Sony Alpha a6000 Best Budget Lenses
This post was initially planned to be a script of a YouTube video that I had planned to make. However, it turns out making a video needs a lot of time. In my busy routine, I just couldn't make it even though I tried hard. Since this new site needs new posts, I figured out why not put that here? With that being said, I'm not saying I'm ditching the video. The video will be uploaded sometime in the future if somehow I have the time.
The Sony a6000 is one great gem. It was launched in 2014 boasting excellent image quality, processing speed, compact size and affordable price. Even after more than 3 years (by the time this post was posted) it still continues to be a formidable camera. As a matter of fact, I've used this camera for 2 and a half years and here, I'm going to share what I know about the camera and in particular, the lenses and the accessories.
I've made this post specifically for the a6000. However, if you are an owner of a camera that shares the same mount and sensor size as the a6000, such as the a63000, you might also use this as a reference, as indeed it's not going to be a big difference.
UPDATE:
Sony released the new SEL 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6, priced akin to the 18-105 G. From the information I collected, it seems that it's a tad sharper on the wide end and softer in the tele end. Of course, this lens does not have electric zooming, nor a constant aperture. It, however, weighs significantly less and seemingly does not exhibit the same degree of distortions. It's definitely a great alternative if you prefer a lighter, manually zooming lens with a different sharpness profile.
The Sony a6000 is one great gem. It was launched in 2014 boasting excellent image quality, processing speed, compact size and affordable price. Even after more than 3 years (by the time this post was posted) it still continues to be a formidable camera. As a matter of fact, I've used this camera for 2 and a half years and here, I'm going to share what I know about the camera and in particular, the lenses and the accessories.
I've made this post specifically for the a6000. However, if you are an owner of a camera that shares the same mount and sensor size as the a6000, such as the a63000, you might also use this as a reference, as indeed it's not going to be a big difference.
The lenses
I'm going to divide this into a couple of categories. Before reading this post I expect you to know the basics of lenses already.
Should you use the 16-50mm kit lens?
In my opinion, it depends. I honestly find the kit lens to be pretty mediocre. But this depends on how severe the bad things of the lens affects your photography. Here's what I'm talking about
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| f/5.6 and 24mm on both lenses, same conditions, all photos untouched |
As you can see on top, using a better lens does really make a difference. The Kit lens is much softer and less contrasty. And here's what I think is also a big bummer.
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| Kit lens at f/3.5 16mm, untouched |
The corners are pitch black no matter what aperture you use on the wide end. Shooting in JPEG with auto-correction on (or using the vignette corrector in post-processing) doesn't fix the issue as the corners still appear much darker after correction (this is not the case with other lenses that has a less extreme vignetting effect). The distortion is correctable, but correcting it will cause an extra hit on the corner and the edge's already mediocre sharpness.
OK, so what?
I only mentioned the worst parts of the lens. The rest is not so bad... The lens is actually pretty good in between 24mm and 35mm and not too shabby in the tele end either. Stop down to f/5.6 or f/6.3 on that range and you get a decent lens already. For people who have just got into photography, I don't think this lens is inadequate at all, more so if you don't mind about the contrast in your photos. But if you really want to step up your game, especially if you want to get good wide angle photographs, upgrading your lens will make a huge difference.
The Prime Lens
For anyone who is looking to improve their photography skills and upgrade their kit lens, I always recommend a standard prime lens. "Standard Prime" is a common term for Prime lenses bearing the focal range of around 50mm in full frame terms. For the Sony a6000, the go-to standard prime is the Sony E 35mm f/1.8 OSS
Another alternative is the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DC HSM, which is sharper, has a bigger maximum aperture and pretty similar in terms of price. Apparently, with this lens, I have been hearing that it suffers from an autofocusing bug in wider apertures. It also lacks Optical Stabilization. I would actually prefer to shoot with the Sigma for its sharpness in ideal conditions, but since I also like the idea of "keeping one lens on the body", with better portability, video capabilities, better autofocusing, the Sony looks like the much better option. Though, feel free to disagree with me.
There is (yet) not many choices for other focal ranges. For wider focal ranges, the new Sigma 16mm f/1.4 DC HSM and the Sigma 19mm f/2.8 DN are excellent choices. For the narrower focal ranges, you can look into the Sigma 60mm f/2.8 DN or the "arguably not telephoto enough" SEL 50mm f/1.8 OSS or look into something more expensive like the SEL FE 85mm f/1.8 which is pretty expensive but probably better if you are serious on tele-primes.
An honourable mention would be the SEL 20mm f/2.8, which I think is a very fun lens to have. With the versatile focal length and minuscule size and weight, it is a great lens to pair with any APS-C sensor E-Mount cameras, which are naturally small in size. Though sharp enough for most people, the sharpness leaves something to be desired for pixel peepers.
Another alternative is the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DC HSM, which is sharper, has a bigger maximum aperture and pretty similar in terms of price. Apparently, with this lens, I have been hearing that it suffers from an autofocusing bug in wider apertures. It also lacks Optical Stabilization. I would actually prefer to shoot with the Sigma for its sharpness in ideal conditions, but since I also like the idea of "keeping one lens on the body", with better portability, video capabilities, better autofocusing, the Sony looks like the much better option. Though, feel free to disagree with me.
There is (yet) not many choices for other focal ranges. For wider focal ranges, the new Sigma 16mm f/1.4 DC HSM and the Sigma 19mm f/2.8 DN are excellent choices. For the narrower focal ranges, you can look into the Sigma 60mm f/2.8 DN or the "arguably not telephoto enough" SEL 50mm f/1.8 OSS or look into something more expensive like the SEL FE 85mm f/1.8 which is pretty expensive but probably better if you are serious on tele-primes.
