Sony FE PZ 16-35mm F4 G: Portable Quan Huafu Wide-angle Zoom Lens for Multimedia Creators.

The design of FE PZ 16-35mm F4 G lens is different from the traditional photographic lens. Many functions and technologies that are very friendly to video creators or multimedia content creators have been added. This is also a product launched by Sony under the development system of "1 bayonet" to meet the growing demand for video and photo dual-image creation. It faces not only Sony micro-camera users, but also users who are also suitable for using e-bayonet cameras and camcorders. Therefore, when we look at this product, we should not simply classify it as a "mass photography lens" because it is a "G" series lens, but should make a more detailed investigation in combination with its target user group (multimedia content creators).

Compared with the traditional photographic lens, FE PZ 16-35mm F4 G adopts more electronic control and driving structure design. The mechanical transmission structure of traditional photographic lens is mostly replaced by electronic circuit and driving motor. Therefore, in terms of manual focusing and manual zoom control, it is actually driven by a built-in linear motor, rather than a direct mechanical transmission structure. This will make it feel different from the traditional photographic lens to a great extent, but the zooming and focusing process will be smoother and more stable. Having said that, it is not difficult to see that FE PZ 16-35mm F4 G pays more attention to the needs of video photographers in design, and can perform more accurate, smooth and stable zoom control. In addition, it adopts a large number of electronic circuit control and drive designs, which also makes it more compatible with the camera and its functions, and realizes various control methods such as using the zoom lever of the fuselage to control the focal length change and positioning the zoom drive. In addition, the design of electric zoom helps to keep the center of gravity of the lens, which is more convenient for video creators to create handheld stabilizers and aerial photography equipment.

Of course, the design of this lens also fully takes care of the photographer's needs, with functions such as manual aperture ring, focus hold button, stepless/stepping aperture switch, aperture lock button and so on.

Therefore, as a G-series wide-angle zoom lens with comprehensive price, function and performance, FE PZ 16-35mm F4 G covers a huge user group, and its high image quality and high performance make it completely meet the needs of most professional multimedia content creators.

The mirror body is light in design.

Among many Sony lenses specially designed for Quan Huafu micro camera, FE PZ 16-35mm F4 G is undoubtedly a very compact and lightweight product. Its total weight is only 353g, which is about half of that of the lens of FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM (weighing 680g) and lighter than that of the lens of Vario-Tessar T * Fe16-35mm F4 Zaoss (weighing 5 18g).

In terms of mirror volume, the maximum length of FE PZ 16-35mm F4 G is 88. 1mm, and the maximum diameter is 80.5mm (the diameter of filter interface is 72mm). Small in size and light in weight, users can even put it in a big pocket without feeling burdensome.

The lightness of FE PZ 16-35mm F4 G is also reflected in its "internal zoom and internal focus" structure, which is also the key to keep its center of gravity well in use. This completely "built-in" structural design ensures that the length of the lens body will not change due to zooming and focusing operations during use. Although theoretically, the lens group will change the position of the lens during these operations, which will have a certain impact on the center of gravity of the lens, it can be offset and adjusted by clever logical design of lens group movement and control of lens displacement range. Therefore, the subtle center of gravity deviation in actual use can be easily corrected by the hand-held stabilizer and the driving motor of the aerial camera head, which will not have a substantial impact on shooting.

It is worth mentioning that among F4 constant wide-angle zoom products with the same performance configuration, FE PZ 16-35mm F4 G is one of the few products with internal zoom and internal focus design, such as Canon RF 14-35mm F4 Lisum, Nikon Z 14-30mm F4 S, etc., or only adopt internal focus design, or zoom and focus.

In addition to the advantages mentioned above, the use of lightweight and compact lens body design can also make this lens more advantageous when used with various lightweight bodies. If used with A7M4, A7S3 and other fuselages, users can take out more lenses and accessories to shoot with the same weight limit.

Control characteristics of "electrification"

Speaking of the design and function of the lens, I was deeply impressed by the light and compact design of FE PZ 16-35mm F4 G, but it is necessary to talk about the actual control experience in detail.

