Top positive review
15 people found this helpful
Great, affordable way to fill your telephoto niche.
By Amazon Customer on Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2016
I bought this lens in anticipation of a 3 month trip to East Africa and it performed beautifully. The build quality is very good, it held up for a 3,000 mile motorcycle journey and a handful of rainstorms, bumps, and drops. Though relatively large compared to the camera, it's still much smaller and more portable than DSLR lenses of similar focal lengths so it maintains the compact benefits of the mirrorless system. The small camera body looks a bit ridiculous, especially when the zoom is fully extended and the lens hood is on, but the weight and balance is very comfortable in the hand. Not an expert on performance but this lens was an enormous step up from the kit lens for wildlife photography and (to a lesser degree) portrait shots. Clarity is very good in most cases, though performance diminishes in low light. A wider aperture would be nice, but for the price I can't complain. The 55mm minumum focal distance limits the versatility of the lens (especially at f4.5 since a wider aperture would make it much more well suited for portraits) more than would be the case on say, an 18-200. But I obviously knew that before purchase. Overall, this lens does exactly what I bought it for and does it very well. I can't recommend it enough for someone looking to take advantage of alpha series' interchangeable lens system and step into focal lengths not provided by the kit lens.
Top critical review
27 people found this helpful
Not stellar, but good enough for casual use.
By E. Hung on Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2016
Coming from the Canon DSLR system, I am used to the stellar optics of its value telephoto lens: EFS 55-250mm F4-5.6 IS STM. So when I bought the Sony 55-210mm, I had already known that it would not live up to my high expectation. I did not want to invest in those >$1K FE telephoto lenses as I wasn't sure about switching totally from Canon to Sony. Previously, I was using my vintage Canon FD 80-200mm F4 lens with an adapter for my Sony E-mount bodies. But this set up did not allow me to nail focus consistently with manual focus. Forget about wildlife and action, it 's just not gonna happen. I also pondered about micro 4/3 as it has 2x crop factor and there are many choices for telephoto. But I eventually stick with Sony because of its great CMOS sensor for high ISO. When Amazon Warehouse deal had some inventory of the 55-210mm for a reasonable price, I took the plunge. I wanted to downside my gear for travel and with the 55-210mm I might also be able to sneak that into indoor concerts. My Canon 7D Mark2 and 5D Mark2 DSLR are just too bulky and less discreet. The Sony 55-210mm performs flawlessly on my A6000 body. I took them out to do some wildlife photography at my local refuge and was able to capture some reasonably good shots of birds in flight and butterflies. The focal range is still a tack too short. Fortunately, I make that up the 24Mpixels sensor of the A6000 body by cropping heavily. Sharpness especially toward the corner and wide open is definitely nowhere near my Canon EFS 55-250mm STM. BTW, the latter lens offers an incredible value. You could pick one up from Canon refurbished store at about $149 with 1 year warranty if you happen to own a Canon DSLR. The lowest I have seen on the Sony 55-210mm brand news is still about $200 and it's slower and less sharp. However, if your intention is for casual use, it does it job. I think it would be alright for 4K video recording as well as the lens only needs to resolve up to about 8 megapixels. To sum up, this Sony E 55-210mm is the only choice with AF capability at a price below $400. I wouldn't pay full retail for it because of its value. Its build quality is pretty decent with its metal body and metal mount instead of plastic. OSS image stablization works reasonably well on my A6000 and it 's quiet. If you don't have high expectation, this would be the lens for your telephoto need. Otherwise, go ahead and spend your hard earn money on the FE 70-200mm F4 or FE 70-300mm.
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