If you are all in the Sony system, or just part of your equipment is, it will be worth taking a look at the Sony FE 24-240mm f/3.5-6.3 OSS zoom lens for mirrorless cameras.
Designed for the full-frame shooter in mind. This lens is targeted toward people who want an all-in-one lens for everyday needs. This can cover anything from your wide-angle landscapes and architecture, all the way to zooming in on something that’s far away, such as sports and wildlife.
Let’s see if this lens suits your needs.
Things to consider
The Sony FE 24-240mm has an aperture of an f/3.5 to f/6.3, which means, this lens doesn’t have a constant aperture, and as you zoom through the focal length from 24 to 240mm, the aperture actually gets smaller, so you’re going from f/3.5 to f/6.3 which means you do lose a little bit of light as you’re zooming in.
Now, that’s pretty common with lenses that have a massive focal length like this one.
The lens is primarily constructed of high-quality plastics. With proper zoom and focus rings. It has a sleek black finish and accepts 72mm filters on the exterior, which means you can use plenty of filters and things like that on. It’s a very simple design with no lock switches.
The lens weighs approximately 780 grams, so it’s going to add a bit of weight to your kit.
But all and all, it feels well-balanced.
The zoom ring is quite stiff to turn. Maybe, Sony can be forgiven for not including a lock switch to prevent any zoom creep.
However, the focus ring is very smooth to turn without any resistance, it is not mechanical, the manual focus ring is electronic, and it does not have a focus-lock button.
Features and Benefits of the Sony SEL24240 FE 24-240mm
Key Specifications & Features
- Lens Mount: Sony FE (E-mount)
- Focal Length: 24-240mm
- Max Aperture: f3.5-6.3
- Filter Thread: 72mm
- AF Motor: SSM
- Image Stabilization: OSS
- Length: 119mm
- Weight: 780g
One of the main features of this lens is, of course, its 10 times optical zoom. However, with a lens like this, you’d want to have stabilization, and Sony has included an “Optical Steady Shot” Image Stabilization – OSS with this lens. So, if your camera doesn’t include built-in stabilization, this will still come in very handy.
The lens is also dust and moisture-resistant, so it can withstand different environmental conditions (but, it’s not weather-sealed).
In terms of autofocusing speed: it is quick for both photo and video, and it’s extremely accurate and able to lock fast into focus at the wide end, but can be a bit slower when zoomed all the way in.
The quality of images you can expect from this lens: First of all, sharpness is good throughout most of the zoom range (especially at the center), and the image quality suffers only at the long range of the zoom (that is something that we will expect from a super zoom lens). So, don’t you get disappointed with that, especially for an all-in-one lens. It is a bit soft in the edges of the frame, and the lens does suffer from a little bit of vignetting (also known as “light fall-off”, which in simple terms means clear at the center and darkening /fades off toward the edges) at the corners, but it can easily be corrected.
Second, there is distortion at the wide end, but again, that could easily be corrected. And while out-of-focus blurt isn’t the smoothest, it isn’t too distracting to take away focus from your main subject, so as an all-in-one, it does reasonably well.
Third, it’s not the best lens in low light situations, but as an all-in-one lens, you are getting one of the longest Sony lenses that Sony currently offers in its E-Mount range.
This lens minimum focusing distance is between 0.5-0.8 meters, so you can’t get very, very close to things. And when you do extend the lens all the way out to 240. It’s very long, so you just have to get back pretty far if you’re trying to focus on something quite close (but the super zoom can somewhat compensate).
So, it’s definitely not a macro lens, and sometimes it is a bit annoying cause you do want to get a little bit closer.
PROS
- Favorite all-in-one lens
- Good center sharpness
- Image stabilization
- Built-in autofocus
- Covers full-frame sensor
- A versatile lens with a super-zoom
CONS
- Slow aperture at tele end
- No weather sealing
- Fairly heavy
- Pricey – but usual for Sony lenses
- Image quality suffers at the long range of the zoom
What do users say about that lens?
The Sony FE 24-240mm zoom lens for mirrorless cameras, is a favorite all-in-one lens among most users across all platforms. Many users claim:
“One of my favorite lenses.”
“Been shooting with this lens for a couple of years. A nice all-in-one lens to use. overall, I’m happy with it.”
“This is a fantastic all-around lens.”
“Just got this to replace my 18-200! Great lens even on the A6500”
“I love this lens. I’ve been using it for almost two years now. First using it on my A6000 and then on my A7rii.”
On the other hand, there are some less-positive reviews, like:
It’s weight, you can not resale it at a good value.
Some would say it feels unbalanced.
Pricey.
Alternatives For The Sony FE 24-240mm f/3.5-6.3 OSS Zoom Lens
- Sony SELP18105G E PZ 18-105mm F4 G OSS
- Sony – FE 24-105mm F4 G OSS Standard Zoom Lens
- Sony 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 E-Mount Lens
- Sony FE 70-300mm SEL70300G F4.5-5.6 G OSS Lens
Conclusion
The Sony FE 24-240mm is quite a decent lens for an all-in-one. Usually, all-in-one lens trade image quality for convenience, but in this instance, it’s steadily not the case.
While it may not be Zeiss’s quality. It does deliver some reasonably sharp images. Even when zooms all the way in. overall performance is good for the price.
There is a bit of distortion at the wide end, and focusing is a bit slow at the tele ends, but other than that, this is pretty much the only option you have for an all-in-one.
And while the size and weight may sway some people from taking a serious look at the lens, I would recommend it for people who don’t like changing the lenses all too often.
The value of this lens is in its versatility, especially when traveling.
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