Sony SELP18105G E PZ 18-105mm F4 G OSS , Black

The most versatile lens, it’s sharp, autofocus is fast, and f4 ain’t really that bad. Its budget friendly, not too heavy, and is just a great lens for the price.

Photos taken at 105mm with NEX5T. They are cropped. Taken from about 40 feet away.UPDATE: updating to 5 stars. The more I use the lens the more I see how all of the benefits outweigh the bulk. Until a lens can offer the zoom capabilities of this lens while offering the high quality construction and pictures in a smaller package, I can't give this lens anything but 5 stars.This is going to be a brief initial impressions of this lens as I've only had it for a few hours. It came nicely packaged and despite knowing that it was going to be fairly big compared to the kit lens and the Sony 35f1.8, it was a little heavier than I expected Went onto my NEX 5T easy enough and then it was ready to go. The camera with the lens is much more bulky and heavy as expected but the lens has a good quality heft to it and seems well constructed.I took some test shots in moderate sunlight as well as mild indoor lighting. I did full 105mm and 18mm shots. My 35f1.8 takes noticeable crisper shots and the 1.8 aperture has outstanding background blur and bokeh, but I didn't buy this lens expecting it to rival that lens. I bought this lens as a versatile lens with good glass and good zoom and I believe I got it. I opted for this lens instead of more zoom with the 18200 and 55210 due to price and concerns with some criticisms from online reviewers. This lens has generally favorable reviews and didn't quite break the bank like other zoom lenses could do. The pictures I got were very clear and sharp throughout all the zooming. At full zoom the pictures remained surprisingly crisp and clear and I am very satisfied with the results so far.You're gonna want a good amount of light as the quality of pictures dropped significantly in poorer lighting situations but with a good amount of light you can expect fantastic quality shots. I knocked off a star because my personal preferences. The lens is big and bulky and while it is meant as a versatile travel lens, it is just nowhere near as travel friendly as my other lenses. However, the tradeoff is for high quality pictures with good zoom and I don't think you can get that without adding a significant amount of bulk and weight to your setup. I think this will be great for travel, outdoor landscape shots, shots of kids playing sports, wildlife, etc... The price seems justified so far and I am happy with my purchase over the other zoom lenses available for this line of cameras. As it stands, I can easily recommend this lens to others and will update my review after I have more experience taking it on a trip shortly.

Background: Professional photographer shooting with Canon 5DMII, 17mm T/S, 24-70mm 2.8 L and 70-200mm F4 L. Those three lenses are at the top of the quality list and all highly rated. That should tell you how well I research and made choices. Most of the cameras/lenses I buy end up on the top 10 all-time favorite lists.Day 1 living with the lens: I received the delivery of the 18-105 F4 lens last night and today I had the opportunity to venture out on a sunny day, with snow on the ground in Central Oregon shooting with my Sony A6000 and 18-105mm F4 G zoom lens. I have the 10-18mm F4 lens as well that is very sharp and used for landscapes and architecture. I needed another lens but wanted a zoom to cover a range without having to carry a lot of lenses or bother to change lenses.After considering Zeis lenses (and cost), kit lenses and all others for the Sony, I decided on this one, which I could return if I had to. I should mention I had purchased the Fotodiox adapter to mount my canon lenses to the Sony A6000. However, I discovered that the weight ratio of the heavy Canon lenses to the light body weight of the Sony A6000 was uncomfortable and defeated the purpose of going to a mirrorless camera. I returned the adaptor, which by the way was way too slow to autofocus and will be selling my Canon lenses. Here is why:The 18-105mm zoom does not disappoint in the least. It is fast to focus, the contrast and color is good and the range of the zoom is great. The depth of field is deep and the lens is a sharp lens, not soft. I can't tell you whether the corners are soft or not, I don't go that far but I do tend to be a pixel peeper as it is my business as a photographer to pay attention to details.If you have spent hours of researching and the negative reviews throw you off just about the time you had made your decision, my advice would be to buy from a vendor that will accept returns. No risk to you other than possibly having to pay return shipping. Amazon is great for this.Here are some sample photos from today's shoot. Did I post process? Yes. But then I post process just about everything I shoot and I typically shoot in RAW. Did I take three exposures at 0, -2 and +2...yes and blended them to control the highlights and shadows. I make no apologies as if the photos can stand up to processing and not lose quality, then why not?BTW, the shot of the geese flying in the sky was taken from the ground and the geese were about 100-200 feet in the air, flying over my head. I aimed, the camera focused, I followed them as I tripped the shutter. That's easier than trying to use a high ISO to stop the action.