For sony a6000 owners...

[justthings]

One of the concerns I keep seeing raised in reviews of the Sony a6000 is the weak support for lenses from Sony. For those of you who

own one of these cameras what has your experience been, have you been disappointed by the range of lenses available for it? Are there

sufficient offerings from 3rd party sources to offset the limited selection of Sony branded lenses? What are the gaps in optics for this

camera?

[david_smith110]

<p>Depends really...what are you wanting to shoot with this camera? Keeping in mind that the mount is only a few years old I believe there is a somewhat decent selection of lenses available at this point. However, if you count adapted lenses (legacy film lenses) then there are tons of available options.</p>

<p>Please view my NEX 7 folder, all photos in which were shot with adapted film lenses on the NEX 7. The a6000 is two generations past my old NEX 7 so it could have easily shot any photo in that folder. Actually it would probably do a better job since it has cleaner noise at higher ISO.</p>

<p>https://www.flickr.com/photos/8539414@N07/albums/72157629936411965</p>

[fabriziogiudici]

<p>I'm fine from 8mm to 200mm (8mm thanks to Samyang). Beyond 200mm Sony is really sleeping; not only for the A6000, of course, but also for full-frame (even worse, since they can't take advantage of the crop-factor).<br>

A recent essay from LL resumes the situation and enumerates a number of work-arounds for long lenses that might help:<br>

https://luminous-landscape.com/sony-a7rii-long-lenses/<br>

The lack of long lenses in E-mount made by third parties tells us that even third parties are sleeping at the moment.</p>

[justthings]

<p>David and Fabrizio, thanks for the responses, links and the perspective on adapted lenses - that helps a lot. I've been exploring mirrorless options recently and formulating some questions about some specific cameras. Because I think image quality issues are pretty even across the gamut, my biggest concern is buying into a system that isn't going to have support from its manufacturer over the long term and this is what some reviewing the Sony products seem to have suggested. I'm starting to feel this is less of an issue with some of the 3rd party offerings that are available (Zeiss and Voigtlander especially, though Samyang seems to have some interesting products as well). Add the ability to adapt a variety of lenses then that issue can probably be put to rest in some respects. Though I wonder about other aspects of long term support such as firmware upgrades and the like.</p>

[fabriziogiudici]

<p>"buying into a system that isn't going to have support from its manufacturer over the long term"<br>

This is a big issue and if you want me to be drastic, I think nobody can be sure that any mirrorless system survives in the long term (this is not because I'm unhappy about them, on the contrary: it's that marketing numbers are going up and down without a clear, long-term trend). So, there's definitely some amount of risk in going mirrorless.<br>

Given that, about all the systems, I think that the E-mount is one of the most stable, as you mentioned a number of third party manufacturers that endorsed it. While, for instance, there has been a recent rumor about Sigma no more supporting X-mount (I don't know whether it has been confirmed - it would be a pity, indeed, because I think that Fuji system is great).</p>

[justthings]

<p>Fabrizio - I understand there is a great deal of volatility in this market space and it is evolving, I don't think mirrorless is going to go away though I am hopeful however that it will stabilize with some clear trends. I had an EOS-M largely because it came available at truly bargain prices, and for the most part I really enjoyed that camera. It was stolen along with some other gear though, and I was badly disappointed by Canon's tepid (non) support for this product line and so I am a little gun shy about going down that path again. My concern about the a6000 is that I am not sure I see Sony developing or marketing new lenses, nor pushing out firmware updates to keep moving that camera forward or even rumoring that something new in the DX product line is forthcoming; the focus at Sony seems to be on the full frame product line. This seems to be the same path that both Canon and Nikon have taken with respect to the DX market, which is tantamount to abandonment. I see both Olympus and Fuji behaving a bit differently, though if there are rumors now that Sigma is going to drop support for developing X-format mounts that is concerning. Bottom line is that I could probably close my eyes, pick a product randomly from Olympus, Fuji, or Sony and be able to make very good images so it comes down to some intangibles for me as to which direction I go. </p>

[Lou_Meluso]

