A6000

[Ian]

Thought I would start an A6000 specific thread where we could discuss and geek out over this camera, at least until the A7000 is released this fall.

Looks like there was a firmware update in early June that I missed but will update to later:

Firmware link here:

https://esupport.sony.com/US/p/model-home.pl?mdl=ILCE6000&template_id=1&region_id=1&tab=download#/downloadTab

Instructions and a good channel/source of information for all things A6000 here:

[Jeff Jeff]

The 16-50 kit lens gets really bad reviews, even by kit lens standards. What are people using with this body? Is there a good all around backpacking lens that can do landscapes but also capture people and other things along the trail? Some zoom is nice, but I don't need a super zoom.

[Ian]

I look at "super zooms" as something that's beyond 300 possibly 400mm but suspect you're probably looking at something much less than that?

The 16-50… sigh. I haven't used it much in the past year. For backpacking, I've used my sony 16mm 90% of the time. Supposedly the 20mm is better but the 16mm is certainly good enough for my purposes and I appreciate the 24mm crop factor equivalent of it for landscape shots more than I would the 30mm equivalent of the 20. What's nice about both of these lenses is that you can attach a wide angle converter and fish eye so they give you options.

I'm still on the lookout for an upgraded wide angle, including some Voigtlander and Zeiss options, so to be continued…

I finally took the 55-210 on a day hike up Mt. Ellinor with other BPLers during the PNW GGG and it got a lot of use when we ran across a herd of mountain goats. Not an ideal wildlife set up at 315mm equivalent but, good enough there because we were fairly close to the goats, but not close enough to get satisfactory pics with just a wide angle. But, just returned from a cruise and was disappointed at how fuzzy my pictures were of whales, so I see a 7dii, 400mm 5.6, and 1.4 teleconverter in my inventory in the next year or so as I really don't see a good >400mm glass option, even with adapters, for the e mount. Hopefully someone will come up with a Canon to E mount adapter that doesn't suck so I can skip the 7dii altogether, but we'll see. BLUF the 55-210 is a good lens for the money if you understand its limitations.

But back to the 16-50mm… I used it some on my Alaskan cruise, mostly on shore, and found that I might give it a second chance. I shoot mostly in manual now and was able to get some decent shots with it, and found that until I get a good/fast 35mm equivalent walk around lens for around town, this wasn't a bad option. Like most kit zooms, it's ok at a few things but not great at any one thing. Its predecessor (18-50?) seems to get better reviews although not as compact.

[Jeff Jeff]

Thanks for the feedback. There is a 18-55 f3.5-5.6 available, but I worry it would produce the same soft photos as the kit lens.

The only other lens that I see meeting most backpackers needs is the 16-70 f4 Zeiss, but that is nearly a grand. Or just collect a bunch of different prime lenses.

This makes me appreciate just how impressive the lens on the RX100iii is.

[Ian]

I don't regret purchasing the A6000 but it's really important to know what the intended use will be for your camera. The RX100 is nice because after you buy a screen protector, extra battery, possibly an aftermarket grip, you're done.

With an interchangeable lens system, there's always another lens on the horizon. I think Sony realizes that they need to invest their resources, heavily, into getting their native E and FE lenses up to snuff compared to M4/3 and DSLRs. Rumor has it that they are aware of this and to expect several more lenses to be released within a year.

If you're fine with manual focus, then the sky is the limit. If you need fast auto focus telephoto lenses for sports, birds, etc, well… then it gets a bit tricky.

For me, I'll likely buy the sony f4 70-200mm for sports (hockey), and am looking at the sony 90mm macro with great interest. And then there are a few Voigtlanders. And a few Zeiss lenses. But then I'm not finding an ideal wildlife option as the current adapters reportedly suck (and I'm not crazy with the Sony/Minolta alpha mount and adapter options) so now I'm looking at Canon APS C bodies and their 400mm lens with 1.4 teleconverter. And on. And on. And on.

It's a sickness. Get the RX100 and get out while you still can.

Joking, but just a little.

