This was the first lens I ever purchased after my transition from Sony DSLR/T to mirrorless in 2015. My friend Trey Ratcliff owned this lens and recommended it for the Sony a6000, as it was the only wide angle lens option back then. I decided to purchase it and what a great companion this lens was!
I retired that lens, once I went more to full frame usage and was only utilizing ZEISS lenses for full frame (APS-C I utilized the Sony lenses). I've owned the Sony/ZEISS 4/16-35mm ever since then, but recently brought back the 10-18mm for my video vlogging with my Sony a6400, for my YouTube Channel. The reason being that ZEISS doesn't offer a lens in their lineup at this focal length.
If you're wanting a great wide angle solution for stills then this is a great lens to have. It's compact, with great image quality. If you're doing any vlogging then I highly recommend it for that. It's one of the widest lenses you can buy for the APS-C Sony cameras as well.
Sony 10-18mm Specs & Images
- Sony E-Mount (E - APS-C lens)
- Aperture Range: f/4-f/22
- 62mm Diameter Filter Thread
- Metal Construction
- 109 - 76 degrees - Angle of View
- 9.84" inches (25cm) Minimum Focus Distance
- Optical Steady Shot
- Auto Focus
- 0.50lb (225g) - Weight
Most of my images with this lens have been landscape and architecture, but you’ll also find that I’ve used this lens for worship and events. I think it’s a very well rounded wide angle, because of it’s range.
Something to note is that this lens is a Full Frame (FE) lens for Sony’s Mirrorless E-Mount cameras, but it can be used on the cropped APS-C cameras, which will give you a 35mm equivalent focal range of 24mm - 52.5mm.
What I think about the 10-18mm
It's a powerful lens in a small package! There are many new lenses within the Sony lineup, since the first time that I purchased this lens.
This lens is very compact and much smaller than the full frame Sony 12-24mm lenses, but is APS-C specific, but does give a wider field of view than what the 12-24mm lenses would give on the crop body camera system.
The lens is a metal construction, but the lens hood is plastic. For the available wide angles this is the most affordable of all of them. If you're like me and wanting to utilize a lens for vlogging then this is your best choice. It's more affordable, compact, lightweight and would probably be a lens that you wouldn't be as upset if it got damaged, compared to a more expensive lens.
Sony 10-18mm Usage (Images/Videos)
- This was my primary lens for the Sony a6000. It was utilized for all of my epic landscapes and cityscape images. This lens was also utilized on the full frame Sony a7, which you'll learn about later on in the blog and just how this was able to work at full resolution on a full frame camera.
- I enjoyed using this lens for worship, for the moments that a church service may have been fully packed and could capture a super wide image of the entire church building filled.
- I use this lens for my YouTube videos on my newer Sony a6400 camera, as it has a flip screen for viewing yourself. If your camera doesn't have that then this is a great lens to still utilize, as you'd be sure you're in the video perfectly while filming, due to the field of view of the lens at 10mm.
What makes the Sony 10-18mm great?
- Distortion - Many will see this as a bad thing, I count this a great thing! I love what this lens does with the edges, because of how wide it is.
- Size - I simply can't get over how small this lens is! Paired with the a6000 this is a very sweet compact lens to have attached all the time!
- Image Quality - I’ve heard some say this lens isn’t good wide open, but I can’t agree with those comments. I’ve taken images shot at f/4 and f/4.5 and even on the edges there wasn’t any softness I noticed in my photos. It was pretty sharp through-out the entire frame! I use this lens for my epic landscapes/architectures and even street photography and it’s quite darn impressive!
- Build - I don't know what it is, but I love the build to these E-Mount lenses and I love the finish on this lens! The lens hood is also great on this camera, very solid plastic petal lens hood!
- Full Frame capability - Of course, this is an E-Mount or cropped sensor lens, but this can actually be used on the Full Frame mirror-less cameras also! If you photograph between 12-18mm (Take the lens hood off to achieve this range) you’re able to take advantage of this lens with my favorite full frames, the Sony a7 and a7r! It’s quite impressive with those cameras. Many ask me how or why this lens works on full frame and I simply don’t know why. It just does. If you need more info then ask my friends over at Sony about it.
What makes the Sony 10-18mm not so great?
- Weather sealing - As great as this lens is and the number of landscape photographers who use this lens on the cropped and even full frame sensor camera's, for being the only wide angle for cropped sensors I would have liked a weather sealed lens as well. It would make this an even better lens, especially for the price... I don't see why this wasn't done for such an incredible lens!
Why use this lens on Full Frame? Isn’t it for APS-C?
Yes, this is an APS-C lens for cameras like the a6000 and a6300, but this lens works on the full frame sensor a7 cameras as well, between 12-18mm as mentioned earlier.
The reason I use this lens is because I’m able to obtain a wider image than using the Carl Zeiss 16-35mm, which I also use however. That lens on FF is tighter at 16mm than the same 10-18mm lens on my a6000, which gives me 15mm with the crop factor of 1.5x.
You will get a little bit of distortion on the edges and maybe some sharpness fall off, but that doesn’t bother me.
Who is this for?
Anyone wanting to get some epic landscapes or wants to bring new life to their photographs with a different perspective!
Grant it, this isn't a cheap lens by no means, but if you can find a great deal on one used like me then it won't be too bad, but even at $200 off, you're still over $600 for this lens, but it's a must have lens and should be one of your first lenses for your a6000.
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