The 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS Alpha E-mount Retractable Zoom Lens from Sony is a retractable zoom lens with a focal length range of 24-75mm in the 35mm format equivalency. It covers shooting lengths from true wide angle to standard portrait length and is a great day-to-day type lens, especially since its unique retractability keeps it very compact. When powered on, the lens expands, but in its off position the lens is only 1.2" (30mm) which will fit in your pocket. When expanded, it has a surprisingly large zoom range and access to its dual-function control ring for manual focus and zooming. Its Power Zoom capability in AF mode and Internal Stepping Motor provide, fast, smooth and quiet autofocus which is helpful when shooting video with this lens.

The lens is a Sony E-mount lens that is compatible not only with the NEX cameras but also with the NEX Handycam Camcorders. The built-in Optical SteadyShot image stabilization system reduces the effect of camera shake which is particularly problematic when tracking moving subjects in video or shooting photos in low-light. The OSS provides approximately 4-stops of shutter speed correction to help create blur-free images no matter the shooting conditions. Four Aspherical elements and one ED element correct for curved perspective at wide-angle lengths and chromatic aberration at telephoto lengths to provide sharp, high contrast imaging across the entire frame.  

Retractable Design

Despite being a zoom lens covering 16-50mm(24-75mm equivalent) focal lengths, this E-mount lens is thin and lightweight thanks to a retracting mechanism that reduces the lens to just 1.2" (29.9 mm). When used on Sony NEX cameras, you have a truly portable camera system.

Image Stabilization

The built-in Optical SteadyShot image stabilization system provides a 4-stop (approximate) shutter speed advantage, making it significantly easier to achieve crisp, blur-free images and video.

Power Zoom

The Sony 16-50mm Retractable Zoom Lens is the first E-mount lens with an electrically driven zoom mechanism. As soon as the camera is powered on, the lens extends and is instantly ready for shooting. A dual-function control ring is used for both zooming and manual focus.

Optics

One ED and four Aspherical lens elements correct for curvature of field on the wide-angle side and spherical and chromatic aberration on the telephoto side for beautiful, accurate, high-contrast reproduction across the entire image.