NEX 5 Lens questions

Kimmygill

Kimmygill

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Kim
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Hi

I've got a Sony NEX 5 and am looking for some advice on which other lenses to get please :)

I have the 16mm / 18-50mm and 18-200mm which is all that were available at the time. I know they have since brought some more out with the release of the new models but they are quite similar ( i think ?) But i pretty much only use the 18-200 - don't think i've changed it in about 6 months ! So i'm looking to add to my collection.

I am looking for ( and apologies if this is impossible/wrong) a lens with a big aperture to help me shoot in really low light but which is still a decent size to cope with some distance. I take a lot of dog sport pictures often in indoor arenas with very poor light and i'm really struggling as often can't use flash. Is an F/1.7 - 25 or 35mm going to be sufficient for this if i crop the images down afterwards ?

Does anyone have any suggestions please ?

I'd also like one of the really big telephoto lenses ( yes i accept it is going to look stupid on the NEX body ) Can i buy one of these off ebay for around £200 or is that a false economy ? Where is the best place to get one / can anyone recommend one ?

Also if i want to buy a lens which requires a lens mount is it a false economy to buy one from China or does it not matter as much as it does with buying cheap lenses ?

What is the best progression on from the NEX into a 'proper' DSLR if i was to trade it in and change it ? I do love it but find i can't properly take over all the settings in manual like i would like to - unless this is user error ?!

I'm just starting out with getting a little more serious with photography so apologies if some of these questions are stupid and please help !

Thanks
 
I think theres a 50mm f1.8 lens available for the NEX now which would certainly be faster than what you have currently, you are hitting into the drawback of the NEX though the lens choice which is a bit sparse so far.

If you like the Sony then perhaps take a look at the Sony DSLR range, I've had a few before and really loved them before moving over to Micro 4/3.
 
Thank you - I had managed to miss that lens ! Looks like it will definitely be worth a try :)
 
Kimmygill said:
Hi

I've got a Sony NEX 5 and am looking for some advice on which other lenses to get please :)

I have the 16mm / 18-50mm and 18-200mm which is all that were available at the time. I know they have since brought some more out with the release of the new models but they are quite similar ( i think ?) But i pretty much only use the 18-200 - don't think i've changed it in about 6 months ! So i'm looking to add to my collection.

I am looking for ( and apologies if this is impossible/wrong) a lens with a big aperture to help me shoot in really low light but which is still a decent size to cope with some distance. I take a lot of dog sport pictures often in indoor arenas with very poor light and i'm really struggling as often can't use flash. Is an F/1.7 - 25 or 35mm going to be sufficient for this if i crop the images down afterwards ?

Does anyone have any suggestions please ?

I'd also like one of the really big telephoto lenses ( yes i accept it is going to look stupid on the NEX body ) Can i buy one of these off ebay for around £200 or is that a false economy ? Where is the best place to get one / can anyone recommend one ?

Also if i want to buy a lens which requires a lens mount is it a false economy to buy one from China or does it not matter as much as it does with buying cheap lenses ?

What is the best progression on from the NEX into a 'proper' DSLR if i was to trade it in and change it ? I do love it but find i can't properly take over all the settings in manual like i would like to - unless this is user error ?!

I'm just starting out with getting a little more serious with photography so apologies if some of these questions are stupid and please help !

Thanks
Click to expand...

Other than the 50mm 1.8, there will be two new Sigma primes coming out this year.

The long tele lenses on eBay? I'm guessing you're talking about the 500m mirror lenses? Have a Google about mirror lenses, they have some different charactistics than standard lenses. I have seen some shots on a blog using a Samyang 500mm f8 lens and they weren't too bad. Remember they are manual focus though.

I've bought 4 different lens mount adapters from Japan, China and HK, I've had no problem with them at all. I personally wouldn't pay £40+ on them simply because they have a more reliable name. I'm happy with my cheap ones.

I'd say its user error. Have you set up the soft keys? Go to Menu - Set-up - Soft Key Settings - in Soft Key C you'll find "Custom". That allowes you to pick 3 settings to change, as well as the Soft key B, thus giving you 4 settings all within a single button press away. Sony should have made this easier to understand from the beginning, as you still see people and reviews complaining about this.

I have my settings as Soft key C - ISO - White Balance - HDR/DRO and Soft key B set to Creative Style. Meaning I will never have to go into the menu again.

I don't really think a Nex is build for low-light indoor sport shooting. BUT I have a better suggestion, if you like the Nex. Sell your other two lenses and buy something like the LA EA 2. This gives you the option of using Sony A Mount lenses and better auto-focusing (The same type of focusing in the higher end Alpha SLTs).
 
Sure their will be some more lens out this year at somtime,now that the nex7 is now out :)
 
If you're looking for a longish fast telephoto, and don't mind the bulk on a small NEX body, then your best bet would be an A-mount adapter and a Sony/tamron/sigma 70-200/2.8.
 
The thing with the Nex cameras Kim, is that you're not tied to Sony lenses anyway. You can fit lenses from numerous other manufacturers using an adaptor, plenty of which are available. Personally, I use the Zeiss lenses from the Contax G2 with an adaptor , the fastest of which is the 45mm f/2.

These are manual focus lenses, but manual focusing is very fast and precise using the focus peaking system employed in these cameras. You certainly have exactly the same control over your settings as you would with a DSLR, you just need to go into your settings and set it up so that you can make the settings more conveniently than delving into the menus. The 5N is much improved on the earlier Nex 5 in this respect.

With regard to replacing the 5N with a DSLR - it depends what you want to take shots of. The servo AF system in the NEX isn't fast enough for wildlife photography or any sort of fast action, but that apart you'd see very little benefit in swapping your NEX for a DSLR. The sensor and noise performance in these cameras is second to none and will frankly leave a lot of DSLRs looking a bit shabby in comparison.
 
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Thanks everyone :-)

I will set the soft buttons up on my camera for a start and see how i get on with that.

I've had a look at mirror lenses and i can see the pros and the cons - i'm not sure it's going to do quite what i'm after so think i'll leave it for now ! - Thanks for your help on this :-)

I'm going to go and do some research on other lenses like Zeiss and will try with an adapter - i quite often use manual focus anyway to get the action shots of the dogs so i don't think it will cause me too much trouble to have a manual only lens.
 
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