Superzooms tend to get a bad reputation, and Sony’s 55-210 is no exception. I myself avoided it for years, but eventually I got it as part of a camera bundle so I figured I’d mess around with it for a couple weeks and see how I liked it.
I’ll be sharing a couple dozen sample photos and sharing my impressions. Here’s a quick TLDR but if you want all the details, keep scrolling. Let’s get into it.
Pros:
- Huge zoom range
- Cheap entry into telephoto
- Optical image stabilization
Cons:
- Images aren’t “perfect”
- Not massive but still fairly big
TLDR Verdict: While obviously surpassed by more expensive offerings, the Sony 55-210mm offers a great opportunity to dip your feet into telephoto work without breaking the bank. Check out what others have to say about it (affiliate link) or keep reading for my full impressions.
Size/Weight
First up, let’s talk about the size of this thing. It’s not massive, but it’s not exactly small either. It’s been quite a few years, but it’s DEFINITELY way smaller than I remember my Canon superzoom being.
Keep in mind the barrel extends substantially when zoomed. Weight-wise, it’s fairly light.
Build Quality
A big reason it’s so lightweight is that the build quality, while it isn’t bad per se, is certainly about as good as you’d expect on a low budget starter lens.
The body is plastic-y with a nice grippy zoom ring (the focus ring feels like crap). I have the black version personally, but like most of these old NEX-era lenses, it comes in silver as well which I think is super cool.
Usability/Ergonomics
From an ergonomics standpoint, I’d say the lens feels pretty good to use. The zoom ring works well and zooms super smoothly, and I didn’t notice any zoom creep (where the lens “zooms itself” if pointed up or down).
The 55-210mm is big enough to hold grip comfortably, but also light enough to where it doesn’t feel like you’re slowly breaking your wrist while carrying it around all day.
One thing to keep in mind is that it doesn’t offer any official weather-sealing. I’ve taken plenty of my non-sealed lenses out into gentle rain or snow and never had any problems, but just be aware.
Optical image stabilization is awesome to have, and I’ve found it works great and is especially a godsend at higher focal lengths (my ZV-E10 doesn’t have IBIS).
Image Quality
Alright ya’ll, I’m going to be straight up and admit that the images that come out of this time are NOT going to compare with a lens that’s three times more expensive… but it still exceeded my, admittedly very low, expectations.
At 55mm (widest) we see solid center sharpness regardless of aperture, but corners are pretty soft even when stopped down a bit. Mid-way, at about 125mm, we see pretty much identical performance.
At the tightest end of the zoom, 210mm, we see center sharpness fall off a bit but stopping down does help quite a bit. Corners at this focal length are unfortunately pretty muddy regardless.
The lens does have a bit of a vignette, but it’s easily corrected by either stopping down or a single click in post-processing. Chromatic aberrations, as far as I can tell, are nearly non-existent. Distortion is fairly minor but is noticeable. While it’s mostly correctable, it can pose a bit of an issue for straight lines such as architecture.
So yeah, definitely not optically the best lens out there, but it doesn’t have to be in my opinion. I’m not super happy with the 210mm performance, but the wider focal lengths are more than adequate given the price and zoom flexibility.
Autofocus
Finally, some quite notes on autofocus. Frankly, these days, there’s not much to say as almost all Sony lenses offer “good” autofocus, and this one is no exception.
Granted, this is from the early 2010s, so you can expect a few more misses and hunting than you would with a newer lens. Hasn’t been a problem for me.
Conclusion
Before we round out this review, I want to point out the main competitors to this lens:
- Tamron 28-200mm is $700 and way bigger.
- Sony 70-350mm is around $1000 and humungous.
So yeah, if you don’t have nearly $1000 to shell out and just want to dip your feet into telephoto work, the $325ish Sony 55-210mm is the move. If you’re a pro-getting-paid, skip it, but if you’re an amateur or a hobbyist, pick it up. I’ll drop a link below, thanks for reading. 🙂
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