Sony DT 18-70 mm f/3.5-5.6 review - Vignetting

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Sony DT 18-70 mm f/3.5-5.6

22 October 2010

Arkadiusz Olech

8. Vignetting

Small dimensions and a quite wide range of focal lengths along with wide angles have been suggesting vignetting problems; perhaps such as seen in the case of the Nikkor 18-70 mm which, at the most difficult combination of 18 mm and f/3.5, had as much as 50 % of light fall-off in the frame corners. The tested Sony lens managed a lot better, though! For the aforementioned combination its vignetting amounts to 31% so 1.06 EV. On stopping down the relative aperture to f/4.0 it decreases to 29% and by f/5.6 it reaches the level of 18%. On further stopping down the situation ameliorates only slightly because even at f/8 we see the brightness loss at the level of 15% and by f/11 – only 1% less.

A significantly better situation can be noticed at longer focal lengths. At 30 mm and by f/5.0 we deal with the vignetting of 14% which by f/8 decreases to 12%. At 50 mm the problem practically doesn’t exist any more. Even at the maximum relative aperture the light fall-off in the corners is just 10% and on stopping down by one stop – only 8%. The vignetting increases at the maximum focal length, though- it amounts to 14% (-0.43 EV) by f/5.6. On stopping down of the lens to f/8 we see this aberration decrease once again to an imperceptible level of 6%.

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