Sony E-Mount SEL16F28 16mm f/2.8 Wide-Angle E-Mount Lens (Silver)

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 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.

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.

I get some really good use out of this lens, and combine it with the ultra-wide converter when needed.I am happy with the results, but the more I use it the more I notice the loss of sharp detail around the edges of the photo.

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

This is a great lens that is really small and compact

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  Quality Construction, Lightweight, Easy To Use

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  No Performance Improvement

using this with both a sony fs-100 and a new sony a-6500 - works very well and low light shooting is amazing. Crystal clear edge to edge