Sony A6700 Compare and Contrast These Two Sony Lenses Please

[LEMCCAN]

Received my Sony A6700 over the weekend. With it, I purchased a Sony SELP1635G FE PZ 16-35mm F4 G-Full-Frame Constant Aperture lens. Today I ordered a Sony SEL1655G Alpha 16-55mm F2.8 G Standard Zoom APS-C lens which has a larger aperture and is $200 less.

What would your choice be between the two lenses and why? I'm planning to use either one as an all-around lens for travels with my wife. I will return one of them.

Thanks.

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

The 16-35 f4 is a full frame lens, so did you buy it because you think you will upgrade your camera body to a full-frame? That would be the only reason to keep it. Anyway, optically its great and because the lens covers an area larger than your sensor, you should not have any vignetting and you'd be using the sharpest part of the lens... but your widest aperture is still f4 and you only have 16-35mm (or 24-52.5mm with 1.5X crop factor) for focal range.

The 16-55 2.8 G is designed for the APSC, which is why it is probably cheaper. Its a great lens too, feels really good on the A6700, good balance. You will have a wider aperture, a constant f2.8. Your focal range would be 16-55mm (X1.5 = 24-82.5mm full frame equivalent). So cheaper, more range, wider aperture... a slam dunk.

I've had my 16-55 2.8 G for 2 weeks now (previously I had a Tamron 17-70 f2.8). This lens is very sharp and I like the ergonomics on the A6700.
About the only con I could find is that when you review the RAW files, at 16mm there is some vignetting and a little distortion below 24mm, BUT the lens profile corrects this perfectly. If you are using your A6700 to capture RAW + JPG or JPG only, the in-camera correction automatically corrects the distortion I mentioned prior for JPGs.

 

[LEMCCAN]

I bought the first out of sheer ignorance and based on a bit of what I read, without knowing much. I am thankful I found this forum!!!

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

I bought the first out of sheer ignorance and based on a bit of what I read, without knowing much. I am thankful I found this forum!!!

Happy to help!
Most people buy their APSC camera with the 16-50 or 18-135 kit lens (there's also a 55-210mm, but its not great) and THEN have to worry about lens upgrades. I will say this for kits lenses, the 18-135 is a nice travel lens as long as you don't need wide aperture; great range, optical stabilization, and lightweight package.

 

[LEMCCAN]

I'm considering this outfit for my A6700:
Sony 16mm-50mm lens (came with the camera)
Sony 16mm-55mm f/2.8 G lens expected tomorrow
Sony 70mm-350mm f/4.5-f/6.3 G lens; not ordered yet!

My current camera bag (used for my older Canon XSI) can accommodate all of this comfortably in a fairly compact package.

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

The 16-50 kit lens isn't very impressive, you can keep it in your bag as a backup, or in a rare case where you want to be inconspicuous, or to fit the camera into a jacket pocket.
16-55mm 2.8 G, you will have this on your camera 95% of the time.
70-350mm seems like the best zoom you can buy for the APSC lineup. I have not used it personally. There are slightly cheaper alternatives from Tamron, like the 50-300mm I use, but the Sony still beats it on the tele-end.