“hello world double thumbs here the sony
55 to 210f 4.5 to 6.3
is a budget telephoto lens usually sold
new for 350.
i bought this example for 75 from a
local camera store and
this cheap telephoto lens is not known
to have the best image quality
but i think it is a good price or good
value
telephoto lens for someone who’s wanting
to try out their first
telephoto lens like myself and
sony sells this as one of the kit lenses
for their aps-c cameras and i
really do think this is the best value
telephoto e-mount lens
let’s go see why i think that is
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and the first positive i’ll talk about
for this lens is the price
and yes the sony 70 to 350g
lens is an upgrade in every single way
it’s got a sharper image quality
and it’s able to reach almost double
the focal length and also it is weather
sealed
but for us non-professionals
900 is a lot of money for a lens no it’s
not it’s actually a bargain
at 900 i mean the sony 100 to 400 gm
lens that’s
2500 so 900 that’s
that’s basically free
so for us non-professionals the 55 to
210 at
a third of the price is an attractive
choice and
i know that the price of a new lens for
this
is about 350 dollars but you can easily
find
lenses for about 100 or less
in the used market and there are three
reasons why
first is that sony sold a lot of these
lenses as a part of the kit lens along
with the
sony 16 to 50 kit lens and secondly
the lens has a bad reputation for having
poor image quality so the price goes
down quickly
and it’s an old lens so it first came
out in 2011
so it’s all technology as i mentioned
earlier i got this example for 75
dollars from my local camera store
that’s vintage lens price for a native
e-mount lens that’s gonna
auto focus and has stabilization built
in
i personally don’t use my telephoto
lenses or telephoto field of view that
often
so spending nine hundred dollars for
something i wasn’t going to use that
often
wasn’t the smartest choice but for 75
dollars i’m really happy to have this
lens in my camera bag
that’s going to go twice as far as my
sony 18 to 105 which is
my longest reaching lens before i bought
this lens
and the second positive i’ll talk about
is it’s lightweight
and it’s small size and the compactness
of the sony aps-c system is definitely
one of its biggest strengths and
the 55 to 210 is a small and light
telephoto lens
it’s only about 64 by 108 millimeters
which is a lot lighter compared to very
large full-frame telephoto lenses like
the
fv70 to 300g lens which is 84 by 144
millimeters
and even compared to the 70 to 350g lens
that’s meant for aps-c
it’s a lot smaller because it’s about
77-142 millimeters
and also weighs only about 345 grams
which is a lot lighter than the 70 to
350 g lens which is
almost double at 625 grams
or the fv to 70 to 300 g lens which is
854 grams yes the g lenses are going to
be superior in every
way possible but this 55 to 210 is the
only affordable
zoom telephoto lens so the only
comparison that you could compare it to
it would be those g lenses and this is
much lighter and
much smaller than those two lenses and
even if you look at the super zoom
lenses like the 18 to 200
this is still going to be cheaper
lighter and
better in terms of value and the third
positive is the
stabilization and stabilization is key
in video making shaky footage makes
people want to stop watching
and buttery smooth gimbal dog videos
make people happy
despite being a cheap kit lens the 55 to
210 has
lens stabilization or sony’s optical
steady shot
and since most sony aps-c cameras do not
have in-body stabilization
the lens stabilization is a must and
these hand jitters
and shakes become more prominent at
telephoto angles
so the 55 to 210 optical steady shot
makes a huge difference when making
videos handheld as you can see the
difference between the oss
on and the oss off for
55 to 210 is pretty noticeable even to
a non-professional like me so now on to
some negatives and the first negative
would be that image quality
and as one of the kit lenses available
for these only aps-c cameras
the 55 to 210 doesn’t have the sharpest
image quality in my non-professional
opinion
i don’t think i would spot a world’s
difference if i view the 4k videos of
the 55 to 210
versus the 4k videos of 18 to 105 g lens
on a smartphone screen but on a tv
screen or a computer monitor screen the
18 to 1005g
lens produces a sharper and more
pleasing looking image
and this is the main reason why i
haven’t used the 55 to 210
much since i bought the 55 to 210 the
182 105 has enough zoom range for me
and has superior image quality with one
of the best
lens stabilization in the email world
compared to
a 50 millimeter f 1.4 prime lens the
sharpness is a world’s difference the 55
to 210 still will create more than
usable 4k videos for youtube and on
professional videos
and it’s not like the 4k videos are
gonna hurt your eyes
in any way but because of its softer
image i find myself
gravitating towards other lenses more
often than this one
the second negative of this lens is its
aperture and the 55 to 210
is a darker lens with the aperture of
4.5 to 6.3
but it’s not alone because most
telephoto lenses have
high aperture like the 70 to 350g lens
is also
f 4.5 to 6.3 so
at the max aperture of f 4.5 at 55
millimeters and
f 6.3 at 210 millimeters it doesn’t make
this lens a great low light lens
compared to a 50 millimeter f 1.4
vintage lens the
f 4.5 at 55 millimeter has noticeably
more grain and it’s just not the quality
that you expect from a bigger sensored
camera but
as long as there is enough light i like
the bokeh you get out of this lens at
210 millimeters it’s
just not a lens you’ll bring out to the
late night bird videos or
low light indoor events and the third
negative of this lens will be
the build quality and i’m not an
engineer but
it does look likes only fuse two lenses
to make a telephoto lens
and it doesn’t have a zoom lock so you
can push it out but you can also push it
in very easily
and considering it’s only a hundred
dollars i
really can’t complain but you can tell
that this isn’t
the most high quality or high priced
lens so in conclusion the sony 55 to 210
is a great budget telephoto lens for
youtube videos
there really isn’t an alternative for
sony aps-c users looking to
add a little bit more reach without
spending 900
or more and yes it’s not the sharpest
not the brightest and not the most
sturdiest but
it’s a lens you can buy for less than a
hundred dollars
and it’s definitely not my most used
lens it’s probably my least used lens
but i’m happy to have it because
of its low price and it the special
purpose that it serves
and i think the 16 to 50
along with the 55 to 210 the kit lens
combo
could be all you need for most
situations
and i should probably compare the 16 to
50 plus the 55 to 210 combo
versus the 18 to 105 single
lens setup to see which is the better
setup
but what do you guys think about the
sony 55 to 210
is it worth buying or should people stay
away from it
i think you should buy it especially if
you can buy for less than a hundred
dollars
but let me know what you guys think down
below and until next time
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“