Sony 18-105 f4 G OSS
This is an analysis of the reviews for the Sony a6300 e-mount lens, the Sony 18-105 f4 G OSS.
There are not a huge array of lenses to fit the Sony e-mount. It is therefore worth investigating the Sony 18-105, which has a useful focal range for general, travel and landscape photography, and costs less than £500.
A Summary of the Reviews
- Not that fast but OSS makes up for 2 to 3 stops
- Reasonably sharp and almost outstanding.
- Some image quality flaws but nothing that cannot be ironed out in camera for JPEG and in post with RAW
- Too big for mirrorless ethos but nicely balanced on camera
- Not a Zeiss lens but has the look and feel of one.
- After all it is a Sony G lens at a reasonable price.
Sony 18-105 f4 G OSS Lens Reviews
Ken Rockwell
Always speaks sense. I have a lot of time for his reviews. This is his review of the lens.
These are my notes:
- Not as really sharp as most DSLR or Zeiss mirrorless lenses today, but the lens is more than adequate
- The zoom ring connects to the camera’s computer system. The disadvantage of this is that you can’t just twist the ring to go immediately from one end to the other; you always have to wait for it to motor in or out.
- Bokeh is good at the long end where it matters
- There is minor to strong barrel distortion, but this can be easily corrected in Lightroom or Photoshop
- Zooming is controlled by a motor which is much slower than a real mechanical zoom ring for shooting stills, but is much smoother for shooting video
- Size defeats the point of a mirrorless camera. If you don’t mind carrying it, does everything in just one lens at a reasonable price.
The Phoblographer
Plain speaking, with good selection of sample shots. This is the review of the lens
These are my notes:
- ‘The image quality is really where you’ll become smitten with it’
- The lens is internal zooming
- The exterior is smooth and Zeiss like, but there is no weather sealing
- ‘for element image quality, the Sony 18-105mm f4 G OSS has to be the single best lens that we’ve seen for the system’s APS-C cameras’
- Sharpness is best at above f6.3
- Big for a mirrorless camera
- Editors Choice
EPhotozine
Lots of detail with a few charts. This is the review of the lens.
These are my notes:
- ‘Despite the large size of this lens, it is reasonably light weight, weighing only 427g’,
- Manual focus is smooth and nicely damped
- ‘For those times when slow shutter speeds are necessary, this lens comes equipped with optical image stabilisation. With care, sharp hand-held images can be taken at shutter speeds as slow as 1/20sec, which is roughly three stops slower than the usual rule of thumb for hand-held photography would allow’.
- Sharpness at the centre of the frame is ‘outstanding’ through the range. Poor performance at the edge of the frame especially at 105mm
DXOMark
The go to site for lens performance. The Sony 18-105 scores 15. This is ahead of all the other zoom lenses available for Sony e mount in 2015. With the exception of the Sony Vario-Tessar T* E 16-70mm F4 ZA OSS which is a Zeiss lens and scored 17.
Admiring Light
The editor Jordan Steele now shoots entirely mirrorless with Sony, Fuji and Olympus kit
These are my notes:
- ‘The one down side to the power zoom implementation is that it sets itself to a ‘park’ position (somewhere in the middle of the zoom range) when you turn off the camera, and then resets itself to 18mm when the camera is turned on. It would be nice if the camera could remember the last zoom position and reset to that position when powering on’.
- The front element of the lens is hard to clean, and although UV filters are going out of vogue, fit one.
Where to Buy Your Equipment
I buy my equipment from Wex because of their exceptional customer service. I once returned a camera after 30 days, and the next day they called to return my money to my account. Their prices are always competitive and they offer good prices on the trade in of your used gear.