An honourable mention would be the SEL 20mm f/2.8, which I think is a very fun lens to have. With the versatile focal length and minuscule size and weight, it is a great lens to pair with any APS-C sensor E-Mount cameras, which are naturally small in size. Though sharp enough for most people, the sharpness leaves something to be desired for pixel peepers.
The ultra-versatile Zoom lens
I always think that if you want the best image quality possible, the only option is to stay away from zoom lenses that have a high zooming ratio. But I must say, there are certain situations where ultra-versatile zoom lenses are handy. If you are looking for one of those, I recommend you to look at the SEL PZ 18-105mm f/4 G.
This lens is really unique. I don't think any other mounts have this kind of lens. It is a power zoom lens that covers from 18-105mm, features only common in a cinema lens. It also has a constant aperture of f/4 which is also unique for a zoom lens this versatile. Not only that, the centre sharpness of this lens is incredible. Wide open, I can even tell you that the centre sharpness of this lens is even sharper than some prime lenses. Though, the edge and corners are good but far from being that impressive. The two only problems that this lens has are the weird pincushion distortion (very correctible) and the size and weight. This lens is not light at all and is pretty big. So, do note that paired with smaller cameras like the a5100, the lens might cause some "imbalance".
The lens is still an excellent package. The versatility can help everyone and the image quality and features can definitely please professionals. The price isn't too bad either at $600. There is an alternative, the SEL 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3, but I do not recommend it. Going with it means that you will lose the sharpness, the power zoom, the constant aperture and you will end up paying a bit more. For an extra 105-200mm that you will probably rarely use, I don't think it's worth it.
UPDATE:
Sony released the new SEL 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6, priced akin to the 18-105 G. From the information I collected, it seems that it's a tad sharper on the wide end and softer in the tele end. Of course, this lens does not have electric zooming, nor a constant aperture. It, however, weighs significantly less and seemingly does not exhibit the same degree of distortions. It's definitely a great alternative if you prefer a lighter, manually zooming lens with a different sharpness profile.
Telephoto lenses
The SEL 55-210mm f/4.5-6.3 could somewhat be a cheap option at $350. However, it doesn't produce tack sharp photos and the zoom range isn't really that useful. Unfortunately, in this ecosystem, the options that give great image quality are unfortunately FE lenses, the SEL FE 24-240mm F3.5-6.3, the SEL FE 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 G, or the SEL FE 70-200mm f/4 G which are apparently not wise because of the reduced practicality of the focal ranges and the prices that are all beyond $1000. Sony should be giving more options on this one.
The Wide Angle Lens
This is where I think the E-Mount ecosystem has always been lacking. There are very few options when it comes to wide angle lenses. The Samyang/Rokinon 12nm f/2.0 might be a strong option. The Rokinon is cheap at around $300 and its optical quality is between good to really good. However, do note that it is a manual focus lens and is usually soft at the extreme corners. For what it is, the lens is actually a very attractive option, especially when you want to really get into manual focusing.
Though, if you prefer not to try manual focusing, you should try the Sony 10-18mm f/4 OSS. In my honest opinion, image quality wise, the lens isn't a stellar performer, but good enough for most ultra wide works. However, there are three issues with the lens. First, is that it is really expensive. Its more than $800 price tag is more appropriate for full-frame zoom lenses. Second, the edges and corners fall off in terms of sharpness significantly in f/4 and it isn't very sharp when stopping down below f/11. Third, some guys on the internet have been saying that it suffers some quality control issue, so you have to be careful when buying one.
If I have to be frank, I would not even get any of the two if I need a wide angle lens. The Sigma 16mm f/1.4 DC HSM, mentioned earlier would be adequate for wide angle works. Yes, 16mm might be nowhere near "ultra wide angle", but I would say no to manual focusing these days and the inexplicable price to performance ratio of the 10-18mm.
Though, if you prefer not to try manual focusing, you should try the Sony 10-18mm f/4 OSS. In my honest opinion, image quality wise, the lens isn't a stellar performer, but good enough for most ultra wide works. However, there are three issues with the lens. First, is that it is really expensive. Its more than $800 price tag is more appropriate for full-frame zoom lenses. Second, the edges and corners fall off in terms of sharpness significantly in f/4 and it isn't very sharp when stopping down below f/11. Third, some guys on the internet have been saying that it suffers some quality control issue, so you have to be careful when buying one.
If I have to be frank, I would not even get any of the two if I need a wide angle lens. The Sigma 16mm f/1.4 DC HSM, mentioned earlier would be adequate for wide angle works. Yes, 16mm might be nowhere near "ultra wide angle", but I would say no to manual focusing these days and the inexplicable price to performance ratio of the 10-18mm.
Macro Lenses
Unlike the A-Mount system that has significantly more options in this regard, the only viable macro lens for the APSC E-Mount system is the SEL 30mm f/3.5 Macro. While far from being the best macro lens out there with the measly 30mm focal length and not very sharp corners, the lens can definitely produce stunning pictures in the right hands.
You can still try the expensive SEL FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro G or the Manual Focusing Samyang/Rokinon 100mm f/2.8 Macro if you are very serious about macro works.
Out of options?
You can still use the LA-EA4 Adapter that lets you use an A-mount glass on an E-mount camera. However, unless you have some A-mount lenses at your disposal, using a native E-mount lens would still be a much better option. You can also use cheap E-mount to Nikon/Canon adapters commonly found on the internet, but by all means, I go against this option.
The images are taken from Sonyalpharumors and the Sony product page
The images are taken from Sonyalpharumors and the Sony product page
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