SOUNDIMAGEPLUS: Sony NEX-6 16-50mm - Review and User Experience

For all Sony NEX-6 and 16-50mm Review and User Experience Posts - CLICK HERE

This review could be one of the shortest on record. As far as the camera is concerned its pretty much a Sony NEX-5n in a NEX-7 body. As far as the 16-50mm lens is concerned, its an improvement on the 18-55mm but smaller.(UPDATE- see following post for further comment on this.) Not quite as economical as the review of Planet Earth in the Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy which was "Mostly Harmless" but getting there.

I will of course be proceeding to write a multi-part justification of those simple conclusions, but if you wanted the quick version, that was it!

Of course as far as I'm concerned a Sony NEX-5n in a NEX-7 body is pretty much a win win situation. The NEX-5n was my camera of the year for 2011 and the NEX-7 is one of the three contenders for 2012, so as you can imagine for me, whats not to like?

Picking it up I was immediately impressed by how "solid" it is. However Sony have done their usual mean trick of shipping the camera with the lens attached, so no need for body and lens caps. There is also no charger for the battery, its one of those that plugs into the camera. Good job it takes the same batteries as the NEX-7 for which I do have a charger. There is however an actual printed manual which is not always the case these days with Sony cameras. There might be some software included, but I didn't really look since there is full Adobe Camera Raw for the camera.

Now I am a fan of the NEX system. Like everybody else I wish the lens range was better, but its now become adequate, if nothing more than that. However being a fan of "metallic manual focus lenses from yesteryear", it does of course have the wonderful focus peaking feature included, which means I can indulge myself with my Voigtlander Nikon fit and m-mount lenses. The new zoom does seem pretty good from the few shots I've taken with it. Not as sharp across the frame as my Sigma 35mm but certainly better than the 18-55mm. It is small (ish) but not ridiculously so. As regular readers will know I'm no fan of "pancake" lenses, and fortunately when this one is extended it is a decent size and weight, and as usual like all the NEX system lenses its beautifully engineered.

There are a few changes to the body and I'll detail those later. As I said its the same battery and as you can see from the camera porn at the top of the page my NEX-7 leather half-case fits it perfectly.

There are a couple of sunny (but very cold) cold days coming up so I'll be putting the lens and camera through its paces more thoroughly and see if my concise initial review continues to be the case. In the meantime here are a few shots taken with the combination.