The control of this lens is almost completely electrified, and the zoom ring and focus ring are actually driven by linear motors, so the damping feeling is very light, and the influence of rotation amplitude and speed on the change of scene and focus speed is also "uniform linear change". This is necessary for users who are used to traditional photographic lenses.

From another point of view, whether it is a video photographer or a photo photographer, the direct benefit brought by the linear driving change of the zoom ring and the focus ring is that the control accuracy and stability have been greatly improved. In zooming and focusing operations, positioning can be completely based on the scale displayed on the camera viewfinder or EVF viewfinder, and the display of scene and focus changes during zooming and focusing is more stable and accurate.

In addition to using the zoom ring to control the focal length change, a special electric zoom lever is provided on one side of the lens. From the control experience, the electric zoom lever is closer to the zoom lever on the traditional camera body or lens. Push to the "W" end to expand the viewing angle, and push to the "T" end to narrow the viewing angle. Compared with manual zoom ring, electric zoom lever is more suitable for hand-held operation in video shooting, while manual zoom ring is more suitable for following focusing operation.

In addition to the above zoom control methods, FE PZ 16-35mm F4 G can also use the special zoom switch built in the camera when it is matched with cameras and camcorders such as ZV-E 10, FX3, FX6 and FX9. For other camera bodies, such as cameras A 1, A7SM3 and A7M4, you must enter the menu and set the softkey to the functions of "Zoom Wide Angle" and "Zoom Telephoto". When using Sony GP-VPT2BT Bluetooth handle (with camera support and Bluetooth connection), you can also use the electric zoom lever on the handle for control.

The aperture ring of FE PZ 16-35mm F4 G is also unique in control, but it is not unique to this lens. At present, Sony's newly released lenses basically adopt the same design. Through the "on/off" switch, you can switch between the graded aperture and the stepless aperture. In the "ON" state, the aperture ring will have obvious feel of shift limiter, and the user can switch multiple aperture values within the stepping range of 1/3. In the "off" state, the aperture ring has no gear limit, and the stepless aperture switching operation can be performed between the apertures of each gear. Stepless aperture is a very useful function for video shooting, which can provide more visual effects for video pictures.

The aperture ring of FE PZ 16-35mm F4 G has the third working state. "Iris lock" and "A" gears are used to realize "soft locking". At this time, the numerical change of the aperture of the lens will be controlled by the camera. This is very useful in scenes where it is inconvenient to directly operate the aperture ring, such as using a hand-held stabilizer or an aerial photography platform.

It should be noted that the aperture lock switch can lock the aperture ring at "A" or "F22 to F4". When locked in "A", the aperture setting will be controlled by the camera, which can prevent the user from accidentally touching the aperture ring and causing the aperture value to change.

This electric zoom is not simple.

It is not the first time that the electric zoom design of FE PZ 16-35mm F4 G has been used in the E-mount. Sony has introduced many such lenses in the past, but the changes in its internal structure are worth mentioning.

In the driving mode and structure, the zoom ring, focus ring and lens group of FE PZ 16-35mm F4 G are not directly connected with the traditional mechanical structure, and all actions are sent to the linear driving motor through the circuit in the form of "instructions", and then the motor drives the lens group. This is the same on all Sony E-mount electric zoom lenses. The difference is that FE PZ 16-35mm F4 G uses four XD linear drive motors to drive the zoom lens group and two XD linear drive motors to drive the focus lens group. In other words, in a compact body like FE PZ 16-35mm F4 G, * * uses six XD linear drive motors.

In terms of driving settings, the response speed of zoom ring and electric zoom lever is not adjustable (there are no corresponding control options for body menu and lens). The user can only control the zoom speed by rotating the zoom ring and pulling the zoom lever. In other words, whether using zoom ring or electric zoom lever, its "starting response speed" and "initial change speed" are the same, which will bring a false "hysteresis" to users who are used to traditional photographic lenses. This is one of the main reasons why many users who take pictures often feel unaccustomed when using this lens for the first time.

