A6000

[Jeff Jeff]

Jen, did you get the 16-50 kit lens? I'd like to know how you like it compared to the RX100iii. I don't think the lens situation for the APS-C line will ever improve so I am also looking at adding another lens or two. How is everyone carrying their A6000 around? I found that the camera with kit lens fits very nicely (sideways) in the Lowe Pro Adventura SH 100. It can fit straight down in the Adventura TLZ 20. It's fairly minimalist and you can cut stuff off it and replace the strap to save a few grams.

[Jennifer Mitol]

I did get the 16-50 kit, and so far it's OK. I agree that it may be a TEENY bit soft, but honestly I haven't really had a good enough chance to put it thru the paces before making any real decisions. I'm still figuring out the best way to set up focusing, etc. So at the moment anything that is not tack sharp/perfect is my own fault ;) I also ordered a sigma 30 2.8 so i'm anxious to see how it compares.

[Tom D.]

Jen, can you give a report on the Sigma 30 yet? I'm curious, I've read good reviews on it. Also, is anyone else using manual focus legacy lenses with an adapter to the Sony E mount? I generally carry only the 18-55 kit lens and/or the 55-210 zoom while hiking (depending on the location) and sometimes the 1.7x Tele-extender if looking for wildlife. But here is what I've picked up so far in older lenses and accessories to use with the Sony camera: -Canon 50mm F /1.4 (sharp with good low light performance, also capable of very shallow DOF) -Canon 50mm F/1.8 -Zesnar 135mm F/2.8 (I believe Zesnar is now Tamron, it should be here in 3 days or so) -Olympus T-Con 17X Tele-Extender (used for wildlife, see the "210mm + T-Con 17X" thread) -Canon FD mount to Sony E mount adapter with tripod mount. I got the tripod mount on the adapter to protect the fragile camera tripod hole on the NEX-5r. The Sony 18-55 kit lens is actually pretty good for a kit lens, but not as sharp as the Canon 50mm. I went with the Canon FD mount because the older FD lenses are generally of good quality and plentiful. I can't afford a new fast telephoto at the moment, so I will try the 135mm F/2.8 and see how it does. I want autofocus for wildlife and sports stuff, but for stuff like my son's indoor Jiu-Jitsu tournaments, where lighting isn't always great and where distance from the lens doesn't generally change quickly, this may work well. Plus it was just over $15 total, so I can't really go wrong. I'm just looking for a sharp wide angle now to round out my legacy lenses. I'll be swinging by the local thrift stores and pawn shops to see what else I can pick up.

[Franco Darioli]

"Zesnar 135mm F/2.8 (I believe Zesnar is now Tamron" I spotted that comment on the net, however the Zesnar 135mm I have seen photos off don't look anything like a Tamron product but very much like a lens made by Sun Optical, most commonly sold under the Soligor label . (Soligor sold lenses made by several manufacturers, Sun was just one of them)

[Ian]

I have a Minolta 50mm (f1.7?) I bought off of eBay that came with some no nome adapter. It's a sharp lens and I use it for portraits. The Rokinon 12mm gets really high marks on reviews and is reported to be as sharp as the Zeiss Touit 12mm. I think the Sony 16mm has been fine for me but will likely get the Rokinon next to see if my pictures sharpen up.

[Tom D.]

"Zesnar 135mm F/2.8 (I believe Zesnar is now Tamron" I spotted that comment on the net, however the Zesnar 135mm I have seen photos off don't look anything like a Tamron product but very much like a lens made by Sun Optical, most commonly sold under the Soligor label . (Soligor sold lenses made by several manufacturers, Sun was just one of them)"

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Could be, I haven't been able to find anything more on it. I read that Tamron owns the Zesnar trademark, so its possible that they acquired Zesnar some time in the past or something along those lines. I'm hoping it's one of those "finds" and turns out to be sharp, but if it's not it was only $15 and I can look for dfferent one.

[Franco Darioli]

My comment wasn't about the expected quality, only that it does not look like a lens made by Tamron. Sun made lenses for several brands and sold under their own name too.

[Tom D.]