Edit to add: I'm projecting a lot there. You've already stated that you're not looking for fast auto focusing telephoto lenses, so there are a lot of great options out there for the A6000 that would cover wide angle with the occasional shot of a hiking buddy. Long story but I had the RX100i for a week and think it or any of the subsequent models would be ideal for this too as a smaller/lighter option.

[Justin Miller]

I picked up the 10-18mm when I got my A6000 a couple months ago.

The old Olympus Stylus P&S I was using prior was 28mm on the wide end and I found I was almost always shooting at that end and wishing I could go wider. When I finally pulled the trigger on a mirrorless ILC, I wanted access to a good wide angle. The 10-18mm is practically the same focal length on the long end as my old camera and figured I would have no issue sitting at 27mm for most general shots. But I now can get down to 15mm for that super wide perspective I've been yearning for. The aperture is a constant f/4 through the entire range and the lens is fairly compact for a wide angle.

Negatives I have so far are the price of course (was able to get it $100 off) along with the weight. 8oz is not horrible when compared with a other zooms or even some super wide primes but is a severely hefty when compared with the kit lens or the 2.4oz 16mm and 20mm primes.

I also grabbed the 55-210mm for wildlife as it was a steal in price but I probably just shoot scenery 90% of the time.

[Sharon J.]

Didn't go the Sony route due to their poor lens reputation, but shortly after acquiring a 4/3 Olympus, saw an ad for Sony e-mount Zeiss lenses. Not cheap, but something to look into, if optical quality is paramount.

[Cameron M]

The Sony 10-18 is a very good lens, and it is not so heavy or bulky. Great way to go-

[Ian]

I've been eyeing the Zeiss Touit 12mm f2.8 for a while but my 16mm is sufficient enough that it's not my highest priority to replace right now. I have heard that the focusing is noisy for video but I've yet to see one in action.

[Corwin Graves]

I also purchased the Sony 10-18 after converting from an older Canon DSLR and 17-40L lens, which was my standard kit prior to the a6000. I've been very pleased with the new, lighter weight combo and the few images I've captured with it have been fantastic. The 10-18 isn't cheap, but it's ideally suited to landscape use.

[Ian]

Well I'll admit that I was looking, almost exclusively, at wide angle primes, but am now considering this lens after the recommendations given here.

[Justin Miller]

I was initially in the same frame of thought about a good wide prime. But after seeing the focal range of the 10-18, I realized I could essentially just stick with that lense for most of the shooting I do on the trail. I haven't put a ton of time on it yet but I've been happy thus far with 27mm effective on the long end. Basically, I rarely feel the need to swap lenses.

I would still like to get a faster wide prime explicitly for some star shots but doubtful I would ever consider that for the trail. I've been eyeing the Rokinon/Samyang 12mm f/2 for that purpose.

[Ian]

I keep finding myself coming back to some of the Voightlander primes, but I find that the panoramic option on the A6000 is a bit wonky for me at times (eg "you're going too fast… now too slow… too fast again… yawn… too slow… too fast… are we going to do this all day?" error message), more so with a manual focus lens, so I'm not sure if I want to go that route or not. I realize that I can stitch multiple pictures together in post but I like how the A6000 does this in camera when it decides to play nice.

I've yet to update my firmware that I referenced in the OP so perhaps some of this will be fixed when I do.

[Ian]

If you're on Facebook, there are a few pages I've found to be a good source of Sony, and in a couple cases, A6000 specific information.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/jasonlanierworkshops/

Jason Lanier has switched from Nikon to Sony E and A mount systems and later became on of their artisan artists. He posts deals to the page every now and then. He makes a commission from the deals but has always been very up front with that and fully discloses all this on his youtube channel.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/780310935395682/

I've yet to buy Gary Fong's $13 A6000 guide but his videos on YouTube are very informative. I'm interested in the Nissin Di700a Speedlight Flash and his channel has an upcoming review on it.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/SonyAlphaPhotography/

Nothing but A6000. Like the above two groups, target rich environment to hear from people about how different lenses perform.

[Ian]

The RX100iv was rumored to be m4/3 prior to its release, which obviously was false, so I don't bet the farm on any of these rumors, but it's fun to hear what's getting kicked around.

http://cameratimes.org/sony-a7000-rumored-specs-24mp-sensor-hdr-16fps-4k-video/

I think 4k video is a given. It'll be interesting to see how long it can film 4k in camera.

