Photography Reviews

Digital Photography Equipment Review—The Sony 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 DT Lens

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The quality of your digital photography can definitely be affected by the quality of the lens you use. That is why the Sony 18–250mm f/3.5–6.3 DT is a lens to avoid, except for casual use or as a multi-purpose lens to match with your Sony 1.5x sensor camera, such as the Sony A55, A33 and A55V. This lens is made in China and 80 percent of its parts are plastic. Its major fault is poor optical and mechanical performance, including distortion and softness at the longest focal length.

Canon and Nikon lenses are far superior to the Sony 18–250mm f/3.5–6.3 DT. In addition to producing an imprecise image and distortions, tests have also revealed that the lens has lateral color fringes. These negatives won’t have much effect on typical family digital photography, but advanced enthusiasts and professionals will find it far from acceptable. Nikon’s 18–200 and 28–300 zoom lens are the smart choices for serious photographers.

When tested on a 16PM Sony A55V, images were relatively sharp at 18mm, except the sides and corners. As longer focal lengths were tested, they created softer and softer images. At 250mm, chromatic aberration was evident everywhere.

Some of the distortion produced by the Sony 18–250mm f/3.5–6.3 DT can be corrected with Photoshop’s lens distortion filter.

Optics
16 elements in 13 groups.
Three aspheric elements.
Internal focus.
Zoom: front section moves too much, as the lens is zoomed.
 
Focal Length
Angles of view are equivalent to 28–375mm lens on 35mm and full-frame cameras.
 
Close Focus
1.5 feet (0.45m), rated.
 
Maximum Reproduction Ratio
1:3.4, rated.
 
Filter Thread
62mm, plastic.
Does not rotate, but moves in and out when lens is zoomed.

Diaphragm
7 blades, stopping down to f/22–40.
 
Hood
Plastic bayonet C-SH104 included.
 
Size
3 x 3-3/8" (75 x 86mm), rated.
 
Weight
15.5 oz (440g), rated.
 
Even if you have a Sony 1.5x sensor camera, this lens provides little value, especially at more than $500. There are many lenses that are totally compatible with Sony DSLRs, provide quality optical performance and cost much less.