So I got the go ahead to use the wifes a6000 to "take wildlife pictures" this season. We have a remote already and I figured I would keep it simple and see if I even like filming (aka carrying extra stuff) using something we already have. It came with a 16-50 lens. Would this be adequate in timber at 20-30 yards? Or should I go ahead and buy HER that 55-210 lens ive been promising? Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
The A6000 is a solid mirrorless. It will serve you well. Regarding the lenses, the 16-50 is a nice lens for video work and a remote because it is a Power Zoom lens. You can drive the lens off of the remote. However, the f-stop is 3.5-5.6, meaning once that sun starts to drop (and even on cloudy days back in the dark timber) you will struggle getting a usable image in the upper half of the zoom range. The 55-210 lens gives you reach, but it is not a power zoom, so you will have to manually drive the zoom. But bigger than that it has an f-stop range of 4.5-6.3 and will really struggle with gathering light when conditions are not bright outside. Further, the usable ISO range of the A6000 limits low light performance. A nice lens for that camera are the 18-105 PZ f/4.0 for example. This is a power zoom lens and holds a constant aperture through the entire zoom range. It does well until that last 15 minutes and first 15 minutes of day light on my A6500. Other than that, you might forgo the zoom lenses and look into some primes. I have been filming a lot with the Sony 50 f/1.8. It does a great job for the money. I can even use Clear Image Zoom that is built into the camera (I am pretty sure the A6000 has this) and stretch it to 100 mm. It works well for bow hunting actually. The only thing it struggles with is not being wide enough for up close interview stuff. There are other primes that fall into this category as well. If it were me, I would keep the PZ lens that your wife has and use it within it's limitations and then I would pick up a fast prime like that 50 for example. Make sure you buy the crop sensor version and not the full frame version. You can build from there. Those e-mount crop sensor lenses will move to better bodies in the future too. The A6300 and A6500 are marketable improvements. Sony is launching a new crop sensor camera body in the next few weeks that is rumored to have killer specs.
Thank you. I dont know much about cameras so that was actually very useful and saved me some money (in the short term). Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
A fast lens (i.e. low f stop value) is everything, especially on a crop sensor camera. That will be what makes the difference when the light level starts to drop. If you ever have more questions, just ask.
