I sent the 18-200mm back already Pete, but I can tell you for certain that the 55-210mm is sharper! It’s not a all-in-one solution though like the 18-200mm

Best,
Jay

Thanks for the comments and question Armando,

I’m sorry, but they are just in ridiculous high demand. I called BHPhotoVideo.com and Amazon, and they said a shipment is coming in shortly. But, your best bet is to pre-order if you want one then your on the list for when the shipment comes in. Still not sure if you will get it in time for your trip though.

Other wise you might check Ebay?

Good Luck,
Jay

Hey Dan,

Happy to help!! It’s a no brainier for me on this choice as I would get the 55-210mm in a second over the 18-200mm. The 18-200mm as good as is it, is an All-In_one lens. It just can’t compete with a 55-210mm lens when it comes to the engineering complications etc.. The 18-200mm has 15 elements and the 55-210mm has 13 elements, so that is less glass for the light to go through. That could account for the slight sharpness advantage. It’s possible I didn’t have the sharpnessed copy as well though.

The 55-210mm has many more advantages over the 18-200mm for sports in my opinion. It has more reach at a 35mm equivalent of 315mm vs 300mm, it’s about 1/3rd less weight, costs less than half the price, and doesn’t have the UN-needed focal length of 18-55mm for sports. Most of the time, depending on the sport, you will be on the long end of the lens.

What sport do you plan on shooting? inside or outside? What lenses you you already have?

If it’s inside you may want to consider a faster prime for lower light shooting. You can crop later in post processing to create your composition. Inside high school gym’s for example is really dark in the photography world, and you really need fast glass to get the shutter speed fast enough to freeze the action. Or, you can use a flash and blind the kids like some photographers love to do

I hope this helps!

Jay

Thanks for the comments Adam and sharing the photos

Jay

Hi Harry,

Really great question and the answer is no it will not. This lens will actually make things worse for you as the maximum aperture is f/4.5. The higher the # aperture the physically smaller the actually aperture eye is. Check out this Article on Aperture when you get a minute!!

I highly recommend looking at the 50mm f/1.8 Prime Lens!! You need a faster aperture lens in order to bring down the shutter speed and f/1.8 is fast!! The kit lens and the 55-210mm lens are both relatively slow lenses in that department as the kit lens is f/3.5 and the 55-210mm is f/4.5.

The Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 and the Sony 50mm f/1.8 are the way to go as it give you a much faster shutter, better separation with your images, and most importantly a lower ISO!!

The other options which look great I might add, are the Sigma 19mm f/2.8 and 30mm f/2.8. They are not as fast as the f/1.8 lenses, but they are faster then the kit lens and might fit your focal length requirements better.

The only issue with the prime lenses is you need to zoom manually with your feet

I actually have the Nex-5n coming in Today I believe, so I can try out the Sony 50mm f/1.8 and both Sigma Lenses for you very shortly. Probably in the next day or 2.

I hope this helps Harry,
Jay

Hello and thanks for your comments and kind words!!

The 55-210mm lens is fantastic for the money. I’m not sure who or why it would be reviewed badly unless the lens was faulty, because for the money it’s a great piece of glass in my opinion!!

For low light work I would recommend the Sony 50mm f/1.8 OSS Lens as it’s the sharpest, fastest lens available with OSS!! Great for super low light work, but not so good for Macro. The Sigma 30mm f/2.8 is also really sharp and affordable, but it doesn’t have OSS and the focus transitions are not as smooth if your into video at all. Otherwise a very solid performer.

Honestly the E-Mount 30mm Macro is the best bang for the buck besides getting a lens adapter and heading to the A-Mount style lenses. It’s not the fastest though at f/3.5, but really does do a good job all around. I have my hands on review for the 30mm Macro about 90% done, but I just need a few more sample pics. Stay tuned for it though in the next few days!!

I hope this helps you out,
Jay

I’m confident you will love it Waldomarek Thanks for the comments!!

Jay

Hello Betina,

Thank you so much for the kind remarks, I really appreciate them as I try my best

As for your question? The 19mm Sigma and the 55-210mm being a good match for the whole day? Absolutely!! Downside is the Sigma does not have OSS, but you really don’t need it for your purposes. The 30mm Sigma is about the same sharpness all around as the 19mm. The 30mm is just not wide enough for those tall tourist sites

I personally don’t mind the kit lens as I find it sharp and the OSS is great, but the 50mm is so much better for a lot of reasons. Prime lenses will almost always be sharper, have better contrast and less glare etc.. Lens lens elements for the light to go through means less optical dispersion etc..

