Another New-to-Me Lens

About ten years ago, when I picked up my Sony camera, it came with a basic "standard kit lens".  This wasn't a particularly good lens but it was lightweight so it got a little bit of use every now and then.  

This kit lens was a bit large to use all the time but it was the lightweight characteristic of it which offset the rather uncomfortable size and made up a little bit for a lack of sharpness.  It wasn't all that great for low light photos and the sharpness was lacking but, in good light, I would occasionally get some good shots with it though.  This photo, at right, is one of the good photos I captured with it.

I rarely used this lens because it was large enough to be uncomfortable to carry around all the time and, at best, it was a rather average performer, generally speaking.  If it performed well, I could overlook the larger size of this lens but I found I rarely used it.  

Then, while cleaning it one day, the rear lens element broke loose and I couldn't fix it.  I contemplated buying a used copy of this lens (it was inexpensive due to lack of quality) but I just couldn't justify spending any money on another one of these lenses.  Instead, I made do with some prime lenses for many years which were far better but required more lens changes.  Quite often, however, I wished I had a good (not necessarily "great") standard zoom lens.  

During the pandemic, Sony released another new kit standard zoom lens that was far smaller than that lens I had.  The reviews showed that it was sharper than my old lens.  Still...  I held off purchasing one.  

I recently found a used Zeiss lens that is the same size as that kit lens I broke all those years ago.  Zeiss is known for quality so that is a plus.  This lens also has a slightly wider range than my old standard zoom lens and it is a faster lens.  By faster I mean it has a larger aperture which is beneficial in low light situations and I often find myself in poor light.  Now, I found this lens on the used market at a very good price and it was in excellent condition.  I decided it was time to finally get a better lens to replace the cheap kit lens I broke all those years ago.

The crazy thing is that the price on a new standard zoom kit lens (same model that I broke) is higher than I paid for this Zeiss lens and this Zeiss lens is worlds better in every respect.  I'm looking forward to putting this new-to-me lens to the test on a few outings.  

Now...  we just need to get out and about one day...