Sony FE 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS review

The Sony FE 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS is a popular and relatively lightweight standard zoom for Alpha cameras

Sony FE 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS review
(Image: © Sony)

Digital Camera World Verdict

A good budget option, this lens is compact, lightweight and relatively affordable for an own-brand Sony standard zoom. With fast autofocus and 3-stop optical stabilization, it ticks all the right boxes for casual, everyday shooting and travel photography, although the maximum field of view is naturally more restrictive than with Sony’s 24-70mm lenses, and the long-zoom aperture rating of f/5.6 is comparatively slow.

Pros

  • +

    Compact and lightweight

  • +

    3-stop optical stabilization

  • +

    Relatively inexpensive

Cons

  • -

    Modest aperture rating

  • -

    Basic handling

  • -

    Heavy pincushion distortion

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There’s been a big uptake of the Sony FE 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS, largely because it’s a popular kit lens option with Sony’s full-frame mirrorless cameras. It’s pretty compact and lightweight for a full-frame compatible standard zoom lens, at 73x83mm and 295g, despite lacking a retractable design. It also includes a 3-stop optical stabilizer, which comes in very handy on first-generation A7-series cameras that lack in-body stabilization. 

Specifications

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Matthew Richards

Matthew Richards is a photographer and journalist who has spent years using and reviewing all manner of photo gear. He is Digital Camera World's principal lens reviewer – and has tested more primes and zooms than most people have had hot dinners! 

His expertise with equipment doesn’t end there, though. He is also an encyclopedia  when it comes to all manner of cameras, camera holsters and bags, flashguns, tripods and heads, printers, papers and inks, and just about anything imaging-related. 

In an earlier life he was a broadcast engineer at the BBC, as well as a former editor of PC Guide.