Sony AF DT 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 SAM A-mount lens reviews
 gancho#6663 date: Jan-2-2010 | |
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sharpness: 5 color: 5 build: 3 distortion: 5 flare control: 5 overall: 4.6 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Minolta 28,2.8 Minolta 50, 1.7 Minolta 35-70 Sigma 70-210 Tamron 80-210 Sigma 105 EX macro |
| price paid: | Ł67 |
| positive: | Great quality for the price, Very good macro which surprise me. Excellent sharp and good colours. Wide on my Sony A 200. |
| negative: | Plastic built is the main negative. |
| comment: | Much, Much better than 18-70 sony lens. The macro function is something I did not expected. I am pleased with the range 18-55 which is the best for camera from this sort. Well done for Sony. I will keep the lens defenitely. |
; 12MP| use_ran86#6490 date: Nov-30-2009 | |
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sharpness: 5 color: 5 build: 4 distortion: 5 flare control: 5 overall: 4.8 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | sony dt 18-70 minolta 35-70 f4 sony 50 f1.8 |
| price paid: | nzd 160 |
| positive: | sharp nice color cheap light weight |
| negative: | slightly noisy build quality |
| comment: | this lens is really sharp for a kit lens. i use it on my a200 replacing the original kit lens. center sharpness is amazing. it feels quite cheap but i like the new look. much better than the 18-70 kit lens. i think, optically it can easily match to canon or nikon kit lens. SAM doesn't give much advantage.. recommended!! go get one for you. |
| otamcnet#6457 date: Nov-25-2009 | |
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sharpness: 4 color: 4 build: 4 distortion: 4 flare control: 4 overall: 4 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | 18-70 Kit Minolta 50 1.7 Tamron 55-200 |
| price paid: | 77 USD |
| positive: | Sharp Lightweight |
| negative: | SAM is noisy Oter than that - None |
| comment: | Nice Lens - compared to the 18-70 kit lens its a monster. I got a good deal on ebay but would have spent the 2 bills if I could have found it local. Excellent, nice and sharp, lightweight. Some say the build is off, but I think its fine - I think the days of the heavy metal monsters are over. The lens is so good, I will wait for a bit to get the Minolta 28-85. |
| Derek#6249 date: Oct-20-2009 | |
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sharpness: 4.5 color: 5 build: 4 distortion: 4 flare control: 4 overall: 4.3 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Minolta 18-70 Tokina 20-35 f3.5-4.5 |
| price paid: | Ł65 (mint) |
| positive: | Lightweight Sharp Colour Cheap |
| negative: | Could be sharper at the wide end |
| comment: | Nice lens, build surprisingly good considering the weight. No major faults but it is definitely sharper at the longer focal lengths which is dissappointing as I bought this lens to cover focal lengths up to 24 mm until I can find (and afford) the Sigma 15-30. Interestingly, when at 55mm the exif data records 50 mm |
| jarnoshen#6220 date: Oct-14-2009 | |
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sharpness: 4 color: 4 build: 5 distortion: 3 flare control: 4 overall: 4 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Minolta AF 35-70/3.5-4.5 |
| price paid: | missing |
| positive: | Kit lens (cheap) Good build, very fast focus on my Sony A500. Sharpness is fine for its price. Color is nice in low light environment (especially with red lights). |
| negative: | Distortion is a little too large in 18mm end. Color is too blue in shadow. Sometimes, flare remains. |
| comment: | missing |
| Henryk#6180 date: Oct-4-2009 | |
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sharpness: 4 color: 4 build: 3 distortion: 4 flare control: 4 overall: 3.8 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | 18-70mm, 16-105mm |
| price paid: | 40GBP |
| positive: | Very light, reasonably sharp centrally, much better edges than 18-70, very good from 35-55mm, extremely cheap. |
| negative: | Build quality, noise, edges at 18 and 24mm when wide open, but at this price this nit-picking! |
| comment: | A great budget buy. I got mine on eBay and it is surprisingly good. It focusses very close and will double up as a flower close-up lens for me. |
| ksat90#5990 date: Sep-6-2009 | |
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sharpness: 5 color: 4 build: 3 distortion: 3 flare control: 4 overall: 3.8 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | SAL1870DT SAL75300 |
| price paid: | missing |
| positive: | Sharp... possibly outresolving the 10MP sensor at most centers wide open. Also, very sharp wide open. very little flare or vignetting. Distortion is correctable. Focusing is decently fast and accurate... |
| negative: | Build quality is so-so... SAM whines a lot... |
| comment: | I think this is possibly the most bang for buck lens that Sony has ever come up with. It's really sharp at any focal length at most apertures, and the contrast and color rendition definitely beats the old Minolta-based 18-70 design. The only gripe I have is that the SAM motor is rather high-pitched and although it doesn't seem noisy in usual environments, it is quite obtrusive in quieter environments such as theaters or plays... |
| perslucht#5950 date: Aug-31-2009 | |
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sharpness: 4 color: 4 build: 2 distortion: 4 flare control: 3 overall: 3.4 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Sony 18-70mm f3.5-5.6 Sigma 17-70mm f2.8-4.5 |
| price paid: | 49 Euro |
| positive: | Sharpness |
