Sony 55-210mm OSS
Stabilized E-Mount APS-C (2011-)
Sony E 55-210mm f/4.5-6.3 OSS (APS-C, 49mm filters, 11.8 oz./335g, 3.3'/1m close focus, $298 new or about $100 used if you know How to Win at eBay). bigger. I'd get mine at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H, at Crutchfield or used at eBay. It also comes in silver at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H, at Crutchfield or used at eBay.
This all-content, junk-free website's biggest source of support is when you use those or any of these links when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. Thanks for helping me help you! Ken.
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Sample Images
Top Sample Images Intro Format
Shot hand-held as Standard JPGs; no RAW or FINE JPGs or tripods were used or needed:
Palm, 29 December 2019. Sony A6600, Sony E 55-210mm OSS at 55mm, f/11 at 1/100 at Auto ISO 100 (LV 13.6), Perfectly Clear. bigger, full-resolution or camera-original © file.
Desert Palms and Snow, 29 December 2019. Sony A6600, Sony E 55-210mm OSS at 165mm, f/7.1 at 1/400 at Auto ISO 100 (LV 14.3), exactly as shot. bigger or camera-original © file. Of course the mountains are 25 miles away and not in focus.
Introduction
Top Sample Images Intro Format
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This Sony 55-210mm OSS is a stabilized, lightweight basic telephoto for Sony's E-mount APS-C cameras.
It's a great lens because its small size and weight encourage us to take it everywhere and come back with great pictures. You can't take pictures with the big 70-300mm or 70-350mm you left back in your hotel room, and this 55-210's stabilizer let us get great photos even in dim light.
This was Sony's first ever mirrorless telephoto zoom, coming out with Sony's first mirrorless cameras in 2011.
It's small, focuses silently, reasonably fast and very close, it's reasonably priced and has image stabilization.
This 55-210mm lens sees the same angle of view on APS-C cameras as an 80-320mm lens sees on full frame.
This lens is is all plastic on the inside, with a metal mount and aluminum vanity cover on the outside, so it weighs next to nothing. You can take it everywhere and have it ready for anything.
I'd get my 55-210mm at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield, or in silver at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield, or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.
Good
Optical Steady Shot (OSS) Image Stabilization.
Reasonably fast and silent autofocusing.
Aluminum external trim.
Light.
Inexpensive.
Bad
Electronic focus ring, like most mirrorless lenses, has no direct mechanical connection to the optics. It only works when you have the camera set just right.
Offshored to Thailand; not made domestically in Japan.
Missing
No focus or depth-of-field scales.
No aperture ring.
Sony 55-210mm OSS. bigger.
Format
Top Sample Images Intro Format
I'd get my 55-210mm at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield, or in silver at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield, or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.
This is an APS-C (cropped-sensor) lens and I'm testing it as such.
It also works on full-frame cameras, which automatically crop their sensors to APS-C.
Compatibility
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I'd get my 55-210mm at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield, or in silver at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield, or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.
This is an APS-C (cropped-sensor) lens that works on all Sony E-mount cameras. This includes all the variations of NEX, A9-, A7-, A6xxx and A5xxx series cameras.
Full-frame cameras will automatically crop to APS-C.
It will not mount on any Sony A-mount DSLR or any Minolta MAXXUM 55-210mm SLR of any kind. Those use the old A mount which was actually the Minolta MAXXUM mount from 1987.
Specifications
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I'd get my 55-210mm at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield, or in silver at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield, or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.
Name
Sony 55-210mm OSS. bigger.
Sony calls this the E 50-210mm F4.5-6.3 OSS:
E: E-mount (APS-C).
OSS: Optical Steady Shot Image Stabilization.
Sony's model number is SEL55210.
Optics
Sony E 55-210mm internal optical construction. Aspherical and ED elements.
13 elements in 9 groups.
Internal focus.
Diaphragm
Sony 55-210mm OSS (diaphragm not seen). bigger.
7 rounded blades.
Stops down to f/22~32.
Focal Length
55-210mm.
When used on APS-C, it sees the same angle of view as an 85~320mm lens sees when used on a full-frame camera.