"My comment wasn't about the expected quality"

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Oh, I know Franco. You've always been very helpful. I did get the lens today and after a couple of test shots, I'm pleased with it so far. I can't yet say that it's Canon like sharp, but it seems sharp enough so far. I think it's going to be a decent little fast, short-mid telephoto. Edit – The Zesnar 135mm is definitely not as sharp as the Canon 50mm, but it's not bad at all. Here is a test shot I took with it:

[Ian]

Looks like there’s a new firmware update for the A6000

 

File Description

This utility updates the ILCE-6000 camera firmware to version 3.10 and provides the following benefits:

<span class=”focus”>Improvements over version 2.00:</span>

• New lenses are supported.
• Phase-detection AF is supported
• The lens name will be correctly recorded in the EXIF
• The AF can be used in movie recording mode with the SEL85F14GM

<span class=”focus”>Benefits provided by previous updates and included in version 3.10:</span>

• The startup time is shortened
• Adds support for recording movies in the XAVC S format that supports high bit rates (NTSC: 60p/30p/24p PAL: 50p/25p)

<span class=”note_bold”>Notes:</span>

• When recording a movie in the XAVC S format, you must use a Class 10 or faster SDXC card
• If you format the memory card, all of the data will be erased. Make sure that the data on the card is backed up before formatting the card

[Bob Shaver]

anybody got some good examples of pics using the a6000 when backpacking?

Bob

[BlackHatGuy]

Hey Bob, I’m not much of a photographer, and these aren’t from backpacking, but these were taken during my thrice-weekly walk here in Arlington (yup, fabulous views just walking around the small airport here). Took them with the 55-210 kit lens that came with the camera, with the camera set to auto.

[Ian]

 

taken with the 55-210

My computer is out of action this week so these were downloaded from my Facebook account, with the predictable loss of quality.

 

[Pamhikes]

Here is a shot I took yesterday.  I just purchased the Tamron 18-200.  Does anyone have experience with this lens?  I was hoping to eliminate both my 18-55 and 55-210 Sony lens for my JMT trip for the Tamron.  Any thoughts?

[Tjaard Breeuwer]

18-200 vs 18-55+55-210

It’s a little bit lighter, a tiny bit shorter tell focal length, obviously way smaller to pack and about 0.5 stop slower at the telefoto end.

[Hans D]

I recently switched to A6000 after years of Nikon D40/D90.  I love that Nikon, but my back disagrees… . The objective was to find something lighter, to drag up the mountains, with good RAW quality, an eye-piece for composing in the sun, and interchangeable lenses.  To keep the costs down, all 2nd hand.  So far, the experience has been very mixed.  The weight reduction is great, combined with a camera clip on the backpack strap.  The capability to still get useable shots in low light is amazing.  The plethora of options to focus is hopeless – trying to get the right setup activated for a certain shot is possible in theory, but I’ll never memorize all that, let alone reproduce it on time.  I’m sticking to backbutton focus, manual finetuning.  I hope I’ll  get used to the menu system one day – feels very messy.  Additional apps can be installed, but that’s all very gimmicky. I may be old school, but give me clear control over focus, ISO, aperture and speed and I’m happy.  I’ll handle the rest in post.  Some of the additional functionality that should appeal – like the in camera panorama shots, are frustratingly flaky in use.  Touch focus in remote doesn’t work with backbutton focus (2 hours internet search… )

Things got really ugly in the add-on cost. No flash shoe cover ?   No affordable off camera flash ?  Only in-camera charging, while you need a spare ?  Only E-mount lenses, with a very narrow selection (after figuring out the confusing letter soup A/E/alpha/nex/ …) ?  Yes, you can use adaptors, but the Nikon one costs more than the camera…. .  The choice seems to be mediocre cheap lenses optimised for JPG, reasonable primes, or triple cost heavy Zeiss glass, that takes away most of the advantage of the light setup.  Learning the hard way, I’m reluctant to invest in expensive glass that’s going to lose it’s value, as FF will one day become affordable.  I like primes for when I can put the camera bag nearby, but on a hike/travel, a walkaround zoom is often more realistic (you want the landscape ànd the bird).

The kitlens is frustrating and not just for its softness –  it needs a hood, or you’ll put fingerprints on the lens straight away.  But try finding a hood that doesn’t vignet on the wide end… .

