18 135 Vs 18 105 Sony

I love camera gear. Since my showtime DSLR photographic camera (Catechism 350D) 15 years ago, I've used many different cameras from various brands. Currently I'm settled with Sony with my principal camera existence A7iii, a low light beast, forth with my recent addition of A6400 which is a lighter setup that offers comparable image quality while being a lot more compact in size & weight.

Hiking and camping are my go-to outdoor activities and a lighter photographic camera setup makes the whole experience a lot more than enjoyable so if it tin evangelize great images, I'm all up for it. That's why I recently got A6400 to cater for my outdoor needs and I came to a point where I desire something more than a kit lens (though I love the compact size) that is more versatile and delivers better photos and videos.

My needs are uncomplicated. I need a lens that is still light and meaty yet produces decent image quality for both photo and videos. It must also have image stabilization because I shoot mostly handheld. And I wanted around 200mm (full frame equivalent) telephoto range to shoot some wild fauna and a crop sensor is perfect for that equally its 1.5x crop gene works in our favor to give united states of america that extra accomplish.

At present that I got my needs sorted out, I was downward to ii articulate contenders. Sony E PZ 18-105 F4 vs Sony Due east 18-135mm F3.5 – F5.6.

Contents

ane Image Quality, Size and Weight
two Sample Images
3 Verdict – Is the 18-135mm for You?
- 3.1 UPDATE

Image Quality, Size and Weight

Despite all the hypes of the 18-105mm from many videographers out at that place, my biggest consequence with this 18-105mm was its size and weight that seems quite off balance with A6400. Getting this lens would conflict my reason to get a6400, a compact photographic camera, in the first place.

I recently sold my 24-105mm f4 which I used on my A7iii considering it was just too beefy that I was reluctant to take it outside with me. Having this contempo experience fabricated it certain that I need to go with a lighter setup.

At the end of the 24-hour interval, information technology really comes downwardly to what y'all are willing to compromise. If 18-105mm was a lens that blows all other contenders out of the water with prototype quality, I would probably be okay to live with its size and weight but information technology didn't expect that fashion. Image quality that eighteen-135mm produces seemed very promising, if not, improve in some aspect. I mean, think nearly it. Why would Sony release a lens that is worse than its similar older brother?

eighteen-135mm is newer, lighter, has more zoom range and produces sharp images. It's slightly more expensive but not by big margin. The simply category that 18-105mm conspicuously wins is its constant F4 aperture. My accept is that it's for an APS-C sensor photographic camera and F4 is already tedious that it wouldn't make it noticeably better. If variable aperture is an issue, I can get away with fixing 18-135mm at its maximum aperture F5.6 so aperture, exposure, white residual, all can stay as I zoom in and out.

Sample Images

These were some of the images I took with 18-135mm. All shot in RAW and edited slightly in Lightroom.

f/5.half-dozen | 1/i,250 sec | 33mm | ISO 400

f/5.half dozen | 1/250 sec | 135mm | ISO 250

f/5.half dozen | ane/400 sec | 135mm | ISO 800

I've used 18-135mm on a6400 for this video with some wide bending shots taken with 16-35mm F4 on A7III.

Verdict – Is the eighteen-135mm for You?

People likewise speak highly of 18-105mm's internal focus/zoom and power zoom just I personally don't demand a smooth zoom transition for my video shots nor I use gimbal to make use of its internal zoom. I shoot indoors a lot and power zoom did me more than disservice than being useful as it resets to its default focal distance every fourth dimension it goes to sleep making information technology extremely frustrating when trying to continue shooting at the same focal distance.

Many people say 18-135mm is for photo and xviii-105mm for video. I don't know if I agree with this general consensus. With some workaround solution, 18-135mm is a solid all rounder option for both video and photograph despite being variable aperture lens. And, that'south exactly what I did. I went for xviii-135mm and I remember I fabricated the right selection for my use case. And so which lens sounds like the ane for y'all?

Here are the links to the camera and lens mentioned in this article.

SONY E 18-135mm F3.5-v.six OSS SEL18135
SONY E PZ 18-105mm F4 G OSS SELP18105G
SONY a6400
SONY A7III
SONY FE 16-35mm F4 ZA OSS

UPDATE

I no longer ain 18-135mm lens. I was generally happy with the images that came out of 18-135mm, but I had to let it become when I switched to a smaller camera RX100M7 (ane-inch sensor) for even greater portability. I recently got my a6400 back as I wasn't super satisfied with the images I was getting from the RX100M7. A slight downgrade on image quality was to be expected due to the smaller 1-inch sensor, merely it was merely nowhere close to a6400.

So with a6400 dorsum in my possession, this time I chose eighteen-105mm F4 lens which is the bigger and the older lens that I wasn't convinced with initially. Recently, I came to realize that I use my photographic camera to shoot videos more than taking photos and I grew to appreciate the constant F4 aperture of the xviii-105mm. I wrote a new article nearly 18-105mm F4 so please check information technology hither. At the end of the 24-hour interval, it really comes down to your needs. Having used both lens, I'd cull eighteen-105mm F4 for video shooters and 18-135mm for photographers. I hope this article helps yous choose between the two lens.