One of our sources was so kind (Thanks!) to send us his first impression about the upcoming new 16-50mm SSM lens! He tested a prototype which is close to production model. Apparently the 16-50mm lens is suffering from slightly corner vignetting and corner softness at f/2.8. It is not too bad at all but just not perfect. The very good news is that at 17mm the lens is is perfect!
As you know the lens is a Sony (not a Zeiss) and it will have a price of 750 Euro ($799 dollars).
Some other source did test the lens and can confirm the quality report made by that source?
UPDATE: The source also said that Sony was (or is?) considering to make it 17-50mm (instead to start with 16mm) to increase the image quality. But the problem could be the fact that there is alreayd an excellent [shoplink 7824]Tamron AF 17-50mm F/2.8 XR[/shoplink] for Sony! P.S: Click those links to see the Tamron for Sony: [shopcountry 7824].
67 Responses
This is one more indication that it might be a re-badged Tamron 17-50…
Peter, thanx for mentioning, i completley forgot about the tamron lens,
now when i think of it – the tamron is very good quality lens with practically same range and the best part it goes for as low as 300$ on second hand market, so for me theres not point buying into this lens
Source: thank you!
If i remember correctly, doesnt the tamron focus slow in low light?
Well, usually it’s not the lens but the AF system of the body that is not sensitive enough for low-light.
If Sony decided on taking over the optical system, i.e. just the “glass”, packaged it into a new barrel adding SSM, it might have a different focussing speed anyway.
I agree to this. Sony owns Tamron, so this would make sense, because Minolta did not have such lens.
“Sony owns Tamron” ?
Ehm … not exactly.
Principal Tamron shareholders (December 31, 2010):
New Well Co., Ltd. (17.34 %)
Sony Corporation (11.08 %)
Japan Trustee Services Bank, Ltd. (5.64 %)
Kouyu Kosan Co., Ltd. (5.41 %)
State Street Bank and Trust Company (4.11 %)
Saitama Resona Bank Limited. (3.97 %)
The Master Trust Bank of Japan, Ltd. (2.42 %)
The Chase Manhattan Bank, N.A. London (2.10 %)
Tamron Business Partner Stock Holding Plan (1.67 %)
Tha Chase Manhattan Bank, N.A. London Secs Lending Omnibus Account (1.48 %)
Anyway, just having the same glasses assembled with a different method, may increase optical quality significantly.
Not mentioning that the glasses may be housed and moved by better quality materials.
There you have a very different lens from the tamron.
@Peter,
Are Tamron’s Piezo drives the same as SSM drives? Or, is there another drive that Tamron uses for the SSM drive?
Tamron has USD which is the same what SSM is. PZD is like… Tuned SAM 😉
I was thinking the opposite.
@Dulaney,
I don’t know much about the Tamrons – So, my guess was just based on what I could read. That is, if the 16-50 is really just a re-badged Tamron.
The lens won’t be re-branded tamron. Sony doesn’t re-brand lenses anymore.
So it’s SSM today? I hope it stays that way.
Interesting info indeed.
what’s the built like?
One thing I still didn’t understand:
A77 costs 1000€ (body)
A77 + 16-50/2.8 costs 1750€?
So the lens cost the same either bought as a kit or sold separately? Doesn’t make sense!
It’s all rumors till now… Some patience and we’ll see…
Normally Sony discounts the lens about $100 USD when purchased together.
I recall that happening with the a850 and the tammy knock-off 28-75/f2.8 a few years ago.
Is this going to be a FF lens of a DT lens?
what planet are you from?
Admin, any Zeiss lens coming out?
So it is a re-badged of Tamron 17-50 2.8 with SSM?
The Tamron’s showed a very strong degree of field curvature at the corner.
So the Sony’s will also result the same?
This is just what I guessed by the information given:
a) Sony owns Tamron
b) The Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 has an excellent optical quality and is APS-C only
c) The rumor said that the new 16-50 is pretty weak at 16mm but flawless at 17, which might be due to the fact that Sony simply exceeded the originally intended range of the Tamron…
So don’t take this too serious, it is just MY PERSONAL interpretation…
Nope, it’s not.
Weather sealing???
Obviously this is a Tamrom 17-50mm with SSM!
We may find out that it is, but we may find that this is an ENTIRELY different lens. It is obviously not obvious. There are too many unknowns.
I do agree that while Sony does not “own” Tamron, they effectively control it.
To everyone who thinks Sony owns Tamron: they don’t – they hold an 11% share.
There’s always going to be some overlap in zoom range. It doesn’t make a huge difference if it’s 16-50mm or 17-50mm. If it’s a rebadged Tamrom, what the hell is the point? Is SSM worth paying double? I don’t think so.
