Sony A5000

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_MyBelle

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The 16-50mm is small, but that's about all it's got going for it. It's pretty horrible except right on the middle of the zoom. If you want something in this focal range, try to get hold of a SEL1855, they are much better, though much bulkier. You can probably pick up a second hand one for under £100.

The SEL55210 gives you the longest reach in native E mount; you can get significantly longer zoom by using an FE lens, but they are designed for full frame cameras and are much bulkier and much more expensive, though some of them are extraordinarily good lenses.

For more money than the 55-210, you could consider the SEL18200 - it goes from wide to almost as long as the 55-210, and quality wise it's surprisingly good for such an extensive range. It's a chunky, heavy thing but I've been very pleased with mine.

However, my walkabout zoom that rarely leaves my A6000 is the SEL1670. I've heard there is big sample variation with these, so if you do get one, test it thoroughly and make sure you can get a replacement/return if unhappy with it. They are pricey, but you can get decent deals on them.
 
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BubbaUK said:
The 16-50mm is small, but that's about all it's got going for it. It's pretty horrible except right on the middle of the zoom. If you want something in this focal range, try to get hold of a SEL1855, they are much better, though much bulkier. You can probably pick up a second hand one for under £100.

The SEL55210 gives you the longest reach in native E mount; you can get significantly longer zoom by using an FE lens, but they are designed for full frame cameras and are much bulkier and much more expensive, though some of them are extraordinarily good lenses.

For more money than the 55-210, you could consider the SEL18200 - it goes from wide to almost as long as the 55-210, and quality wise it's surprisingly good for such an extensive range. It's a chunky, heavy thing but I've been very pleased with mine.

However, my walkabout zoom that rarely leaves my A6000 is the SEL1670. I've heard there is big sample variation with these, so if you do get one, test it thoroughly and make sure you can get a replacement/return if unhappy with it. They are pricey, but you can get decent deals on them.
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The 16-50 kit lens isn't as terrible as you're making out? It's a kit lens so will always be a compromise but it's small, light, fast to focus and is perfectly fine as a walkabout general purpose lens. It's never going to give you razor-thin depth of field with it F3.5 max aperture at 16mm and F5.6 at 50mm but I wouldn't describe it as horrible?

With regards to telephoto option, I'm not aware of any FE lenses that are 'significantly' longer? The FE 70-300G is 90mm longer but is also £900 more and still only F5.6 at the long end (vs F6.3 on the 55-210) so doesn't really make much sense for the A5000. The 55-210 is a very good performer versus its' cost but again, there is a compromise with maximum aperture. So long as you know that and work within the limits it will deliver good results on the A5000 without being too heavy.
 
stevelmx5 said:
The 16-50 kit lens isn't as terrible as you're making out? It's a kit lens so will always be a compromise but it's small, light, fast to focus and is perfectly fine as a walkabout general purpose lens. It's never going to give you razor-thin depth of field with it F3.5 max aperture at 16mm and F5.6 at 50mm but I wouldn't describe it as horrible?

With regards to telephoto option, I'm not aware of any FE lenses that are 'significantly' longer? The FE 70-300G is 90mm longer but is also £900 more and still only F5.6 at the long end (vs F6.3 on the 55-210) so doesn't really make much sense for the A5000. The 55-210 is a very good performer versus its' cost but again, there is a compromise with maximum aperture. So long as you know that and work within the limits it will deliver good results on the A5000 without being too heavy.
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I've found the 16-50 pretty terrible at either end of the zoom, corner fuzziness creeping in alarmingly, & not particularly sharp at any focal length, even stopped down.. It's just about okay as a kit lens, but I wouldn't pay anything like £200 for it. It is very portable though. It's not a patch on the original NEX kit lenses, the 18-55mm (though they are quite comical looking on an A5000 body).

If you are looking for bokeh, I've just started using the Sigma 30mm f1.4 & have been pleasantly surprised so far (though the bokeh looks oddly synthetic at 1.4). Obviously not a zoom, though.


Depends upon what you are photographing, but that extra 90mm can be quite significant - though as I stated, significantly more expensive too.
 
I'd agree that I wouldn't pay over £200 for the 16-50 if I didn't already have one but as I bought my A6000 as the kit with 16-50 it was a no brainer. I've just found some examples I've taken with the 16-50;

1) 16mm, F6.3, 1/125th, handheld

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hqglz9cjfxy7rr6/Photo 10-11-2015, 22 12 15.jpg?dl=0

2) 32mm, F11, 1/50th, handheld

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3khn3xpc6rorqfg/DSC00939.jpg?dl=0

3) 30mm, F13, 1/30th, handheld

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8wkbwxo5xiz4td6/Photo 03-11-2015, 18 34 10.jpg?dl=0

Like all lenses, it performs better stopped down to F8 onwards but on the whole it's not a bad lens (if you get it as a kit). I used to use the 18-55 on my NEX5 and I personally don't think there's a lot of difference between the two other than the 16-50 having optical stabilisation and being considerably smaller.

My own personal favourite lenses on my A6K are the 50/1.8 which I probably use 85% of the time and my Samyang 12/2 which is an awesome tiny ultrawide with very little distortion. I agree that for telephoto, the longest reach is always favourable but I'd rather crop a shot taken at 210mm than spend an extra £900 for 90mm further reach :0)

These were taken with the 55-210 on my old NEX5

4) 210mm, F8, 1/320th, handheld (iso 1600)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6s69gf8bhx9m7xo/File 28-02-2017, 14 49 31.jpeg?dl=0

5) 210mm, F6.3, 1/160th, handheld (iso 1600)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pz4ou9cg7hvjicx/File 28-02-2017, 14 50 18.jpeg?dl=0
 
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