Sony SEL16F28 16mm f/2.8 Wide-Angle Lens for NEX Series Cameras

4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars | 348 ratings

Price: 248

Last update: 08-14-2024


About this item

Lens not Zoomable. Footnotes:"35 mm equivalent focal length (APS-C)" and "Angle of View (APS-C)" are with interchangeable lens digital camera incorporating APS-C type image sensors.
Minimum Focus Distance : 0.8 ft (0.24 m)
Maximum Magnification ratio : 0.078x
Focal Length : 16 mm. Angle of View (APS-C)- 83°. 35 mm equivalent focal length (APS-C)- 24 mm
Compatible with optional VCL-ECU1 ultra-wide converter and VCL-ECF1 fisheye converter

Product information


Top reviews from the United States

Amanda Queen
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Lens for Product reviews!
Reviewed in the United States on November 10, 2022
I bought this lens after watching a think media review over it! Great lens. This works super good for my youtube videos. It's wide angle so i can get the camera super close to product with it looking great. This lens works great for a desk setup pr a top down view! Auto focus works great! Image stabilization and picture quality is perfect! Just buy it already, stop hesitating. I bought mine used and works great!
A. Shrestha
4.0 out of 5 stars Good image quality and compact
Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2013
Overall: This is a very compact lens that allows the NEX to reach 24mm (full frame equivalent field of view). The quality is good, focusing is fast, and the lens handles direct sun in the frame without many noticeable anomalies. Furthermore, the large aperture really helps for low light.

Pros:
+ Affordable
+ F2.8 for low light
+ Allows attachments like fisheye and wide angle converter
+ Fast focusing
+ Compact size
+ Uses same size filters as 18-55 kit lens

Cons:
- No visually pleasing sunstars (ie: like the Tokina 11-16)

I bought this lens because of it's compact size and ability to make the NEX F3 pocketable. Despite the fixed focal length, I think I used this lens significantly more during my vacation than the 18-55 kit lens. Consequently, at this low price, this lens is a good complement to the 18-55 kit lens. It's affordable, and really changes your shooting experience. Another plus is that it uses the same size filters.

Sony does not provide a hood or case with this lens package. However, the hood from the kit lens is compatible (but I'm not sure how much it affects vignetting). I didn't use it with the good.

In summary: The lens makes a great complement to the 18-55 kit. It is compact, offers a wide aperture, focuses quickly, and really enhances your NEX shooting experience. I recommend it.

I hope this review was helpful to you.
Josh H.
5.0 out of 5 stars Cool little lens, powerful with ultra-wide and Fisheye !
Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2013
I bought this one used from an Amazon seller and it's a very nice lens so far. I bought this one over the newer model available mainly due to price. If i could've found the newer 20mm f/2.8 second-hand for a great price i would have picked it up. I am not a professional photographer and none of my pics are going into National Geographic. The corners are a bit soft on this lens, but a lot of the typical complaints on this lens are made up by 1) Adobe Lightroom, and 2) the fact that you can slap on the ultra wide-angle conversion lens OR the fisheye lens. I have grabbed some AWESOME shots with the ultra wide-angle lens attached to this baby. I wouldn't have bought this lens just by itself - - if you are interested in ultra wide-angle or Fisheye, though, this is a must. If you can spring for the newer 20mm then do that instead. I give it 5 stars because for the money, it's a fantastic lens.
Charles J. Sarchet
5.0 out of 5 stars New all time favorite for my NEX
Reviewed in the United States on July 8, 2011
The positive reviews of this lens are accurate. I bought a used one through Amazon and couldn't be happier with the service I received from the reseller or with the performance of this product. It significantly reduces the form factor of the NEX-3/5 making it the perfect lens to have on the camera when you want to travel light and don't need a zoom. It performs well in low light situation for its glass configuration and performed perfectly shooting video the night of the 4th. I've found it's perfect for shooting where flash photography is not permitted. It won't be replacing any of my Canon or Nikon DSLR lenses but it is a great lens for the application it was designed for.
M. Brandon
3.0 out of 5 stars "Comparison Shots" vs. a proper wide angle lens...
Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2012
EDIT: TL;DR - It's OK if you want it as "vacation shot" lens and it outperforms phone cameras by a long shot, but below average when compared to a "real" prime lens on DSLRs or mirrorless. I don't need snarky people dismissing my review because I actually went to the effort of providing test examples. This review is meant for people to decide if THEY would be fine with the test shots for decent everyday photos (family, events, etc....not studio work).

