HnRM thoughts on the Sony E 55-210mmm f/ 4.5-6.3

Hello everyone
Well, this is my review of the Sony E 55-210mm 4.5-6.3 lens. or the SEL55210.
I review it my style, if you looking for charts, pixel peeps and all, this is not the right review for you; I just share my experiences with it.

So here is the lens I'm talking about

• It's an E mount telephoto lens, going from 55 to 210 mm.
• The focus ring and zoom ring are made out of plastic, but it feels durable.
• It works on all the Sony NEX cameras, the newer, A5000, A6000 and even the full frame A7 and A7r (in crop mode)
• It's relatively cheap 340 USD.
• That lens is relatively small, well, not so much...It's looks huge on the NEX bodies; but decent compared to the canon or nikon lenses with similar focal ranges.

Mounted on the NEX F3 at 55mm

Mounted on the NEX F3 at 210mm. Kinda looks funny

• I love the circular lens hood. I always have it on. And I never had unwanted flares wih it.
• The lens is not heavy.
• Some people use it for nature, wild stuff, birds and all. I happen to use it for portrait,and flowers it works well and creates a rather pleasing bokeh.

You said bokeh? This is one of the first shot I took wih it. Unedited raw. 

• The autofocus is not the fastest and not the slowest. it's alright. Screw it, it's good.
• That lens sucks in low light, straight up. At dusk, the autofocus is slow, sometimes it might take 1 to 2 seconds to focus on the subject; which is tooooo much. I use it in manual focus when I feel there's not enough light, always. I never use indoor by the way.
• People will come and ask you about it, because it's weird how it looks so long on those NEX bodies. I got used to it.
• I always get some vignetting that is easily removable in lightroom with lens correction. I might be crazy, but it creates good vignettes (it's subtle) that I rarely remove in post processing.
• If you want a telephoto for your NEX or now alpha camera, don't hesitate. For that price range, you can't beat it. Just know that it is not good in low light.
• Oh, It's has OSS (stabilization) which is a huge advantage with telephoto lenses. you get less blurred shots.

@ 126 mm

this was shot at 210 mm, I rarely shoot it at 210

Probably the only indoor shot I took with it.the light was good though

Both shot at 117mm iso 400 f/5.6. The one above has no correction. The one below I applied the lens correction.

The vignette is subtle as you can see. I rarely correct it when I take portraits with this lens.


OK. Overall I like this lens for the price it has 340 USD. I really hate how it performs in low light.
I will soon move up to a full frame sensor, probably the A7. I will keep this lens. It does the job.
I don't use it everyday, but it's good to carry, just in case. When used well, it give you some fantastic images.If you only have a kit lens, i recommend this sel55210 to you, it will give you a different perspective on your day to day shots.
I'll post more portraits that I took wih it soon.
That's it.

Compared to the 18-55 kit lens (right).