“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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