I was really disappointed with this lens. My review is based on comparing to my NEX-5R and my Canon 7D with a Sigma 17-50mm 2.8 EX (I've uploaded photos to compare).

Let's set a few things straight: The NEX's use an APS-C sensor like many entry/mid DSLR (same one in some Nikons), so leave the sensor out of the MAJOR equation. Also, sharpness is not the whole of a lens, but a big sum of what it is (I did not do comparisons of color accuracy and contrast).

I'll briefly mention (since most have already stated in other reviews) the 16mm is metal and not plastic (probably aluminum). It's still extremely light (compared to my metal FD and other manual lenses from Yore). The focus ring is narrow and maybe "too smooth" when manual focusing. I say too smooth because being so light, I found it hard to know if I even moved the ring (since often times I was trying to move the barrel instead of the focus ring). Manual focus (MF) lenses tend to have rubber or a knurled texture to know if you were on the focus ring. Also, older manual lenses tend to have a "tighter" pull when rotating the ring than the Sony 16mm since it feels "loose". The focus ring also spins around infinitely in either direction unlike most old MF lenses that stop completely.

"But I have no intention of using crusty, 30+ yr old manual lenses!".
OK...that's fine. But a lot of current lenses have a "slow-down" or heavier friction when you reach the limit of each end of the focus (they still spin around infinitely, but you can tell when you're at the end). With this lens, You have no idea if you are at the extreme end of focus close to you (very critical when trying to figure out how close you can get to your subject). Compound the fact that the ring focuses in the OPPOSITE direction that my Canon lenses do (so I was trying to focus behind the subjects when I was trying to get as close to them as possible).

Enough about the cosmetics and ergonomics of the lens...how does it perform? Let's keep in mind the price, because that's the biggest advantage (actually it isn't as I found out). I bought it for about $170 used. That's a lot less than the $600 I paid for my Sigma 17mm-50 2.8. I found the Sony 16mm was soft around the edges wide open (f/2.8) and lots of "halo-ing". These anomalies are to be expected from most cheaper lenses. But even stopped down to f/4, the Sony doesn't fix these issues. The Sigma at [email protected] had a little bit of soft corners, but still better than the Sony even at f/2.8 (photos above). The Sigma fixes all the soft/halos by f/3.5. I didn't even want to use the Sony 16mm even stopped down because it defeats the whole purpose of shooting wide-open or near that with faster lenses compared to kit lenses.

Speaking of kit lenses, I've seen better performance from other kit lenses than this prime lens. Let me re-iterate the PRIME lens part. You BUY a prime lens for it's faster speed (from f/1.4 - 2.8) and ability to create smooth/blurred backgrounds. A kit lens should in no way shape or form, outclass a PRIME lens! Yes, I spent $600 on my Sigma wide-angle. Yes, I spent $170 on this USED prime Sony16mm lens...but brand new, they want $275+ for this! I only used this two times (one to make these comparison photos) before it went back to the seller (47th Street has great customer service!).

For those photographers serious about getting a good, quality lens...this isn't it. Save your money for something else (I'll find a MF wide-angle). For those that want a pocket NEX with a pancake lens, this definitely fits the bill. It's super light and fits anywhere. If you don't demand mission-critical focus and want something that's far superior to a "camera phone", get this lens. Yes, I said the Sony 16mm is FAR superior to a camera phone because it still DOES show quite a bit of detail that is lost amongst typical cell phones, but not near the lines of a proper prime lens.

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