When you have to be 1-lens with a tiny bag in hiking or any trip that require the smallest gear that can help you with lighter gear. In my recent trip to Mammoth Lakes in California, I left my A6000 along with all primes in the hotel and I brought my NEX 5N and the 16-50 as a single lens on a smallest E-mount body. Prime will have better corners and faster speed, but the kit zoom get you versatility and it is good in good-lighting and casual shooting.
5N and kit zoom in Mono Lakef/10, 48mm
35mm f/8.0, cropped
16mm f/10.0
16mm f/11, panoramic
1-lens with a small bag is a great blessing in long hiking and casual shooting
I almost give this lens away for my family but now I found it a stable lens to use when I need the smallest in traveling light and compact.
pros:
- very lightweight and compact, likely the most compact zoom in E-mount
- good range from 16mm wide, wish it gets longer as in 16-55mm
- jpg engine fix most of the distortion on the wide end
- in good lighting and f/8.0 (maybe f/6.3) to smaller, this is pretty good and dependable
- color and contrast is quite good in good lighting
- OSS, do I get it right? this comes in handy though I seldom use the lens for indoor shooting
- AF is good and dependable
cons
- build appears to be poor and the lens has no good aesthetic as the other prime lens in E-mount
- no lens hood, the front of the lens is not well protected
- not great indoor, corners can be a touch soft for landscape though I don't find it a problem as I am center looking guy
- shooting raw can be a time sinker as work needed in distortion correction
- vignette is not a huge issue but I do see it especially wider aperture in indoor
- DISLIKE the zoom ring design though some people may like it, feels like a p&s in W <-> T setting