At some point, Sony is going to have to get more serious on the lens front. I’m hoping that the introduction of a highly anticipated body like the A77 will be provide the opportunity to unveil a high quality standard zoom lens. One that is unique to Sony, not some overpriced rebadge.
The 17-35G also needs its zoom to be backed off a little to really fire on all cylinders.
Keep on dreaming then. Sony does *not* have the necessary optical design expertise or manufacturing capability to bring out competitive lenses for the Alpha mount.
If the standard zoom lens is f/2.8, it will be an expensive rebadge. You can take this to the bank and you heard it here first.
If Sony designs and builds the lens chances are that it will not have a very wide aperture. See the slow, poor performing NEX lenses.
Nikon and Canon on the other hand have been steeped in Lens design and manufacturing since before your parents were children.
Such a shame though that Sony could not fully sustain the Minolta optical heritage due to the much lower sales of their DSLRs and the relative paucity of advanced and well heeled users (Pros) for their platforms.
What a pile of uneducated rubbish. First, Sony has the Minolta expertise aswell as Zeiss expertise. Dating back from before your parents could spell their names. The recent affordable DT and SAM lenses can optically compete with their Canikon counterparts while costing less. Fact. Same goes for many of the Zeiss lenses, the Sony 70-400G etc. Obvious troll is obvious troll.
Exactly. Sony designers are Minolta SLR lens designers. They have more expirience than eg. Pentax folks.
Misstatement after misstatement, Nut.
Sony rehired most of Minolta’s optical design team, so of course they can design good lenses.
The 70-300G is very Minolta-esque.
If it is a rebadged Tamron with a little more stretch at the short end I would leave it at 16mm as long as sharpness returns to the corners at F4 or F5.6. That extra mm is useful when photographing archtecture etc. In such cases every mm counts and in any event, with the ISO performance of these new cameras, it is no big deal to move up an F stop or two. Actually, I would have preferred an updated version of CZ 16-80 with SSM motor and AF that could also perform reliably on NEX through Sony’s converter.
Hahahaha.
So magically, a 16-50mm f/2.8 lens (only one is made by Tokina) becomes a 17-50mm f/2.8 (made by many folks that Sony can crib from).
I don’t trust this site anymore because some of the so-called sources being reported breathlessly from seem to be manipulating the audience.
The expectations are being slyly changed around possibilities so that no matter what happens, the blog can say that it was right about the specs.
Come on folks… don’t fall for this.
Either you know or don’t know.
Btw, look at the patents of these lenses and you will see that the advertised focal lengths and apertures are merely approximate.
A 90mm f/2.8 lens may actually turn out to be 89mm and f/2.9 or f/3 for example.
This is a rumor site, mate. By defintion, it’s intended to spark speculation – some of it wild and unfounded and some of it can be accurate. People are excited because they are rooting for the Alpha brand to improve and sharing their feelings on this blog.
Secondly, to say that Sony doesn’t have the expertise to manufacture a quality lens is ridiculous. The lack of results is due to a lack of commitment from upper management to compete at the highest level. Instead they’ve opted to target the consumer level to gain market share. Upper management figures the “professional” or high end photo hobbyist is too narrow of a niche market, especially in this economic environment. Families are not going to be forking out $1200 for a lens. They can get a low end DSLR and an HD camcorder for that much and call it a day.
come to think of it, Does sony have good relations with tokina?
Tokina tend to be slow at producing a Sony mount version of their lenses (if at all) don’t they? I doubt there is any connection with Tokina and this lens.
If you don’t trust the site, Nut, then go away.
Photonut – You know tthat Canon and Nikon also make similar lenses? Maybe sony is re-branding them?!
Flawed logic is flawed.
Photonut go away!!! you are obviously not a fan of Sony so GO AWAY.!!! Or do you think that bashing every bit of rumor somehow is going to convince the $188 billion dollar company so smarten up. Get over yourself…
There is indeed an excellent Tamron 17-50 f2.8 already – I know because I bought one a year ago when I got fed up of waiting for Sony to pull their finger out of their ass and release one.
Ok so quick question, if this is a Tamron ‘upgrade’ does anyone know if it is the newer 17-50 2.8 or the older one? The reason I ask is far as I can tell the newer one isn’t available in A-Mount and this could be art of the reason why? Also would mean that it is optical better (I assume) than the current one available for the A-Mount plus SSM. Might start to be worth it the upgrade (although just having the newer model available for A would be nice also)?
I have been looking at the Tamron since this rumor has come more to the fore and find it very enticing especially with the high price of Sony lenses in Australia!
