Product Reviews

I bought this lens to accompany my recently purchased NEX-7. It works very well and is fault free despite its age. Nice and sharp focus, always quick enough for me and quiet. Although a lot bigger than the SELP model, I quite prefer the manual zoom

I keep this lens mounted on the camera as an everyday carry-on and am pretty satisfied with its behavior. Of course, you have to keep in mind the kind of lens you are using, when you evaluate it. This lens is a reliable performer, a little bit softer than expected (which I appreciate in my photographic style), and very quiet, so you can use it for videos. The colors of the images this lens produces, just out of the camera, are pleasantly on the warmer side, and this pairs very well with the Sony sensors, in my opinion. The construction of the lens is really good - you will find a metal focus and zoom rings with a metal casing. The result is pleasant both to touch and use. The autofocus is extremely fast and precise, at least on NEX and alpha 6xxx series. The best aperture for most shots is between f/5.6 and f8, at any focal length. You will notice some visible distortion if you are not using the autocorrection tool (i.e. if you look at Raw files). So, I would recommend this lens to every beginner or amateur photographer looking for a starter lens to experiment with.

Have used this camera in my business to post pictures to our websites

I got this and the A6000 for 225 without a scratch on them, just walked into a pawnshop and there they were, being my birthday, half a century mark I treated myself and I so glad I did, these are great to learn on.

I don´t use that much this lens but has helped my when needed.

It couples my Sony a5100 mirrorless camera very well.

I've had this lens for four years now, it's been all over Africa (South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania, Namibia, etc.) with me and my Sony NEX7 - I have LOVED every second of shooting with this camera. And I love that I can tuck it into a normal bag and it's not obvious I'm carrying my camera around. From landscapes to cityshots to just snapping a photo of my dog, it has been my trusty sidekick.

Delighted with the quality of this lens. It is never off my NEX7

Of course it was the kit lens that came with the a6000 so I just got on with framing my shots round this lens. I have other Sony lens now but the 18-55 stays with me most of the time.

Purchased as kit lens for a6000. Grainy, blurry. Returned entire kit next day.

I'm a photographer. I recently bought my first pro camera and this lens was recommended with it... long story short...I love it.

This is the lens I took almost 80% photos with my sony nex 5N... but I feel now it is not a best lens. good but not gr8.

I use the lens with the NEX-5N. In the normal range, around 24 to 40 mm, this lens competes well with prime lens I have from other excellent manufacturers. Typical of zoom lenses, the extremes are not quite as good, but fine for non-critical use. At the wide end, barrel distortion is normal for the focal length; the corners are softer than I would like; but the lens is still excellent pretty far out from the center. Toward 55mm there is too much pincushion distortion and the corners are too soft; the excellent portion in the center does not extend as far out as at 18mm. For JPEG images, the camera body does a good job of correcting both barrel and pincushion distortion. For raw images you need to use an editing program. I assigned 4 instead of 5 stars because the lens could be better at 55mm. When I mention softness, I am viewing the image at pixel size. For normal viewing I don't notice it. Similarly, when I mention distortion, I am referring to architecture. For subjects without straight lines, it isn't a factor. For general purpose photography, where you don't need specialized lenses, this lens is an excellent choice. The body and lens make a really good, compact, lightweight kit for general photography and travel.

For a kit lens this one is far better than average. This lens came bundled with my NEX5n and I have used it to create some some very nice images. That said, it does not excel for the types of photography I tend to favor, which are portraiture and travel. For travel, its decent, provided there is adequate light. Daylite street and landscapes are outstanding as this lens appears to be optimized for sharpness for F8. F5.6 is good at the wide end, but soft at the long end. Stopping down to F11 introduced diffraction, though not too badly at the long end. For portraits, however, the lens just doesn't have a fast enough maximum aperture. Even wide open at 55mm background elements don't fully defocus, though the out of focus areas are very pleasantly rendered (bokeh). I would say that the bokeh is very nice, but can only be achieved with fairly close subject distances and distant backgrounds. Of course, every kit lens for every camera system has these same limitations. Optical quality of this lens appears better than most such zooms, and is noticeably better than the SAL 18-55 I had briefly. If you don't print large and don't do much low-light handheld photography, this lens is fine, and may be all that many casual photographers need. Critical comments aside, this is a MUCH better lens than what you get on the usual point-and-shoot camera.

A much aligned lens, but in daily use does the job you expect of it. Assuming your not a pro, using this as your only lens, but rather the family memory keeper or amateur photographer, the vast majority of us, it provides reasonable sharpness, nice color and ok bokeh. The build quality is top notch, it handles well and is perfectly sized for the Nex 7. Looking at the whole package I would say one of the better 18-55mm lenses on market. Yes I can tell the difference between this and the 24mm Zeiss, but that lens costs 5 times this one. Use a good editing program like Lightroom 3 or 4 to get the best out of this lens. I would have voted 3.5 if I had the option.

I use this lenses with my NEX 5N camera and have been somewhat disappointed with it's performance. Most of the photos with this lens lack clarity and sharpness throughout the photo. I do a lot of landscape and cityscape so many of my photos are at infinity focal length. This seems to be where the lens performs at it's worst. The resulting photos are very dull focus throughout, even with an aperture above f22. The barrel distortion is excessive on this lens which is expected at 18mm but the distortion continues throughout almost the whole zoom range. I wish Sony would offer a wider range of Zeiss prime options or even some G series lenses in E mount as it makes my camera very limiting unless I choose to use the A mount adapter which kind of negates the whole reason I bought this camera (compact size).

This lens under certain conditions will get center sharpness with the NEX-7, but overall the lens is overwhelmed by the 24meg pixel sensor. Anything beyond the center has little to recommend, since the lens has no sharpness. If doing it over, I wouldn't bother purchasing this lens for the NEX-7, because it's not worth the money.

This is a wonderful kit lens capable of producing excellent images of professional quality. Now I'm not comparing this lens to the Carl Zeiss $1,000 lens (I can't compare since I don't own one and don't plan on buying such an expensive one since I'm happy with the kit lens), but considering the cost of this lens ($100 with the kit or $300 retail) you can't do much better. Machining, fit, and feel are excellent as well.

Overall, I like this lens. It is well built with a nice, machined type feel to it's metal surface. It zooms in and out smoothly and accurately. Seems to take nice photos with sharp, accurate colors.