See also Crop Factor.
Angle of View
29° ~ 7.7º diagonal on APS-C.
Autofocus
Internal focus.
No external movement as focused, so no air or dust is sucked in.
Close Focus
3.28 feet (1.0 meters).
Maximum Reproduction Ratio
1:4.4 (0.225×) life size.
Optical Stabilizer
Yes.
Filters
49mm plastic filter thread.
Hood
Included ALC-SH115 hood. bigger.
ALC-SH115 plastic bayonet included.
Size
2.51" maximum diameter × 4.25" extension from flange.
63.8 mm maximum diameter × 108 mm extension from flange.
Weight
11.820 oz. (335.0 g) actual measured weight.
Rated 12.2 oz (345 g).
Included
Lens (SEL55210).
ALC-SH115 plastic bayonet hood.
ALC-F49S front and ALC-R1EM rear cap.
Announced
Late 2011.
Sony Model Number
SEL55210.
Price, U. S. A. specifications top
April 2021
$298 new or about $100 used if you know How to Win at eBay.
I'd get mine at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H, at Crutchfield or used at eBay. It also comes in silver at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H, at Crutchfield or used at eBay.
January 2020
$348 new or about $100 used if you know How to Win at eBay.
I'd get mine at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H, at Crutchfield or used at eBay. It also comes in silver at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H, at Crutchfield or used at eBay.
Performance
Top Sample Images Intro Format
Overall Autofocus Bokeh Distortion
Ergonomics Falloff Lateral Color Fringes
Macro Minimum & Maximum Apertures
I'd get my 55-210mm at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield, or in silver at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield, or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.
Overall
The Sony 55-210mm OSS focuses fast and takes great pictures for a bargain price.
It's a basic lens for people who want to go places and make great pictures, not a big fancy lens for people who want to brag to their friends and read about their equipment and dream about the pictures they never took.
Autofocus
Autofocus is silent and fast enough.
Bokeh
Bokeh, the feel or quality of out-of-focus areas as opposed to how far out of focus they are, is iffy at 55mm and reasonably good at 210mm.
Here are photos from headshot distance wide-open:
Made-in-USA Davis 6250 weather station, 20 December 2019. Sony A6600, Sony 55-210mm OSS at 55mm at f/4.5 at 1/500 at Auto ISO 100 (LV 13.3). bigger or camera-original © file.
Made-in-USA Davis 6250 weather station, 20 December 2019. Sony A6600, Sony 55-210mm OSS at 2109mm at f/6.3 at 1/200 at Auto ISO 100 (LV 13.0). bigger or camera-original © file.
As with all lenses, if you want to throw the background as far out of focus as possible shoot wide open at 210mm and get as close as possible.
Distortion
There is no distortion on my A6600 at its default distortion correction turned ON.
If you're silly enough to to go out of your way to turn off automatic distortion correction, there is a moderate amount of pincushion distortion:
On APS-C at 10' (3m) |
Correction factor with with correction ON in A6600 |
Correction factor with uncorrected images |
55mm |
-0.10 | -2.30 |
70mm |
-0.10 | -3.00 |
100mm |
-0.10 | -3.50 |
135mm |
-0.10 | -3.00 |
210mm |
-0.10 | -2.00 |
© 2020 KenRockwell.com. All rights reserved.
Ergonomics
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Sony 55-210mm at 55mm. bigger. |
Sony 55-210mm at 210mm. bigger. |
Most of this lens is a conventional zoom ring, which feels and works great.
The focus ring is electronic si it's almost always ignored.
It's all hard aluminum on the outside, with rubber ring covers.
Falloff
Falloff is invisible with the camera's default correction ON (usually at MENU > Camera 1 > Lens Comp. > Shading Comp. > Auto).
I've greatly exaggerated it here by shooting pure gray and displaying it against more gray. It won't look this bad in actual photos:
Sony 55-210mm OSS falloff at infinity, correction ON.
© 2020 KenRockwell.com. All rights reserved. |
If you go out of your way to turn correction OFF then you can see some at f/1.8 and f/2, and for actual photos (not tests of flat fields) it's gone by f/2.8:
Sony 55-210mm OSS falloff at infinity, correction turned OFF.
