Sony Announces New, Compact Wide Zoom FE 16-26mm f/2.8 Lens
News | By Stephan Jukic | April 18, 2024
One of Sony’s newest lens announcements is the FE 16-25mm f/2.8 G lens for full-format cameras, a complement to the brand’s recent FE 24-50mm f/2.8 G.
The FE 16-25mm f/2.8 G is designed with similar physical and optical characteristics to the 24-50mm except, obviously, with a wider field of view.
It’s also compact, loaded with controls, mechanically precise and built to deliver high visual quality.
Furthermore, the new FE-format lens is fairly reasonably priced at $1,198.
Also, in case you’re unsure, FE lenses, while similar in most ways to Sony’s more widely used E-mount glass, are designed for full-frame cameras instead of the APS-C that E lenses are for.
Normally, you’d think that a lens with a fast aperture and promises of high optical quality would be fairly bulky. However, thanks to advances in mirrorless camera shooting, Sony is pushing against these boundaries.
The new FE 16-25mm f/2.8 G is an example of this. It weighs 409 grams or 14.4 ounces and has dimensions of 2.9 x 3.6″ / 74.8 x 91.4 mm.
The Sony FE 16-25mm f/2.8 G has a 67mm filter thread and is designed to make quick adjustments during shooting easy too. This is possible through three dedicated control rings for focus, zoom and aperture.
In the case of the aperture ring in particular, users can enjoy a click function for tactile feedback, or deactivate this for smooth transitions during video recording.
Furthermore, Sony has invested in making the FE 16-25mm f/2.8 G exceptionally rugged, with enough weather and dust sealing to make it an ideal outdoor compact zoom lens.
It also has a fluorine lens coating for repelling fingerprint smudges. It’s versatile too, being ideal for both photo and video recording.
Here are a couple of sample photos:
Another neat thing about the FE 16-25mm f/2.8 G is its combination of a bright maximum aperture of f/2.8 with an 11-bladed diaphragm for smooth, natural-looking bokeh and good low-light performance. Internally, it comes built with 16 elements in 13 groups.
The FE 16-25mm f/2.8 G lens can be used for both close-up shooting thanks to its surprisingly close minimum focus distance of just 7.1 inches or 18 cm, but is also ideal for panoramic, landscape, travel and even street photos.
Sony will start shipping this versatile powerhouse of a compact fast zoom lens as of April 22. You can preorder it now for a price of $1,198.
Image credit: Sony
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Stephan Jukic is a technology and photography journalist and experimental photographer who spends his time living in both Canada and Mexico. He loves cross-cultural street photo exploration and creating fine art photo compositions.
