Sony 16-70mm f/4 or 18-105mm f/4?

[i_am_kalel]

Good day ya'll!

 

I'm torn between getting one of these zoom lenses for general all-around travel lens. Which one is better regarding sharpness, color accuracy and auto-focusing? Let me know your thoughts. Thank you!

[tinplater]

I have owned them both, your personal needs and preferences will influence your choice and you will receive conflicting opinions.  I personally would choose the Sony Zeiss because it is lighter, smaller, and marginally better image wise (however there are numerous reports of good and bad copies out there!  Mine was excellent).  I did not like the power zoom feature on the 18-105 but if you are into video you might prefer that.

 

For me it boiled down to size/weight versus reach.

[aztec506]

I use the Sony Zeiss lens for my every day lens and love it.  If you can wait a month or so I would skip the 18-105 - Sony has just released a new lens that might be the perfect fit for you but there are no professional reviews out yet.    Check it out: Sony E 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 OSS    List is $599    If the reviews are positive I might think about swapping my Zeiss out for the extra zoom length. 

[Username]

Between my 16-50 and 18-55 I favor the 

18-55 for mainly ergonomic reasons and 

I never miss the 2mm on the wide end. 

   

Similarly, having acquired an 18-105, I'd 

never swap it for a 16-70. I value the 30 

mm on the long end waaaaay more than 

2mm on the short end, cuz it's 2mm that

I already know, by experience, that I can 

very well ignore.  

   

As to the new 18-135, maybe I will regret  

prematurely going for the 18-105 .... but I 

need to handle that new lens first, to find 

out just where in the zoom range the lens 

speed drops to 4.5 and 5.6. If it happens 

too quickly, as true with too many zooms, 

then I have no regrets about the 18-105 

with it's consistent f/4.0 speed.   

   

Given that I care about the consistent f/4.0 

cuz I shoot a lot wide open, that means I'll 

leave remarks about color and sharpness 

to those who stop down and shoot at lower 

ISO. As to the AF speed of the 18-105, for 

my style, always BBAF, it's usually close to

instantaneous even in poor light, and dead 

accurate on my old "obsolete" CDAF a6000. 

[AndersRilby]

I have used the Zeiss 16-70 as my standard lens since it was introduced and I am very pleased with the result.

[FunkyBrewster]

I'm happy with the Zeiss 16-70, which I chose over the 18-105 mainly because of the much shorter minimum focus distance (and also smaller size, manual zoom, and slightly better IQ). I already have the 55-210 kit lens, and don't mind swapping if I need to shoot longer than 70. If budget is a factor, it's probably worth waiting to see how the new 18-135 checks out, though.

 

If you get the Zeiss, get it with a proper exchange policy just in case you get a bad copy (although I haven't seen any reports of that lately). You can easily search for example images showing the defocus problem that bad copies have so it should be obvious what to look for.I think the bad reviews of the Zeiss are too harsh; really it's very nice lens for the size.