The kit lens that could. Another Sony FE 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS lens post.

Recently considered replacing my Sony FE 28-70mm w/ an f/4 or f/2.8 lens once again. I say once again because I have been here before. Makes sense right. Humble variable aperture kit lens is just a stop-gap measure until I can get a ‘real’ normal lens. That has always been the case since kit lenses are usually just passable before. But in all honesty when I ask what more I want from a lens I come up empty with the 28-70mm.

Know what I am losing. A good chunk of my bank account. Losing a lens so small and light it is barely noticed in my bag. Losing the invisibility of a mortal sized lens.

Also know what I am not gaining. Not gaining weather resistance since it has that. Not gaining image stabilization because the 28-70 has that. No gaining fast, silent focusing. One of a couple of lenses I doubted was functioning properly since no vibration was felt nor noise heard when focusing. Internal zooming not a big gain since the 28-70 barely moves when zoomed.

Now I know I must be losing something. While I agree that the jump to f/2.8 would be nice… but over $2,000? Sure it is a fine lens, but that is steep. So the more affordable f/4 right? Here is the thing. I cannot figure out what the big shakes is about going to a constant f/4. Agreed at 70mm we are gaining f/4 over f/5.6… But will that really be noticed without a direct comparison and a bit of pixel peeping? Will that really impact the ISO that much? Likely not. Plus back at the wide end at 28mm the humble kit lens is f/3.5 while the upgrade at 24mm is at…. dun, dun, dunnhh… f/4.

A lot of talk that does not matter if the lens produces awful images. This lens produces awesome images. I don’t get it. Colors are great. Sharp as I need it to be. I really like the contrast. Almost never misses focus in my experience. Sony. This is not the way to sell me a more expensive lens. New it is a very reasonable $398. And I saved more by buying mine used for only $247. Really, thank you. But you made a kit lens so awesome I can make no sense of upgrading.

I took it out yesterday to capture images and it proved itself as being very versatile once again. Some samples all from just yesterday.

Tracking focus:

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Candid: