Sony A6000 & A7000 Lenses for long term travelling? [Archive] - AusPhotography:: Australia's Premier Photography Forum::

AussieBrent

28-07-2015, 4:08pm

Hi Guys,

I am planning another trip around South East Asia for 6-12 months maybe longer I pretty much settled on the A6000 over the A7 for a variety of reasons such as price, more compact and the money saved I can spend on better lenses for the A6000 or 7000 and I think I will get the near same results as I am not a pro photographer and don't think I would benefit from the A7.

As I am travelling overseas next year and may wait to the A7000 comes out if anyone has any details of this? but what lenses would complement this camera for travelling? I am happy to spend $1200 - $1600 on multiple high quality lenses and filters but only really want to take 2 possibly 3 lenses at the most. I currently don't have any decent lenses so will be starting from scratch!

Considering I know little about Sony Cameras or lenses I am currently researching would love your input, my main photos would be:

- Landscape (Possible wide angel)
- Street Photography / Culture
- Everyday travel photos
- Long exposures at night with gorilla pod.
- Minimal video

I will be transferring photos onto a laptop for some basic post processing then uploading onto my travel blog that I will be setting up so I would really like nice quality pictures.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

bitsnpieces

28-07-2015, 10:11pm

I haven't looked into lenses too much, but generally speaking, Sony lenses have finally picked up on quality, so any lens will do - now it's just about specifics to ensure it fits all that you want to do.

For each one mentioned, there's always full frame alternatives, but just take in mind that using a full frame lens on an APS-C sensor can create other (very) minor image distortion/quality issues, but the a6000 should still handle them well - I'll list the APS-C versions only

If you want an all-in-one, then the SEL18200LE would be fine - http://www.sony.com.au/product/sel18200le
http://kurtmunger.com/sony_nex_18_200mmid237.html
A powered zoom version is also available if you want that extra smoothness when zooming in video or whatnot

Now, figuring in the budget, you really could just get the all in one 18-200 and though image quality won't be perfect in all cases, you should still get quite decent image quality. That will also give you a decent wide angle (though not ultra but you may as well do panoramas too really, to which even 18mm can be sufficient), and provide ample zooming for street and when you want to get in close.

However, another option as an all in one, that's a little cheaper and better quality, is the SELP18105G - http://www.sony.com.au/product/selp18105g
https://www.ephotozine.com/article/sony-e-18-105mm-f-4-pz-g-oss-lens-review-24056
This has an advantage of having a constant aperture of f4, though a slightly shorter reach. In effect, the 18-200 probably runs at around f4 when at the 105mm range, but, the the real difference is the lens quality.

However, if all in ones are not your thing:

For your landscapes, you have an option of the SEL1018 http://www.sony.com.au/product/sel1018
Review - http://kurtmunger.com/sony_nex_10_18mm_f_4_ossid342.html
Sony's UWA converters aren't all that good so don't worry about combinations.
You also have an option of using an adapter so that you can use other high quality UWA that you may already have, or others here may be able to recommend. Since it's landscape, you won't need the fast autofocusing speeds, thus using an adapter to other lenses at the sacrifice of autofocus speeds won't be a problem. May possibly save a lot of money - others will know of pricing for UWA better than I do.

For your street photography, the kit lens SEL1855 should be fine (saves a little money from buying extra lenses if you go with a kit bundle I guess) - http://www.sony.com.au/product/sel1855
http://kurtmunger.com/nex_18_55mm_f_3_5_5_6id193.html
If you're looking for a constant aperture, then you've only got the SEL1670Z really, http://www.sony.com.au/product/sel1670z
http://kurtmunger.com/sony_zeiss_16_70mm_f_4id354.html
At this rate, the 18-105 is already a better choice as it'll cover everything listed above.

So, if you don't need UWA, then the 18-105 is a fine choice. If you must have UWA, maybe you can strike a deal to get the 10-18 and 18-105 at a discounted price somewhere, or use the 18-105 in combination with an adapter UWA lens.
If you're looking for fast lenses across the board, $1200-$1600 just isn't enough with Sony lenses, but again, adapters are available to potentially adapter high quality fast lenses, if you don't need full autofocusing speeds.