Chat > Photography

Sony A6000

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Serious:
Finally got a Tamron 90mm f2.8. I have only use it manual focus but the variant I have is effectively manual focus so... Camera can produce some really nice photos with it too  :w00t:.

The main problem I'm having is finding good glass from companies other than Sony to fit the E mount. I can use a converter for A mount lenses.  The are often advertised for the Sony/Minolta A mount and may have a screw head for a body mounted focus motor. The Sony adapter for this is over £200.

I had a choice for the above Tamron 90mm: buy the cheaper adaptor without the motor and go for a £350 lens, cost £450: buy the lens I got with the more expensive adapter, again about £450. Either of these would have provided at least some form of autofocus. Or buy the cheaper version of the lens and cheaper adapter - cost about £300.

I can use lenses designed to fit Canon and other mounts via adapters but the camera often takes two or three seconds to focus and in many cases won't provide autofocus at all. That means higher speed photography is difficult or impossible, forget sports unless you can use manual focus old style.

In even moderate weather the back LCD can be almost impossible to use, This may be an issue with me rather than the camera - gotta read manual sometime. The eyepiece is fine even in bright conditions. You are not going to risk eye injury photographing into sun, unlike a DSLR.

Overall I am very positive about this camera, but, unless they manage to get more 3rd party glass available for the E mount then I can't recommend it. The camera is actually good but the range of lenses is limited.

zpyder:
I know it doesn't help you in your current situation, but whenever I have a friend ask me for "What camera?" advice, usually one of the main things I say is Canon and Nikon have a large second hand market, allowing you to get good glass at reasonable prices, along with "what do your friends use?" (As it means you might be able to borrow lenses). I've only recently started to mention Sony as a viable alternative to those two brands, but with the caveat of the lack of lens options.

Like you though, I hope that changes in the future.

Serious:
The Sony cameras do have a lot going for them, small, light, versatile. Then due to the short body there are things that it can do others can't, like use lenses for other makes without altering the focus.

There are also corrective adapters that reduce the footprint of 35mm lenses to fit on the APS-C sensor. That makes the image from a 10mm lens show correctly rather than be a pseudo 16mm.

Lots of photographers now have multiple makes of camera, it may be an idea for me to get a canon body.

zpyder:
The issue I have with adapters and converters is that you're either going to be losing light and/or adding extra bits of glass into the mix, so image quality is going to take a knock.

For run of the mill images it might not be an issue, but stock agencies and the likes tend to be quite exacting and so for some of the work I do it's not an option :(

Serious:
The normal adapters are either very thin, in which case they move the focus of the lens slightly, or have a lens, in which case you have to take the glass quality into account.

 Adapters for the Sony E-mount go between the camera and lens, but as the camera is thinner than Canon and Nikon cameras, due to no mirror. That means there is no need for extra glass to correct the lens, and the only issue is going to be stray light bouncing around. When a lens is included it is a focal reduction lens, X0.72. That puts all the light that would fall on a full 35mm sensor onto the smaller Sony. Effectively it increases the sensor size back to 35mm, although it loses a small amount of light and maybe quality.

Beyond that is the focusing issue and this might just be a game changer...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFoeZ0c7iLo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHNT6G9U-Jo

An adapter with built in electronics with the data from the lens converted for Sony bodies. There is a USB port so you can update the on adapter data too, so it should be future proof. Focusing seems far faster than previous adapters and more positive. Then it's still in beta, not available yet.

Question is will it be equally good with other Sigma lenses and non-sigma lenses? It would certainly be nice to have one of these with the data for Tamron and Nikon or Canon lenses.

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