Alberta, Canada, has been pounded by polar vortex after polar vortex, pushing daytime temperatures down to -25 Celsius before any wind chill factors in. As Alberta-born Canadians, Jordan and I can brave the frigid temperatures for the sake of the show, but with our lavalier microphones refusing to hold a charge and our camera EVFs running at eight frames per second, we pressed on to review a fascinating little lens on what we knew would be a taxing day.
And what a little lens it is. Sony has come up with an ultra-wide prime that sports a handy f/1.8 maximum aperture, and this lens is tiny. Usually, when a lens is ultra-wide, it has to be physically large, and the same holds true if it is bright. Sony has managed to do both while keeping the $800 FE 16mm f/1.8 G hovering around 10.5 ounces (304 grams). I stood motionless in the arctic chill, lens in hand, thinking that something had to give. There must be compromises, and I was going to find them.
Sony FE 16mm f/1.8 G Review: How it Feels
The 16mm f/1.8 is part of the affordable “G” line of lenses, but it still has a fairly rugged build to it with some resistance to the elements. Even in the deep freeze conditions, I had zero issues with the lens functionality. I was also impressed by the amount of features that Sony has crammed onto this little lens.
The plastic hood surrounds a 67mm filter ring and is quite basic, but the rest of the lens features an aperture ring that can be set for both smooth or click-stop action and a customizable button on the side. The return of the typical Sony sloppy-feeling manual focus ring is present, but the aperture ring feels excellent and there is a focus selection switch and an iris locking switch as well. No matter how you look at it, the Sony 16mm is convenient and functional.
Sony FE 16mm f/1.8 G Review: How it Shoots
Twin linear focusing motors drive the little 16mm quickly and quietly from near to far and would be fast enough to tackle action shots taken extremely close to the subject, like skateboarding, for example, without issue. Unfortunately, nobody skateboards in the middle of winter (for good reason) so I chose to tackle some architectural projects instead. The 16mm focal length lends itself well to capturing dynamic building shots and exaggerates the sense of depth and height of whatever comes into view.
You also get this extreme look to the perspective when shooting up close at the minimum focusing distance of 15 centimeters (5.9 inches). The little 16mm delivers good sharpness up close, and the 0.3x magnification ratio is respectable and versatile even if it is not true macro. I thought I would see some longitudinal chromatic aberration (LoCA) when shooting up close, but I was pleasantly surprised to see almost none. The annoying color shifts in the foreground and background areas are common with fast aperture lenses, but the 16mm seems to have dodged this issue.
With a short but welcome break in the clouds, the sun offered a subtle touch of warmth to the skin, and, more importantly, an opportunity to test flare. Despite the more affordable nature of G series lenses, the coatings that Sony has added control flare extremely well. I did not notice much in the way of washed-out compositions, and the lens didn’t exhibit any strong ghosting when stopped down, either. I expected this lens to have some flare issues, but it surprised me.
Sunstars, on the other hand, are middling at best. Shooting the lens at f/16 readily created sun stars off of any pinpoint of light, but they tend to look broad and poorly defined. I know sun stars aren’t a high priority for everyone, but if you like dramatic pinpoints of light across a downtown cityscape or a dramatic sunburst cresting over a mountain, this lens ain’t it.
Sharpness overall is pretty decent, with good detail present at f/1.8. However, the composition has a noticeable lack of contrast across the whole frame. Stopping the lens down a little bit does wonders for the overall contrast and delivers brilliant sharpness to the central part of the image.
The corners do suffer at f/1.8 as well, and even when stopped down, they have a smudged look to them in the extremes of the frame. This is largely due to the significant amount of distortion correction being applied to the lens. A compromise that is necessary to make such a wide lens as small as it is. I would look to shoot with a moderately tight aperture for most landscape and architectural situations.
A 16mm ultra-wide isn’t usually a shallow depth of field kind of lens, but if you get close enough to the subject, you can achieve a very soft background. However, I do think that the bokeh is a weak point for this particular lens. At f/1.8, the specular highlights take on an oblong shape with onion rings and a strong soap bubble effect present. This can make the background look a little harsh when shooting up close however, in most photographic situations, the image will be mostly in focus, which helps to mitigate the issues.
Do you know what is even colder than Calgary during the day? Calgary at night. But I wanted to see if this lens had any potential as an astrophotography lens. The cloud cover obscured any starlight, but I tackled the next best thing and captured the city lights from Calgary’s most famous make-out spot. If a lens this affordable could also do astrophotography, the value would be incredible.
Unfortunately, one of the main compromises to making this tiny lens possible seems to be heavy astigmatism in the corners of the image. Any pin-points of light grow unsightly wings, and the effect extends farther from the corners than I anticipated. The softness inherent in the corners of the images at f/1.8 further limits this lens’s usefulness. You could crop heavily, I suppose, but the loss of wide-angle coverage and megapixels would be less than stellar.
Sony FE 16mm f/1.8 G Review: Video Shooters Rejoice
As handy as this little prime might be for travel and landscape, it also has a bright future as a video lens. The 16mm focal length is ideal for vlogging purposes, and the compact nature of the lens would make it ideally suited to a Sony ZV-E1 on a gimbal. The softer corners are mostly cropped out on a standard 16:9 frame, and the smoothly turning aperture will endear this lens to videographers.
I wanted to see if the lens had any focus breathing that would cause the entire field of view to change as the lens was focused. Focusing from near to far, I could see some breathing, but it was very minor. Most users won’t notice any problems, and if you choose to eliminate the breathing altogether using the built-in Focus Breathing Compensation on most Sony bodies, the crop is easily manageable. This lens has clearly been designed with video applications in mind.
Sony FE 16mm f/1.8 G Review:
The new 16mm f/1.8 G is adorable in the best way. Its diminutive proportions are ideal for vlogging on the go, and it would also make for one hell of a travel lens. Whether you want to capture the hidden alleys of a far-off Bazaar or take it as a hiking partner to capture a majestic mountain range from the summit, this little lens has lots of potential.
We certainly discovered the weaknesses of this lens, too. If corner-to-corner sharpness is of the utmost importance, this lens might not be the best choice for you, and the bokeh is clearly compromised as well, although I think the situations where this will be an issue are few and far between. I was disappointed by the lackluster astrophotography performance, but you can’t have it all for such a low price. At only $800, this little G lens offers a much more affordable option compared to the G-Master line and makes perfect sense for a creator who is willing to work within the strengths of this latest Sony optic.
Are There Alternatives?
The Sony FE 20mm f/1.8 G is an affordable lens that exhibits excellent image quality overall. It doesn’t give the same wide-angle range, but it is more versatile. If money is no object, the G-Master 14mm f/1.8 is optically stunning and still quite compact. The Sigma 14mm f/1.4 ART is also expensive and a little bulky, but you do get almost double the light.
Should You Buy It?
Yes. Vloggers and travel photographers have a new best friend for any wide-angle needs. Just make sure you manage expectations when it comes to bokeh and astrophotography.
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