Due to bad eyes, I use the EVF which has been adjusted to my vision 99% of the time. I do wish it had higher resolution for reviewing pictures to see what's in/out of focus, so hopefully the A7000 will address that.

I haven't heard of a pop up EVF failing yet on a RX100iii/iv but it seems like a design that's destined to fail. Time will tell.

16fps is indeed blazing fast but I shoot Raw so my concern would be hitting the buffer too soon and missing a critical shot. (there are a number of double entendres there so have at it)

[Ian]

With the firmware update 2.0 and now having XAVC S video recording capabilities, those who aren't currently using a class 10 card may have to reconsider.

Alik Griffin wrote a great article on the topic and compared several cards.

Best SD Memory Card For The Sony A6000

[Jeff Jeff]

An Rx-100 style level gauge would be nice

[Ian]

I had a chance to play with the RX100i and thought that level gauge was a nice feature. I really have no understanding as to why they got rid of it. I attempted to order a spirit level hot shoe cover for the A6000. Amazon claims it was delivered, I never received it, and didn't feel like getting in a fuss over a $3 order.

I will probably order a three axis one the next time around that also works in portrait orientation.

[Ian]

I haven't had a problem with lens wobble but I only use a 16mm prime 90% of the time. Also don't know about light leak, smells a bit like marketing through fear mongering, but who knows, maybe it's an issue.

https://fstoppers.com/diy/fixing-sonys-shaky-situation-first-impressions-fotodiox-tough-e-mount-42714

[BlackHatGuy]

So a6000 or a7?

[Ian]

Well of the two, I've only owned the A6000 so I can't compare it to the A7 other than specs and cost. For a full frame mirrorless camera, I think the A7 is an incredible value since it's now available <$1000. Of course the A6000 is a pretty sophisticated and amazing APSC camera priced body only at less than $500. I'll eventually buy an A7Sii (long term lunch money savings plan) but I'll always have some sort of APSC camera in my quiver, and am not looking to replace the A6000 any time soon.

[Nathan Wernette]

I've owned both. I'd go with the A7 for a little lightweight backpacking rig. Even now the A7R is going for real cheap, that would probably be the best.

[Ian]

Since I've owned the A6000, I've only experienced overheating once, and that was while I was filming some freestyle footballers in Seattle on a day when there was no breeze and temps were above 90*F. I probably shot 10+ minutes of footage before the camera shut down on me. Historically, I've shot more stills than video, so this wasn't a large concern for me. Well, the reverse is now true and I'm taking a greater interest in video production and now find myself shooting more video than stills. I walked around the neighborhood the other day and shot a bit over 15 minutes of footage. Ambient temperature was in the low 70*s, no noticeable breeze, and no signs of the camera overheating. Still in the early stages of figuring out the limitations of what this camera can do video-wise, but I thought that I'd pass this on. For me, if I plan on shooting a lot of video and it's hot out (mid 80*s ?), I'll likely try and keep my shots below five minutes and take advantage of every opportunity to let the camera cool off.

[Tom D.]

While I would prefer a couple of fast prime lenses, I think I am going to try the 18-200 f/3.5-6.3 zoom lens. When hiking, I don't want to carry multiple lenses. I really just want a lens that is reasonably sharp that I can get a wide enough angle for scenery as well as enough reach and auto focus for wildlife and my kids sports. It looks like it will add 1/2 pound to my camera over the kit lens, but I'm willing to live with that for the "multi-use" aspect of it. I bought the camera (actually, not an A6000 but an NEX-5r) for the video capability as well as multiple lens options, which is why I took it over a camera like the RX100. I'd love to buy an A7, but then you have to consider the weight of the lenses for a full frame sensor.

[Jennifer Mitol]

well, i've got my backpacking kit all together and I feel pretty good about it. I even just sold a whole bunch of gear I'd been hoarding because one day, I MIGHT want to use it…. So now it's time to geek out over camera gear!!!!!! My name is Jen, and I now own a Sony a6000. Time to buy some lenses!!!!

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