Sony E 55-210mm F4.5-6.3 OSS Review - Review 2022

The Sony Eastward 55-210mm F4.5-five.vi OSS ($349.99) is the low-cal, upkeep telezoom lens for the company'due south APS-C mirrorless organization. Information technology's often included in bundles, and so yous tin can get it for little or no additional money. If you're looking to buy it at full retail price, be aware that while it has some benefits—notably a light, meaty design—you lot'll need to narrow the discontinuity to f/8 to become quality images when zoomed. For daylight use that's not a large deal. But if you lot desire a more versatile telezoom that delivers crisp images in more difficult light, consider the pricier FE 70-300mm F4.v-five.6 G OSS instead.

Design

The E 55-210mm ($348.00 at Amazon) measures in at 4.iii by 2.5 inches (HD) at its shortest position, but just about doubles in length when zoomed to 210mm. It weighs but 12.2 ounces and has a modest front element, supporting 49mm screw-in lens filters. A reversible hood is included, forth with standard front and rear caps. Sony offers the lens in a blackness or silverish terminate.

Build quality is solid, with a metal barrel and knurled focus and zoom rings. The lens isn't sealed to protect it and your camera from dust and moisture, still, so owners of the sealed Alpha 6300 and Alpha 6500 should consider an Atomic number 26 lens similar the 70-300m or Fe 70-200mm F4 Chiliad OSS, both of which feature sealed designs, if use in inclement weather is a priority.

The 55-210mm is designed for use with APS-C cameras. Yous can mount it on a full-frame Alpha 7 Two, however. If y'all practise, the photographic camera volition automatically ingather its sensor to lucifer the smaller APS-C size, matching the field of view of a 83-315mm full-frame zoom. You lot can set the Alpha 7 II to use the entirety of its sensor, but if you do so you'll stop up with a night circular vignette surrounding the centre of your images.

Minimum focus distance is 3.3 feet (ane meter), which is maintained throughout the zoom range. It gives the lens a decent 1:4.4 macro capability when working at the minimum distance at 210mm, projecting objects onto the paradigm sensor at a scrap less than one-quarter life-size. The more expensive 70-300mm does a fleck amend, projecting images at 1:3 at its closest focus and longest focal length.

Image Quality

I tested the 55-210mm with the 24MP Blastoff 6500. Information technology'south at its sharpest at 55mmm, notching 2,240 lines per picture height at f/iv.v. Image quality is stiff from edge to border, with the periphery of the frame showing as much resolution as the average Imatest score, which is already sharper than the i,800 lines we want to encounter at a minimum. Stopping downwardly to f/five.6 bumps the resolution to 2,419 lines, and information technology'southward sharper still at f/8 (ii,619 lines) and f/xi (2,718 lines). Diffraction sets in at narrower apertures, sapping resolution at f/16 (2,430 lines) and f/22 (1,507 lines).

Paradigm quality drops significantly when zoomed to 130mm. At f/five.6 the lens shows ane,757 lines, which doesn't meet our minimum standards. Stopping downwards to f/8 changes the story, improving the average score to 2,290 lines. Epitome quality is a bit better at f/xi (two,365 lines) and f/xvi (2,481 lines), but f/22 (1,695 lines) should be avoided.

See How We Exam Digital Cameras

At 210mm the maximum aperture is f/half dozen.three, merely shooting broad open nets softer results—one,630 lines on average, based on a well-baked center (2,092 lines), soft mid parts (1,546 lines), and blurry edges (1,076 lines). At f/8 the average score improves (1,963 lines), and image quality is acceptable at all just the outer tertiary (1,202 lines). You get ameliorate functioning at f/11 (ii,253 lines), with a periphery that is soft (1,565 lines), just not completely blurred. There's a slight improvement at the edges at f/xvi (1,634 lines), simply the average score tops out at 2,178 lines. Don't shoot at f/22—the lens resolves but 1,572 lines there.

In that location's some pincushion distortion, typical of a telezoom, just it's adequately well controlled—less than one percent at 55mm, and about 1.7 per centum at 130mm and 210mm. Straight lines are drawn with a slightly in curve, simply y'all can enable in-photographic camera correction to eliminate it from JPGs and pretty hands remove information technology using a lens contour if you develop Raw images in Lightroom CC.

I utilize an Expodisc to capture a flat, grey image, and analyze information technology using Imatest's Uniformity tool to determine how even illumination is across the frame. Wide open, at any focal length, the lens shows well-nigh a one.five end (-1.5EV) deficit at the corners of the frame compared with the centre, giving images a slight vignette. Narrowing the aperture past a stop cuts the deficit to under -1EV, which is negligible in field conditions. If yous shoot JPGs you lot tin can enable in-camera correction for this effect, and if you opt for Raw capture it's taken care of past the same lens profile that eliminates distortion in Lightroom.

Conclusions

The Sony E 55-210mm F4.5-v.vi OSS isn't a slap-up performer beyond 55mm when shot broad open. If you're looking for a telezoom that gets solid results at its maximum aperture, the FE 70-300mm F4.v-5.half-dozen and FE 70-200mm F4 are both ameliorate choices, but too cost upward of $1,000. If you're looking for a budget option, the 55-210mm nets solid images, as long as you call up to set the aperture to f/8. Yous'll still be able to shoot at short shutter speeds to freeze motion and capture crisp action for outdoor sports and wildlife under bright light at f/8. If you want a telezoom that captures more light and delivers tack abrupt results when its iris is wide open up, you lot'll need to spend more than money.

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Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/cameras/14464/sony-e-55-210mm-f45-63-oss-review

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