I picked up an 18-200 – but found too late a dust spot on an internal element, making all the wide part unusable, and the long end is known to be weak… .  The vacuum trick only revealed that the gaps on this lens are wide – no wonder it’s a real dust sucker.  Have to get it cleaned now, and hope not to get overcharged. For now, back to the kit lens, plus a Sony 20mm and a Sigma 60  – more to check what quality I could get with an honest prime.  These are ok, and have given me most success so far, but often still somewhat softer than I’d really like, and not really wide enough.

To be honest ; I don’t feel like I have my final solution… .  Perhaps a couple more months up the learning curve, I’ll feel more at home.  But if Nikon would have had the smarts to come out with a capable lightweight, I would have been spared a lot of frustration… .

 

 

 

 

 

[Nick Smolinske]

Hans, Wasabi power makes an external charger that has worked well for me – I have two for my A7 (same battery as the A6000 I believe) and two for my Ricoh GR.  They have good reviews on Amazon and I’ve had no issues.  Under 25 bucks for the bundle with two extra batteries plus the charger.

I actually prefer when camera companies choose in-camera charging because that way it’s available as an option if I’m in the backcountry for a very long hike and want to recharge batteries off an external supply (which would also be used for other devices).  For thru-hikers I imagine it would be very handy to not carry a charger as well.

[Ian]

I agree with most of your complaints.  It’s not a perfect camera, and perhaps not even a great camera, but it’s the right compromise for me when backpacking and for my needs, more than good enough.  But, if I wasn’t interested in video, I’d jump ship and save my money for a Fuji X Pro 2 and their 16mm lens (also more than twice the cost).  I’m definitely keeping it for back country adventures but I hope to buy a D500 this year and maybe a D810 the next.

I use this hot shoe cover.

I also use the Wasabi batteries with mine.  I agree with Nick.  It’s nice to have the option to plug in straight to the camera when I just need to quickly top off on the road, or when backpacking.  But, I like having an off camera charging option when I’m traveling through countries where their grid is prone to surges and whatnot.

I won’t purchase it until later this summer, but the Godox TT685S (TTL / HSS) is only $119 and their wireless trigger is $45.99.  If you’re interested in a smaller option and willing to spend more, the Nissin i40s may be worth considering.

I’m not crazy about the 16-50 kit lens either but I really think the 55-210 is great, especially when you consider its small size and low cost.  For me personally, when I was traveling through India, I just kept my 16mm prime on the camera and threw on the 55-210 as needed to capture pictures of eagles or whatever.  Your workflow may vary.  The 16mm is good enough but I’m likely upgrading either to one of the new E mount Voightlander lenses, the Rokinon 12mm lens (Jennifer has reported that’s it’s a bit heavy), or the Sigma 19mm which is reported to be pretty sharp.

I also use back button focus.  I personally use the small adjustable focal area option and find that it’s easy enough to move using the pad dial thingy on the back.  For reasons unknown, it works well this way in full manual but when I’m in a pinch and don’t have time to set up my exposure and switch to full auto, the camera changes to a different focusing option.

 

[Hans D]

IanB,

Your perspective seems to be the right one :  see it as a great compromise for backpacking.  So I need to decide my lens choice based on that scenario only – a combo of the 20mm and the 55-210.  And keep my heavier gear to take the quality shots – provided the car is close by… .

Thanks for the tips – that hot shoe cover looks interesting.  Godox looks good, but obviously not a backpack tool.  I bought Baxxtar batteries based on Chip test results in Germany – but they were double your price.

 

 

[d k]

Does anyone have feedback on the kit 16-50 vs the Sigma 19mm?  Pictures taken with both would be interesting.  I’m considering springing for the Sigma, but wondering just how much difference there is, particularly if I’m doing post processing.

[Ian]

DK,

The Sigma 19 and 30 are on my short list but I haven’t picked up either yet.  I prefer my 16mm to my 16-50.  I’m on the road this weekend but will take some comparison shots and upload them next week.

[Hans D]

I tried comparing the 18-55 to the 20mm.  I’m not an expert – but the difference (after DxO lens correction) – was far from evident. Surprisingly, there seems a bit more correction needed for the prime. Consequence of the pancake design ?

[d k]

Thanks – in the meantime, I got impatient and decided to order the Sigma 19mm – so I guess that I can be the one to post comparisons, when I get it!

[Author]

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