Sony DT 55 200mm F 4 5 6 SAM Review | 54 Data compared

The Sony 55-200mm f/4-5.6 DT SAM (SAL-552002) is a compact, lightweight APS-C telephoto lens offering excellent central sharpness and well-controlled chromatic aberration, making it a capable, budget-friendly option for expanding focal range. Performance highlights include good corner shading results and consistent center-frame sharpness even when used wide open. However, the lens suffers from notable corner softness at wider focal lengths and exhibits significant distortion, along with relatively slow autofocus performance. Additional limitations include a lack of full-time manual focus override and noticeable corner softening that requires stopping down to improve image consistency.

This review of the Sony AF DT 55-200mm F4-5.6 SAM A-mount lens highlights its impressive center sharpness even when used wide-open or with a 2X teleconverter, alongside its small, lightweight design that makes it an excellent kit addition. The reviewer notes that it is a fairly fast telephoto lens, offering apertures of f/4 up to 100mm and f/4.5 between 105mm and 150mm, while also providing close focusing capabilities, parfocal behavior, a deep lens hood, and Lens Compensation Support. Performance-wise, its autofocus is slow but accurate, hunting less than the DT 55-300 due to its more limited range, and its SAM motor works reasonably well with chipped Kenko DGX and pass-through Kenko 1.5X teleconverters. Conversely, the lens suffers from physical and optical drawbacks, starting with a focus control ring that is small and loose, and a zoom control that feels sticky and uneven. Optically, it exhibits moderate pincushion distortion at most focal lengths, some veiling glare when wide open, and visible purple fringing similar to the 55-300 zoom. Furthermore, while it vastly outperforms older Minolta lenses and the DT 55-300 in...

The DXOMARK review evaluates the Sony DT 55-200mm F4-5.6 SAM lens (released January 2009) and awards it an overall DXOMARK Score of 14. When tested on cameras like the Sony SLT Alpha 77 II, the analysis indicates that the lens achieves its optimal, peak performance when set to its widest focal length of 55mm at an f/4 aperture. The evaluation breaks down individual performance metrics, highlighting a respectable sharpness score of 15 P-Mpix alongside a measured light transmission of 4.8 TStop. DxOMark The underlying metrics from the review bring to light a clear set of pros and cons regarding the optic's technical performance. On the positive side (pros), the lens demonstrates great control over geometric distortion, yielding a low distortion metric of just 0.4%. It also handles chromatic aberration quite well for a budget telephoto zoom, containing color fringing to 10 µm. Conversely (cons), the lens suffers from noticeable light falloff in the corners, recording a vignetting score of -1 EV. Additionally, while its transmission loss is typical for variable-aperture consumer lenses, a 4.8 TStop rating means it lets in...