I received the Sony Nex-7 a few weeks ago and really wanted to test out the “Keg Can Zoom” of a lens, the Sony 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 OSS. So far I’m really impressed with it’s smooth zoom and sharp images. The OSS and focus motor work really well and are virtually silent.The build quality is also incredible and not a let down by any means. In fact it’s better built than I expected and physically larger than I expected. It’s also relatively heavy in comparison to the other nex lenses I’ve used. It feels more like an A-Mount Style lens size and weight wise. Wait to you see it below on the Nex-7.
I’ve also noticed the corners in some images suffer from some significant chromatic aberrations, but I haven’t taken note as to what aperture and focal length etc.. Easily correctable with raw software.
The other thing I noticed about the Sony E-mount 18-200mm lens is the zoom will not stay set if your aimed up or down. The zoom walks open to max or closed in these situations and you need to hold the zoom with your hand to keep it from walking. When I was taking the product shots I had the lens sitting on the white backdrop in the vertical position and when I zoomed it to 200mm and let go, it would just close back down to 18mm. The fastest I could get it photographed was about 180mm or so.
Notice in the image to the right as it’s not actually at 200mm like I initially intended. There is a lock at 18mm which keeps the lens from opening, and it would be nice if the lens either had more lock positions at the most popular focal lengths, or more damping to stop the self zooming.
Stay tuned for the Full Review of the Sony 18-200mm OSS lens, where I will break down all the lens details for you. I also have the Sony 18-200mm vs Tamron 18-200mm Article in the works so keep an eye out for that if your debating on which lens to buy.
Now check out this guy on the on the Sony Nex-7:
Now for some Real World Sample Pics Using the Nex-7 and the Sony E 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 OSS Lens:
This first image is my our Dog Chubs incase you don’t know 😉 He shows up in a lot of reviews and is a great subject for testing lenses and cameras! His fur has tons of detail and the eyes make for a great focal point to analyze. Now it’s not as sharp as the Sony A-Mount 70-200mm, but it’s not bad!!
I have this fun blacksmith puzzle toy from the deck and I’m enjoying the rust developing over the months. The Bokeh is not the most amazing out there, but it’s not bad at all as this image shows pretty good. In addition the detail is also pretty good on the rust for 200mm hand held @ 1/125sec!
This image below is an awesome covered bridge about 45 minutes from where we live. I was able to swing over the other day and managed to grab a few sample pics with some visual interest for you 😉
This is an old microwave tower near my job that now holds a cell tower antenna and a black bird that decided to stop and take a break.
Here is some brick with a nice texture on it thanks to the early evening light. The top right corner 100% crop below is noticeable softer than the center 100% crop.
Noticeable distortion at 18mm.
This is a super high contrast scene that i noticed when getting gas the other day. I placed the super bright sun in the upper left just out of frame so the roof line would really be forced to show flaw. Sure enough some purple fringing was there, but it’s easily correctable in Lightroom 3, or any raw converter program. I’ll put a tutorial together to show you how to set-up custom presets for this as soon as I get some time.
Closing Remarks:
That is about it for now, but I do have some video I need to put together and upload as well as the “lab” tests to go over for the actual full review. In the meantime I’m pretty impressed with the Sony 18-200mm’s performance all around. It clearly has some flaws with vignetting, chromatic aberrations, and the lens zooming on its own when aiming up and down, but overall the value for the dollar is great as always. Considering the optics required for an all in one style lens with a extreme zoom range like this, the quality is better than you might expect from a non Zeiss lens. However, there is room for improvement in a few areas.
Stay tuned for more sample pics from the Nex-7 as I have the Rokina 8mm fisheye sample pics, and the 24mm f/1.8 Carl Zeiss sample pics still to come.
I also have an article on HDR Photography and the Nex-7 in the works using the Livingston Manor bridge scene from above. I need to put together all the video footage and do the screen capture part of the article still, but it should be a really good one for those interested in HDR Photography!! I used auto hdr feature and regular multiple exposure hdr so you can see what the Sony Nex-7 can do compared to the old manual way using Photomatix pro etc..
Thanks for checking in,
Jay
