Sony a6000 - any advice?

Well, an 'as new' Alpha 6000 finally came my way at the right price.

 

First impressions:

The menus aren't as impenetrable as I was led to believe. Although the 'joystick' wheel could be easier to turn without triggering one of its switches.

 

What's all that noise? I wasn't expecting the shutter to be louder than a DSLR in Live View.

 

The 16-50 kit lens is as bad as they say it is. I was expecting better, but stopped down to f/8 it's passable.

 

Where's the manual? The downloadable PDF is woefully inadequate, and the online help guide also pretty short on information.

 

I was very pleasantly surprised to find that off-camera flash was simply a matter of plugging a speedlight or radio trigger into the hotshoe. A nice change from some maker's shenanigans in making off-camera flash as difficult, or expensive, to achieve as possible. Downside? The X-synch speed appears to be limited to 1/200th or slower. I was expecting higher.

 

Other than the above, I'm quite pleased with the image quality from such a comparatively small camera. But the lens definitely needs replacing with something better. Any recommendations?

 

What about lens converters? I have Nikon F mount lenses galore. Is there a decent adapter that maintains some features?

 

Also; what is the highest ISO speed you find acceptable for shooting RAW? The 25K ISO OOC JPEGs are obviously processed out of all recognition.

 

Any other tips or thoughts gratefully received.

Any recommendations?

Zeiss 24/1.8. Sony 10-18/4. Zeiss Touit 32/1.8. Sigma 16/1.4. Maybe Zeiss 16-70/4.

Get the new FE 24-105/4 - then you are all set if you decide to move up to FX ;)

Or try some of the Voigtlander FE lenses: Mirrorless System Lenses | B&H Photo Video

In any case, it might be a good idea to stick with full frame (FE) lenses - like the new 100-400.

 

What about lens converters? I have Nikon F mount lenses galore. Is there a decent adapter that maintains some features?

You mean adapters? There are essentially four different kinds. For Nikon lenses that have an aperture ring, a simple no-frills adapter will do - no communication with the camera is needed. For Nikon G lenses, an adapter is needed that allows control of the aperture - several ones are available that give rudimentary control (not in form of stops but more along the lines of "open", "close a bit", "closed a bit more", "closed a lot more" etc.. A few "boosters/focal length reducers" are available. Lastly, a few AF adapters have finally appeared, all for AF-S lenses only. I know of at least one incident where the use of a non-compatible lens on one of them actually fried the camera. Here's a good place as any to start delving into what's available: Guide to Nikon Lens Adapters for Sony E-Mount Cameras

 

I have this one: FotodioX Nikon F-Mount G-Type Lens to Sony NK(G)-NEX-P-II B&H but I tend to avoid using adapted lenses.

 

What's all that noise?

Yep, my Sony a7 and a7II are louder than the Nikon D810 (used conventionally, not in live view). Enabling EFCS helps - not sure the a6000 has that option though.

Spend big on the a9 and you can enjoy shooting in silence. Not sure if the A7RIII does so too or not.

 

Can't help with the manual - the ones for the a7 and a7II are crappy as well.

Edited February 11, 2018 by Dieter Schaefer

A good review site like DPR is much better than the manual at explaining how these things work.

Get the new FE 24-105/4

If you can look past the high level of distortion and the ridiculous amount of vignetting at 24mm: Sony FE 24-105mm f/4 G OSS (SEL24105G) - Review / Test Report - Analysis

 

Sony really designs their lenses to be used with auto-distortion and auto-vignetting correction in mind - too bad if one is shooting RAW though.

 

I wanted that lens - but now it looks I made the better choice with the Sigma 24-105/4 Art. Like the Nikon 24-120, it does vignette - but not at the level the Sony does.

The a6000 is a great camera and still my main tool. I've used it for personal stuff and photojournalism assignments. For $199 new the Sigma 30mm 2.8 is the best lens you can get for this camera for the money. Re: adapters, you get what you pay for. I shoot with Nikon, Pentax K, and Contax/Yashica glass. Go with the adapters in the 20-30 dollar range is my advice. I agree with what a previous poster said about full frame lenses. You can use them with any of Sony's recent cameras. And there's a hack online to make the sigma 30mm work full frame (remove three screws and the baffle on the back). You're extremely lucky to have gotten one that works with flash. Mine never has.

Thank you all, especially Dieter for the comprehensive info on lenses and adapters.

I'll look into AF adapters for Nikon. I have a very sharp Tamron SP 17-50 f/2.8 and Tokina 11-20 that I wouldn't mind using on the a6000, but I'll look into a 30/35mm prime as well to bring the size down.

 

WRT flash use. I discovered I have to drop the shutter speed even further to 1/160th when using radio triggers. This is due to the fractional delay introduced by all such devices. It's no big deal really, just a bit disappointing that Sony can't match the synch speed of a DX Nikon.

 

John, have you tried firing flash in Manual mode? A number of digitals will only trigger a non-dedicated flash when the exposure mode is in 'M'. I must admit I haven't seen if it triggers in P, A or S modes. Otherwise your camera must be broken or in need of a firmware update.

 

Speaking of which; mine shows Lens Version 1.0 and I understand that there's a version 2.0. However I can't find a separate lens firmware update.

I have fired it in manual mode (and A and S) using a cheap Chinese trigger. Not broken. There are a billion videos on youtube where people are trying to hack Sony's multi shoe. It's great that Sony is always innovating. But FFS, standard hotshoes are fine. No need to reinvent the wheel. I run a cable from the multiuse "socket" on the side of the camera straight to the flash trigger which I mount normally. You might find that switching out flash brands or trigger brands gives you better performance. Eg, my triggers will file Neewer and Nikon flashes but not Yongnuo. You're not going to get anything close to high speed sync or DX performance. Nikon probably has the best "in-body" flash system and controls on the market. I miss that.

 

You should be able to download the firmware upgrade here.

 

Sony eSupport - ILCE-6000 - Support