The Sony E PZ 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 OSS is a variable maximum aperture standard zoom lens for the Sony E-mount, announced by Sony on September 12, 2012, and released January 2013. The lens is often bundled with various Sony Alpha mirrorless cameras as a "kit lens".
Build quality
The lens features a compact construction colloquially referred to as a "pancake lens" and a micromotor-driven power zoom controlled by a switch on the side of the lens and the dual-role focus/zoom ring when the camera is not set to manual focus. Given the lens' focal length of 16-50mm, it is generally regarded as a multipurpose lens, though underperforms in low light situations due to its slower variable minimum aperture of f/3.5-5.6.
Image quality
The lens has a tendency to produce somewhat soft images, especially near the corners of the image throughout its zoom range. Through the in-lens corrective programming, chromatic aberration and vignetting are reduced by the camera. Vignetting always remains visible with uniform backgrounds, especially at 16mm and always requires out-of-camera correction for applications like product photography. Lens distortion can be seen through at the 16mm end of its zoom range, but gradually fades away toward the 50mm end.