However, on some models, you can set standby mode and zoom speed when recording. For example, when matching ZV-E 10 and A 1, you can set the zoom range, zoom speed and remote zoom speed in the zoom tab of the shooting menu. Take A 1 as an example. In the zoom speed option, you can set ***8 levels of speed for "fixed speed STBY" (standby state) and "fixed speed recording" (recording period) respectively. Note that even under the same speed level setting, the zoom speed in standby mode is faster than that in recording mode. This is mainly to ensure that the recorded video images are more stable.

In the "Remote Zoom Speed" option, the setting of "Speed Type" has been added. When this option is set to "variable", users will use the electric zoom lever of Sony GP-VPT2BT Bluetooth handle, or the zoom ring and electric zoom lever on the lens, or use programs such as Remote Commander and Imaging Edge Mobile on mobile devices (mobile phones, computers, etc.). ), and the zoom speed will change in an "accelerated" way according to the strength (speed) and duration of pressing the button. If set to Fixed, the zoom speed will change in a uniform way.

It should be noted that no matter how the speed type is set, the two speed level setting options in the remote zoom speed are displayed as "fixed speed STBY" and "fixed speed record" (both of which can be set to 8 levels), but they are actually related to the speed type.

In addition, in the zoom tab, in the zoom range function options, there are optical zoom only, clear image zoom and digital zoom settings to expand the focal length and viewing angle. Moreover, this option setting can also be used for the zoom ring and electric zoom lever on the lens. In practical use, whether it is set to "clear image zoom" or "digital zoom", when the speed of 1 to 3 is selected in the speed class, when the optical zoom range is switched to expand the focal length range, the transition between the picture and the viewing angle is seamless and natural, but when the speed class exceeds 3, this process will pause slightly (the picture is stuck).

Image quality of photos

The overall imaging quality of Sony PZ 16-35mm F4 G is excellent in the whole zoom range, especially in the central area of the lens.

1. Imaging resolution

At the wide-angle end of 16mm, the imaging clarity of the lens center area of PZ 16-35mm F4 G is very high, but the imaging performance of the lens edge area is greatly affected by the aperture size. Generally speaking, from F4 to F5.6, the image definition of the central area is very high, and the definition of the edge area is obviously reduced, but it is only concentrated in a small range of the edge of the picture, and it is difficult to reflect the details unless it is enlarged to 100%. When the aperture is reduced to F8 to F 16, the attenuation of imaging resolution from the lens center to the edge is almost invisible, and the degree of diffraction is very small, and the imaging resolution is almost equivalent to the lens center area under F4 aperture. Obviously, this is more beneficial for users who often shoot natural scenery and urban architecture.

At the focal length of 24mm, the imaging resolution of the lens is the best, but it is equivalent to 16 mm at various aperture values.

At the focal length of 35mm, the overall imaging resolution is equivalent to 16mm, but it is worse at F4 aperture and F22 aperture.

2. Aberration and dark angle

PZ 16-35mm F4 G In most light conditions, no matter what format is used for shooting, no matter whether the lens correction option of the camera is turned on or not, the dark angle is very slight. And as long as the aperture drops to F5.6, the dark corner is completely invisible.

The performance of color difference is also equivalent to dark angle. Many aspherical lenses, ED aspherical lenses, Super ED lenses and ED lenses built in PZ 16-35mm F4 G can play a very good role in reducing chromatic aberration, improving color accuracy and maintaining imaging resolution. It is difficult to see the dispersion at the edge of the object even when Gao Fancha photos are taken in the backlight or side backlight environment.

Generally speaking, the imaging quality of this kind of lens is excellent in most cases, but it is best to turn on the camera's built-in lens correction function when shooting, so as to effectively correct its distortion when shooting close-up.

Do you want to buy it or not?

PZ 16-35mm F4 G is a product with a balance of performance, function and imaging quality, which is very friendly to multimedia content creators and can take into account the shooting needs of photos and videos. Under the premise of insufficient budget, this lens is a relatively high neutral price choice for Sony's original lens. If you use a Sony micro camera such as A7M4/A7R4, it should be the first choice.