Product ReviewsSony SEL 16mm f/2.8 AF Lens

Light and compact

In a word, this lens is light. And for the money a keeper. It is the perfect mate for the "a" bodies. As a pancake lens it can be less than sharp at the edges but you have to balance the cost and convenience of use with the wide angle of the focal length. Perfectly happy with the lens.Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: enigmatic_smile

Sony 16mm 2.8

Great lens! Personally, so far after a really short review period, it’s sharper than my 16-50 kit lens which is what I wanted. It’s lighter and less moving parts which makes it easier to carry. And I never used it as a zoom always kept the lens at 16 which is why I decided to buy this lens. Wide open at 2.8 and in low light is does respectively well and didn’t have any issues with focus which surprises me.

Probably should read the sellers description a lot closer. Lens hood had a weird substance on it. The lens is all beat up. Thankfully the glass is just dusty and no scratches. Didn’t come with the uv filter as pictured. I ultimately got this at a good price and it works so I’m gonna keep it. But won’t ever buy from this seller probably Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: khaal_71

Good value, good picture quality excellent size, miss Optic SteadyShot.

This is a very fine lens. The best feature about this is the size. And combined with the picture quality it has, it is a good lens for the price. With this lens, the camera is actually possible to carry around in your pocket, provided it has to be a fairly big pocket, but still.

The pictures are crisp, though I would like to have seen lower f stops. And Optic SteadyShot, so that you have image stabilisation wich can reduce the amount of blur on some pictures if you dont have the camera mounted on a tripod.Read full review...

BETTER ALTERNATIVES

About half as long as the standard 16-50 mm kit lens and only about 1 f-stop faster, there isn't much good about this lens considering its poor performance, which is why it was discontinued. To make your camera "pocketable", I recommend the current 20 mm version which is the same size as the 16 but is a considerable improvement over the kit lens. Every review I could find says the same thing. And you can add the .75X wide adapter to get a 15 mm view with about the same overall size as the kit lens but 1 stop faster and vastly improved quality.Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: oralva0

Awesome product! Great value for the money

I need it for more wider angle than my 18-55mm f3.5/5.6 lens, and in low light situation especially in door and tight space or a group of large of people. With F2.8 I can capture better sunset light. Every gain f/stop is more low light and speed. I also can extend it more wider angle with panorama mode. With wider angle lens I don't have to worry where to place the main subject in the picture when I'm in a hurry, but I can always edit it later with photo software, zoom or crop it. Another convenience is with pancake lens now, my Sony Nex-5 would fit better in my side pocket.
This is a fixed lens, it serves for my purposes and I am very pleased.Read full review...

Awesome product!

Top value & quality! It came NEW with WHITE BOX and will do business again with the seller. I bought the 16mm lens solely so I could mount the VCLECU1 wide-angle converter. I use it on a Nex-5n. I wanted the 18mm-equivalent field of view for artistic purposes and for capturing large vistas, and I am not disappointed. As others have commented, the lens attaches firmly to the 16mm lens and the cost of the two together is not prohibitive for an ultrawide of this quality. I have no interest in a fisheye, but the option is there, also reasonably priced, if I want it, thanks to the 16mm base lens. Although I've rated it five stars, four and a half is probably what it deserves.At full aperture the images I was getting were a little soft; this combo prefers to be stopped down a bit for best performance. From f/5 and up, it's a much better lens. As with other Sony lenses, the contrast is excellent, with great color rendition and crisp edges. Outdoors in sunlight, you need to keep the sun off the glass for best results. Flare control is very good, but contrast is noticeably lower. The vestigial lens hood helps, but you may often need a hand or a piece of cardboard to provide a little shade. I did a lot of night shooting with the lens with excellent results: crisp definition where you want it, artistic flare when you need it, sometimes both in the same image. Barrel distortion is there if you look for it, but some architectural shots were entirely acceptable for Web publication without any correction. I do wish that the camera was aware that the converter was attached, but since I only use the 16mm lens with the converter, I know it's in use when I look at the EXIF.Read full review...

Small size, small price, big quality. Little not to like.

This lens is a great addition to the NEX cameras.
It is a great lens for cities and landscapes. There is some quality loss and distortion around the corners of the frame but that is to be expected with a wide angle lens. I would not use this as my only lens seeing as it will make portraits look silly and is far to wide for many situations.
The auto focus works well and is fast. It will also allow you to use many features you cannot with a non sony brand lens, like smile detection, face recognition, and most of the auto settings.
The 2 best things about this lens are the price and size. It is very affordable way more affordable than most 16mm lenses and it is pocket-able. The Nex with this lens on it will fit in a jacket/purse (but not pants pocket). However, the lens will, what I do is keep my 55mm "go to" lens on my Nex and when I need a wider angle quickly pop the 16mm out of my pocket and slide it on. I then place my 55mm in a small lens bag or large jacket pocket.

Pros: Price, size, features (auto focus, etc.)
Cons: Edge quality.Read full review...

Good value robust wide angle E-mount lens.

Cheaper and shorter than the other kit zoom lens for Sony. Good but not nearly as sharp (at the corners) as I expected compared (subjectively and unscientifically) with, for example Olympus 17mm 2.8 (u4/3 mount) given the 24Mpixel camere it fits on (a6000 etc). It's wide angle is the most useful feature for general photography, especially indoors. Built of metal, good robust design since it survived all the cuts and scratches on its outer aluminum rim by a previous owner (I bought it used for 110C$) .Read full review...

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Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: c_ertman

Good value for the average image quality it offers. Converters are good.

The only reason people are going to pick up this lens, is because it cost very little, it's even cheaper than some bags. The other reason is mounting the two converters for Ultra Wide and Fish Eye - that is probably the only thing this lens can do, and be useful for.
There is a lot of barrel distortion and vignetting, but that is expected in all wide angle lenses.

If you want the best value for the money lens, either get the 30mm f2.8 Sigma, or the more expensive Sony 35mm f1.8. Both are great and must have, but the 35mm is superior due to larger aperture - nice background blur when shooting portraits, and good low light shooting.

However the 16mm will not disappoint those who are looking for a smaller and lighter lens.Read full review...

Would be perfect if only image quality was better.

I love this lens for its small size, its focal length and good build quality. I just wish the image quality was better. Still I do use it.

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: tkworks-japan