Just pulled the trigger on...

<p>The basic Sony a6000 with kit lens; the kit lens isn't the most stellar but will give me something to use while I get familiar with the camera and decide what lenses meet my needs. For those of you who have read and responded to my probes in any of my earlier queries about various mirrorless sytems ( http://www.photo.net/digital-camera-forum/00dWxS, http://www.photo.net/olympus-camera-forum/00dTsa, http://www.photo.net/digital-camera-forum/00dT9Y) I appreciate your comments. At the end of the day, this choice came down to three factors, in order of importance:</p>

<ul>

<li>Cost - this is almost a no brainer though not as easy as one might think. But for the capability offered by this camera I think this is the best deal out there right now. The Sony saves me about $450 and that's a chunk of change that I can put towards other 'stuff' like lenses, adapters, etc. and for me that is not chump change.</li>

<li>Pathway into Full frame - of the three systems I was looking at, Sony is the only one that offers a full frame compliment and because of my interest in close ups and shallow depth of field I think I will be moving in that direction sooner rather than later. In many respects this is a system issue and Sony seems like the best bet right now for keeping it all in the family.</li>

<li>Image resolution - more isn't always better but I didn't see anything to suggest that the Sony had excessive noise at the ISO levels I am likely to be shooting at when compared to the other systems I looked at and so in this case more becomes more.</li>

</ul>

<p>Issues that I discounted as having significance to me that seem to be hinge points in these discussions:</p>

<ul>

<li>Overall image quality - honestly I think i could have blindly chosen from the systems I was looking at and been quite happy with the image quality. I'm not a pro and don't have quite the same requirements that a professional photographer would have for image quality, and think it is quite good regardless.</li>

<li>Auto-focus speed and reliability - I don't often shoot sports or events or much that could be considered action. I tend to work pretty deliberately and slowly with pretty static subject matter, often on a tripod.</li>

<li>Frame rate - same as with auto-focus really. I've been pretty happy with the frame rate offered by my decrepit Nikon D80 so anything in these newer bodies would trump that easily.</li>

</ul>

<p>So now I get to wait until Wednesday when my new camera makes it to me. Unfortunately, I had gone in to a local camera shop to do some comparisons of the two bodies that made it into my short list and I was told I could hold the body but they wouldn't put a battery in them for me to look at menu systems and some operational things, so that exercise was simply pointless. What they don't realize is they lost a sale, and a customer likely forever. I'm sure they are tired of people coming in and looking at gear then buying elsewhere or online, but they drove me there anyway.<br>

In the mean time, if anyone has suggestions for useful tips and tricks with this camera and post-processing of the RAW images I am all ears. Again, thanks to you who responded to my previous questions!</p>

<p>Congratulations on your purchase; I'm sure that you'll be very happy with it. I made the transition to mirrorless a few years ago with the Sony NEX-6 and just recently upgraded to the a6000 and love it.<br /> As you have noted, the kit lens certainly isn't stellar but it's not half bad either. I tend to use my Sony 35mm f1.8 more and more-it's certainly a better lens that's for sure.<br /> I am waiting for the much delayed a6000 replacement be it an a6100 or an a7000; not for the body but for the new Sony 16-50 that's supposed to come with it and be faster and optically better; I'll get it if it is.<br /> Happy shooting! cb :-<br /> P.S. the instruction manual that comes with the camera is kind of lightweight; you should find this helpful;<br /> http://download.sony-europe.com/pub/manuals/consumer/ILCE6000_HG_EN.pdf</p>

<p>Congratulations Christopher. The a6000 is arguably one of the best apsc cameras on the market right now. And your are right, the price is obscenely low for such a capable, adaptable camera. As I said of NEX 7 many times, you now have a 24mp digital back for every lens ever made.</p>

<p>I hope you enjoy it, and look forward to your photos from it on the Mirrorless Monday threads. :)</p>

<p>Take a look at this guy's portfolio using the Sony A6000 and kit lens. http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=1005009<br /> He gets a lot out of it. Also google Chris Burkard a Pismo Beach, CA photographer who does some amazing things with his Sony A6000. I got the Sony A6000 a while back and bought the Sony 35mm 1.8 lens to use with it. I keep looking at the 16-50mm kit lens as well as the more pricey Zeiss 16-70mm 4.0 lens but so far the 35mm has been enough. The little camera has a steep learning curve to master the complex technology but I'm getting some acceptable results. I think of it as a replacement for my Leica M6, a very high quality camera in a small package. You can see some results from it in my Marin portfolio. Gary Fong who has gone over to the dark side with Sony calls the A6000 his favorite of the Sony offerings and he has some great tutorials on his web site. Good luck!</p>