<p>Hi Christopher:<br>

Any decision making endeavor that requires an outlay of hard earned cash is always tough. But consider this:</p>

<blockquote>

<p>I don't think mirrorless is going to go away though I am hopeful however that it will stabilize with some clear trends.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>The Sony A6000 is one of the most successful and cost effective cameras in the mirrorless field. There is a wide range of lenses made for it from Sony and third parties. It has adaptability potential to use vast amount of legacy lenses. With the kit lens it would be tough to find better bang for the buck</p>

<blockquote>

<p>My concern about the a6000 is that I am not sure I see Sony developing or marketing new lenses, nor pushing out firmware updates to keep moving that camera forward or even rumoring that something new in the DX product line is forthcoming</p>

</blockquote>

<p>NOBODY knows what Sony, or anybody else, is going to do next. You would be wise to not use speculation, rumor and web chat in your assessment. The A6000 is already a fully developed system. If they stopped making it tomorrow, it would still be a fully developed system. Sure stocks of lenses and parts would eventually run out but many would be still in the used market for many years. In the mean while you would have a good camera system to shoot with NOW, which leads to the next point...</p>

<blockquote>

<p>buying into a system that isn't going to have support from its manufacturer over the long term</p>

</blockquote>

<p>What does "long term" mean? 5 years? 10 years? 20 years? As I said, It is not assured Sony will stop making lower priced APS-C cameras but IF Sony stops making them, and you take care of your gear, you could use your system for many, many years to come. Sure we all like to know if new cameras and tech will come out and work with our current lenses(btw, all e-mount lenses work on Sony FF cameras too) but let's face it the A6000 represents some really high quality, high resolution imaging. It may be the format is reaching the max of what it can deliver, so new changes are coming more slowly than their full frame offerings. I have an "old" Sony NEX 6 system with four lenses that I've had for years now. Still works great. Next month, it will still work great, next year it will still work great. If it fell into a ravine tomorrow I would replace it in a heartbeat with a clean used one for a couple of hundred dollars beause there are so many around and many hobbyist feel the "need" to get the latest geewizz camera body. For what I use it for, mostly street shooting, the NEX 6 still rocks.<br>

<br>

You are doing the right thing by thinking carefully about an expensive purchase but at the same time there are so many unknowns that the best play is to see what is already available to meet your needs and jump in.<br>

<br>

</p>

[justthings]

<p>Thanks Louis, I appreciate the thoughts. I'm by no means suffering from 'paralysis by analysis' here and am soon to decide. It is good to hear from those like you and others who have actually been shooting this camera or its brethren with no sense of limitations by the 'system' it is part of. The a6000 is very attractive in part because it is the least expensive of the options in front of me. But it seems to be a very well featured camera at the same time so it almost feels that it is undervalued in this market space, and that leads in part to questions about longevity of product support and continued enhancements if not outright upgrades with releases of new products. The point you make about the rate of development/advancements slowing down simply because of where this camera is in its evolution is interesting, that's not a perspective I'd considered.</p>

[fabriziogiudici]

<p>"longevity of product support"<br /> The question about longevity... is important, because - as it has been said - those money are hard earned cash, but in the end nothing is forever. When I started seriously with photography and picked a system (it was Nikon vs Canon) circa 2000, I was thinking that it would have been my system forever. I mean: I knew that probably for some things I could have wished for Canon (while still appreciating Nikon for other stuff), but I thought that there would have been nothing that, at some point, would have pushed me to completely switch system. Until they invented mirrorless and I realised my back/neck pain was limiting my photos (not to count other things that happened: 9/11 and the stricter controls, and higher costs, for extra-luggage in airplanes, etc...).<br /> So I'm not telling myself the lie that in 2030 I'll be shooting with Sony... :-) The important thing is that the system doesn't disappear much earlier, but as it has been said it's very unlikely at this point.<br /> PS The only thing dating back to 2000 that will probably be still with me in 2030 is my carbon fiber tripod (unless I break it): can't be smaller, as I need is as tall as it is, and can't be lighter, because long lenses will be always (*) heavy and the tripod must be balanced.<br /> (*) ...perhaps... ;-)</p>