Sony - FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM Wide-Angle Zoom Lens (SEL1635GM), Black

This lens is so good, my wife even enjoyed using it and she gets disappointed almost every night ,so it takes a lot, in my opinion, to impress her. It is worth the weight to use it, its now my main lens its so fun to use. A good way to think of it is, not every shot is a keeper, but every shot is clear!

I have been looking for a long telephoto for months and tested virtually every other lens for Sony e-mount including the original version of this lens (not so good) with my A7R IVA. Every single one had an unacceptably high rate of out of focus and soft focus shots under many conditions.Up to this point I had resisted buying this lens because of the price. Finally after exhausting virtually all other cheaper possibilities I spent the money!I am happy to report it was the best money I have ever spent! This lens is beyond good it is insanely good and the best lens I have ever used in nearly every category. I went from an estimated 30% keeper rate with most other lenses to a 95% keeper rate with this lens! The auto focus accuracy, sharpness, and picture quality are off the charts and my customers have been astounded by the quality!I cannot say enough about this lens coupled with the A7R IVA. It is mind blowingly good both for portrait and sports coverage and produces spectacular results with the right body!I should mention it destroys the cheaper shorter range 70-180mm from a competing manufacturer.Also be careful listening to biased influencers that profit financially or from receiving early access to new products. They may claim "the video is not sponsored" but receiving early (often pre-production) access to hot new products can also benefit them in terms of video views. What do you think happens to the early access a manufacturer gives them if their last product review was negative?Bottom line is I do not write many glowing reviews but after spending a few weeks doing shoots with this lens I could not be happier!

I do all kinds of photography and since I bought this lens over a year ago, it’s been my every day lens. The build quality is top notch. The autofocus is fast and accurate. The image quality is second to none with super sharp replication. The color contrast is what you would expect from a lens at this price range. The weight takes a little getting used to but it’s tolerable. As far as the value, it’s definitely worth the money. I have many lenses and I always find myself coming back to this one. I even have other GM IIs but they don’t have the reach that this one does. Sure this is not the lens for wide angle shots or other niche type shots but for an all around lens, I’m very satisfied.

While the size and cost of this lens can't be ignored, the quality and versatility also stand out. I normally post pictures, but there are already tons of sample pictures out there.Pros- The image quality is excellent and paired with the A7RIII, I was able to get some really great shots- The build quality seems very sturdy, and my copy of the lens seems to be very good (which may speak to quality control by Sony)- The zoom ring is quite firm, which keeps the lens from creeping.- Nice to have the zoom lock feature when you need it- Nice and sharp wide open, and throughout the zoom range (You can see a difference wide open at the end of the zoom range, but the photos are still very good)- After shooting a little with this lens, and taking about 100 pictures, very few of them had any chromatic aberration. In post, I only needed to correct for this in a few photos.Cons- The size and weight are quite significant, and pretty much take away any size advantage that the mirror-less A7RIII might have had over another DSLR- The focus is by wire, so you don't get the same smooth focus-ring feel.- While the A7RIII has IBIS, I would really like to see image stabilization here for the cost and size- Speaking of price... $$$ConclusionIf you are looking for a pro lens, and don't mind carrying it around, then this lens is great. Extremely sharp for a zoom and correcting any chromatic aberration, or lens distortion was easily handled in Lightroom. If you are looking to get a standard zoom for your Sony mirror-less, this is a great option.

First impressions of this lens are really good.I've done some test shots comparing against two other lenses in the focal range.Comparing against the Sony 28mm with 16mm conversion lens and with the Zeiss FE 35mm F2.8 lens (my favorite)Attached are a couple of test shots – nothing too special, I'm not DxOMark – check out their review when they get to it.Pros:- Solid Build – the high quality you'd expect from a GM lens.- Surprisingly light – I have this mounted on an a7rii and it doesn't make the camera too front heavy.- Has an 82mm filter thread – When you're getting down to 16mm it gets increasingly hard to find lenses that don't have a bulbous front element preventing a filter thread.- The Bokeh this lens produces is beautiful – not as noticeable in the lower focal ranges, as you'd expect. But 35mm gives an even smoother depth of field than my Zeiss 35mm equivalent- F2.8 at 16mm is impressive – For such a wide lens having the option to let in this much light is hard to come by.- Very little distortion – even without correction there is surprisingly little distortion on this lens.- Weather sealed!Cons:- The lens does extend when you use the wider end. Not a big deal, but it would have been nice to have that contained in the body.- It's not small, but that's expected from this.- When you use this with a filter, you will get a little bit of a vignetting from the filter – since the angle is so wide. Somewhat expected, but kind of a bummer. Even with 2 filters stacked, it's not noticeable above 20mmNot much bad to say about this lens. It's incredibly sharp and performant, while not feeling like a burden to carry around.