Sony E PZ 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS Lens

I preordered it a couple of months ago and it just arrived from Sony.ca this week. The images produced by the lens (except when zoomed in all the way) have some of the worst distortion and barreling I have seen. All of the newer NEX cameras have had firmware updates adding in body distortion correction to JPEG images so this is really only a problem for those of us that adopted early and don’t want to spend $700 on a new camera. While there are sel1650 profiles to correct RAW images in lightroom, that is not really a solution to the problem (especially if you want to snap jpegs). It takes digging through several layers of the support website (and not on the sales part of the website) to find out that the SEL1650 may result in “Shading in the corners or distortion may be visible at the lens' widest position” on the original NEX. What an understatement. This Information was nowhere to be found when I ordered the lens. Absolutely shocking that Sony could not build this lens to support a camera (the original NEX5) that is less than 3 years old. Sony supported the original NEX5 for 18 months of firmware updates and then simply stopped. They left out the feature that is now available in all of the newer cameras that make this lens passable (in camera distortion correction for JPEG images). They should at least offer a very good trade-in program for those that own the earliest NEX models want to be able to use the newest lenses - but they don't.

So far I have bought 3 of these SELP 1650 lens, the reason being the focus ring [end of lens] is made out of a very soft material, if you put the camera down a little heavy, the focus ring deforms and then the lens does not function at all, you can try to rebend the focus ring and some times the lens will work again, sometimes it will not, hence that's why I have so far purchased 3 lenses , Sony charge 55 pounds to just look at the lens, and around 100 pounds to fix your lens, I bought a neoprene camera case , and still managed to bend the focus ring, Obviously Sony have a design / material problem, this is not a very robust lens, it is not a camera lens combination that you put in your rucksack or over your shoulder or go cycling , you can not recommend it to a friend, you know they will be buying a new lens in a very short period, if you use your camera on a daily basis it is no use what so ever, it is just not robust enough., it is a lens that you take the camera / lens out of a bag, take a photo , and put it back in the camera bag, not a usable product., could not recommend, Sorry Sony you really need to do some work on this lens

Sony 16-50 mm Kit Lens S/N S013493648N (Model SELP 1650) Recently after taking 187 fotos through the 16-50mm lens at a Highland Festival in Florida I turned off the camera and a bit later when I turned the camera back on I got this msg-- "Cannot recognize lens Attach it properly" I had not removed the lens in the interval it was off & the battery had at least 50% charge, so I detached the lens tried again, same msg. I removed the lens and attached the 55-210mm and it functioned properly, no msg and it took fotos. I have repeated these steps with a fully charged battery at home with the identical results.

happy so far, not had much chance to verify this as yet

I use this at car events it is fast and gets the best photos it is wounderful!

Sold my DSLR gear a few years back and regretted it, now starting again but decided to go mirrorless primarily for the reason i wanted something light and compact for my honeymoon. Went for the A6000 and kit lens mostly because I couldn't justify the extra money for the later models when I only shoot stills. Have to say this is the best kit lens on a starter camera. Gives you ease and flexibility, granted has limitations but a good out of the box lens and base to start collecting more glass. Awesome camera as well, better than any Nikon I've had.

Sorry to say I have not been happy with this lens at all. Straight out the box it has been very soft. As this is the kit lens that came with the camera I very nearly sent the whole lot back. This lens should not be sold with new cameras as it hides the quality that can be achieved with the camera itself. Very disappointing lens. The build quality is not bad for a kit lens but watch out for the power zoom button as this can be pulled off and lost.

Being my first lens, I took over 1000 photos (up to the moment of review) and had no problem. The only thing that I find bad with it is when taking video the zoom is noisy. Overall great product for beginners.

Great little starter lens does what it says on the tin

I bought this recently to replace an earlier on that I had sold. I thoughly enjoyed using it before.