Lens choice help for a weekend photographer with a Sony A6000

[SelfieMatt]

I currently own a Sony A6000 with the kit lens (Sony 16-50mm), the Sony 55-210mm telephoto lens and a Minolta 50mm prime lens (manual focus).

I'm wondering if y'all can help me decide between adding the Sony 30mm ISM lens (Macro), the Sony SEL 16mm F2.8 Wide Angle Lens or the Sony 50mm F/1.8 Prime lens.

Which lens would be the most versatile lens for someone that enjoys taking portraits and shots of the outdoors but has always been intrigued by Macro pics.

Thanks for the help and I'm exciting to learn from the community.  

[Pieter]

I guess I would advise against the 30 mm macro and 16 mm pancake:

The 30 mm is a fairly mediocre lens. You can get a much better macro lens for the same price or less (though it'll be a manual one, which is arguably better for macro work) or you can go for a really cheap and fairly ok option, which is to put a +5 dioptre achromat front lens on your 55-210 or put some macro extension tubes on your old minolta lens. The 30 mm macro is not a very good portrait lens if you like some background isolation as it has a slow aperture.

The 16 mm pancake is also a mediocre lens and the gain on image quality and speed versus your 16-50 kit lens is marginal.

The 50mm 1.8 on the other hand is a great portrait lens. Very sharp and the lens stabilisation will help on your a6000. If you like the field of view of your old 50mm Minolta, you can't go wrong with this one.

[SelfieMatt]

Thanks for the info! Great advice! 

[SelfieMatt]

19 hours ago, Pieter said:

I guess I would advise against the 30 mm macro and 16 mm pancake:

The 30 mm is a fairly mediocre lens. You can get a much better macro lens for the same price or less (though it'll be a manual one, which is arguably better for macro work) or you can go for a really cheap and fairly ok option, which is to put a +5 dioptre achromat front lens on your 55-210 or put some macro extension tubes on your old minolta lens. The 30 mm macro is not a very good portrait lens if you like some background isolation as it has a slow aperture.

 The 16 mm pancake is also a mediocre lens and the gain on image quality and speed versus your 16-50 kit lens is marginal.

 The 50mm 1.8 on the other hand is a great portrait lens. Very sharp and the lens stabilisation will help on your a6000. If you like the field of view of your old 50mm Minolta, you can't go wrong with this one.

Where online can I buy the achromat front lens?

[Pieter]

Google for '49mm achromat close-up filter'. I know at least Kenko and Marumi produce them. +5 Dioptre will give you more than 1:1 magnification if you put your lens to 210 mm. Don't go for the cheap sets of stacked non-achromatic macro filters as image quality will become very poor.

The combination becomes a bit front-heavy and you'll probably use a small aperture to increase depth of field, so avoiding camera shake will take some practice. Best to put your camera on a beanbag or other stable base to get the best results. Do take note that with the close-up filter on the lens, your focus range is limited to e.g. 15 to 30 cm in front of the lens. For non-macro you'll need to remove it again.