| negative: | Build quality No lens hood It feels very cheap Plastic lens mount |
| comment: | I like this new kit lens very much. I may look cheap and plasticly but the image quality is very nice. In low the light conditions it is not a good performer, but when there's enough light the images are very nice! I don't think the SAM makes much difference, it's just a kind of marketing trick. Canon and Nikon also sell build-in-focus-motor-kit-lenses so Sony also had to. |
| Doc_KoMi#5889 date: Aug-21-2009 | |
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sharpness: 4.5 color: 4 build: 4 distortion: 4 flare control: 4 overall: 4.1 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Sony/Minolta DT 18-70 Sigma 17-70 2.8-4.5 DC |
| price paid: | 35 Euro |
| positive: | Surprisingly sharp! |
| negative: | the missing lens hood |
| comment: | A very nice new "kit lens"! Surprisingly sharp, nice minimum focus distance, in my onpinion a big step ahead compared to the old 18-70, this cheap lens is almost as good as the Sigma 17-70. There is simply no reason why not to have it. Someone who is willing to buy a new entry level Alpha 230, 330 or 380 should also buy this kit lens! You really would miss out a good and affordable lens. Well, this lens may have a plastic feel (when you touch it), but it has a good look and an even better performance. SAM ist not really faster or even quiter than internal camera motor driven AF is, I guess upcoming new entry level Alphas will not have any internal AF motor... this is the beginning of something new, look at the small Nikon DSLR cameras. Well, but even that is nothing to complain about! The only bad thing that really annoys me is the missing lens hood (for god´s sake the 18-70 hood suits!) and the very cheap cap for the mounting bayonet. This was the first thing I changed when I bought this lens! I got myself a good and trusty hard plastic cap from an old Tamron... :) |
| terrylloydsmith#5773 date: Jul-28-2009 | |
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sharpness: 4.5 color: 5 build: 4 distortion: 4 flare control: 5 overall: 4.5 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | 18-70 kit lens 17-50/2.8 Tamron |
| price paid: | $199.99 new |
| positive: | Very Sharp Light Weight Close focus ability Low cost |
| negative: | Slightly noisy No lens hood included |
| comment: | This new kit lens from Sony is much better than the old 18-70. Sharpness is excellent, even wide open. Color is nice too. Lots of plastic but the build quality is top rate. Sony hit a home run with this lens, however why no lens shade? I purchased this for my daughter but I may have to get one for myself as well. Way to go Sony. |
| Paul07#5622 date: Jul-1-2009 | |
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sharpness: 4 color: 5 build: 3 distortion: 4 flare control: 5 overall: 4.2 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I used to own this lens |
| compared to: | Sony 18-70 Sony 18-250 KM 28-75 |
| price paid: | €59 |
| positive: | compact and light color and sharpness flare well controlled |
| negative: | cheap build quality - plastic mount (although way better than former kitlens !) |
| comment: | Compared to the previous kitlens, about everything has improved: i.e. better built, easy to use manual focus ring, better image quality (sharpness wide open has improved considerably and flare is very well controlled). AF performance is good, definitely fast enough, and accurate. Compared to the 28-75: sharpness is not up to the level of this f/2.8 lens (as expected), but colors of the 18-55 are nicer i.m.o. (a bit warmer). Obviously build quality of 28-75 is at a higher level, but so is price, weight and size ;-). And finally, compared to the 18-250, the 18-55 shows less distortion, and sharpness wide open is better. AF is a bit faster and more silent also (although not much). In summary, I think Sony did an outstanding job, redesigning the next generation kitlens. |
| CC#5621 date: Jul-1-2009 | |
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sharpness: 4.5 color: 5 build: 4 distortion: 4 flare control: 5 overall: 4.5 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | CZ 16-80 |
| price paid: | € 49 |
| positive: | Color Price Weight |
| negative: | Missing hood |
| comment: | Fast AF. Fantastic image quality for € 49. |
| Ivanhoe#5589 date: Jun-24-2009 | |
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sharpness: 4.5 color: 5 build: 4 distortion: 4 flare control: 5 overall: 4.5 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | 16-105 70-300G |
| price paid: | EUR 49 |
| positive: | Price Weight Distortion |
| negative: | Construction No hood Plastic lens mount |
| comment: | This replacement of the 18-70 kit lens holds up very well. Image quality is quite good for a lens of this price range. The construction is very light. There is no hood supplied, the lens mount is plastic and the extending barrel shows some play, but you get what you pay for. There is some barrel distorion at 18mm but it is not too bad. The length of the lens does not change much when zooming. The autofocus motor in the lens does what it has to do. Autofocus speed is pretty fast, but I don't really see the advantage compared to a screw driven lens: speed and noise are about the same. An SSM lens is vastly superior. I cannot escape the impression that the SAM is primarily for marketing purposes. All in all a very good beginners lens or nice backup lens. |
rating summary
- total reviews: 103
- sharpness: 4.20
- color: 4.30
- build: 3.40
- distortion: 3.88
- flare control: 4.14
- overall: 3.98
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