Sony 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS Alpha E-Mount Retractable Zoom Lens (Bulk Packaging)

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The Sony E 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 PZ OSS is a compact and inexpensive kit zoom lens that produces decent results, although it suffers from heavy barrel distortion at wide angles and produces images that are only super-sharp at the center. That said, it does better than most kit lenses, to the point that you may not feel the need to immediately rip it off and replace it with something better. It's a very serviceable shooter. The big selling points here are its compactness as well as the powerzoom and image stabilization features, both of which come in handy for video shooting.

I bet you won't be happy with a 28-70 even though it is rated highly on APS-C. 28mm is just not wide enough and you will have a hard time unless you have some alternatives for wide angle. Which once again put you in the situation of finding an alternative for 16-50. Again, shooting macro, I use an off camera flash with diffuser but would expect to use the A6500 in good light for the most part.This lens became my most used lens on the NEX-6, replacing my 10-18 OSS and Sigma 19 f2.8 for general shooting and the 50 f1.8 OSS for daytime shooting. 16mm is wide enough for most applications, and the compactness is a joy to use. I recently (unfortunately) broke my SELP1650. To make a long story short, my A6000 stopped being able to recognize the lens. I sent it in to Sony and they said it was physical damage and therefore would not honor the warranty. It's fine, I'm over it. The lens can achieve a blur-free image easily at 1/10 second. Taking 1/6 second blur-free image is still possible if your hand is firm and steady enough. 1/5 and any slower shutter speed are challenging for me to take a blur-free image even though the OSS is on. More handheld night shots can be found in the bottom line section below. Bottom Line I would give the same advice. I like the handling of the 18-55mm better, but the extra 2mm at the wide end make a much bigger difference than the 5mm at the long end, plus the 16-50 is a LOT more compact. IQ wise they are very similar, and if you use them in their sweet spots the image quality is quite reasonable. Inside the barrel sit 9 lens elements in 8 groups, with one ED and four aspherical elements. The aperture mechanism has 7 blades for a fairly circular aperture.

I'm also in the "neither" camp. I've used my 16-50 with my A6500 but I prefer my Sony 20/2.8 and haven't touched the zoom since I got the 20/2.8.

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AF Assist Light, Built-in Flash, Microphone, Speaker, Hot shoe, Image Stabiliser, External Flash (optional)