© 2020 KenRockwell.com. All rights reserved. |
Lateral Color Fringes
There are only sometimes the most minor lateral color fringes as shot on Sony's cameras which usually correct for them anyway. This is excellent performance.
Macro Performance
It gets very close, and it's also sharp wide-open at f/6.3:
Casio G-Shock Solar Atomic Watch at close-focus distance at 210mm at f/6.3 on Sony A6600, 20 December 2019. bigger or camera-original © file.
1,200 × 900 pixel crop from above. bigger or camera-original © file.
If this 1,200 × 900 pixel crop is about 3" (7.5cm) wide on your screen, then the complete image printed at this same large magnification would be about 10 × 15" (25 × 38cm).
If this 1,200 × 900 pixel crop is about 6" (15cm) wide on your screen, then the complete image printed at this same extreme magnification would be about 20 × 30" (50 × 75cm).
If this 1,200 × 900 pixel crop is about 12" (30cm) wide on your screen, then the complete image printed at this same insanely high magnification would be about 40 × 60" (1 × 1.5 meters).
Minimum & Maximum Apertures
Maximum Aperture |
Minimum Aperture |
|
| 55mm | f/4.5 |
f/22 |
| 70mm | f/5 |
f/22 |
| 100mm | f/5.6 |
f/25 |
| 135mm | f/5.6 |
f/29 |
| 210mm | f/6.3 |
f/32 |
Mechanical Quality
Sony 55-210mm OSS. bigger.
This Sony 55-210mm OSS is all plastic on the inside, with a plastic filter ring. The extending front inner barrel is also plastic.
The mount is metal and the outer parts are metal.
The glass is glass and the electrical contacts are metal.
Sharpness
Lens sharpness has nothing to do with picture sharpness; every lens made in the past 100 years is more than sharp enough to make super-sharp pictures if you know what you're doing. The only limitation to picture sharpness is your skill as a photographer. It's the least talented who spend the most time worrying about lens sharpness. Skilled photographers make great images with whatever camera is in their hands; I've made some of my best images of all time with an irreparably broken camera! Most pixels are thrown away before you see them, but camera makers don't want you to know that.
This is a basic lens with which I can take great pictures; if you'd rather shoot test targets in a lab and read about it online, then sure, get a big lens like the 70-300mm or 70-350mm and don't complain to me about how your little camera is now too big to want to carry anywhere. If you do waste your time in a lab with this lens it is a bit softer on the sides at the larger apertures, but I have no problem making sharp images with it.
This is not the huge Zeiss 50/1.4 which costs four times as much, but is also flawlessly sharp in the corners in the lab wide-open where no one cares.
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Recommendations
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This little stabilized lens is great telephoto lens. With both stabilization and a fast aperture, you're prepared for anything, and with its small size and weight you'll actually take it wirth you rather than leave it back in your hotel room like with the big 70-300mm or 70-350mm.
I'd get my 55-210mm at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield, or in silver at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield, or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.
I use a clear (UV) protective filter instead of a cap. I only use a cap when I throw this in a bag with other gear, otherwise I leave a clear protective filter on my lens at all times instead of a cap so I'm ready to shoot instantly.
The very best protective filter is the Multicoated Hoya HD 49mm which uses hardened glass and repels dirt and fingerprints.
For less money, the B＋W 49mm 010 is an excellent filter, as are the multicoated B＋W and the basic multicoated Hoya filters, but the Hoya HD is the toughest and the best.
Filters last a lifetime, so you may as well get the best. The Hoya HD stays cleaner than the others since it repels oil and dirt.
This junk-free website's biggest source of support is when you use those or any of these links to approved sources when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. Sony does not seal its boxes in any way, so never buy at retail or any other source not on my personally approved list since you'll have no way of knowing if you're missing accessories, getting a defective, damaged, returned, store demo or used lens. I use the stores I do because they ship from secure remote warehouses where no one gets to touch your new lens before you do. Buy only from the approved sources I use myself for the best prices, service, return policies and selection.
Thanks for helping me help you!
Ken, Mrs. Rockwell, Ryan and Katie.
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