In this real world based Sony Vario-Tessar T* 16-70mm f/4 ZA OSS Lens Review I will go over everything you need to know using lab photos, real world photography, HD video, and much more. For the camera body I used my Sony Nex-6 and the Sony A5000.
The 16-70mm range is very nice for an all-in-one lens and allows for a huge variety of photography options including landscapes, portraits, street, and much more. Effective zoom range works out to 24-105mm in the 35mm format, thanks to the smaller APS-C sized sensor in the Sony Nex-6.
The 16-70mm Zeiss lens deserves to have the Zeiss badge on the side for sure! It’s crazy sharp all the way around and totally worth the investment, in my opinion.
The Sony Vario-Tessar T* 16-70mm f/4 ZA OSS Lens goes for $998 US @ BHPhotoVideo (Click Here)
Sel1670z – Build quality
The Sony Vario-Tessar T* 16-70mm f/4 ZA OSS Lens has very good all around build quality and a nice weight that balances perfect with my Nex-6. The zoom is smooth through the entire range and does not creep at all when held vertical. Versatility and quality wise the SEL1670z is the best option currently available. The 18-200mm lenses are more versatile overall, but the optical quality falls short in comparison to this lens. Another great lens option to consider is the E 18-105mm f/4 OSS G Lens which I reviewed here >>
The Lens correction profile in Lightroom works great and I used it for all the photos in this review. I have a 16mm f/4 raw file with and without lens correction in the video review, so you can see exactly what the lens produces straight off the camera.
The optical stabilization works really well and I was able to hand hold down to 1/30sec with no problem at 70mm and even slower at 16mm. This was not possible with the 24-70mm full frame e-mount lens on the Sony Alpha A7r even with the OSS. I was only able to get 1/40 – 1/60sec sharp shots handheld. Any slower and it would get soft. Not the case with the Nex-6 and 16-70mm E-mount Zeiss lens though 😉 It works as it should and I highly recommend it!
Key Features:
- E-Mount Lens/APS-C Format
- 24-105mm (35mm Equivalent)
- Aperture Range: f/4 to f/22
- One ED Element; Four Aspherical Elements
- Zeiss T* Anti-Reflective Coating
- Linear Autofocus Motor; Internal Focus
- Optical SteadyShot Image Stabilization
- Seven-Blade Circular Diaphragm
- Minimum Focus Distance = 13.78″ / 35 cm
- Filter Thread = 55mm
- Weight = 10.9 oz / 308 g
- Price = $998 @ BHPhoto
Sony E-Mount 16-70mm f/4 OSS Zeiss Lens Video Review
Be sure to select the HD Quality once the video starts playing so you can go full screen with a nice sharp video!
Lab Test Photos
Here are a few lab testing photos, but please refer to the video above for a more detailed visual analysis of the results.
Sony Nex-6 w/ 16-70mm f/4 OSS Zeiss Lens – Lab Testing @ 16mm, f/4 
16mm, f/4 
16mm, f/4 
Sony Nex-6 w/ 16-70mm f/4 OSS Zeiss Lens – Lab Testing @ 16mm, f/5.6 
16mm, f/5.6 
16mm, f/5.6 
Sony Nex-6 w/ 16-70mm f/4 OSS Zeiss Lens – Lab Testing @ 16mm, f/8 
16mm, f/8 
16mm, f/8 
Sony Nex-6 w/ 16-70mm f/4 OSS Zeiss Lens – Lab Testing @ 16mm, f/11 
16mm, f/11 
16mm, f/11
Sony Nex-6 w/ 16-70mm f/4 OSS Zeiss Lens – Lab Testing
Sony Nex-6 w/ 16-70mm f/4 OSS Zeiss Lens – Lab Testing @ f/4, 35mm 
Sony Nex-6 w/ 16-70mm f/4 OSS Zeiss Lens – Lab Testing @ f/4, 52mm 
Sony Nex-6 w/ 16-70mm f/4 OSS Zeiss Lens – Lab Testing @ f/4 70mm
Real World Sample Photos
Moving on to some real world photography. I want to show what this lens can do mounted to the Sony Nex-6 and a few shots from the A5000 😉
Here are a few from the town of Liberty and some awesome metal sculpture! Click on the images to see a larger version.
Here’s a few from the Basha Kill wildlife preserve.
More Real World Photos – Family Fun
A took a bunch more sample photos in the real world using raw quality to try and show you what this lens can do for you. It really is very versatile and the image quality is outstanding as you can see. This first image of Layla I edited fully,because I printed it. However, the rest of the images are raw files straight off the camera except for that purple car image. That photo I also played around with a bit in Lightroom.
Some lens flare action…
Here is an example of some lens flare which you can expect to get when shooting into the sun at a slight angle.
16mm vs 70mm – Lens Range
Full Frame E-Mount Cameras?
This lens is designed for the APS-C crop factor cameras, but it will mount to the full frame e-mount cameras encase you were wondering. The full frame e-mount cameras will by default automatically switch to crop factor mode however, so you will not be using the entire sensor. Full Frame E-Mount lenses are in general much larger, because the sensor itself is much larger. The advantage to a APS-C designed lens is the smaller size and less weight, because it only needs to provide coverage for the smaller aps-c sensor.
Conclusions
The bottom line for the Sony E-mount 16-70mm f/4 OSS Zeiss Lens review is I highly recommend it! It totally holds up to the Zeiss badge and you get what you pay for in build quality, design, and most importantly, performance. For ~$998 US you get an all-in-one lens that is sharp and quite versatile and has OSS built in for easy hand holding at the slower shutter speeds.
I would love to have this lens for my Nex-6 and it would probably never come off unless I needed a lot more zoom or something really fast for super low light or depth of field purposes.
That is about it for this Sony lens review everybody, so I hope you got what you were looking for and please feel free to ask questions or comment below. Your support is also greatly appreciated 😉
The Sony Vario-Tessar T* 16-70mm f/4 ZA OSS Lens goes for $998 US @ BHPhotoVideo (Click Here)
