It is often bundled with various Sony E-mount full-frame mirrorless cameras, and is a less costly alternative to other standard zooms such as the Sony Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar T* FE 24-70mm F4 ZA OSS.

Though designed for Sony's full frame E-mount cameras, the lens can be used on Sony's APS-C E-mount camera bodies, with an equivalent full-frame field-of-view of 42-105mm.

The lens has a weather resistant plastic construction with a matte-black finish and rubber zoom and focus rings.

The Sony FE 28-70mm F3.5-5.6 OSS shows acceptable chromatic aberration[4] and good bokeh.

[4] Its optical performance is competitive with the Sony Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar T* FE 24-70mm F4 ZA OSS in every metric tested by DxOMark.