Sony E 10-18mm f/4 reviews roundup: Should you buy it?
Released in 2012, the Sony E 10-18mm f/4 is a lens designed for Sony’s APS-C mirroless cameras, with a fixed aperture of f/4 and a focal range equivalent to a 15-27mm on a full-frame camera.
It has built-in Optical SteadyShot image stabilization, and it’s not weather sealed.
Specs:
- Mount: Sony E-mount
- Full frame eq.: 15-27mm
- Optical stabilization: Yes (Built-in Optical SteadyShot image stabilization)
- Weather sealed: No
- Weight: 225g (8 oz)
- Min. aperture: f/4
- Max. aperture: f/22
- Minimum focus distance: 25cm
- Filter size: 62mm
- Angle of View (APS-C) - 109 ° – 76 °
- Minimum focal length of 10 mm (15 mm in 35 mm-camera equivalency)
- Minimum Focus Distance : 0.82 ft (0.25 m), Maximum Magnification ratio : 0.1x
What do the critics think of the Sony E 10-18mm f/4?
Overall, the Sony E 10-18mm f/4 is a very good wide angle lens for Sony APS-C’s mirrorless cameras. It’s especially great for travellers who need a small and lightweight lens for landscapes and architecture, but also for Real Estate photography and for vloggers or youtubers who need a wide angle lens to shoot their videos.
Optically it’s not mind-blowing but it offers great performances, and for a wide angle lens, the distortion is incredibly well handled.
The Sony E 10-18mm f/4 is also compatible with Sony’s Full-frame mirrorless cameras like the Sony A7III.
The main downsides that come up most often is that it has soft corners and it’s not weather sealed. Also, it’s not very important but you should know that the lens cap sold with this lens sucks, it’s always dropping.
However, you should know that there are some bad copies of this lens, with very soft corners while some others provides images with slightly sharper corners. Check this Youtube video if you want to know more about this issue. If you supect that you a bad copy, don’t hesitate to get another one from Amazon.
Most reviews like…
- Good build quality
- Extremely compact and light
- Short focusing distance
- Low distortion
- Auto focus works great
- Very good resistance to flare
- Optical stabilisation
Most reviews don’t like…
- Soft corners at f/4
- Not weather sealed
- Autofocus might hunt in low light
- Lens cap is bad quality
- Pricey
For more infos about the positive and negatives sides of the Sony E 10-18mm f/4, check out the selection of reviews below:
Websites Reviews
Pcmag.com – 4/5 (‘The Sony 10-18mm f/4 Wide-Angle Zoom Lens is a great option for NEX owners who are in need of a wide-angle zoom. It makes it possible to captures images that are significantly wider than any other lens in the system, and its performance is impressive. The lens does suffer from the same type of edge stretching that you’ll encounter with almost every lens that captures this wide of an angle of view, but with some care in use the effect can be minimized. If you’re a NEX owner and crave a wide perspective, the 10-18mm is a worthy, albeit expensive, addition to your gear bag.’)
Ephotozine.com – ✪✪✪½ – (‘So long as the limitations of this lens are known, and understood, then this lens is certainly capable of producing high quality images. However, it is a shame that the performance at maximum aperture between 14mm and 18mm isn’t up to the same high standard as when the lens is stopped down a little.’)
Thephoblographer.com – Recommended (‘At the end of the day as an NEX shooter, you only have a couple wide angle options and even though this is the most expensive of them, it is also the best. It is an AF lens unlike the Samyang lens, and it offers four stops of stabilization. If you need a lens to fill this niche focal length, this is the star that you should be shooting for. I do wish that it had a bit more of a focal range but if I were to get a NEX camera this lens would be accompanying it most places that I go. With that said I am very happy with its results and I can wholeheartedly recommend it.’)
Trailtopeak.com – No score – (‘This lens is a more than capable performer for all of my hiking photography needs. If you’re not sure whether or not you need a wide angle, take this advice: Shoot with your kit lens for a few weeks and look at your EXIF data. If you’re constantly close to the lower level, you’ll benefit from a wider angle lens. I had an 18-55 kit lens on my first camera many years ago, and was always bottomed out at 18mm, wishing I could go wider. That made the decision simple for me. Once you’ve decided you need a wide angle lens, or if you’re already sure and shopping around…buy this lens. Don’t over complicate things, you really can’t do better than this for the cost on a mirrorless set up. I can’t say enough good things about the Sony 10-18mm.’)
Amazon users reviews
- Angle of View (APS-C) - 109 ° – 76 °
- Minimum focal length of 10 mm (15 mm in 35 mm-camera equivalency)
- Minimum Focus Distance : 0.82 ft (0.25 m), Maximum Magnification ratio : 0.1x