Sony’s development for it’s APS-C mirrorless E-mount has been rather underwhelming, with new releases (from Sony, at least) being very rare. I’ve reviewed plenty of E-mount lenses over the past five years (including many autofocusing lenses), but they tend to be from Tamron, Sigma, Samyang, and Viltrox. I was impressed by the Sony E 18-135mm OSS (my review here), but the list of new E-mount lenses from Sony over the past 3-4 years is a very short one. In fact, the lens I’m reviewing today (the Sony E 70-350mm F4.5-6.3 G OSS) is hardly a new one, either. It was released back in 2019 alongside another premium APS-C lens – the Sony E 16-55mm F2.8 G. Periodically I like to go back and review some catalog lenses on different platforms if I consider them to be key, important lenses, which I definitely consider the 70-350mm to be.

Sony reserves the G designation for its mid-tier lenses and G Master for its superior lenses, and I’ve found that there is a lot of value to be found in the G lineup. These lenses have more advanced features like weather sealing and a focus hold button, and the 16-55G and 70-350G were essentially the rare APS-C lenses that aligned to the higher standard of the full frame Sony lineup. The 70-350G is not your typical consumer grade zoom, as it has superior autofocus, superior build, and superior optical performance to many such lenses. Here’s a list of some of the features according to Sony.

Excellent corner-to-corner G Lens image quality all the way to 350mm
One aspherical lens suppresses optical aberration and provide outstanding resolution from corner-to-corner
Three ED glass elements effectively arranged suppress chromatic aberration and control color blur even at corners
Circular aperture contributes to soft, beautiful bokeh
Compact, lightweight design at 625 grams (20.09 oz.) makes this 5x super-telephoto zoom remarkably mobile
Sony’s advanced XD Linear Motor technology in an APS-C format lens, for fast, precise AF and tracking
Excellent control and reliability
Built-in Optical SteadyShot™ image stabilization makes it easier to capture images with greatly reduced blur, particularly when shooting at super-telephoto focal lengths
A conveniently placed focus hold button can be assigned to a variety of functions via camera body
An AF/MF focus mode switch on the lens makes it easy to quickly switch between auto and manual focus to respond to changing shooting needs
Engage the zoom lock switch to prevent the lens from extending under its own weight during transportation
Dust and moisture resistant design

It’s worth highlighting that first detail, as the 70-350mm covers a deeper zoom reach than most such lenses achieve. Canon’s typical APS-C telephoto zoom in the past went a little wider but much less long (55-250mm), and some competitors (like Fuji) have a 70-300mm zoom). Due to Sony’s 1.5x APS-C crop, this lens covers a full frame equivalent 105–525mm. 525mm is serious reach…particularly in such a compact package. In fact, let’s take a look at how it compares in size to my full frame Sony FE 200-600mm G OSS:

Ummm, wow! That’s a big difference. The 70-350G allows you to go from this angle of view at 70mm:

to this very tight angle of view at 350mm:

That’s a full 5x zoom range, which is very high in a telephoto. The fact that it can do so with competent optics (as we’ll discover) is impressive indeed. The 70-350G is going to prove a strong performer, though it does come with a more premium price tag of roughly $1000 USD (which is more than the cost of the Sony a6400 camera I did the review of it on). Interestingly, though, this is a lens that offers better value in other markets. The Canadian price is the same (though we often see a 30% premium), and the UK price is about 300 pounds less (often the price in pounds is about the same as in US dollars). That means that this lens may be a much better comparative value in your country, making it even more intriguing. So should you be considering this lens for your kit? The short answer is yes, but if you want a more detailed answer you can either watch my video review or read my thorough text review.

I want to thank Sony Canada (and Gentec) for the loaner of this lens. As always, this is a completely independent review. The opinions here are completely my own. *The tests and most of the photos that I share as a part of my review cycle have been done with the Sony a6400 along with the Sony Alpha 1 which will serve as my benchmark camera for the foreseeable future (my review here).

Photos of the Sony 70-350mm G OSS

Photos Taken with the Sony 70-350mm G OSS

Gear Used:

Purchase the Sony 70-350mm G OSS @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Sony E 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 OSS @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay

Purchase the Sony a6600 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay

Purchase the Sony a6400 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay

Peak Design Leash Strap: Peak Design Store | B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK

Adobe Photoshop Creative Cloud 1-Year Subscription
Exposure Software X6 (Use Code “dustinabbott” to get 10% anything and everything)
Visit Dustin’s Amazon Storefront and see his favorite gear

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