The new one is not as good as the old one, but adds VC. This isn’t an issue for Sony owners.
There is also the possibility that even if it is based on a Tamron design that it can be upgraded optically to suit the higher end market? Might be the same design, but built to higher (smaller) manufacturing tolerances etc Sony has clearly already been playing with the design a little bit if they have been extending the design to cover 16mm.
I would wait til the reviews before condemning it 🙂
The Tamron 17-50 is already amazing optically. Either equal or better than the Canon/Nikon 17-55s.
I wouldnt say better but it comes preety close, id say its about 90% as good,
the field curvature is its biggest flaw, i’ve owned such lens on Canon mount and loved it!
This is true – my girlfriend uses a Canon 17-55 on her 50D, and I use the Tamron 17-50 on my a700. The Tamron is much smaller, but I’d say just about as good optically. AF is much better with the Canon kit though. I bought her the 17-55 and it was more than twice as much as my Tamron though…
Exactly, Matt. For example, Sony improved the Tamron 28-75 design enough two years ago to warrant winning the annual CIPA Award for an expert lens, an awaard previously won by the 79-400G.
That 28-75mm should have had SSM. CIPA award aside, that lens did not perform better than the Tamron and certainly not enough to warrant $800. Based upon the price the SAL2875 is pretty disappointing.
Everything is about the money 🙂 If this lens would have SSM than there wouldn’t be much justification in getting Zeiss. Not with it’s price. So they put SAM in it and you have one more reason to choose Zeiss.
Interesting to know, thanks Tank. I can’t say that I have looked into comparisons of the two as the newer one isn’t available in A-Mount (until now maybe?). The ‘vibration correction’ is of no interest to me, but I thought they added an aspherical element/s in the newer one (going purely from the name) and that this ‘usually’ made a lens better? A lot of presumptions I know! Do you know if it they corrected the distortions somewhat, possibly at the detriment of outright quality such as sharpness? There must be something different if it’s not as good.
But seriously thanks for the heads up, I was contemplating the Tamron but worried that the older one was an inferior but only option for A-Mount.
If its not Z lens, will it be G lens with SSM?
49 comments have made. none of ppl says thank to this site/admin for a piece of lens performance hint. But do have ppl attacking on this site (everyone know who it is) Such a terrible! 😀
50th, thanks andreas brings the news ^^
exactly, i want to say thank you as well to the people (admins and sources) making this site possible.
Frosti did 🙂 😉
But yes, true.
Thank you! Amazing rumor, I appreciate A-mount lens rumors much more than any other, so this one makes me very happy 🙂
Considering SAR is a rumor site, I would have thought hot debate over a rumor would be thanks enough, I mean isn’t that the purpose of rumors?
Having said that, I would like to thank Andrea for his commitment to this site and providing juicy topics of discussion 🙂
For those that whine about the rumors being fake for being obvious, seriously wtf?! Of course obvious upgrades are going to be rumored to be released, because they are the most likely thing to actually be released and in testing etc. We want rumors because we want to know what is likely to be coming out, not to pipe dream like everyone who think Canon are going to bring out a camera with 4k RAW support, cost 39c and have a 70mm sensor. I think you are missing the point of rumors 😉
Thanks for wonderful news, although some people don’t like. But hey! at least because of your site, I became aware of the alternative lens like Tamron 17-50 f2.8. 800 USD is too much for me to pay, considering very few advantages from the sony side 🙂
So keep up your good work, Admin! 🙂
i own a Sony 18-250 which is a confirmed Tamron re-badge..Sony did a good job in improving AF speed, IQ and sharpness in their version.. better say that its a improved re-badge
You’re really optimistic too believe such variable rumors. From a rationale point of view, if they’re still deciding the focal lenght of A77 kit lens, then it means we won’t see any camera before 2012 at least. Or it could be that they just rebadge the Tammy (a great lens) and put a SAM on it, like they did with 28-75. Either way, they really have to look carefully at what they do: Nikon new wave of cameras will be announced soon.. And they won’t be toys for sure..
Tweaking it from 16mm to 17mm is a simple process. No need for a massive production delay.
this is a rumours site..Not a news site..even if its SR10 rumors..its still a rumors..cheers
Technically not a rebadged lens as some have suggested, but a new design made for them (likely Tamron). 67mm filters is bad news – pointing to design compromises. A big improvement on previous kit lens choices.
Why a new design “made for them”? Sony has it’s own lens designers – taken straight from Minolta, so they hardly have any need of taking designs from others unless it’s worth it from price standpoint.
Tamron already make a number of Sony lenses for them, they are the most logical supplier. And yes price is probably a major factor.