Sony FE 24-240mm f/3.5-6.3 OSS Review

Sony FE 24-240mm f/3.5-6.3 OSS Performance

Sharpness already approaches outstanding levels in the centre of the frame at maximum aperture and 24mm, with clarity falling just below good levels towards the edges of the frame. Stopping down to between f/5.6 and f/8 results in peak performance across the frame for this focal length, with outstanding clarity in the centre and good sharpness towards the edges of the frame.

Zooming to 100mm results in slightly reduced performance across the frame at maximum aperture, although performance is still excellent in the centre of the frame. Stopping down to f/8 results in peak performance across the frame for this focal length. Here sharpness is excellent in the centre of the frame and good towards the edges of the frame.

Finally, At 240mm there is a further drop in performance, as is typical for superzoom lenses. Even so, the performance of this lens still holds up well, with very good sharpness being recorded in the centre of the frame at maximum aperture. Performance towards the edges of the frame falls to fairly good levels at this focal length.

MTF@24mm
 

MTF@100mm
 

MTF@240mm
 

How to read our charts

The blue column represents readings from the centre of the picture frame at the various apertures and the green is from the edges. Averaging them out gives the red weighted column.

The scale on the left side is an indication of actual image resolution. The taller the column, the better the lens performance. Simple.

For this review, the lens was tested on a Sony Alpha A7R using Imatest.

Chromatic aberrations are quite high towards the edges of the frame, especially at 24mm. Here fringing exceeds 1.5 pixel widths when stopped down to f/16 or beyond and is larger than one-pixel width at maximum aperture. This level of fringing may become visible along high contrast edges placed near the edges of the frame, such as tree branches, flag poles, power lines or the tops of buildings.

CA@24mm
 

CA@100mm
 

CA@240mm
 

How to read our charts

Chromatic aberration is the lens' inability to focus on the sensor or film all colours of visible light at the same point. Severe chromatic aberration gives a noticeable fringing or a halo effect around sharp edges within the picture. It can be cured in software.

Apochromatic lenses have special lens elements (aspheric, extra-low dispersion etc) to minimise the problem, hence they usually cost more.

For this review, the lens was tested on a Sony Alpha A7R using Imatest.

Falloff of illumination towards the corners of the frame is fairly typical for a lens of this type. At 24mm the corners of the frame are 2.57 stops darker than the image centre at f/3.5 and at 240mm the corners are 2.06 stops darker. Visually uniform illumination is achieved with the lens stopped down to f/8 or beyond throughout the zoom range.

Distortion is very well controlled at either end of the zoom range. At 24mm, only 0.957% barrel distortion is present and this is replaced with 0.13% pincushion distortion at 70mm. If you require absolutely straight lines, you'll be glad to know that the distortion pattern is uniform across the frame, which should make applying correction in image editing software afterwards quite straightforward.

The supplied lens hood does a decent job of shielding the lens from extraneous light that may cause issues with flare. Even with the hood flare can be a feature of this lens, as can loss of contrast when shooting into the light.

Value For Money

This lens can be picked up for around £795, which seems a little on the pricey side. There are no direct alternatives covering a similar range for Sony full-frame mirrorless cameras at the moment so Sony have a virtual monopoly on directly compatible lenses. Tamron produce a 28-300mm, which is available for around £570, but as this lens is designed for Sony's SLR and SLT cameras, it will need an adapter to function on this type of camera.

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