I personally like wide angles, but don’t use them much for people these days. I tend to move the people away from the “monument” and have it in the background smaller so I can use a higher focal length. This allows for slight separation and creates a more Portrait like photo in my opinion. That being said, you yank those people out of the scene and I want to be right up on it with an ultra wide angle!! I have the Sigma 10-20mm Canon EF mount lens that I’m chomping at the bit to use again on the Sony NEX-6!!

The New Sony E-Mount Wide Angle looks nice but is big Money!! If you want Top Quality the Zeiss 24mm is the way to go, but before that I would consider lens adapters and older full manual quality lenses! That is the route I plan to go, but will require more work using manual focus etc.. Focus peaking makes it pretty easy on the Nex though!

I hope this helps and please feel free to ask more questions if you have them. I also am on the New Sony Alpha Forum everyday if you want to ask questions over there on other topics etc..

Jay

Betina,

I think your on the right track for what your wants and need are As far as the OSS is concerned, it’s pretty much the same between the Tamron 18-200mm Lens and the New Smaller Sony 18-200mm Lens(SEL18200LE) I recently reviewed Here >> The Original Sony 18-200mm Lens (SEL18200) is much larger and heavier, but has slightly better optics smoother OSS in my opinion.

No worries about the questions, please feel free to ask away!! It may take me a few days to reply sometimes, but I enjoy the Q&A

Best,
Jay

Betina,

You conclusion makes perfect sense to me

My goal here was to provide you with the info you needed so you could make the best choice for your particular needs. Sounds to me like your getting exactly what you want and need for your practical use of the camera gear!!

Besides, you can always sell lenses and get most of your money back. Camera bodies are another story, because they come out with new models and technology so fast they lose value much quicker than lenses.

Be sure to subscribe by entering your email address in the little window (Top Right)

That will send you an email automatically when I add a new article or review!!

Best,
Jay

Hi Daphne,

Thanks for the comments!! The 55-210mm lens is a lot less costly to manufacture and has less lens elements inside (13 vs 17) 55mm vs 18mm on the wide end also makes a huge difference in the lenses overall size. You can get about $1-200 on Ebay it looks like for the 18-55mm kit lens.

If you don’t want to change lenses the the 18-200mm is the way to go, but the best part of the Nex camera system is the ability to change lenses!! Therefore I recommend keeping the 18-55mm lens and purchasing the 55-210mm lens and seeing how you like the combo. You can then rent the very expensive 18-200mm or try it at the local dealer as see if it’s worth the money to you.

I hope that helps!!

Jay

Hello Beatriz,

Thanks for the excellent question!! I would have recommended this exact lens to you, so I think you know a little more about photography than your giving yourself credit for

Jay

Hello Nams,

Depending on what your goal is, the 18-55mm lens should yeild you pretty solid results. If you want a sharper wide angle lens, the Sigma 19mm f/2.8 lens is a good way to go for the money!! It’s a prime lens though with no zoom. You have to walk to zoom

As far as camera settings go, to get a nice sharp shot your going to want to use f/8 or higher for a Landscape image. If your girlfriend is in the scene and you want her and the background sharp, you may have to go even higher on the aperture depending on how far you are from your girlfriend when taking the image. If your at 15mm for example and your model is only a tiny part if the overal frame, f/8 should be fine. if your at 55mm and your model is taking up 1.4 of the scene?? you will need f/16 at leaset to have the background sharp also most likely. Check out this article on Aperture if your curious to learn more >>

I hope that helps!
Jay

No problem!! Yes depth of field is important as it relates to landscapes photography. And yes in theory f/22 would be better than f/16 for the purpose of depth of field. In the real world however, this is not really an issue in my opinion given the difference in focal lengths. f/16 is the highest I like to use anyway as digital photography is susceptible to diffraction. Basically, the angle that the light is aimed at the sensor will actually decrease sharpness the higher the aperture. This begins around f/8 on mos APS-C sized sensor cameras. This was not an issue in the film days as far as I can tell, but could be wrong. The focal length and distance to your subject/ focal point will effect the depth of field more so than the aperture a lot of the time. I like to exploit the individual lenses characteristics when applicable, in order to get the best results with each lens/ camera combination. Smaller sensor cameras are harder to get separation than full frame cameras as well!!

I hope all this helps as the topic gets confusing when you start to go deep and look at the math on the matter

If your looking for the sharpest “landscape lens” for the money, the Sigma 19mm is the way to go. If that is not wide enough, than the 16mm is the way to go for wide angle landscape photography. That is not to say you can’t use the 20mm or 35mm for landscapes though. Even the 55-210mm can be good for some landscapes when zooming in creates a much better composition. I often use zoom at waterfalls, mountain ranges, ect.. It really depends on the composition you have to work with and what photo your trying to create.

Here is another article I highly recommend you should check out!! It goes over the differences in lenses and the why Which is the best portrait lens??

Jay

Hello Huran and great question!!

In my opinion the 18-200mm lens is not something you would want over the 55-210mm lens. The 18-200mm is an all-in-one, and the 55-210mm is a mid tele-photo. So in theory it should be better than an all in one. A Prime being the next best thing. So, if you get into photography hardcore and want to upgrade gear?? If that is the case I would recommend the prime e-mount lenses first, fallowed by Zeiss 24mm prime. Beyond that you can head to the A-Mount lens line and get some serious optical quality!!!

Wanted the All-in-One would be more of a convince thing. So if you ended up liking photography, but dis-like changing lenses, you may want the 18-200mm at some point in the future. It will not give you better optical quality though. Awesome power, convenience, and quality for an all-in-one lens package however.

I would recommend trying the 55-210mm lens first. You can always sell it and get 85% of your money back and then put it towards the much more expensive 18-200mm lens if you want. If not, your probably going to want to get a prime lens next to get even better quality results!!

I hope that helps you out one way or another

Jay

Hello Verity,

I would suggest this lens next! I’m going to buy this lens for myself as soon as I have a few more dollars saved up;) After that, I would recommend looking it prime E-Mount lenses such as the 50mm f/1.8 OSS Lens or the 35mm I just reviewed Click Here>>

Beyond that I would wait to see how your photography wants and needs progress. Perhaps the 30mm Macro if you want to see the smaller world??

I hope this helps and thank you very much for the kind remarks

Jay

Hi Cindy,

Thanks for the kind words about the reviews!! As far as your situation goes, I think the all in one is your best option for a Wedding and zero experience. The zoom will make it much easier for you to get the shots you want assuming the light is reasonable good. The zoom convenience is huge when your pressed for time and have to get the shot, like at the wedding ceremony ect. OSS is also great with that SEL18200 lens! I would say go for the 55-210mm, but you may get stuck in a situation where you need wider and changing the lens is not an option.

The 50mm f/1.8 is going to be the way to go for the killer portraits and/or candid shots during the reception. At f/1.8 your camera will be able to use a much lower ISO and therefore have much better quality!! Use aperture priority mode to keep the lens @ f/1.8, and the shutter speed will automatically adjust. Auto ISO will do the job for you if you don’t want to mess with that.

I hope that helps you out with your investments!!

Jay

Hello Jianing, and thanks so much for the great question on the SEL1650!! It’s fine to ask here by the way, as I never officially reviewed the 16-50mm lens anyway. The 55-210mm seems to be one of the most popular E-Mount lenses, and for good reason if you ask me I still don’t own the 55-210mm lens believe it or not, but it’s on the list of wants!!

The Nex-5r is a great choice for an ILC (interchangeable lens camera), no question. My Review of the Nex-5r is (Click Here), if you didn’t find it yet!! It doesn’t have the built in EVF like my Nex-6, but image quality is the same. The 180 degree flip screen is a great feature though which I wish my Nex-6 had!

So, is the 16-50mm really that bad? No, it’s not really that bad, but there are better lenses on the market optically. It’s a great all around lens when considering the compactness, power zoom capabilities which is killer for video, light weight, oss, and overall relatively low cost @ ~$348 US. It’s not as good optically as the 18-55mm kit lens though in my opinion. Therefore it is a compromise to some degree one way or another depending on your personal needs.

If you new to photography, you will not notice the difference in optical quality most likely, but the advantages of the 16-50mm powerzoom lens will be apparent. It has a significantly wider 16mm and as you said, and it’s very compact. Where the lens is weak, is in the corners as far as sharpness goes when using the lens wide at 16mm, and lens distortion is also pretty bad. Optically the 18-55mm is a better performer in my opinion, but feature and compactness wise, the 16-50mm is a better lens. So, for my purposes as a photographer looking for the best image quality possible I chose the 18-55mm over the 16-50mm and sold it. Personal preference as I also prefer manually zooming coming from that with all my other lenses ect..

In my opinion, being new to photography and all, you will be very happy with the 16-50mm kit lens. It really is a good place to start and it’s more compact which it seems like your leaning towards. You can always sell it on Ebay, or on the forum, if you decide to replace it, or add more lenses to your Photographic arsenal at a later date The 55-210mm would be a good place to start, fallowed by some prime lenses for maximum optical quality and fast apertures, depending on your needs. Perhaps a Macro lens will peak your interest, or Portraits might be more up your alley, Time will tell, so I would wait and see what you think of the 16-50mm. Once you max that lenses potential out, you will most likely want another lens.

I hope that helps you out somewhat, and have a great day,
Jay