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Lenses for Nature/Wildlife - A6000

JustDave
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JustDave Newbie

JustDave

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Hello all,

Bought an a6000 a few months back to kickstart my quarantine hobby and have been loving it since! I was curious to know what lenses some of you use/recommend for nature/wildlife/landscape photography. Still learning every day, as I'm still very new to this, but the right equipment goes a long way!

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Pieter Mentor

Pieter

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It would really help if you provided some more info with your question. I'll have to deduce some assumptions based on your question, so please correct me if I'm wrong here:

 - Your budget is limited (lenses over $1000 disregarded)

 - You're not planning to go fullframe in the foreseeable future (lens with fullframe coverage is not required)

 - By nature/wildlife you mean distant subjects (only lenses with 200mm focal length or longer considered)

 - You want quick autofocus and lens stabilization (wildlife moves around a lot and stabilized optics help a lot in reducing motion blur)

With these starting points the options are narrowed down to the following options I'd consider:

Sony E 55-210mm: cheap, small, lightweight, fairly decent for any new photographer

Sony E 70-350mm: fairly expensive, bigger and heavier but longer reach and much better image quality than the 55-210

If you want to have the option to go fullframe one day the Sigma 100-400 DG DN might be an option, but it's much bigger still than the Sony 70-350.

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  • Posts

    • Pieter
      Blurry images on Sony 70-350

      By Pieter · Posted

      I've been using this lens extensively without any sharpness issues. At long focal lengths, you'll have to factor in the need for a faster shutter speed (< 1/500-ish at 350mm) and other factors like atmospheric distortion, fog/dust haze, etc. All these factors contribute to a deterioration of image quality at longer focal lengths.
    • Cameratose
      Blurry images on Sony 70-350

      By Cameratose · Posted

      That's supposed to be a pretty good APS-C lens. Can you try it on a different camera just for the heck of it? Friend? Camera shop? The lens is noted for sharpness, so if you're having as much trouble as you say, you may want to look into a replacement or repair. 
    • broz_tito
      Blurry images on Sony 70-350

      By broz_tito · Posted

      Hi everyone, I’m reaching out to the community because I’m facing a persistent image quality issue with my Sony 70–350mm f/4.5–6.3 G OSS lens, and I’d like to know if this is normal behavior or if my copy is defective. Problem description: I’ve extensively compared the 70–350mm G OSS with my Sony 18–135mm f/3.5–5.6 OSS, using a Sony A6700, under controlled conditions: • Identical lighting and background • Same subject and position (LEGO figure, consistent framing) • Tripod or steady support • Manual focus or AF with center point • Same shutter speed (e.g., 1/200s), similar ISO (ISO 4000–6400), RAW + JPEG • OIS turned on (and also tested with OIS off) My observations: • At 135mm, the 70–350mm G OSS delivers softer, flatter images than the 18–135mm, even when stopped down. • At 350mm, the sharpness drops significantly – the center is soft, and textures (like LEGO tiles or fabric) appear blurred or smudged. • Contrast and micro-detail are noticeably inferior across all focal lengths. • The 18–135mm at 135mm (even cropped) retains better edge sharpness and detail definition. • Both JPEG and RAW files confirm the issue – this is not just JPEG processing or noise reduction. Question to the community: • Have others experienced similar softness with the 70–350mm? • Is it possible I have a decentered or optically misaligned copy? • Is there a known issue with OSS introducing softness at long focal lengths? I wanted to love this lens due to the range and portability, but currently it’s unusable for anything where image quality matters. I’m considering returning or sending it for service. Thanks in advance for any feedback or comparison results you can share.  

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