Lens review

Sony E 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS

5. Chromatic aberration

Unfortunately chromatic aberration won’t be a notion the owners of the tested lens can forget about. Although its values at the longest focal length are very low and fit within the borders of imperceptible aberration level, the results at the shorter end are very weak. What’s interesting the highest aberration, on the level of 0.2%, we will get for the lens wide open in the middle of the focal range and for the lens stopped down at wide angle. Such results we can only describe as high and very high; tested lenses seldom perform as bad as that by the way. Here the Sony E 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 deserves to be reprimanded.

Comparing that performance with that of other kit lenses like the Canon EF-S 18–55 mm f/3.5–5.6 IS and the Nikkor AF-S DX 18–55 mm f/3.5–5.6G VR we must say the tested lens fares sometimes better sometimes worse. Low aberration at the longest end is certainly an advantage; on the other hand the maximum aberration levels are definitely higher. When the Sony’s aberration oscillates near the level of 0.2% for several combinations of apertures and focal lengths, the rival lenses, mentioned above, in their worst ranges only exceeded a bit 0.15% (the Canon) and 0.1% (the Nikkor).

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