Sony SELP1650 16-50mm Power Zoom Lens (Silver, Bulk Packaging)

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This is the most useful "kit" lens for my camera, the Sony A6000. I broke the original SELP1650 that I got with my camera when I dropped it. The few weeks that I was without it really made me appreciate the lens. I leave it on my camera all the time, especially when I want to travel light. I also have the 50mm prime and the longer kit zoom, 55-210. The SELP1650 by far gets the most use. When I carry my camera around for "street" shots, it is ready for anything. This lens is the most versatile and handy to carry. Many of the A6000 accessories (cases and underwater housings) are made to fit the camera with this particular lens attached. The lens performs extremely well and is really inexpensive. Get it bundled with your camera or as "international packaging", you will save quite a bit. I have a small collection of 49mm filters. I got a cheap 40.5mm to 49mm step up adapter so I can just use the same set on the SELP1650.

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I’m glad I didn’t listen to all of the negative reviews. This is exactly what I wanted. The lens that came with my Sony A5000 suddenly stopped working. Everywhere I search this lens was bundled with everything I didn’t want or need and the price was over $200. Then I came across this. The lens was neatly packed in bubble wrap, put into a small box, and then shipped in a bubble envelope. It included the the lens cap and storage cover. No frills and no additional crap at the perfect price point. The lens works great and exactly like the original. Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention fast shipping cuz it came the next day I ordered it. I’m a happy customer!

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So I broke my org. BLACK kit lens that came with my a6000, missed it (NEVER HAD A PROBLEM WITH IT). So I just purchased this one and it works and then it doesnt ---- I figured out that there is a round pin on the camera and there is a oval slot on the lens that doesnt quit match up so then the camera doesnt recognize the lens so I need to wiggle it a couple of time, and maybe turn off my camera off and on the camera AND then it will usually work. ------------ TOTAL BUMMER but for the price what do you expect. I can kick myself for breaking my black one - dont want the hassle of sending it back, so Im going to wiggle it til it drops. I dont know why its like this since my black one worked like a champ ---- Sony defect or ???. If you know let me know Im just curious.

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Funny how the kit lens for Sonys NEX-6 is one of the best zooms for the buck that you can get for Sonys compact E-mount cameras. This is also, I believe, the packed-in lens for the A6000, A6300 and A6500. That this lens has both a twist ring and a sliding switch that both control zoom by default is also a minor source of annoyance. However, the twisting ring can also serve double duty as a focus ring by changing a setting on the camera — at least, thats how it works on the old NEX-6. Image stabilization almost, but doesnt quite, make up for pretty mediocre low light performance, but it does buy a bit of wiggle room with the shutter speed. Finding good filters for the 40.5mm threads is tricky, but this is a flexible and compact lens that I never leave home without and Im usually pleased with my pictures.

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Got this lens for an original NEX-5, since it was purchased without one. I have used a kit lens from another NEX camera on this NEX-5. Sharpness is very similar between this pancake lens and kit lens. Size of this 16-50mm is just a tad over half of a kit lens. Widths between the two are about the same. This pancake lens is almost the size of 16mm f2.8 prime, only 4mm longer. Keep in mind when this lens gets powered up, it extends to nearly double its length. Not a problem for me. On older NEXs like original 5 & 3, there is a great bit of vignetting in the corners at the widest end of this lens. Thats a reasonable tradeoff for having a very wide angle. Some people, who do extensive measuring of lenses, say this lens is more like 14.7mm lens then a 16mm, but on compatible NEXs like NEX-6, the final image is slightly cropped to eliminate corner vignetting, which brings the image back to about 16mm wide. There is also some moderate distorsion, especially at the widest algles. Overall Im very happy with this lens, since positives far outweigh the negatives for me. I would encourage anyone looking at 16mm prime to save some $ & get this instead. ⅔ faster aperture is not worth being stuck at 16mm all the time, and this has OSS (Sonys optical image stabilizer), which the prime does not. Hoping Sony will make more pancake lenses in the future!

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This is the "newer" kit lens that is included with Sony NEX (being transitioned into the alpha lineup) cameras. Most people probably wont be buying this separately. The older version that was included up to the NEX-5R (I think) is big and has standard non-powered zoom. This one is a lot more compact. Now you can really have a compact NEX set up with a zoom lens (before, the only option is to use the pancake prime lens). The zoom is now electronic, but you can still use the ring to zoom in and out aside from the lever. The ring can also be used for focus adjustment, which is really nice to use, imo easier than the "stiffer" ring on the regular lenses. Quality wise, its okay. Again, its a kit lens. Most people wouldnt have a problem with the image quality, but watch for distortions on the sides/corners, especially at the widest setting. I can still see it in some cases, even with the in-camera JPEG of my NEX-5R. I dont remember the original bigger kit lens had such distortions. Definitely not the enthusiasts lens. Depth of field is very limited, and its slowness becomes apparent quickly in low-light situations. The compactness makes it really useful for travel though. I now carry this alongside the 35mm prime. This bulk packaging is the kit lens separated from a bundle. What I got was just the lens inside a brown box... without the back lens cover. Sure, its covered with bubble wrap, but I assume the back side of the lens is pretty much "exposed" from the moment it was taken out from whatever original bundle it came with. That may not bode well with some people. The upside is you are paying less than the regular retail version that Sony offers.

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Fabulous! My original lens dropped and was stuck in zoom mode, so I had to find a reasonably priced replacement that wouldnt break the bank. This did the job! I ordered a few days before leaving on a trip and it arrived safely and on-time. Everything is still working perfectly.

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Nice lens. No paperwork for lens. May be Gray market as it was "bulk packed". None the less, it works perfectly. Good replacement for the kit lens that came with my Sony A6000 and failed (camera would not "recognize" the lens when installed) just as it was out of warranty. (my other lenses worked fine). Sony quoted me $156.00 to INSPECT it once I sent it to an authorized repair facility !! Paid about the same for this new one and got it in just a couple days!! Thanks.

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Its even lighter than I hoped it would be and can focus on multiple points. It zooms and has optical zoom as well, and my photos came out just as sharp, detailed, and richly colored as with my other lenses. Its even easy to fit it for a lens hood and manually fine tune. This is an authentic Sony lens that was safely shipped to me, albeit it without the original packing. But it certainly arrived brand new with both lens caps. Im in love with this lens.

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I know theres a certain amount of risk to purchasing items that dont have the manufacturers warranty (such as this lens), but as long as you return it immediately should there be anything wrong with it, I dont see why anyone would ever buy the version with the manufacturers warranty. Sure if it goes bad in a year or two, I may regret it, but often times warranties expire before then anyways. Get this one over the full priced one; Im very happy with the amount of money I saved and the quality of this lens.

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