best for brick/walls or any other flat surfaces. But this cheap pancake records scenery much better than expected. Using the WA or FE adapters adds great use to the kit.

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  Compact, light, at F8 very sharp, price with WA is 200

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  not very sharp corners wide open

I was disappointed with this lens in both daytime and low light situations. This lens is not at all sharp and makes video footage look extremely unprofessional. 10/10 Do not recommend. I would go with the 20mm prime instead. Much more sharp.

Good lenses, but not exceptional. I feel it's autofocus a little slow and it's sharpness is also not what I expected, edges feels always a little blurry.It's small, light but I'm not sure if it's durable. But that's what I think of most Sony products, they are fragile.

I purchased the Sony E 16mm f/2.8 wide angle lens to use as a walk around in good outside lighting. For me weight is critical (of course IQ is important but not necessarily with a wide open aperture). For my photos with this lens I will usually be using an aperture between f/5.6 and f/8.0.

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...