Review on 📷 Sony Alpha Digital SLR Camera Lens: Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T DT Zoom Lens 16-80mm f/3.5-4.5 by Barbara Majdoch

I bought this lens as a touring lens for my α700 replacing a very old Minolta glass. Image quality immediately after installation was stunning - near-uniform brightness with minimal vignetting, corner-to-corner sharpness, minimal chromatic aberrations and distortions. The lens has an unusually hard zoom ring and the focus ring appears grainy; It attracts a lot more dust than my other Sony and Minolta lenses due to the tiny grooves in the rubber. However, these issues are minor and if it ended there I would be very pleased. The main problem I had was that after only 13 months it began to suffer from star formation - the deterioration of the optical coating on the primary element. I've since heard that this is a common mistake with early production lenses, so I expected Sony to cater to a buyer who has invested so heavily in a lens. When I went straight to their Ginza customer service desk, I was told that they would appreciate no less than 24,000 yen - more than $300 - for their defective product. Over time, the situation has deteriorated to the point where it severely degrades the sharpness of the lens, rendering it virtually unusable. The combination of poor workmanship and poor customer service negates any benefit I could have gained from purchasing this lens.