SONY SONY SEL24240 SEL24240 FE 24-240mm F3.5-6.3 OSS Review

So you're looking at the Sony FE 24-240mm f/3.5-6.3 OSS. This is the ultimate 'one lens to rule them all' for Sony full-frame shooters. It covers everything from wide-angle landscapes at 24mm to decent telephoto reach at 240mm, all without you having to swap glass. That's a 10x zoom range, which is massive for a full-frame lens. It's the kind of lens you slap on your camera when you're heading out for a day of travel or hiking and you genuinely don't know what you'll encounter. You want to be ready for a sweeping vista and a distant bird on the same walk. This lens says you can.

The numbers tell a clear story. Its versatility score is in the 99th percentile, which basically means nothing else in its class gives you this much range in one package. The optical performance lands in the 93rd percentile, which is impressive for such a long zoom. You're not getting prime lens sharpness corner-to-corner, but for a superzoom, it's very good. The stabilization is solid too, sitting in the 89th percentile. That's crucial because at 240mm, even small shakes are magnified. The OSS helps you shoot handheld at slower shutter speeds, which is a lifesaver since the aperture gets pretty slow at the long end.

Here's the tricky part: the price. It ranges from $870 to $1,248 depending on where you look. That's a $378 spread, which is huge. If you can find it at the lower end of that range, it starts to make a lot of sense as a do-it-all travel lens. At the high end, you're paying a premium for the Sony badge and the convenience. You have to ask yourself how much that 'one lens' convenience is worth to you compared to carrying two or three sharper, faster primes.

Let's talk competitors. This lens doesn't really compete with primes like the Viltrox 35mm f/1.7 or the Meike 55mm f/1.8. Those are for specific jobs—low light, portraits, creamy bokeh. The Sony 24-240mm is the opposite. It's for when you can't carry those primes. A more direct comparison might be pairing a standard zoom (like a 24-70mm) with a telephoto zoom. That combo will be sharper and faster, but heavier and more expensive. The real trade-off is optical purity and speed for sheer convenience and range. This Sony lens is the king of convenience, but you give up that fast aperture and ultimate sharpness.

If you're a landscape or travel photographer who hates changing lenses and values capturing the moment over perfect bokeh, this lens is a fantastic tool. The image quality is more than good enough for most uses, and the stabilization is a real benefit. But if you shoot in low light often, or if portraits are your main thing, look elsewhere. The slow variable aperture and mediocre bokeh make it a poor choice for those scenarios. For those users, a fast prime or a standard f/2.8 zoom would be a much better investment.